On 25 February, the Mancunion – the newspaper of the University of Manchester (UoM) Students’ Union – published an article entitled ‘Defence companies play a vital role in keeping us safe – but perceptions of them are skewed’
In this bizarre article, the author argues that student protesters are “ill-informed” in their opposition to UoM’s so-called ‘defence’ research.
According to him, the UK’s ‘defence’ sector is not “a criminal, evil-ridden, big brother organisation seeking to maximise profit by bloodshed… but a thriving, vital industry… which needs to be protected”.
He asserts that the youth of today have forgotten the necessity of strong national ‘defence’. Imagine, he asks readers, if ballistic missiles were raining down on Oxford Street or Fallowfield. Well, this is what’s happening in Ukraine, and Britain might be next!
But how the Russia-Ukraine war threatens students in Manchester is unclear, considering our separation from the conflict by the entire European continent, and the fact that Russia has no interest in invading Britain.
In reality, niether this war – nor any war fought by the western imperialists – is for the defence of the “nation-state, its liberties, and the freedom to express liberal values” as the author claims.
The British state fights wars for one reason only: to uphold its imperialist interests and ambitions; to maintain its spheres of influence; and to puff up its chest on the world stage.
All of this comes at the expense of the living standards and the democratic “liberties” of workers and young people.
Indeed, of what value are these supposed “liberal values” when police are called by UoM management to violently repress Palestine encampments, and students are deported for their solidarity with Gaza?
And if we were to take the author’s advice to raise ‘defence’ spending “far” beyond 2.5 percent of GDP, this would lead only to deeper austerity; as has already been demonstrated by Reeves’ disability benefit cuts.
Establishment mouthpiece
It is clear to the vast majority of people how shallow the authors’ claims are.
The more pertinent question is: why did an article such as this appear in the Mancunion, when students are overwhelmingly opposed to imperialism, and supportive of an end to ‘defence’ research at the university?
And why was this article published in the same issue that carried an article tying the pro-Palestine movement to antisemitism on campus – an article which uncritically quoted a student calling for a socialist group to be banned from campus?
Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the student body has been outspoken against ‘defence’ research and the university’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes.
The author clearly chooses to focus on Ukraine over Israel because he knows the backlash he would get. But students are not stupid. We know that more money in British ‘defence’ means more weapons to Israel to carry out its genocide.
Students have been force-fed ‘justifications’ for ‘defence’ research at UoM consistently. Does the author think we are unaware of this stream of ruling-class propaganda? No. Students are well-aware, but we continue to protest in spite of this imperialist bile.
However they are dressed-up, wars of this kind cannot be ‘just’ or ‘liberating’. They are only pursued in the interests of the capitalist class, who profit from warfare as an undertaker profits from plague.
The student body is neither naïve nor “ill-informed,” they understand the reality: imperialist war only serves the rich and powerful. In fact, this is something that is well understood by the nine out of ten young people in Britain who would not be prepared to fight for their country.
The Mancunion has a responsibility to the student-body: to be a mouthpiece of their views and concerns – not, as this article is, a mouthpiece for the imperialist establishment, aiming to dissuade protest under the auspice of ‘leaving the adults to it’.
Students will not be shamed into silence, we will continue to fight for what is really just, whatever the establishment has to say about it.
