WikiLeaks.org featured in news bulletins last week after it posted a video of an American helicopter on patrol in Baghdad in 2007. The footage – available to anybody with an internet connection – shows U.S. troops murdering civilians.

The description provided reads as follows: “The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.”

During the film’s 17 minutes, you witness the deaths of about twelve people. It seems at first that you are watching the latest Bourne film, before you remember that the people writhing in pain on the dusty pavement had families and real lives. They had jobs and a favourite meal – but they’re vapourised in front of your eyes when a trigger gets pulled. The footage is deeply disturbing.

The video has two main potential consequences. The first, which the site’s webmasters emphasise, is greater accountability – with the U.S. army being internationally shamed. The second is that teenage kids logging on will seriously damage their mental health. Until suitable online age-checks are devised, this website may cause as much harm as good.

The idea behind Wikileaks is that anyone can anonymously post official documents or other information that exposes corruption or abuses of power by governments or corporations. Some documents uncover what equipment the U.S. army is really buying for use in Iraq, while others explain what goes on behind the iron curtain at Guantanamo Bay.

It is a bizarre experience for unauthorised people, like myself, to read these affairs of state. Wikileaks provokes a paranoia that a SWAT team are about to break down the door. There is also the inkling that the content is spurious – that is, until you realise this source is endorsed by a long list of recognisable organisations including the Associated Press and the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University. It is also denounced and/or blocked in China, Israel, North Korea, Russia, and Zimbabwe.

The Guardian calls WikiLeaks “…an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch.” Whether this information should be so available is a question that remains unanswered for me. Decide for yourself at www.wikileaks.org.

Timothy Opobo, a Ugandan postgraduate student at UCD undertaking an MA in Development Studies – originally encountered Harris whilst working in Liberia for on the behalf of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect.

Opobo explained that he was “taken up by this particular story of Jowel because she was very sincere in telling me that she had dropped out of school, because her parents could no long afford to send her. She was also open in telling me that she had had a child at 15, and had been abandoned by the child’s dad.”

UCD Chaplain, Fr Leon Ó Giolláin, facilitated the funding by referring Harris’s case to the World Aid Society, who have organised the donation to Harris, who will spend it on tuition fees and course materials.

Ó Giolláin told The University Observer that Opobo had visited the student advice drop-in centre in the Newman Building, because “…he was concerned about [Harris], whom he felt had great potential, but he was not in a position to help her anymore… it was such a pity that she would lose the opportunity because she is a talented person.”

Harris has expressed her gratitude by email, saying “I am so excited with the news of this assistance. I am really grateful to the World Aid Society because now I can go back to school.”

Opobo echoed this sentiment, commenting that “by coming in to support her education, the World Aid Society has created change – not only for her, but change that will benefit her child, her daughter.” He added that Jowel was “blown away by the fact that she is going to start school again because we had in one sense lost hope, and the World Aid Society has restored this hope.”

Ó Giolláin was keen to highlight how the story of how UCD students had come to fund Harris’s education was “kind of unique”, but said he hoped “it’ll become a paradigm for other such stories that can be told. It’s very good that we can link in with people who are in need, particularly when it comes to education.

“It also highlights for us here, how privileged we are and what opportunities so many of us have in the Western World for education which sets us up for life,” Ó Giolláin added.

Liberia is a West African country recovering from a devastating 14-year long civil war. 80 per cent of Liberia’s 3.8 million people are illiterate.

Cosgrove told The University Observer that the election had turned out “the way I wanted – I’m in anyways, so happy days.” He described the period preceding the voting, which took place on the 3^rd and 4^th March, was “fun [and] a lot of work.” Cosgrove praised his campaign team, revealing “I was quite sick during the actual main election time, so that [made me think], ‘Thank God I have a really good election team who decided to still show up every day and do everything for me.’”

Asked if he was worried that he may have been defeated by the RON option, Cosgrove revealed he was worried people would not vote for him because of personal reasons. “There’s one thing people just not liking me personally, but its another thing to say that I am not the right person for the job,” Cosgrove commented. “A lot of my thing was to show, through my manifesto, I do know what I’m doing. I have the experience to do it and I think I’ll be good for the job.”

Cosgrove thought that the turnout at this year’s elections, which was over 20 per cent lower than the turnout last year, was a result of the smaller number of candidates seeking the available positions. Disagreeing that student apathy had played a part in the turnout, Cosgrove said that “in the end we had a very high turnout considering there were three uncontested elections.”

Although current Ents officer Mike Pat O’Donoghue remains in office until 1^st July, Cosgrove says he has already started working on his projects for next year, “at the moment we are still in term, and I’m still doing my exams, unfortunately […] I’m doing research into everything and seeing what do I actually need to start before I take office. As soon as we’re all finished exams we can look an awful lot more into it.”

Cosgrove was keen to express his eagerness to get started as part of next year’s team, explaning that “I’m looking forward to working with them all. We’ve all worked together at some stage already so I’m really looking forward to us working as a team.

“A lot of people are saying that I’m losing my summer, but I’m gaining time on next year. I am really looking forward to getting planning on everything.”

Chaplain Fr Leon Ó Giolláin, who organised the event, said “I knew that very many religions [are] represented on campus. I felt it was important to reach out to these religions, and to gather as a group to hear the richness of each of their experiences and their tradition.”

Chaplain Fr Leon Ó Giolláin with student representatives from the world’s religions met in UCD’s St Stephen’s Chaplaincy last week to unite UCD’s various faithful communities as part of International Week. Photo: Alex Court

Fr Ó Giolláin added that “the world is getting smaller [and] it is very important we build a united world. If the great religions of the world don’t start by doing that as a sign of its possibility, then we risk never doing it at all.”

During the evening EVENT, which was also attended by Vice-President for Students Dr Martin Butler, individuals were asked to share a summary of the essence of their faith.

Fr Ó Giolláin listed the diversity of representatives in attendance. He told The University Observer that “there were Catholics certainly, there were people from other Christian traditions. We had Muslims, we had Hindus, we had Buddhists represented. We had Bahá’ís, and we had an Agnostic who spoke very eloquently.”

After representatives had presented their perspective, time was dedicated to questions and answers, where many sought to draw parallels between the different traditions.

Fr Ó Giolláin expressed how pleased he was with the meeting, calling it “fantastic” and expressing his happiness at the level of turnout.

After the presentations, participants chatted informally, and many explained how satisfied they were by the event. One student said he had found the event “very interesting for me… it shows that’s there’s freedom of religion in this world as many people have different views and they are practising it in their own ways.” The student added their reaffirmation that “all the religions in this world are more towards doing good to the people.”

Similar sentiments were conveyed by another student who attended the event, who said he felt that “it was really good to see people from different faiths talking to each other and trying to understand each other.” He added that he “did learn quite a lot and I really think the way forward [is] to understand each other.”

The meeting was attended by two of UCD’s five Bahá’í students, one of whom stated that “I think there was [a] great spirit of connection between people of different faiths. It was really interesting to see things side by side and everybody is looking to make connections,” and that “it was really a feeling of connection.”

Pat de Brún
2^nd Law

A second year law student from Carlow, Pat de Brún is keen to make the Students’ Union more relevant, but may need to consider the problems with some of his promises.

Pat de Brún is quick to criticise UCD Students’ Union, saying “visibility is the main problem for me at the moment”. This confident man’s mind is made up that “the main reason I want to do this job, is to make the SU relevant and make it visible…”

The current Law B&L Programme Officer, de Brún’s solution is his pledge to get SU officers “out there lecture addressing, constantly letting people know what’s going on… Get the sabbatical [officers] to visit the houses on res and ask students what they want.” Not something we haven’t heard before.

This candidate plans to keep a closed perspective in considering student demands: “This is UCD Students’ Union and my only interest is to represent the students.” He says this will help keep the Union relevant, as “If you focus on UCD issues… you’ll get more respect from the students.”

Such a focus incorporates his plans to replace the Women’s Officer position with a Gender Equality Officer and making week-long events such as Green Week, the annual SU environmental campaign, into year-long projects.

De Brún talks these promises up by clarifying how “having a Women’s Officer and not a Men’s Officer is in itself sexist… having a Women’s Officer makes [no] difference to women running for sabbatical elections,” but cannot explain why the incoming sabbat team will yet again be entirely male.

As for year-long campaigns, de Brún insists that the current system is fraught with “costly fillers.” Projects like supporting UCD’s gay and lesbian community, he maintains, will be better achieved over a longer timeframe. Whether momentum can be sustained over such a period isn’t a question he’s overly worried about.

This policy isn’t applicable throughout, however, as Seachtain na Gaeilge would remain unchanged. Asked why the Irish language is made an exception of, the response goes “because… as we’ve seen over the past couple of years it has an extremely high turnout for every event…” Perhaps his Gaeilge policy derives from his Gaelscoil education, and is nothing short of hypocritical.

While he is confident, and would do well shouting in lecture theatres, de Brún’s goals need more thought. It seems as if de Brún has assumed that most students will see his ideas as good ones, and has not anticipated criticism.

~~

Colm Maguire
3^rd Arts

A thoughtful politics and philosophy student from Manchester, Colm Maguire wants to personalise the Students’ Union, but is this merely motivated out of a timid inability to address students en masse?

Maguire talks with some academic confidence. His hushed speech is peppered with a Mancunian accent. He’s no loudmouth lad, and has thoroughly considered why he wants to be a sabbatical officer.

Maguire notes that the Students’ Union has almost 20,000 members behind it, and then says “strength in numbers is what makes the Students’ Union worthwhile.” He is simultaneously aware that “members feel detached from the Union,” but remains confident this can change with intimate communication.

Maguire reveals some creativity on this topic: “Currently, our communications strategy is emails and posters but… you get emails everyday and there’s posters all over campus. I think a more personal touch is needed.” What this is and whether it’s realistic remains questionable.

Maguire is keen to highlight the volume of Union members as a deciding factor in his work, if elected, on national campaigns. He sees UCDSU to be “in a position to help others who are less fortunate” and thinks wider projects are worthwhile because of his “social conscience”.

Though Maguire means well, he cannot reply to criticism that suggests campaigns like advocating gay marriage would leave him without time to fight tuition fees. His reply is weak: “We would help students in particular minorities… [but] if there’s an issue which is more student-related we’d concentrate on that.”

Another aspect voters should fairly consider is whether a Briton like Colm – whose key campaigning experience, as evident in the photograph on the back of his manifesto, is marching against the British National Party – would effectively represent Irish students. Maguire himself admits “I can’t speak Irish…that is probably [my] largest weakness,” but points out how – like his predecessors – he “would give the Irish language officer full confidence over Seachtain na Gaeilge,” a campaign he fully supports.

While he may have put more thought into his campaign than de Brún, it seems Maguire would operate best in one-on-one meetings rather than standing, Dan O’Neill-style, on a soapbox.

~~

Analysis

An issue de Brún will face in his proposed lecture addressing and res visits is time constraints. Another is driving students crazy. Will students who live on campus appreciate a politician knocking on their door every month? De Brún needs to see that some students will be too busy finishing an essay due the next morning, or immersed in Scrubs, to find an SU presence immediately welcome. De Brún might not be invited into living rooms or thanked for trying to initiate debate on how to improve campus living.

If people do invite him in and get chatting, de Brún will soon stutter should anyone oppose his initiatives. He’ll offer some quick quip to get him off the hook, or simply revert to ‘campaign weeks are crap, year-long events are much better,’ merely raising his tone should you ask for reasons why this is so.

Maguire, alternatively, mightn’t be audible if he addresses a lecture. Front-row students who do catch his whispers may be shocked to learn their registration fee is supporting a fund he established to aid Egyptian farmers or some-such worthwhile but irrelevant cause.

You might feel sorry for this kind-hearted man, who says he would resign from the SU if his office was mandated to campaign for the re-introduction of third-level fees, but this is probably not a good reason to vote him into office.

Neither candidate will make an ideal Campaigns & Communications Officer: de Brún has the brawn but lacks the campaining finesse, while Maguire is too meek and might be more effective if he could ignore his moral high ground. RON may fare better than normal in this race.

Photo: Alex Court

You’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt. You bought the white t-shirt, I suspect – the one that reads, “My boyfriend went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”. Cool. The fact your Facebook status says ‘Single’, and it was you yourself that visited London and bought the t-shirt (lousy as it may be), is irrelevant.

You saw Big Ben, the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. You tumbled onto the Tube and agreed to ‘mind the gap’. You strolled past Notting Hill’s blue door and then boarded your Ryanair flight home.

Rushing to tick these landmarks off your list, you missed the truth of the town. You didn’t see the smoky alleys tourist operators obligingly hide you from. My advice is to pocket the guide book. Take the Victoria tube line from Victoria train station four stops southbound, and re-surface in Brixton.

This pocket of Afro-Jamaican markets is unparalleled. Imagine Moore St (minus the Irish knackers screaming “grand”) spanning for miles. Turn left out of the Tube station, past a supermarket, and take the first lane left.

Smells will stun you instantly: a mix of cranberries, mixed spices, raw fish, cooking vegetables and sweaty socks. Reggae music is mixed with voices singing and voices selling. You may be confronted by Christian fanatics intent on bringing you into God’s embrace. A keen salesman might be certain you need 15 packs of red hair extensions. If not, maybe a mobile?

No matter how well-travelled you are, you will see vegetables and carcasses you never knew existed. Halal butchers, with broad bushy beards, will wield sharp swords for dicing their produce.

The open street quickly reaches an intersection. Great graphic graffiti! Cross the road and catapult into the covered market. It’s another world; you can buy anything from a perm to 12” records – along with a tambourines, a root beer and a mop. There is music and an exciting hubbub. Fragrances, not all legal, are not for the frail.

Visit Rosie’s café and she’ll let you choose the music. I once asked, pointing at a bottle I didn’t recognise, if it was beer. The answer I received in an accent which encompassed Spain, Portugal and Austria was “there is no alcohol in this house.” I ordered orange juice and mushroom risotto. Scrumptious.

Bar seats face the wide windows. Grab something tasty and watch the passing characters. You don’t need a book or iPod – all the entertainment you will want is there already: tall, gangly Rastas with dreadlocks and rotting teeth; plump African woman colourfully covered in sheets and headdresses; orthodox Jews, kippah and all; Football-loving, track suit wearing geezers. Which one of these secluded strangers is you?

When you’ve had your fill, pay the bill – it’ll be cheaper than anywhere else in this sprawling city of millions – and hop back on the Tube. Westminster Bridge and Buckingham Palace will look far more alive.

Students’ Union President Gary Redmond has expressed his satisfaction at the survey’s findings, describing the result as “a clear indication that the people of Ireland want third-level education to remain free.” He also said that the results “fly in the face of Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s previous proposals to re-introduce tuition fees, and his repeated remarks that the issue will revisited at the end of his Government’s term.”

When asked how the results of the poll might be used, Redmond said that the SU planned to “use the results of surveys to influence how we work with ongoing campaigns and future campaigns, and also how we may direct our lobbying.”

1,000 adults – including samples from a diverse range of age groups and from various geographical bases around the country – were questioned as part of the survey, which was conducted by telephone. The strongest support for continued state funding of third-level fees came from the 18-24 year-old age group.

However, before the results were published, Redmond was reticent to comment on whether or not the SU were carrying out surveys relating to public opinion on third-level education. When previously questioned, Redmond said that “there’ll be a number of issues and I’m not going to say whether fees is or isn’t something we’ve been polling on, but certainly we’ve done polling on national issues in the past.”

However, Redmond was keen to clarify that a substantial effort is made to “…ensure that the questions were unbiased and were balanced. [We don’t] weight the questions in favour or against an answer that we might like.”

The results of the survey come after the heads of the State’s main universities, including UCD President Hugh Brady, acknowledged at a Joint Oireachtas Committee meeting last month that the student registration charge is a veiled form of third-level fees. Fine Gael Education Spokesman, Brian Hayes TD, has accused Minister O’Keeffe for introducing fees in the form of the annual increase to the student services levy, which last year stood at €1,500.

Anjem Choudary, an ex-lawyer from East London, has featured repeatedly in the press recently. Alan Johnson, the head of Britain’s Home Office, has banned Choudary’s Islam4UK organisation; since 14^th January, people who claim membership of the group may face up to ten years in prison. The government says it is a precaution to protect the British population from radical militant Muslims, Choudary says it is for other reasons.

So, what does Islam4UK do? Is it really so dangerous and nasty that Brits need protection from it? The group’s main aim is to make Britain a Muslim country ruled by Sharia Law. With their particular dislike of man-made rules, Choudary says the group “will continue until the Sharia is implemented in Britain, and one day we do believe that the flag of Islam will fly over 10 Downing Street.”

Far too many people in Ireland understand Sharia as a horrible, brutal thing, being only exposed to the word in articles concerning al-Qaeda, Taliban and al-Shabab in Somalia, and never in less extreme contexts.

In Arabic, Sharia means “the clear, well-trodden path to water”. It does not mean, as some have glibly suggested, ‘stone adulterous woman to death’ or ‘cut the hands off thieves’. It has only taken these obnoxious connotations because of the actions of extremist regimes, justifying their inhumane punishments through their own (mis)interpretations.

Muslims have Shari just as Christians have Commandments. Muslims believe their guide to have been given to the prophet Mohammed by Allah, and follow it in preparation for the next life.

Choudary’s goal, though, still seems silly. The UK is yet to have a non-Christian Prime Minister, suggesting that the only way the Muslim flag might be hoisted is through (violent) revolution – not something that a country that has thrived on democracy for centuries needs.

Furthermore, democracy is not something Choudary endorses, saying: “I hate secularism and freedom… and [I hate] liberalism as defined by man-made laws and democracy” – certainly unpopular sentiments to express in the UK or in the West generally.

If one is in favour of democracy and freedom, though, then surely one should be appalled at Johnson’s decision to ban the group? If everyone is free, shouldn’t people be free to hate freedom? Listening to Choudary’s thoughts on Afghanistan, it became clear why this line of thought sometimes has to give way.

“I do believe that the U.S.A. has forces in Afghanistan to stop the rising support for the Taliban establishing Sharia Law. I do believe they [the Taliban] can take Islam and they can remove their enemy.”

But is support for Sharia in Afghanistan rising, or are Afghans being forced by gun-toting religious gangs to adopt a more radical interpretation of the Koran? One suspects it’s the latter.

Slowly it becomes less surprising that the Home Office has moved to stop Islam4UK. Choudary believes Gordon Brown – “the stooge of Barack Obama” – is misleading the public on the real reason his army is in Afghanistan: “It is really to establish their own greedy, military economic force in the area.” It would make sense for a government to restrain these remarks from percolating through society.

Choudary continued. “I believe sovereignty belongs to God, and I believe that under that regime [the Taliban], the life, the wealth, the honour, the dignity of Muslims would be protected. They would have their basic needs everyday and their shelter.” Taliban leaderships in the past have banned music and colour. Men were not allowed to shave, and  woman forced to cover their heads in veils. One hopes Afghanistan learns from history, and doesn’t plunge itself back into the dark Middle Ages.

Choudary also explained to me that “if you say something nowadays against the government… freedom quickly dissipates and it is replaced with dictatorship.” While his perspective is informed by recent censoring events, it is too much to call Gordon Brown a dictator. The current PM can’t dictate so much as a letter when he tries.

Why would Choudary care anyway? He hates democracy! It starts to sound as if dictatorship might suit Islam4UK quite well, as long as Choudary was the human form through which Allah channels his will – a man living lavishly in No. 10 with the Islamic flag blowing above the door.

The Home Office’s move to ban this group, then, is less rash than it previously seemed to be – it is founded in reason, as a necessary, isolated move to protect citizens. It is not the beginning of the end of freedom.

My birthday is not an occasion I celebrate with much gusto. I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s because my parents brought me up badly. Who knows? I don’t like my birthday, and I don’t have to justify why.

I don’t grab my gifts with elation. The wrapping paper often hides pleasant objects, but opening them ceremoniously makes me feel uncomfortably scrutinised. “Its only ‘cos they love me,” I’m constantly reminded.

Like so many, there’s always one particular present I have to fake my surprise/joy/gratitude with. This year it was a book with a black-grey cover. About as enticing as an empty, window-less room painted sludgy brown. The Kindness of Strangers was the title my eyes read as my cheeks stung with a fake smile. After everybody had gone back to ignoring me (thank God!) I peeked inside the covers.

Turns out, the plain paper and ink could be the best thing that has ever happened to me. That’s perhaps an exaggeration, but only just. The 26 lively, interesting, fun stories are refreshing and revitalising. I rationed myself one story a night; resisting gluttony to eek out this happiness for as long as possible.

Each story, with settings ranging from Uganda to Russia to Algeria, simply explains one situation one person was in. The central character is vulnerable, alone and isolated, before one person helps them. It is special simplicity.

A possible favourite is set on a small Hawaiian island. The character is driving his rented car when disaster strikes and the reader’s stress levels peak. As you start thinking this story was meant for a horror anthology, he is saved – not by a friend or relative, but by someone who’s never met him before.

The book’s angelic lifesavers are the inspiration, as they have the purest intentions. They aren’t looking for praise or thanks; they simply see someone in need of a helping hand and they give freely.

It’s a beautiful message to remind yourself of in these days of banking probes and global warming – people help one another in unexpected ways every day. It also works well within a busy schedule: read a story on the bus to college, on a lazy Sunday, before you go to bed, or if you need a college break. Flexible yet enduring, it is excellent all round.

Entering the soft sumptuous garden of the book for the first time, I encountered the slightly spiky sentence, “I believe in Kindness, rather as religious people believe in God.” Cringe and crap, I thought. By then end of the book, I understood what was meant, and couldn’t agree more. Maybe my next birthday will be better, but I really doubt it.

The Kindness of Strangers is written by Katrina Kittle.