Adam McGibbon, the recently elected Union vice-president for welfare, is set for a second daunting electoral challenge this semester, successfully landing the Green Party’s nomination for Belfast South in the upcoming UK general elections. Queen’s University is situated in this constituency.
BY LORCAN MULLEN
The current MP, the SDLP’s Alasdair McDonnell, will be defending a slim majority against McGibbon, the UCUNF’s Paula Bradshaw, Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey and Alliance’s Anna Lo, among others. In 2005, McDonnell won with 10,339 votes. In the 2007 Assembly elections, Green candidate Brenda Cooke secured a tally of 737 votes.
A postgraduate politics student at Queen’s University, McGibbon joined the Green Party in 2007 at the age of 19, becoming the youngest member of the Party’s Executive Committee and is currently the Chairperson of the South Belfast branch. He was elected unanimously at a meeting of the branch, and has already begun canvassing in the area.
Speaking to The Gown, McGibbon insisted that such canvassing, so far confined to non-student areas, had elicited an “excellent response”, with the Greens’ flagship ‘green new deal’ proving popular on the doorsteps. This ‘green new deal’ would see an estimated 38,000 jobs created in the renewable energy sector, with a particular boost for the beleaguered construction trade. Initial investment would go towards home insulation and indigenous forms of power generation, like woodchip farming and burning. McGibbon pointed out that these new blue-collar jobs would be largely immune to outsourcing, the consistent scourge of the North’s ever-faltering economy.
In South Belfast, McGibbon will be pushing a “20 is plenty” speed limit in built up areas, while also supporting free home insulation for any house that needs it. According to the Young Green, the apparent malaise over environmental campaigning after the failed Copenhagen summit, coupled with the murky media hype surrounding leaked emails from the University of East Anglia, has not reached the doorsteps of South Belfast. Rather, “people are more convinced that action has to be taken by them, not just governments.”
Apart from environmental and economic considerations, McGibbon stressed the power of the Greens’ untainted “new” politics, outside the bickering of sectarian division and unsullied from the various recent political scandals at Westminster. He asserted that the Greens are the only party in Stormont who do not accept corporate donations.
When pushed on the charge that his movement is a strictly middle-class pursuit, McGibbon reported a particular warmth from working class constituents when told of the Greens’ absence from the oft-repeated ‘heads in the trough’ behaviour of a large number of incumbent MPs and political leaders.
McGibbon also refuted the argument that a Green vote would increase the chances of the UCUNF (Conservative) candidate defeating Alasdair McDonnell. McDonnell and the SDLP typically vote with Labour at Westminster. He questioned the true progressive impulses of McDonnell, but also the Alliance Party, stating that “they aren’t honest in how they present themselves.”
Most importantly, McGibbon encouraged students to participate in the elections, primarily through registration at their place of study, “where they spend most of their time…let’s talk about cold houses, fuel poverty, student fees.”
With more than 20,000 studying at the university, a significant Union voter-registration drive could well see students dominate the political debate in this constituency for years to come, leveraging votes to commit the MP for South Belfast to policies that are good for students and young people, not just “permanent residents.”
If anyone is interested in helping Adam’s campaign, email vote@southbelfastgreens.com
actually, registered voter, if that is your real name, i think you’ll find that I have revealed my identity. Look i said i wasn’t getting into the abortion debate.
at no point did i say everyone who’s pro-choice goes around murdering feotuses. I used the phrase “pro-death” because its the opposite of “pro-life”.
You want a choice? here’s a pro-choice decision for you, wear a condom.
Every post you’ve made you’ve been “whining like a little bitch”, i’ve found it difficult to pick one sentence where you haven’t been “whining like a little bitch”.
i’m not gonna argue the abortion debate because it is impossible to change someone’s opinion on it.
this is a farcical arguement – he’s never going to win.
How is ut death if it isn’t yet born?
And how are you not a student when you are doing an MA?
go adam!!!!!!!
@ Emma
Once again I will say I’M NOT GETTING INTO THE ABORTION DEBATE. I WAS MERELY DRAW ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT ITS A GREEN PARTY POLICY
Green Party is a waste of a vote, in saying that Adam has been dead-on anytime I’ve met him
Dear Unknownmale:
Reading these comments I am appalled and disgusted at your attitude. By trying to tarnish the reputation of someone such as Adam by turning his success into an abortion debate is appallingly bad taste. A debate, which is extremely mis-informed and argued in a patheticly child-like manner. Although you claim to not be trying to start this debate, even by drawing on such a sensitive issue in the first place, surely you are mature enough to understand that such a debate was sure to follow.
The fact that you are unable to formulate an argumnent without the extensive use of swearing and accusing others of “whining like a little b**ch” is a very sad state of affairs. You have also shot yourself in the foot with your ‘pro-life’ comment “wear a condom” as if you had researched the issue in the slightest you would be aware that condoms are not 100% efective, what would such a sensible person such as you do in that situation? I am deeply offended by your insinuation that all people who have unwanted pregnancies do so as a result of reckless behaviour.
Finally, this article was meant to be a celebration of a respected CURRENT student who is standing up for his beliefs in a dignified and positive manner (which is more than we can say for some). As current students, if we are not even capable of supporting one another in such ventures this is a very sad day for all at Queen’s. Please find another medium to channel your hateful comments. Although this section is for people to comment on the story, I think I am safe in saying that the majority of Gown readers would have been appalled by your childish and hateful behaviour and such comments are not welcome.
I would agree that if it’s a Green Party Policy then abortion should be mentioned on their website as such.
Unknownmale does sound a bit brash in his arguments about abortion though.
Emma, As a female, with a womb of course, I would tend to make it a point of finding out if a guy is a complete (beep) before I sleep with him. Make them wait, mention scary words like commitment and such, find out what their family’s like etc. But if you’re worried about pregnancy and yer man running off leaving you holding the fetus maybe you need to look at your choice of contraceptives. I would suggest taking the pill and using a condom at the same time it’s like 99.999999% effective. Ask your doctor.
I’m not trying to be rude to you either, it’s just prevention is better than cure… particularly in this case.
And in answer to the question is it murder to abort an unborn baby? That’s kind of the entire debate but IMO it is. If a happily pregnant woman has a miscariage do you not offer condolances?
And of course there’s always adoption if you don’t want to/can’t afford to keep the child.
I would also point out that abortion is legal in NI where the mother’s life and/or mental stability is deemed at risk from the preganancy. Which is the only instance I personally would allow it.
Sorry to continue this debate I just didn’t like the pro-life representation on here.
And now that I’ve got that outta the way my actual opinion about this article is:
I think it’s great for Adam that he’s got this far but I don’t think there’ll be much of a student vote to spur him on. My parents register me every year at home and that’s where I will vote. It’s also where I’m most passionate about the politics of.
And I don’t think the conservative vs labour comments are sectarian in this article. Even SDLP vs UCUNF isn’t IMO it’s just a fact that the votes will be split.