Military Personnel and Soldiers/Members of the Armed Forces are banned from being present on campus by many University of London Colleges; however this particular petition is targetted at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Those who sign this petition are not condoning any Military action, nor justifying any war. Many who sign it, may disagree with the recent wars and Military action. Those who sign this petititon, instead, recognise the importance of the Armed Forces fundamentally, and that those who sign up, do so with the intention of giving their lives for their nation. Those who sign this petition respect and appreciate this intention and express a level of gratitude to our soldiers. We recognise that the recent conflicts being fought, are not the actions or judgments of the Armed Forces, but are the action and judgments of corrupt Governments who abuse the power they have over our Soldiers. For this, no individual who is either in the military, related to someone in the military or supports the military, should be penalised or mistreated in such a way as to restrict their freedom of movement.
We the undersigned beleive that it is the individual students choice to decide if they accept or reject soldiers, and that every individual is free to hold their own opinion on both the armed forces, and their actions. We beleive the Students Unions actions in bringing in this ban, were oppressive and undemocratic as they do not represent the majority of student opinion.
We beleive in the freedom of conscience, choice, opinion and speech of every student at our institution, and beleive this cannot be fully enacted unless this ban is lifted. We beleive those who reject the soldiers have a right to do so, and those who accept them, condone them, or even join them, are doing so of their free-choice, as law-abiding adults, and have a right to do so without interference from those who think differently.
We beleive that Our Soldiers give their lives with the intention of an ultimate sacrifice, be beleive they should be given freedom of movement anywhere in the land they defend or offer their lives up for. We beleive that the current ban is disrespectful and unjustifiable as they are not the ones who make decision regarding conflicts. We also believe that Military Personnel represent our nation, our pride and love for our nation, a great institution that is integral to our own safety and well-being, and that they should be respected, love, cared-for and appreciated because of this, not penalised because of the actions of Government.
We implore Goldsmiths College to lift it's ban on Military Personnel from being on campus, and allow them to move freely both in and out of uniform. We further request Goldsmiths College allow them to recruit if the need be and treat their students with enough respect to react on a personal level as they please, remaining impartial. We implore that Goldsmiths College Students Union withdraws its ban, and further releases or issues a public apology for disrespecting our Soldiers, blaming innocent, and showing contempt to both the consciences of it's students in putting forward this vote without consultation. They must apologise also, to the families of those who have suffered, and to those who have served.
We request more respect, love and gratitude is shown for the "intention" of our soldiers, whether the government actions are acceptable or not, and that people are treated with intelligence to make up their own minds.
We further request, that if Goldsmiths College Students Union is anti-war, why it did not issue a ban on any Labour MP or Representative being on campus or promoting their party rather than blaming the armed forces. This is a serious request and is REQUIRED by the undersigned.
There are currently 18 signatures for this petition: