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Clare Solomon

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For the Shortland Street character, see Claire Solomon.
Clare Solomon
File:Clare Solomon. Copyright Graeme Robertson.jpg
Clare Solomon
President of ULU
In office
July 2010 – July 2011
Preceded byNizam Uddin
Succeeded byVratislav 'Vraj' Domalip
Personal details
Born3 November 1973
Winchester, Hampshire
Alma materSchool of Oriental and African Studies

Clare Michelle Jane Solomon (born c. 1973) was the president of the University of London Union.

Early life

Born in Winchester, Hampshire,[1] the daughter of Michael and Noreen Graham. Raised by her mother and step-father who served in the Royal Green Jackets and Royal Military Police in Windsor, Northern Ireland, Tidworth & West Berlin before emigrating to New Zealand with the family. Solomon later returned to England to give birth to a son, taking the name Solomon from her son's father. She moved to London and married Mohammed Bazlur Rahman, setting up a café near King's Cross railway station. Solomon was raised Mormon and converted to Islam but is now a self-described Atheist.

Political life

Solomon was outspoken during the 2010 UK student protests against the cuts to education, and was a vocal critic of National Union of Students leadership,[2] calling for the removal of its president Aaron Porter.[3] She appeared on the BBC's Newsnight programme alongside Porter and Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes.[4] Solomon led 24 November protest march against Parliament, and was one of twelve students invited to a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on the day the Browne Review was published.[5]

In his attempt to win student votes despite having reneged on their manifesto promise of free education. Clare disrupted the meeting by exposing a slogan 'Remember, Remember, 3 November, Government Plot to Blow Up Education' written on a t-shirt concealed under a shirt and tie, and showed the palm of her hands which had 'Hands Off' scrawled on them.[6]

Following the passing of the parliamentary bill to increase fees, she called for students to "take the action up a notch" with "more vigorous occupations".[7]

Solomon joined the Socialist Workers Party in 2005, but was expelled in 2009 following an internal dispute.[1]

Solomon began her degree BA Study of Religion at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London when she was 31, became involved in student politics and held several positions including twice elected President of Finance & Communication at SOAS Students' Union. She served as a ULU delegate at NUS conference, served on the steering committee for the NUS LGBT campaign until 2011,[1] and served as President of ULU until March 2011. [8] She did not complete her degree.

Solomon is a critic of Israeli policy on Palestine and has been criticised for allegedly antisemitic comments on Facebook, where she wrote, 'I think you'll also find that ALL religions have had their oppressors-some worse than others true, but to paint the picture that Jews have been persecuted all throughout history is one that has been fabricated in the last 100 or so years to justify the persecution of Palestinians." and added, 'To paint the picture that ALL Jews have always had to flee persecution is just plainly inaccurate.'[9][10]

Solomon has denied that the statements were anti-Semitic and clarified her views stating 'This badly-worded comment was something that I wrote in haste on Facebook at a very busy period. I'm sorry for any misunderstandings caused by what I wrote.' and further added 'My position is that Jewish people have always been persecuted throughout history nowhere more than during the holocaust when 6 million were murdered by the Nazis. I am totally against anti-Semitism and any persecution and oppression of Jewish people as I am against the oppression people on the grounds of any race or religion.'[6] She says she was "responding to a comment on facebook that said we need Israel because Muslims have been persecuting the Jewish race all throughout history. And I was trying to say it's not true that Jews and Muslims can't live together – there are numerous instances, especially the Middle East, where Muslims and Jews and Christians and people of all faiths and non-faiths have lived together harmoniously.

On 17 March 2011 Solomon lost her attempt to be re-elected as the president of the University of London Union to Vratislav "Vraj" Domalip.[11] She later worked at Counterfire's Firebox café in London's King's Cross but this, like an earlier café run by Solomon at the same location,[12] went out of business in December 2013.[13]

Publications

On 14 March 2011, Verso Books published a book about the students protests edited by Solomon entitled Springtime: The New Student Rebellions.[14] The Guardian[15] and the Morning Star[16] were positive about the book.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Patrick Sawer, Ben Leach (27 November 2010). "The student firebrand behind wave of protests". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  2. ^ James Meikle, Vikram Dodd and agencies (10 December 2010). "Royal car attack: Cameron calls for 'full force of law'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2011. Clare Solomon, president of London University's student union, called the NUS leadership a disgrace. "They should have backed this demonstration. They are clearly out of touch," she said.
  3. ^ "No confidence in Aaron Porter!". National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  4. ^ Richard Pendlebury (4 January 2011). "Riot rabble who targeted Tory HQ: Unmasked, the hardcore leaders of the student mob". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 18 January 2011. One of those who used her position to galvanise support for the protests was Clare Solomon, president of the University of London Union. The 37-year-old mature student later appeared on Newsnight to defend the violence, describing the attack as only a 'few smashed windows'. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 137 (help)
  5. ^ "Students protest at Nick Clegg's office". Coalition of Resistance. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  6. ^ a b http://ulucampaigner.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/nickcleggtalkstothehand/. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) Cite error: The named reference "qm" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ Jessica Shepherd (201-12-30). "Students plan more protests over tuition fees and cuts". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Mandate for resistance: Clare Solomon elected ULU President". Counterfire. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  9. ^ Richard Gold (29 December 2010). "AWL statement on Clare Solomon's antisemitic comments". Engage Online. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  10. ^ "Calls for 'anti-Semitic' student leader to quit after Facebook message about Jews". The Daily Mail. 19 December 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  11. ^ "The Saturday interview: Clare Solomon". The Guardian. 19 March 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  12. ^ http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/mar/19/clare-solomon-interview
  13. ^ http://socialistunity.com/ashes-ashes-end-firebox/
  14. ^ "Springtime: The New Student Rebellions". Verso Books. 14 March 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.
  15. ^ Natalie Hanman (14 May 2011). "Springtime: The New Student Rebellions review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  16. ^ Alex Miller (13 April 2011). "Springtime: The New Student Rebellions". Morning Star. Retrieved 13 August 2011.

External links

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