The National Union of Students National Executive Council, representing seven million students voted overwhelmingly to oppose the escalating US and UK military intervention in Iraq and Syria.

Aaron Kiely, NUS National Executive

NUS

National Union of Students votes to oppose US and UK military intervention in Iraq and Syria

By Aaron Kiely, NUS National Executive

ON 3 DECEMBER 2014, the National Union of Students National Executive Council (NUS NEC), representing seven million students, voted overwhelmingly to oppose the escalating US and UK military intervention in Iraq and Syria.

This vote represents a significant breakthrough for the NUS, which has too often sat on the fence over recent British military intervention in the Middle East. This success also comes despite a national witch-hunt of  student anti-war activists by the right wing press allied with pro-war factions within the student movement which sought to smear us as supporters of terrorism.

The motion passed by NUS clearly condemns ISIS as a reactionary terrorist organisation that has carried out atrocities against Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians, Assyrians, Turkmen, Alawite, Ismaili, Christians, Druze and others across the region. NUS further recognizes that Western intervention is responsible for the rise of ISIS in the first place and that further bombing and military operations will only further strengthen terrorism and spread more chaos in the region.

NUS stands against ISIS’ ongoing siege on the Kurds of Kobane in Northern Syria expresses our full solidarity with the Kurdish people and their struggle in the region.

Young people and students want a future free from the scourge of war, terrorism and Islamophobia. We want a world built on the grounds of peace, justice and cooperation. NUS must play our part in struggling for this future.

The anti-war text passed at the NUS NEC on 3 December 2014

Iraqi & Syrian Kurdish solidarity – oppose ISIS terrorism & Western intervention 

NEC Believes:

  1. The humanitarian crisis and massacre of Kurds that has been taking place in both the north of Syria and north of Iraq.
  2. ISIS is a reactionary terrorist organisation that carries out atrocities against Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians, Assyrians, Turkmen, Alawite, Ismaili, Christian, Druze and others across the region.
  3. ISIS is currently maintaining a siege on the Kurds of Kobane in northern Syria

NEC further believes:

  1. That following the US/UK invasion of Iraq a decade ago, chaos, sectarianism, civil war and terrorism have been unleashed across the region.
  2. That Turkey has been preventing the Kurds fighting ISIS in Kobane from receiving humanitarian aid and assistance
  3. Western military involvement in the region has already created the current chaos and further intervention will only exacerbate the situation.
  4. Within Britain the government is fanning a reactionary Islamophobic agenda which falsely equates Muslim communities with support for terrorism, and that this is latched onto by the far right and encourages attacks on Muslims.

NEC Resolves:

  1. To express our solidarity with the Kurdish people and their struggle in the region.
  2. To condemn ISIS, and the atrocities it commits.
  3. To oppose US and UK military intervention in Iraq and Syria.
  4. To support the demands of the Kurds in Kobane for a humanitarian corridor through Turkey to enable provisions to reach the civillians there.
  5. To challenge Islamophobia and all forms of racism being whipped up.
05 Dec 2014