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Day: 25 February 2013

Live: Mosca

With such a diverse bill on offer, it was no surprise to see Sankeys heaving for the second instalment of Recentes vs Take The Whole Cake.  The first big name of the night to step up, Mosca, steadily built The Basement for ninety minutes. Giving a nod to the club’s house focus, his set was slow and swooning, coming as a shock to the younger revellers expecting to hear something more akin to his jumped-up-garage anthem “Bax”. In keeping with the Chicago vibes revival, he finished on “Eva Mendes”, one of his own stompy productions which clearly takes inspiration from across the Atlantic.

The tempo upped and the mood darkened as veteran Loefah’s turn came. Leaning heavily on releases from his label Swamp 81, his set served as an A-Z of British bass music today. Unreleased but ubiquitous delights came courtesy of Joy O- “BRTHDTT”- and Manchester pairing Zed Bias and Paleman-“Furrball”. Sadly, the soundsystem couldn’t really do the juggernaut that is Skream’s “Bang That” justice, but MC Chunky’s typically charismatic antics more than made up for this. Closing with his 2006 dubstep classic “Goat Stare”, Loefah reminded us all of the debt today’s scene owes to that unforgettable sound.

Those that managed to fight their way up the packed staircase to Spektrum were treated to a classic set by UK garage legend MJ Cole. The crowd- a bizarre mix of middle aged men and fresh faced first years- were kept engaged by his selection of danceable two step tunes. The last two hours were sent off in triumphant style by duo Waze and Odyssey. Their dancefloor-focused productions excel in a club environment, with 2012 release “Love That (Burns Hot Enough)” already sounding like a classic. The pair’s take on soulful, euphoric house was the perfect way to end a memorable night.

Should we be itching to talk about pubic hair removal?

I have a friend who doesn’t mind her partner’s genital area being hairy because it feels as though she’s having sex with a ‘real’ man. I then asked if it makes her feel like a ‘real’ woman to leave her froufrou untouched and her answer was no. She should be hair free, she said. So, why does he expect his girlfriend to be bare down-below? My guess: because women are bare in porn.

Over the past 30 years, porn has had a huge influence on our sex lives, even down to how we manage our pubic hair. A lot of the female population wax or shave their labia because it is what men expect them to do. The expectation is that women, during sex, should be neatly trimmed at the very least. God forbid that you should get down and dirty with a guy when you’re sporting the overgrown hedge look.

I myself have often undergone full deforestation and stripped my lady garden bare, making myself look like a prepubescent nine year old in the process.  Even if I’m not having regular sex, the expectation is that I should be well groomed at all times like some kind of show dog, just in case I get lucky after one too many g and ts.

Even though the majority of men in porn are also stripped of their pubic hair, most guys choose not to go for the full on Christmas turkey look. What is more, women don’t expect them to. That said, some do take the plunge and pornify their bodies these days, though they seem to be in the minority. Perhaps I haven’t accredited the possibility that this is a tricky situation for both men and women alike. So, should we all just abandon our razors and live out the Bohemian dream? As appealing as that first sounds, maybe not.

What I think makes my friend’s partner a ‘real’ man is the fact that he is unwilling to subject himself to a time consuming and uncomfortable pubic shaving regime just because porn stars do. He’s living in the real world and he is a ‘real’ man because he’s doing what he wants to do and he’s comfortable with himself. This is something which we should all be aiming for.

Student commute ‘an accident hotspot’ for cyclists

Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road are the most dangerous roads for cyclists in Manchester and the Curry Mile is an ‘ac­cident hotspot’, say police.

The roads have the highest number of accidents per year, and the area in Rush­olme is one of a few with high numbers of accidents involving cyclists along Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road, according to the Greater Manchester Police.

“This road has the highest rate of ac­cidents a year involving cyclists in Man­chester,” said PC Andy Speed. “The Curry Mile is one of a few accident hotspots.”

Figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request by The Mancuncion show that from January 2011 to August 2012 there were 43 accidents involving cyclists, 4 of which were serious, along Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road.

Whether the fault for these accidents is with cyclists or motorists has become a contentious issue in the cycling com­munity.

“We received lots of complaints from bus drivers about cyclists on Oxford Road. We investigated these complaints and found a lot of them to be genuine,” said PC Speed, responsible for running a cycling safety awareness campaign along Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road, this month.

As part of the campaign, on February 12 police were stationed at the Fallowfield end of the Curry Mile, issuing cyclists with £30 fines for any violation they made, such as riding through a red light.

Cyclists caught breaking the law were given the option of paying the fine, or at­tending one of a series of cycling safety awareness events held at Withington fire station.

Final year medical student Charlotte Hickson, who received a £30 fine for rid­ing through a red light, told The Mancun­ion that people seemed to be “such bad drivers” and said “something needs to be done” about the Curry Mile.

“The Curry Mile is the worst place,” she said. “It is basically a pedestrianized road. Almost all of my accidents have happened on the Curry Mile.

“There are pedestrians walking out from in between parked cars, car doors opening, cars double parked next to parked cars, with taxis trying to go around them. And there are pedestrians in the cycle lanes using them as walk­ways.

“Something needs to be done about Rusholme. I have never seen anything like it.”

She added, “I often go through red lights, because there are so many of them. And I think it is safer to maintain a constant speed with traffic, I feel like I am in more control.

It is more dangerous to be constantly stopping and starting, because the buses don’t look when they pull out.

“In general, everyone seems to be such bad drivers, and they are so angry.”

Former University of Manchester stu­dent Sudhin Bajimaya, who also received a £30 fine for running a red light, agreed with Miss Hickson.

“Oxford Road is very dangerous. Curry Mile is horrible,” he said. “Bus and taxi drivers don’t care about cyclists. That is why I think people cycle on the pave­ments, which is an issue.”

“I don’t usually ride through red lights. But I think it is safer to ride through on a red light than on a green light, because there is no chance of getting hit by car.

Local resident and cyclist Martin Mayor, who was issued with a £30 fine for riding through a red light outside the BBC build­ing on Oxford Road, felt strongly that the fault for accidents involving cyclists was with motorists.

“Cyclists don’t kill people, drivers do,” said Mr Mayor. “Really cyclists cause very few accidents. It is a fact that the fault lies with the drivers.”

He added, “Cyclists that are killed can’t actually ever give their side of the story.”

Fourth year History and German stu­dent Tom Glasser felt ignorant cyclists were also the ones causing problems on the road.

“It’s a lazy stereotype, but it’s true that it is usually art students on ‘fixie’ bikes who believe they are meta-beings who think they are invisible and cars cannot see them,” he said.

Inspector Paul Rowe from the GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, who has been running the cycling awareness presentations at Withington fire station, said he wants to educate cyclists, because they are the most “vulnerable”.

“People can just pick up a pushbike and ride it with no training whatsoever,” he said. “I am just trying to highlight to peo­ple, be aware of what is going on.

“Trying to educate people everybody is a big issue.

“A problem we have is a number of the different students that come, say from China and so forth, they don’t have rules and regulations like we have. So they’re not aware of what the rules are here.

Insp Rowe added, “I’d love it all to change, I feel that the cycle lanes at the side of road are difficult in the fact that all it is a lane.

“You get people parking on the cycle lanes that are lazy and can’t be bothered to park around the corner and walk to get their curry. It is an offence to park on a cycle lane.

Insp Rowe also supposed the high rate of accidents on Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road was down to the large number of cyclists using the route.

Manchester City Council told The Man­cunion that they have plans to improve cycle lanes in the city.

“We have applied for some funding from the Department of Transport. That will go towards improving the cycle paths going into the city centre and improving junctions to make them better for cy­clists,” said a spokesman for the council. “We are still at the phase of looking into exactly where that money is going to go and how it is going to be used.

“Cycling is a big priority for the city council, to make it a better city for cy­clists.

Police were on campus this month with a bus and damaged bicycles as part of presentation on cycling safety, and will be on campus in March with a similar presentation for the University’s Wellbe­ing Week.

Society in homophobia scandal shuts down after national outcry

The society embroiled in a scandal over a speaker accused of homophobia has shut down following national condemnation.

Last week The Mancunion exposed Global Aspirations for hosting a student speaker who said at a public meeting they would have homosexuals killed in their ideal Islamic state.

After the story gained national attention, the Students’ Union suspended Global Aspirations pending an investigation and the society have since voluntarily shut down.

But the original statement offered by the Students’ Union was heavily criticised and two updated statements were subsequently released as the day’s events unfolded.

It originally read, “We are deeply concerned with the covert filming of a student event within the Union. We are also deeply concerned by the suggestion that comments of a homophobic nature have been made.”

The statement provoked an angry reaction on Twitter and drew analysis from national news websites. Douglas Murray wrote sarcastically for The Spectator: “You see. Wrong done on both sides. If everybody only admitted that then perhaps we could all just get along. Can’t we?”

The Students’ Union prevented The Mancunion from releasing the video recording online for legal reasons, but it was widely shown by other news websites and has since been watched over 11,000 times at the time of writing.

Some students initially took to Facebook to defend Global Aspirations and accuse The Mancunion of sensationalism. Sahar Rauf accused The Mancunion of “shoddy journalism” and added, “The mi5 and CTU are criticised for similar under hand [sic] tactics where they have framed British Muslims, taken recordings out of context, infiltrated communities and created mistrust and paranoia.”

But as the story spread to The Telegraph, Huffington Post and PinkNews, defenders of the society were drowned out by angry students and blog posts calling for action.

Gay Muslim advocate Omar Kuddus said: “It is totally unacceptable that such extremist views advocating violence, and hatred towards homosexuals are allowed or even exist in modern Britain. Especially when it is falsely made in the name of my religion, Islam, which in its true form, as expressed in the Koran, promotes peace and acceptance.

“Have the Global Aspira­tions of Women members and chair actually read the Koran? Their comments are un-Islamic and have no foun­dation in my religion.”

Kevin Peel, a Manchester councillor and member of the LGBT Labour National Executive, told The Mancunion: “I was surprised, I have to say, that people in a city as proud of its diversity as Manchester would hold these views.

“We should absolutely sup­port freedom of speech, but people don’t have a right to say things when those com­ments infringe on the free­dom of others.”

On Wednesday, BBC North West visited the Students’ Union to cover the events. Colin Cortbus, the 1st year student who took the re­cording, told the BBC: “I don’t think this type of in­citement has any place in a 21st century democratic so­ciety. We want equality for all and liberty for all.”

Nick Pringle, General Sec­retary of the Students’ Un­ion, said: “When this was brought to light, the Stu­dents’ Union took the deci­sion to suspend the society pending investigation, and following that they took the decision to completely dis­band, which we welcome.”

BBC North West Political Editor Arif Ansari conclud­ed, “This case raises wider questions about radicalisa­tion on campus and how it’s monitored.

“It’s only through the ini­tiative of one student, not the union or the university, which has led to Global Aspi­rations being exposed.”

Khadijah Afzal, chair of now-closed Global Aspira­tions and speaking on be­half of the society, told The Mancunion: “It was a hypo­thetical discussion in which people were open to discuss their views, which or may not have necessarily been that of the society.

“The fact that you have pin pointed only the dis­cussion on the punishment system in Islam shows that you are ignorant of Islam as a political system, and hence decided to play the media rhetoric of Islam equates to harsh punishments and lack of humanity.”

Ms Afzal refused to re­spond to requests to identify the speaker.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed a complaint had been made on Wednesday 20th February regarding comments made in the vid­eo, and that “enquiries were ongoing.”

‘This pressure is making it impossible to study’

Overwhelmed by worries about family and friends and his own financial difficulties, Husam Helmi – a 32 year-old Syrian studying for a PhD in Economics and Finance at Brunel University – is close to tears as he talks about the pressures of studying many miles from home at a time when his country is tearing itself apart.

“It’s been very tough for me. I’ve had so much to do, and there’s been bad news from Syria. Last week, my cousins and my wife’s cousins were killed,” he says.

A United Nations report published in January estimated that as many 60,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict there erupted in 2011. That number was revised to 70,000 this month; with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon warning that as “the Security Council stands on the sidelines” the country is “self-destructing”.

As well as increasing fears about the safety of family and friends back home, the war has left Mr Helmi and his compatriots who are also studying in the UK struggling to support themselves financially.

Unable to get access to his funding from Syria due to the war and the subsequent closure of the country’s embassy in London, Mr Helmi has not been able to pay his tuition fees. With a wife and a two-year old daughter to support, he has had relied on his savings and been forced to take up part-time work at a college to support himself. He says he was promised some teaching work at Brunel, but that failed to materialise. His hours at the college have also been cut.

“I’m trying my best. I’m investing my time and trying to study, but it’s very difficult,” he sounds emotionally worn out as he speaks.

Earlier this year The Mancunion told the story of a number of Syrian students who were struggling to fund their “daily lives” because of the conflict. We heard from people who felt let down by their university, and from a student at the University of Salford who had received a letter from their institution warning them that they could not “graduate or complete their studies” unless fees amounting to £10,140 were paid.

Following a campaign led by the National Union of Students and coverage in the national press, support for Syrian students has been more forthcoming; though the Coalition government have failed to directly intervene to support those caught up in the crisis, but say they are examining how they can offer support to Syrians. A statement published in January from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said that: “We recommend that universities and scholarship awarding bodies use their own discretion over fees.”

A number of universities – including Salford and Brunel – have agreed to defer the payment of fees to a later date; allowing those affected by the Syria crisis to continue their studies, but not to graduate until the fees are paid. Other universities have waived fees entirely.

For students like Mr Helmi – who are studying in the UK under the terms of the Higher Education Capacity Building Project – the British Council offer a hardship fund amounting to £2,000 for students affected by the war in Syria. After a long delay he was set to receive the money at the time of writing. He says that it will offer his family short-term relief, but little more.

“It will be good to have for a short time, but it’s not enough. Monthly we pay more than £1,200 for housing and living costs,” he explains, before stating that he feels that support from Brunel has been lacking.

“Brunel have done nothing to be honest. They promised a hardship loan, or something like this; but nothing has happened.”

In a statement, Brunel University insisted that they were sympathetic to the plight of Syrian students: “Syrian students come to Brunel on a variety of different schemes and we have offered advice and support on a case by case basis. Since the spring of last year, when the situation in Syria deteriorated, we have been referring our students to our International Hardship Fund, and in other cases have helped them to apply to the British Council’s hardship fund. We are very sympathetic to the plight of our Syrian students and will continue to provide assistance and support on an individual basis.”

Back home, having been forced to move from place to place to escape the bombing, Mr Helmi’s family have fled Daryya, a city south-west of Damascus which has seen a lot of fighting, and gone to Egypt.

“In my area, and in other ‘hot areas’; areas where there is support for the revolution, people have been killed at check points. People are killed for no other reason than because they come from my city,” he explains.

“My family took the decision to leave and save their lives. My brother was studying to be a doctor at the local hospital. He has sacrificed his studies to save his life.”

After finishing his PhD, Mr Helmi had wanted to return home to help his nation develop. He admits that this is now impossible given the civil war. To highlight this point, his home university in Aleppo was bombed in January. 87 people were killed and many more were injured.

“My ambition was to finish my PhD and to use all my experience from here in the UK to develop my country: to make better universities, to improve the education system.

“Now everything has changed. Everything has become harder. I’m still ambitious about putting some effort into the education system, but it’s tricky. It’s more dangerous.”

Manchester equestrians gallop to glory

The University of Manchester Equestrian Club has won the final leg of the Championship league on the 20th February , and while they have just missed out on qualifying a team for regionals, Abbi England won the day overall and will progress individually.

There was tense competition throughout the day with all three teams pulling out all the stops to try to claim those red rosettes and the qualifying spots. In the dressage phase, each team has one member ride each of the three horses, and the best score on each horse wins, with the differences between the riders’ scores deciding the placings.

The day started disappointingly for Manchester as our first rider, highly professional Emilie Larson struggled to keep her horse, Conner, going forwards without losing rhythm, getting pipped by Bangor rider, Emily Cox, who kept him chilled and relaxed to score the highest marks, while on the second horse, Blaze, the tension got to the horse. Meanwhile Rachel Scales from Chester managed to coax him into relaxing and floating round the arena. It was not a comfortable moment for the Manchester team.

However, both our final two riders rode spectacularly to win on their horses by considerable margins. On Jerry, a very tidy and accurate ride from Christina Rud had the horse looking relaxed, happy and with great impulsion. While Abbi England was the only rider to keep the deceptively pretty Dream from misbehaving in the ring.

After dressage Manchester was sitting on a score of 38, being beaten by Chester who had scored a total of 32. Bangor was trailing behind on a score of 78. The pressure was on as Manchester did not want to lose on home ground.

A very fast turnover ensued, with the dressage arena being demolished and a jumping course being erected in record time. The jumping phase runs very similarly to the dressage, with each team having a rider ride each of the four horses over a course of fences. They get scored on their style and get penalties for knocking poles or refusing fences.

The first Manchester rider, Jordan Edwards, rode Tegan, and despite jumping a clear round didn’t manage to beat a very tidy round from Bangor rider Rachel Lok.  Things started looking up when the second Manchester rider, Christina Rud, came in on a very enthusiastic Lilly to jump a beautiful clear round to win on her.

In a dramatic moment, the Bangor rider on Lilly, Sarah Murray, was nearly popped out of the saddle after letting her get a bit too fast. A gymnastic save from the rider ensued to keep her in the saddle.

The ever professional Emilie Larson did a great job to keep her composure on the very tiny pony Dougal, riding an accurate clear round, but Bangor rider, Emily Cox pulled a beautiful round out of the bag to pip her to first place on him.

Our final rider was once again Abbi England, riding the smallest pony of the day, Charlie. While he knocked the set of planks for every rider, Abbi’s sympathetic ride managed to leave every other fence up, a feat none of the other teams could match.

It was a tense wait for the final scores to be counted up, as everyone knew this was going to be a close one.  Indeed, it was so close that both Abbi England and Christina Rud ended up on equal perfect scores, and had to be separated by their collective marks to determine who won the blue or red ribbon. The collective mark reflects the rider’s performance regardless of the horse they were riding.  In the end Abbi just cinched it with a collective mark of 176 compared to Christina’s 170.

Just as the fantastic winning results were being announced in Manchester, a call came in from our Development Team who had been competing in friendly league in Chester had matched the A team by taking the two top spots with Alex Smith winning individually and Tamarind Stanley coming second as well as Charlotte Palmer coming 6th.  These results gave Equestrian plenty to celebrate in typical AU style with 80s outfits and big hair the order of the evening.

UMEC would like to give a big thank you to everyone who helped make the day possible. It could not have happened without the committee and club members who turned out at 8am to get the horses cleaned and prepared, kept the day running on the very tight schedule and managed to get the scoring done swiftly. We’d also like to thank our sponsors Alltech and RBS who keep us performing at our very best and to the yard, John Shaw Equestrian, who let us host our competition and use their horses.

Team placings : 1st Manchester – 90, 2nd  Chester   – 98, 3rd Bangor – 128.

Individual placings: 1st Abbi England (Manchester) – 0, 2nd Christina Rud (Manchester)– 0, 3rd Rachel Scales (Chester) – 9, 4th Emily Cox (Bangor) – 12, 5th Any Gibson (Chester) – 17, 6th Rachel Lok (Bangor) – 21, 7th Emilie Larson (Manchester) – 30, 8th Stacey Minchella (Chester) – 34.

Horsemeat hysteria is helping no-one

So it seems that the issue of horsemeat has once again reared its head in the news and demanded the indignation of the nation. But is anger and outrage really the way to go about it? We are inundated and replete with the war cries of politicians, newsperson and other public commentators calling of blood and advising all of us to feel deeply outraged at this travesty that has befallen our unsuspecting nation.

When the issue was first brought to public attention it struck me as odd that so many seemed to take offence to the issue. Surely if it had been discovered that beef burgers had been contaminated with lamb there would have been nowhere near the level of impassioned response. In many ways it’s a cultural issue. We in the UK are not accustomed to regarding equines as good eating, unlike say sheep babies or bird embryos, associating them more with pageantry and racing. They are very much an animal that serves us best as decoration than served to us as a main course. Yet in such distant and exotic realms as Mongolia or France the humble horse can make for a tasty entrée.

So what is there to be concerned over? Certainly there are issues of false advertising. If I buy a Tesco ready burger I intend to get something that contains beef, and hopefully little else. I suppose if you have some religious aversion to horsemeat you may be justified in your indignation, but then I am fairly sure that most religions with significant dietary requirements would automatically rule out Tesco ready meals and the like, as would a decent appreciation for good food.

The issue of untraced meat in the food chain is of course worrying. We have regulations on the industry for a reason, and if those regulations have been flaunted, then something has definitely gone wrong. There remains the potential for all sorts of nasty things entering the food chain that I would rather not think about.

But at present this doesn’t seem to be the case. True there is the more recently discovered issue of Bute, a painkiller given to horses and may pose a possible threat to humans. But this is mostly a non-issue. Bute provides an infinitesimally small risk to a tiny section of the public, and thus far no traces of Bute have been located in any horse enhanced produce. In the possible event that Bute is present in some of it, then you would have to devour somewhere in the region of 500-600 pure infected horse burgers before the Bute causes any serious harm. Suffice it to say, if you manage to eat that many burgers your demise would probably be for the best, environmentally speaking of course.

Some might say that I am promoting apathy in the light of a possible crisis, and to a certain extent I am, if we were to use the term as the ancient Stoics understood it: acting rationally without emotions clouding our judgement.

Have sane laws and regulations been violated? Possibly, and those who have done so should face justice. Is it wrong to sell a product under the wrong name? Yes, and we should take steps to ensure that the practice stops. Has anyone actually suffered? Not to my knowledge, but if they have they should be compensated.

But the impassioned calls for blood from sycophantic politicians desperately trying to show that they are more offended, more impassioned and more willing to unleash all the forces at their disposal, whenever their ire is raised, than their political opponents are, is neither helpful nor intelligent. Figures of political significance should seldom resort to this sort of juvenile demagoguery, where each commentator tries to outdo each other in childish fury and extreme measures, especially not over such an insignificant issue. Letting emotion rule politics is a bad habit for politicians to get into, it drives them to more extreme measures whilst the more moderate voices are portrayed as weak and indecisive and thus become marginalised. Furthermore, when emotion and rhetoric become virtues of public office, and the people, likewise emotionally charged, reward that sort of behaviour at election time, it only reinforces the problem in a vicious cycle.

So how should we deal with this? Although most meat is probably safe to eat, there does remain a small chance that there might be contaminants. So eat less meat. Loath as I am to condone the propaganda of vegetarianism, cutting back would probably be for the best at the moment, especially given the environmental, health and economic considerations involved. But there’s no need to lose our heads over it.

Why I’ll be marching against the EDL this week

Oh what do we owe the pleasure, to have the English Defence League call a demonstration in our city centre on March 2nd?

After attempts to stir up racial hatred in the south of the country ended in humiliation, the EDL are trying their luck in the north where living standards are generally lower and so rifts between people are more easily opened. With economic prosperity bumping along the bottom, job security under threat through the proliferation of practices such as zero-hours contracts and the cutting of welfare provision occurring in a country where the stoking of racial and class tensions is a familiar strategy of newspapers to prop up their dying craft, it’s not hard to see that conditions are in their favour. Add the media’s cyclical whipping up of UKIP support that has given them a frequent platform to spout nationalist sentiment and it’s obvious that more than ever is a robust counter-demonstration is needed to combat the harmful bigotry that these groups encourage and perpetrate.

In response, I’ve heard a few of reasons as to why counter-demonstrations are a bad idea or are unnecessary. Though varied, they all rely on an understanding of the EDL which is abstract, naïve and totally ignores the very real harm these racist groups can cause.

Some like to cast the ongoing EDL demonstrations and counter-demonstrations of anti-racism groups as a numbers game. That it is a pastime for the far-left and far-right that involves very few people and so it would be better to leave the EDL alone, let them protest, tire themselves out and go home dejected that no one is listening to them. Further it is argued, by turning up to protest against them, anti-racists and anti-fascists actually draw attention to the EDL’s odious politics and give them greater presence.

Yet this understanding of groups like the EDL is an abstract portrayal which totally removes them from the context of their surroundings and places them in vacuum where they are safe and harmless. In doing so, it renders them as something they are not. It is a view based on the assumption that the EDL will stick by its false promise of “peacefully protesting” when not provoked, when repeatedly their members have shown that they are willing to do otherwise. It is also a view which is far too long-sighted, missing the smaller picture. The risk of the EDL storming parliament is probably quite low, but there are numerous instances where individuals have been attacked, regardless of whether they are actually Muslim or not. No one should be forced to avoid the city centre due to the presence of a group of drunken racist thugs, regardless of whether there are 20 or 200 of them.

What’s more, by ignoring the EDL you allow them to set the discourse, define the boundaries of debate and effectively allow them to prepare an intellectual home ground, giving them a more favourable identity. By demonstrating against them, anti-racists and anti-fascists are able to contest this and give the EDL the image they deserve. Their name may be spread more widely, but in association with the violence, racism and fascism they perpetuate.

Finally, it is not just the EDL whose portrayal is twisted outside of reality. Anti-racists and anti-fascists are often confronted with three condemnatory words that is quite possibly the all time most incredible misuse of a political principle in order to derail debate: “freedom of speech.” Detractors of counter-demonstrations argue that by protesting against hate groups like the EDL, their right to protest and air their views is infringed upon. This is often followed by an argument that it’s the “thin end of the wedge”, “the start of a slippery slope” and that despite their awful views and intentions of stirring up racial hatred, their rights should be defended at all costs, just like any other group.

But here’s the kicker: anti-fascists and anti-racists are not part of the state or in a position of institutional power, trying to silence a dissenting group from the top-down. They are grassroots organisations of individual people who are concerned about the activities of the EDL and for whom anti-racism is a cause worth fighting for, and racism a cause worth fighting against. Freedom of speech is a principle applied against the state, to protect us against the activities of the state, and to invoke it against anti-racists and anti-fascists removes it totally from its proper context.

In fact if the EDL are exercising their legitimate freedom of speech it seems a shame not to do the same: I urge anyone who wants to stop racism and fascism to exercise their freedom of speech, join the counter-demonstration and tell the EDL on 2nd March that they’re not welcome in Manchester!