For students at the University of Aberdeen, much of their time is spent huddled over books in the library or feverishly jotting notes of lecture slides. Our days are often centred around our studies and our evenings taken up by societies or socialising. For much of their four-year course, that is their life.
The Gaudie sat down with a student who is not onl y studying hard but taking time to attend local protests and demonstrations. Kate is a third-year student studying business and sociology. She has attended seven of the recent counter-protests at asylum accommodation as well as a few pro-Palestinian protests outside of Barclays Bank on Union Street. The Gaudie interviewed Kate about how she feels her student life intersects with her protest activity.
How to prepare for a protest
Protests can be an intimidating atmosphere for many, often depicted in the media as volatile. Kate disagrees with the narrative and finds that protests can be approachable. Her first protest was before the election of the current Labour government. She made a sign out of her Guinea pig’s food box that read “only shitebags vote for Torries.” This sign was well received amongst many at the protest, and Kate felt as though she’d found her way in. Kate finds that having a good sign that can spark conversation is an easy way to join a protest and find some common ground. She said that her piece of advice for a protest would be to “get a sign or leaflet and bring it.”
“And a mask, masks are important.” Kate explained that especially for counter protests, masks can be a good way to protect your privacy and your space. She recounts a time she attended a counter-protest, and one man was shouting through the megaphone a counter-protester’s “full name and address.” Kate wants to debunk the narrative that protesters wearing masks cause them to be ashamed of their beliefs and says, instead, she is afraid of being personally confronted or “harassed” when at a protest.
How to juggle student life and advocacy
For Kate, she finds that structure is the easiest way for her to balance her student life and her advocacy. She says that for her “it’s making Monday to Friday just uni work and nothing else,” then on the weekends she’ll do a protest. “In the afternoon and then I’ll do a pub quiz or something like that to wind down.” She finds that balance is the best way to not get burned out. She says that having a protest on the weekend is something she looks forward to “at the end of the weekend I think like I’ve done a good deed, so I feel good.”
Kate does encourage students to go to weekday protests though if they prefer their weekends free, saying that there’s often counter-protests going ahead. “Where [anti-immigration] protesters go, we follow.”
How does your degree impact your advocacy
Kate says she can predict what people’s conceptions of sociology are, “I think it is seen as a very progressive degree.” she says, “it does teach some outlandish concepts,” but also some that you can “apply very rationally.” Kate had originally gone to college to be a nurse but found the workers’ rights to be “terrible.” So, she decided to do business and sociology, as she wanted an opportunity to change policy. “The business part of my degree has really helped with actually understanding where policy comes from.” Business has allowed her to channel her advocacy into ideas of real change. And sociology has allowed her to see how groups throughout history have “banded together to make a social movement.” Her degree encourages her to continue to protest.
Attending protests have also had an impact on her degree, specifically in the planning of her dissertation next year. It was originally going to be on “dark tourism” (the name for travelling to places that are associated with death or tragedy.) Now, however, Kate plans on “changing it to violence against women and girls.” Kate is sure that her passion for this topic has been “really influenced by these protests,”
“I’d say everything that I’m hoping to do now is in the improvement of advocacy for women.”
She feels as though this advocacy and the voice of women can be lost at these protests, especially surrounding immigration. Many anti-immigration protests have signs that say, “protect our women,” but that any women at these protests are often getting “overruled by loud men.”
Does the university do enough to promote student protests
“I would love to see more posters.” Kate understands that the university cannot be seen as promoting a certain side of a political issue or a party and that societies are good outlets for advocacy “but I’m sure they have limitations.” Kate feels as though the university could do more to offer a space for students to promote their advocacy even if the university can’t do it directly. “Maybe having an information board that’s like ‘here’s things happening in Aberdeen but outside of the uni,’” she envisions a place where all students can promote advocacy work that is important to them.
“I think there an opportunity there that’s getting missed for an open line of communication”
Want to attend a protest but too nervous?
Kate suggests that the easiest way to start protesting is to first go to a counter-protest (though this may seem like the more chaotic option.) “I think that’s where you’ll find your niche,” Kate says. People are coming from many different organisations and opinions to talk about one specific issue, and you can therefore get a more varied idea of how you’d want to join a protest. Social media is the best and most accessible place to see and share information about protests, many groups and organisations post about the issues being discussed and where to go. It allows students to choose what protests they can go to and which ones to sit out. Kate also stresses that you don’t need to be shouting on the front lines to participate in a protest. “Get a coffee across the street and watch[…] look at everything, look into the points on both sides and see what you align with.” For Kate a protest is most importantly about the conversation it sparks.