Issue 1418 Monday 6th Dec 2021
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thecourieronline.co.uk
BRIT Awards removes gender categories
Smart-watches Friends or foes of public health? Science | page 11
Following other awards shows, the BRITs work to be more inclusive
Bad boy beguiling Erin Fox asks why this stereotype catches so many eyes...
Music | page 21
Relationships | page 12
Newcastle students Reclaim the Night Kayleigh Fraser - Campus Comment sub-editor
Newcastle’s students took back the night in a large scale march through the city centre
O
n the 25th November students and activists from Newcastle University’s ‘It Happens Here’ society took to the streets. Leading the march with the message to ‘Reclaim the Night’, the mission aims to make people from marginalised genders feel safe on the streets. The Courier and NUTV joined ‘It Happens Here’ during their banner making activity in the Bamburgh Room. We spoke to one activist who kindly showed us their sign for the protest and chatted to us about what made them want to get involved. “It Happens Here is all about sexual violence, and the point of ‘It Happens Here’ is to show that it happens here. I feel like as one of the societies it’s incredibly relevant to all of student life because there is such high rates of sexual violence within the student community.”
the anti-spiking campaign has often been female-centric: “I definitely think it’s really important to be talking about victims instead of just women or any other specific faction of that.” At around nine o’clock we moved to the arches - the starting point of the march. After a quick rehearsal of the chants: ‘Who’s streets? Our streets!’, ‘What do we want? Safety! When do we want it? Now!’, ‘People united, never defeated!’ we began our walk to Monument. The route was a full loop: down Northumberland Street, onto Grey Street, past Market Shaker and Flares, then back up towards the final destination of Monument. Along the way the march was met with positive and negative reinforcement. Some joined in with the chants and cheered us on, whilst others yelled
things like ‘Shut the f*** up!’, ‘Do something useful!’ and laughed at the cause.
“I’m sick of being told that this is my responsibility” Perhaps the most upsetting part of the heckling came from the bouncers. In particular, the bouncers at some Bigg market clubs were not enthusiastic about us walking past. Despite this negative reception, the group walked on. Led by Elizabeth Marriage on the megaphone, morale stayed high until the end. Speakers from across the community took their opportunity to address the
crowd. One speaker was Sarah Gate from Women’s Street Watch. “I don’t know about you but I’m sick of being told that this is my responsibility.” She continued “Either there is no issue or there is one. It doesn’t make sense to tell women to protect themselves while insisting we should be grateful that things are not worse.” Towards the end of the night, NUSU’s Welfare and Equality Officer Briana Gordhan took the megaphone. Speaking about working in activisim, the officer revealed “If I’m being completely honest with you, at points I’ve seen my mental health deteriorate.” “We live in a broken system and I’m fighting my best to see it improve. I hear stories about what happens in our university. Wether it be sexual violence, misogyny, hate crime... the list goes on
and on.” Closing her speech, she said “Today I am inspired. I’m inspired by our collective power to come together because we will demand for more and we will not stop until our streets, until our clubs, until our institutions, until our everyday lives are safe. And we will reclaim the night.” The night closed as it ended - on an immense high of positivity, hope and most of all unity for the future. It Happens Here should be overjoyed with their campaign and for running a truly inspiring march. The world may not be what we want it to be just yet, but as for the 25th November, the night was truly reclaimed.
Along the way the march was met with positive and negative reinforcement
Their sign was colourful and simple - a fist with ‘resist’ boldly underneath. They said “Resistance is really what we’re going for here. Time and time again the police have used horrendous authoritarian powers against anyone who would dare to disagree with them.” George Wood, the Liberation Officer at NUSU also spoke to us. “It’s definitely really important march we’re doing tonight and I think it’s a really nice show of solidarity.” Part of this solidarity does include the lack of safety people have felt due to spiking in recent months. We asked George about this and discussed how
Image: Kayleigh Fraser