Monday, December 05, 2005

So the smarmy self-satisfied Sussex student union shites have finally voted to ban coke. They couldn't do it last year but as soon as I'm out of the country they sneak it in. Well fucking done to them.

I have to say, as if you couldn't already have guessed, that this really pisses me off. It's not that I have any great love for the sickly sweet soda (I'm in America, I'm allowed to call it that for purposes of alliteration) and condone any of the practises (unethical, exploitative or otherwise) that the company carries out, but the fact that the Union has actually voted to ban it stinks of hypocrisy.

If the Sussex Students Union actually had any influence and were genuinely active amongst their student constituents they wouldn't have to get the 5% of politically motivated students to turn up to the bloody AGM - which is, to my mind, the most pointless event in the calendar, serving only to dictate the Union's so-called "political position" on a number of issues that may have national and global significance but which are completely irrelevant to the students themselves - and vote to de-cokeify the campus.

Perhaps it seems like the democratic way to do things but, umm, no, it really isn't. To steal a quote from good ol' Rosa Garwood, Union Finance Officer: "Our boycott sends a clear signal that our students are not prepared to continue to finance a company whose ethical rating is so incredibly poor.". Umm, no. It really doesn't. The message sent is that the majority of students who turned up to the Union's Annual General Meeting (I believe it has to be 500 people to achieve the magical "quoracy" so it could have been as few as 251 voting in favour of the motion, although obviously I wasn't there so have no idea) voted in favour (see how I still put my Us where they belong?) of the ban. Rosa Garwood: thou is a moron. I knew GaV would have been better.

The democratic way to do things, if they cared so much about this issue, would be to get their fat arses (actually I believe prime protagonist Rosa Garwood is particularly bony of the bottom but for the purposes of this rant....) out from their plush top floor Falmer House offices and work to get the fuckin' student population to care as much as they do. If they could convince the students that Coca Cola's business practises were as abhorent as they say they are then they would exercise their rights under the democratic capitalist system in which we live, and stop buying the stuff themselves.

But no. That would be far too much effort. The supposedly "liberal" Union's approach, to restrict freedom of choice is far simpler and apparently sends Coke a real message. Yeah? Really? Nice one USSU. Really representing your people there.

My word, all that aggression has made me thirsty. Wonder what I'll have to drink?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more Nick.