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Petition Tag - bsc
1. David Starkey does not represent London 
Petition calling on Boris Johnson to withdraw his invitation to The Mayor's Thames Festival.
We the undersigned call on the Mayor of London to withdraw the invitation to David Starkey to speak as part of the Mayor's Thames Festival.
In a discussion about the riots this summer on BBC Newsnight, David Starkey used race-based terminology to explain the riots, claiming '"What has happened is that the substantial section of the chavs that you wrote about have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion,"'. He also claimed Jamaican Patois has ''been intruded in England...so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country''. Comments encouraging the idea that black people and black culture lie at the root of the issues leading to the riots can only whip up racism and prejudice.
The Newsnight discussion then turned to the Mark Duggan protest. When Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, responded to Starkey saying that both white and black youth were involved in the riots, he contended that "it started as a black protest about the killing of a black man". When Owen Jones, another guest on the show, pointed out this was a peaceful protest about the shooting of Mark Duggan, and could not be held responsible for the riots, Starkey replied "it very quickly ceased to be peaceful". Quite apart from their race-bias, these comments are hurtful to the family of Mark Duggan, and also ignore the fact that the family strongly condemned violence of the riots.
The true spirit of London is not reflected in comments like these, but in the clean-up operations when people came together from all communities to repair the damage.
It is offensive and insensitive to give David Starkey a platform at the Mayor's Thames festival. Starkey's comments triggered thousands of complaints and have caused deep offence.
2. Save BSc Deaf Studies, Centre for Deaf Studies
The shocking! announcement that the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Bristol University are now recommending the withdrawal of the BSc in Deaf Studies programme at Centre for Deaf Studies is a matter of national and international concern.
This recommendation contradicts the comments made by Professor Eric Thomas, Vice-Chancellor that we should be assured that university management “will miss no opportunity to achieve or maintain the academic and administrative excellence” (9th November, 2009). Instead, this proposed programme closure risks 75% of CDS staff positions, the ongoing learning, completion and graduation of all Deaf Studies student who are not graduating this summer and all future BSc admissions who are being denied such eye-opening opportunity.
Management have instead chosen to disregard proposals to save and continue with the BSc Deaf Studies Programme and instead risk both staff and students future beyond July 2010.
CDS BSc Deaf Studies, Bristol (http://www.bris.ac.uk/deaf/ ) at Bristol University is a BSc programme that is internationally renowned in the study of sign language, the Deaf community and culture, and service provision to Deaf people that makes a significant and distinctive contribution to the teaching of Deaf Studies in the UK.
The BSc programme is one of only three undergraduate centres in the UK that provides students with a view into a world that not enough people are afforded the opportunity to experience and by doing so, students leave with unique view of deafness and the Deaf community that they can then share with others and that goes someway in achieving the equality and respect that Deaf people are entitled to.
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To express support and to help with the campaign email savebristolcds@gmail.com and please join the facebook group. Closures of degree programmes at Bristol, Middlesex and elsewhere are examples of university management not understanding the significance of these disciplines and their ignorance at not properly considering department proposals.
If you would like to personally express your opinion of what you think of this decision then you can email the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Professor Judith Squires at dean-fssl@bristol.ac.uk , please send a copy and any reply to savebristolcds@gmail.com
3. Stop and Undo the Moura Gillespie Street Re-development
The Banana Shire Council has recently started re-developing the local Gillespie Street car park and turned it into an unsafe area where there is nothing but 2 way road traffic and less space for cars.
Although the project has almost been completed, a majority of the local and rural properties would like to remind the Council of their hate and anger towards the project and have supported to have the street either returned to it's original state, or for it to be re-designed with a proper vote for approval. This petition is to support that hate and anger.