Any UCU members here? Advice needed

[PurpleChrayne]

Hi all.

Just wondering - are there any academics here who are UCU members?

I'm planning to raise a motion at the upcoming EGM branch meeting about extra security and help for Jewish staff and students. The title of the EGM is "The Israeli-Palestine conflict and the siege of Gaza" - no mention of the Hamas pogrom, so any motion I raise will probably fall on deaf ears. It's Uni of Liverpool UCU - not a great place for a gender-critical Jew like me!

It stinks because I'm from a family of militant labour-movement members. Cable Street, 43 Group, etc. And yet I feel I have no place in my union.

Anyway, just wanted to chat to anyone who might be in a similar position.

Chizzuk to all.

No, but just sending sympathy.

We're also socialists and can't find a safe space, but universities, academia and so on are the worst aren't they.

It's really tragic that Jews are being put in this position. I'm sorry

Thanks Lemony.

It feels like wading through a nightmare at the moment.

I have no solutions just sympathy from another gender critical Jew. A couple of years ago during staff strikes my university arranged for a pro-Palestine lobby group to support us on the picket line and give us a ‘motivational’ talk about rising up. This quickly turned into an anti-Israel rant. There was no pre-warning of the talk from the UCU organisers, who clearly thought we’d all be delighted by it.

Sorry Purple - I can't be of personal help but if you are on Twitter/X or on FB I would suggest getting in touch with David Hirsh who is a professor of social sciences at Goldsmiths who has charted his long term problems with UCU. if anything you are going through is similar to his experiences, you have my sympathies.

Also I’ve just noticed your user name @PurpleChrayne 😂

Ugh.

This reminds me of the pro-Palestine lobby group that shows up every Friday when a group of pensioners gathers outside the local library to protest the closure of the one-stop shop.

😁😁

I'm a UCU member. I'm GC but I'm not Jewish. However, the email today about Gaza was, I think, the final straw for me. I've not cancelled my membership yet, but I've contacted Affinity as a possible alternative. You have all my sympathy and if you ever want to chat to an ally I'm around. I'm over in Lincoln.

Thanks Bups.

I've just cancelled my membership, after an agenda was sent round about the "Palestine EGM". Only the briefest mentions of the Hamas atrocities. Peddling all sorts of untruths about Israel.

I'm gutted. Honestly. I've been a union member all my working life. But I can't be a part of an organisation that plans to take its banner to the next "Palestine solidarity rally."