Vote ‘NO’ to the NUS demo

This week voting will begin on the latest referendum that’s got university’s politicos all hot under the collar: a motion calling for the Guild to support the NUS ‘Demo 2012’ coming up in November. A little while back, the NUS voted to hold a political rally in London and Exeter’s Students’ Guild voted that we wanted nothing to do with it – along with a third of the other students’ unions around the country. Now here we are, months down the line, and the NUS is still trying to drag us into its own petty politics.

Because, despite what the Yes campaign will try to tell you, this motion isn’t about tuition fees, spending cuts or youth unemployment. They will try to convince you that this demo is the moment that students reach out to democracy and the unanimous voice of students everywhere will shout together in harmonious discontent. This will be your chance at democracy, they’ll say, and every one of us must seize it with both hands. Unfortunately, for the Yes campaign and for all of us, this sham of a demonstration could not be further from the truth.

This march will not speak for students everywhere. It will, like the disastrous NUS march in Westminster a few years ago, only speak for the tiny extremist elite in the NUS. It won’t give a voice to Exeter students, but to the politburo of ambitious NUS activists that will be wheeled out in front of the TV cameras to ‘speak for students everywhere’. Despite the fact that all four of our Sabbs voted against it at the national conference, these demo hard-liners and extremists will claim to speak for every student in Exeter. I don’t want my Students’ Guild to be a used as a political football by the NUS, and that’s exactly what this demo will do.

This demonstration is a waste of time, and Guild support would simply be a waste of money. The Guild has better things to do than stand behind a doomed partisan march and we can send that message loud and clear to the NUS. Please say no to petty politics and vote NO to this Guild motion.