Why did we start The Talon?
We, The Talon editorial collective, are a group of students who believe that an alternative press is both possible and necessary on these unceded lands that we call the University of British Columbia.
As it stands, there is only one student newspaper, a publication that sees its role as apolitical, and which feels its scope should be limited to UBC news. There is an absence of a critical press that demands transparency from the university administration and an absence of media that sees its role as explicitly activist. Further, we lack a paper that aims to provoke discussion about issues that extend beyond campus. In the past, members of our collective have played these roles by submitting op-ed responses to Ubyssey articles. However, it is time for us to be proactive and unapologetic about speaking truth to power.
Within the realm of student press, just as in the world at large, the language of “neutrality” works to endorse the status quo and silence the most marginalized. While it is possible to plainly report events, we reject the premise that it is possible to be an “objective” media outlet. The voices that are centred and the questions that are asked – these are profoundly political choices, and they have consequences.
At The Talon, we want to amplify the students whose voices have been sidelined. We want to make space for the students who look into the predominant campus media and don’t see themselves or their perspectives reflected back at them. We are here to create that platform, and to start a conversation about the problems and barriers that different groups are facing in isolated silence.
The Talon is also a call to action. In recent years, the campus left has become fractured and atomized. We want to unite and magnify UBC’s rabble-rousers, spotlighting the students that are working towards a future without racism, colonialism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, spiritual violence, speciesism, capitalism, environmental injustice, and all other forms of oppression. We also want to start a dialogue with students who don’t see the world through our lens – we can all learn from each other and grow together.
So, to answer the question “what is the Talon about?”, we would have to respond: it’s about starting conversations that no one is having, it’s about claiming a place at the table, and, most of all, it’s about expanding the realm of what is possible at UBC.
“We want a world in which all worlds fit.” – Subcomandante Marcos
Yours in solidarity,
The Talon editorial collective
