Amy Hubbard presents the city’s cheapest (and possibly best) cinema:
Campus Cinema, the University of Exeter’s very own student led cinema society, lies at the heart of the campus, both literally (it’s in Devonshire House, right next to the Forum) and, I like to think, metaphorically as a friendly, welcoming and enthusiastic community dedicated to sharing the magic and escapism of cinema.
Showing a range of films including recent blockbusters, independents and classics, all at ridiculously cheap prices, this is a fantastic and highly economical way to spend an evening. It is also a sneaky way of avoiding an assignment deadline, catching up on a summer blockbuster that your friends won’t stop talking about or an excuse to swap all those bowls of pasta and supermarket ready meals for a nice healthy dose of popcorn and sweets (both of which are conveniently on sale right outside the cinema).
With film festivals, outdoor screenings and collaborations with other societies going on throughout the year there will always be something to catch your eye. And the society is not about simply showing films. The regular film quizzes and numerous themed socials that happen every term mean that Campus Cinema is also a great way to get involved in campus life, make lots of friends and have some good old discussions about why Alan Rickman is so indescribably awesome in Die Hard or why Leonardo DiCaprio has not won an Oscar yet. Seriously, why?
Look out for the new Autumn Term programmes being distributed across campus for a list of upcoming films and events and also details about the fantastic membership offers. Screenings take place in the M&D Room in Devonshire House on Tuesdays and Sundays at 6:30 and 9:00pm (subject to running time) so come along for an inexpensive evening of cinematic glitz, glamour, escapism and popcorn.
English Defence League in Britain. Image credits: Gavin Lynn
After the Woolwich murder, Rory Morgan argues why there is so much unjustified hatred for Islam in the United Kingdom.
With the recent horrific attack in Woolwich there has been a significant rise in hate crimes directed at Muslims. The Faith Matters hotline (a service set up to deal with anti-Muslim attacks) recorded 162 incidents on the Wednesday after the attack, a dramatic growth in the daily average of six. Even six is too many. This seems to once again show a severe spike in the great problem this country has with Islamophobia. Many will say that this stems directly from the attackers’ loose connections with the faith, but when considering solid facts it seems more that the British and western media outlets are truly the ones to blame for this now growing problem of unfair racial generalisation and prejudice.
Political academic Mark Goodwin recently tweeted that in a study of media articles between 2000-2008 only 2% framed Muslims positively. It would be ridiculous to deny that the events of 9/11 in 2001 and the London July bombings of 2005 have had a colossal impact on the representations of Muslims in the press, but here is where the problem truly lies. The press has made the faith of Islam almost synonymous with terrorism, despite the fact the overwhelming majority of Muslims view such events with an equal measure of horror as the rest of the world does and are as likely to become a terrorist as anyone else. The equivalent would be everyone in the 1980s regarding all Irish Catholics as terrorists because of the actions of the IRA, or all atheists sharing communist tendencies because of the Communist regime’s minor affiliation. This problem is also not helped by the fact that television shows such as Homeland and Spooks continually portray Muslims as scheming terrorists, helping to assert a negative stereotype of Muslims in the western world.
An “‘Us’ and ‘Them’” culture seems to have developed with 47% of Britons stating they considered Muslims a threat in a YouGov poll. This is despite the fact that 83% of Muslims are proud to be a British citizen, and 82% want to live in diverse and mixed neighbourhoods, two statistics that suggest contentment with the country and the other people in it. These figures very much indicate that it is less the attitudes and behaviour of the Islamic community that is the problem, and more the label of extremism that has been forced on to them by the press. You only have to go on the Daily Mail website to see articles almost specifically designed to promote racial hatred, with one recent article even publicising various YouTube videos of unhinged fanatical individuals celebrating terrorism. Similar videos can be found of Christian extremists, and should a paper with such a large readership really be devoting an entire article on the basis of a site that also has videos of dancing cats?
It also feels very bizarre for so many Britons to affirm their disdain for Islamic beliefs and values when the vast majority have neither read the Qur’an nor visited a mosque and are instead subject to information from tabloid newspapers and questionable websites. The Qur’an does not advocate killing and the many verses often quoted by extremists are taken out of the true context of defending oneself until safety has been restored. Unfortunately the media seems to have gone through a similar process of indoctrination that extremists do, taking verses out of the correct context and allowing the true teachings to be warped into something unrecognisable in meaning and intent.
The press coverage surrounding the attack in Woolwich has been focused strongly on the religious beliefs of Michael Adebolajo, who has identified himself as Muslim. In the video of his speech shortly after the attacks what he is saying is far less shocking than the composure and relatively calm appearance he exudes (considering he has just gruesomely murdered a man). Anyone who is able to adopt such an attitude, verging on sterile, in such circumstances must surely be considered mentally unstable. It seems quite farfetched to suggest a widely followed religious doctrine can be viewed as the sole cause for such acts of violence from individuals like this. The focus of the press should be more on the individual sanity of the attackers and just how they managed to become so indoctrinated with extremism, rather than treating Adebolajo as a mouth piece for the massive Muslim community in the UK. Actual spokespeople for the faith, such as the Muslim Council of Britain, Ramadhan Foundation and the Islamic Society of Britain, have, unsurprisingly, all condemned the actions.
Despite all of these truths, the stigma of extremism continues to stick to Islam. What is even more distressing is that recent and previous statistics continue to show that far more Muslims are victims of acts of terrorism than any other group. The Global Terrorism index from 2002-2011 shows that no Western nations come close to placing in the top ten of those countries worst-affected by terrorism, yet Islamic countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan feature in the top five. There is almost a cruel irony to Muslims being blamed and identified with something from which they feel the most negative consequences. The sad truth is that the British population are more interested in the extremely rare attacks that occur on their doorstep, rather than the far more pressing and frequents ones that occur on the other side of the world.
The very fact we now have a term for Muslim hate crimes draws a worrying parallel to the dangerous anti-Semitic events that occurred seventy years ago at the hands of a psychopath. There are organisations here on British soil which create cause for concern. The English Defence League, at the time of publication, has 136 thousand likes on Facebook and continues to actively target and blame Muslims for these attacks and other domestic problems. The British National Party organised a march on the 1st June to protest against Islam. In such difficult times for the country there is a worrying likelihood of these organisations increasing in popularity and by extension power.
Islamophobia in the United Kingdom will only disappear when British Muslims are properly accepted as citizens and not viewed as foreign and dangerously different. More needs to be done in the area of education, but not much will change until the media become less concerned with whom these extremists relate themselves to and instead begin to consider how human beings can be led so astray.
Your regular guide to what those busy bees over at XTV have been doing, and how you can get involved in future projects.
News
News being the operative word, as the XTV News show has been busy reporting on the decision to move the Music department from the beloved Knightley to new headquarters in Cornwall House. Check out their report below:
Opportunities
CREW CALL –
Crew and extras required between the 12th and 21st May for a new comedy screenplay called Secret Lives of Lecturers.
SLoL is a comedy screenplay about the private lives of four very strange, very different and very funny professors, shot in documentary style. They’re looking for anyone who wants to help out with a boom or a camera, no expertise required.
EMAIL: ds360@exeter.ac.uk
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Online Features Editor Meg Lawrence discusses Samantha Brick’s most recent article, and whether it provokes a need for censorship in the media.
Samantha Brick. Image Credits: The Telegraph
All you women out there, take heed. Forget enquiring minds, successful careers, kindness and a sense of humour. The way to a man’s heart (which is all any of us are concerned with) is with a thin body. Well, so says Samantha Brick.
Who is Samantha Brick, you may ask. For those of you blissfully unaccustomed to the utter drivel this freelance journalist espouses, she basically made headlines in The Daily Mail recently for agreeing with actress Joan Collins that that any woman who wants to stay beautiful needs to diet every day of her life. (If you want to see just how terrible the article is, read it for yourself here).
Stating that, ‘any self-respecting woman wants to be thin’ and admitting that, ‘my husband of five years frequently tells me that if I put on weight he will divorce me,’ Brick attempts to persuade her audience that women who don’t diet won’t achieve anything in life. The article is ignorant, degrading and dangerous. It’s not even amusing, as if that could be an excuse for outdated, outmoded and possibly outrageous opinion.
But it’s not the first time that The Mail has published such an article. Whilst Brick features regularly in their content, spouting article after article of useless garble, The Mail use other women such as Liz Jones and Amanda Platell, to voice opinions that degrade not only themselves but the whole female sex.
In an article for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman rightly pointed out that The Mail, ‘uses its female writers as Trojan horses to voice its most misogynistic attitudes, whether it’s having them embody the worst kind of female stereotypes through their confessional journalism, or having them write horrible things about other women.’ Women make up 53% of The Mail’s readership, yet they still get away with publishing such demeaning nonsense.
I wouldn’t seek to censor Brick – after all, we live in a society where freedom of speech and a free press are valuable commodities. However, I’d be heartened if the backlash was a little more prominent, fervent or passionate. I can accept Joan Collins’ old-fashioned ideals. She found fame at a time when women were often valued purely on looks. I don’t like what she says but I expect it. But the same cannot be said for Brick. And The Daily Mail cannot use the argument of airing a debate as a reason to continue peddling this downright stupid tat.
Exeter student Cara Delaney has decided to take action with her recent petition entitled ‘The Daily Mail: Stop Publishing Articles by Samantha Brick.’ Along with the 327 other supporters who have already signed the petition, Delaney has pledged to boycott The Mail until they show some responsibility for the articles they are publishing.
When asked why the campaign was so important to her, Cara said: ‘In the last year I’ve watched one of my best friends suffer through an eating disorder.’ She added: ‘Women aren’t treated like people in the media- they are treated like sex objects, and are under pressure to look perfect. The Daily Mail has published this article as if it’s a real piece of news, and this validates Samantha Brick’s terrible and damaging opinions.’
The Mail thrives on publishing stories that will provoke, and they enjoy the attention this creates. However, when the articles they produce could adversely affect the lives of their readers, something must be done to stop them. At the very least they should be challenged on their reasons for publishing such rubbish when real issues that genuinely affect women’s lives – poverty, human rights, childcare, careers, health, education, equality – go unmentioned.
The mainstream press has a duty to write informative, challenging, entertaining, newsworthy stories. There will always be a place for opinion pieces – but please let’s have a sense of purpose to them. How on earth does it help a single reader to discover that Brick is married to a man who fails to see her in any other light than the size dress she wears? Unless I was a divorce lawyer I’d have turned the page before getting beyond the first few paragraphs.
Amidst the furore surrounding Oscar Pistorius’ murder charge, the horse meat scandal and the Eastleigh byelection, it is easy to forget that a humanitarian crisis in Syria is continuing, argues Harrison Jones.
The Prince of Wales meeting Syrian refugees this week. But are the public fed up with hearing about Syria? Picture credits: The British Monarchy
The modern press is unforgiving in its priorities, with the deaths of around 60 people in Damascus last month going virtually unnoticed. Indeed, it seems as if the British public are simply bored of the Arab Spring, now taking a rather blasé attitude towards the civil war raging in a faraway nation.
Of course, there are various crises in a multitude of countries worldwide, but after the recent conviction of potential UK suicide bombers and concern over the terrorist threat from Mali, media coverage of Syria is striking in it’s sparsity.
Whilst becoming slightly bored of the countless Harlem Shake videos invading screens nationwide, the public remained virtually oblivious to the numerous deaths and injuries only a few thousand miles away. It all seemed a mere after-thought on the news channels, immune as we all appear to now be to such reports, after 23 relentless months of violence.
But the desperate situation in Syria shows no sign of abating. An estimated 70,000 people have already died and around 2.5 million have fled their homes, with food supplies remaining drastically low. Despite the worst of the winter now being over, the Syrian people have very little shelter, hindered by daily destruction of infrastructure – partly the fault of the Russian government continuing to arm the Assad regime.
The Domiz Refugee Camp in Iraqi Kurdistan which is currently housing 50,000 Syrian refugees. Around 2.5 million have fled their homes and 70, 000 estimated dead. Picture credits: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
After Kofi Annan’s rather futile ‘plan’ predictably failed to stop Assad – and the rebels – from committing numerous atrocities, no coherent alternative has since been implemented.
The UN appears no closer to solving the issue, as the similarities with its failed predecessor, The League of Nations, become increasingly apparent. It too failed to deal with numerous issues amidst an economic downturn on a similar scale to the current one. And their international priorities, certainly from a European perspective, were apparently not with the plight of war-torn populations, but with their own world standing.
To add to the current international body’s mishandling of the situation, it all seems to be a contradiction in principles. Only last year, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and others were all taking part in military action in Libya. The circumstances are remarkably similar, except that the Syrians have a far bigger army. Oh, and far less oil.
Yet the media appears to have become hushed over the whole affair. It is understandable, because the public will inevitably become tired of repetitive stories and eventually not buy, read or view them. Nonetheless surely it is the press’ job to highlight major crises, no matter how tedious the coverage may become. Clearly it is not as simple as writing an article and watching it become policy; but more debate in the media might increase the chances of finding a viable solution.
It seems particularly surprising that government inconsistency has not been more widely probed. If the principle is there: that intervention is acceptable, then help probably ought to be given to the rebels, if only for consistency’s sake. Without such a solution – of whatever nature – countless more people are going to die in Syria and across the Middle East.
Exeter University is understood to have made an offer to Olympic medallist, 18-year-old Tom Daley. This is now the second known offer Plymouth born Daley has received, with Plymouth University also having made an offer.
The two universities are now head to head in order to win over Daley, who specializes in the 10 metre Men’s Diving and who achieved a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Photo credits to Georgie Gillard/Georgie Gillard/ Nopp
Despite Exeter recently being named University of the year by The Sunday Times University Guide and also ranked as best for teaching in the South West, Plymouth may seem more appealing to diving loving Daley as Plymouth is investing £4 million in a new diver training centre. However, Daley’s degree would need to accommodate his intensive training as he prepares for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Daley, who currently stars on ITV’s ‘Splash!’ attracting 6.2 million viewers every Saturday night, is believed to be interested in pursuing a degree in Media. However, whether he chooses Exeter or Plymouth, Daley is still unsure of whether he will take a year out after completing his A-level exams (including Spanish and Maths) at Plymouth College in the summer.
Looking at the BBC’s timeline of recent reviews, resignations and investigations, I find myself forgetting how all of this began in the first place.
When the reports of Jimmy Savile’s shocking crimes began to unfold, there was a mere handful of alleged victims of his sexual abuse. This number rapidly rose to dozens and we are now talking hundreds of possible victims- and this accounts only for those who have been able to speak out about their ordeal. However, given the focus of today’s media, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if people didn’t know what events actually led up to the crisis that the BBC seems to be having.
Before I criticise a programme as longstanding as Panorama, I will admit that I admire the BBC’s apparent readiness to admit to its own errors, but as I watched the special on Jimmy Savile a few weeks ago, I was disappointed by what they had to offer. The focus had shifted away from the victims entirely and onto the BBC and its downfalls, and how on earth it was going to regain the lost trust of its followers. But this was only the beginning of it. People are now talking about celebrity and gay “witch-hunts” and directors at the corporation seem to be dropping like flies over the scandals faster than the newest one can surface.
What about the victims? When the BBC interviewed people out on the streets, the public often referred to the scandal as “the whole Jimmy Savile thing”. This, in addition to widespread allegations against public figures has done victims of sexual assault no favours. I personally believe that if the media is not careful with this delicate subject, it could single-handedly ruin the credibility of any rape or sexual abuse victim, or indeed sentence them to silence.
Speaking to my grandmother and her friends recently, they talked about sexual abuse as if it were something new to this world. “In our day, that’s what a girl was for, we just pulled ourselves together and got on with it”, said one of them. I don’t doubt that this was the voice of an era full of taboos as another piped up and said “I didn’t know what a homosexual was until I was 35”.
People need to wake up and realise that we now live in an era where sexual assault is no longer a matter to be covered up. Regardless of generational gaps in opinion, sexual assault is a heinous crime and victims deserve a voice, support and solidarity.
There has been a distinct lack of support surrounding the issue, and news articles related to it rarely lead the reader to a support network, a crisis line or advice pages.
If you, or anyone you know has been affected by crimes of sexual assault, there is hope. There are a number of online resources (see below) that can help you to understand what has happened, how you can get support, and most importantly: you are not alone.
Just a few examples of the help that is available:
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