Introduction The winter of 2010 saw a wave of student rebellions and occupations in the UK (Ismail, 2011: 123-131). These were in response to the Government’s proposed restructuring of Higher Education (HE) and to its flagship policy: the ability of universities to treble their tuition fees. The unpopularity of these reforms, the state of austerity …
Hurricane Sandy hit the North-East US at a time of ongoing consolidation of the US nation-state and its militarised apparatus of governance that is the US national security state. It reaffirmed to many that times of emergency, whether man-made or environmental, prove the necessity of government, of a coordinated response that seeks to alleviate danger …
Introduction The last year has witnessed an increasing focus on the prevalence of racism, antisemitism and hooliganism in the host countries of Euro 2012, Poland and the Ukraine, within and beyond the English media landscape. The most recent example of this was the BBC Panorama documentary entitled ‘Stadiums of Hate’, aired on 28 May 2012, …
A review of Springtime: The New Student Rebellions, edited by Clare Solomon and Tania Palmieri, Verso, London 2011. I was admittedly sceptical about reading Clare Solomon and Tania Palmieri’s (edited volume, 2011), Springtime: The New Student Rebellions. Although I participated in and was in awe of the student protests that took place in the UK in …
The Smoleńsk air tragedy of April 2010 where 96 Polish government representatives, including President Lech Kaczyński, lost their lives on their way to a memorial service of the Katyń massacre, brought Poland to the attention of an international audience. International and Polish media characterised the scenes in Poland of grief and protest in the months …
On 6th December 2010 a group of students at the University of Bristol occupied Senate House, the administrative nerve-centre of the University. They did this in solidarity with other student occupations happening across the UK which have been protesting the government-proposed education cuts and changes to the University fee-structure. The aim was to open a …
Last holiday season, my parents decided to buy me a new Samsonite suitcase, which would be big, sturdy and easy to handle. This was meant to ease their anxiety about my comfort during my frequent travels from Bristol to home in Nicosia – as well as guarantee that I could fit as many books and …