Obama effigy burnt by St Andrews Conservative students

www.bbc.co.uk...

An effigy of US President Barack Obama was burned over the weekend by members of the Conservative student association at St Andrews University.

The incident is understood to have taken place on Friday evening on the town's East Sands beach.

One of those who attended told the BBC that members of the association had "no input" and were "surprised" to discover Obama was on the bonfire.

The St Andrews Conservative Association apologised for any offence caused. The university said it was aware of the reports and was seeking clarification.

Suggestions that the effigy was also wrapped in an EU flag have been denied. In a statement, the university said it had asked to meet the president of the society to discuss "very understandable concerns". A spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

It is understood that the university's discipline officer will be present when the meeting takes place. Matthew Marshall, president of the St Andrews Conservative Association, said: "President Obama is an important ally to the British government. It was a stupid thing to do and we apologise for any offence caused."

A former chairman of the university's Labour society described the burning as "disgraceful".

James Mills said: "I can't imagine any other student activists of a major political party would behave in this manner. "It's disgusting and I hope the Conservative Party and the prime minister completely come out and condemn this obscene act." He added: "The last thing a truly modern party should be doing is burning an effigy of anyone let alone the first black president of the USA, one of our closest allies." The same society has burned effigies of Gordon Brown and former South African president Nelson Mandela in the past, along with one of Mr Mills.

Probably the first decent thing the Tories have ever done in Scotland. Sounds like people are waking up or just realising they have an opinion. Of course the former university chair or whatever he is just had to throw in the race card at the end there, clearly it has nothing to do with that whatsoever. He's most probably bitter as it says they also burned an effigy of him in the past.

reply to post by Ramcheck

Sounds like people are waking up or just realising they have an opinion.

See, i think there is - by a fair margin- a difference between an opinion and lighting a likeness of an individual on fire to make a (?) statement(what was their statement? Obama hate?).

Say -for instance- that your neighbor stood on his front lawn burning statues of you yourself. I think that calls for a little concern.

Of course the former university chair or whatever he is just had to throw in the race card at the end there, clearly it has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

I have minimal reason to think it does. But its not really that obvious that race had nothing to do with it. Were you there or something to confirm this?

He's most probably bitter as it says they also burned an effigy of him in the past.

Saying that like its a bad thing does not make it so. If you lit a statue of me on fire for some reason you can be sure I am not gonna be your best friend.

Originally posted by TsukiLunar
reply to post by Ramcheck

 

Sounds like people are waking up or just realising they have an opinion.

See, i think there is - by a fair margin- a difference between an opinion and lighting a likeness of an individual on fire to make a (?) statement(what was their statement? Obama hate?).

Say -for instance- that your neighbor stood on his front lawn burning statues of you yourself. I think that calls for a little concern.

Of course the former university chair or whatever he is just had to throw in the race card at the end there, clearly it has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

I have minimal reason to think it does. But its not really that obvious that race had nothing to do with it. Were you there or something to confirm this?

He's most probably bitter as it says they also burned an effigy of him in the past.

Saying that like its a bad thing does not make it so. If you lit a statue of me on fire for some reason you can be sure I am not gonna be your best friend.

Fair enough.

Originally posted by Ramcheck

Probably the first decent thing the Tories have ever done in Scotland.

Laughing my ass off at that comment, mostly because that's so true!

They've burned effigies of our own PM before (Gordon Brown), although it doesn't say they've done Tony Blair. I wonder why not. If there was a fire, i'd be first to make sure that guy's on it.Even the former chair of the Uni has been done.

I find it highly ironic there making more of a scene about an Obama effigy being burnt than they did when our own PM had the same thign done!

Why waste a perfectly good effigy? Strap it to a few hundred helium balloons and send it flying into the jetstream. Scare the hell out of some Indonesian rice farmer when president Obama falls from the sky!

I mean really, burning your effigies is so... so... Iranian. It's very gauche. You have a big ol' jug-eared mannikin... have fun with it!