The National Union of Students should be the peak body of student activism, but you’d be forgiven for not even knowing what it is. Despite the crises facing students today, from cuts to higher education, attacks on LGBTI and women’s rights, and the impacts of climate change, the NUS has been silent.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The NUS in the past has been instrumental in battles like stopping $100,000 degrees, winning same-sex marriage, organising Black Lives Matter protests, and many others. The difference has been getting activists elected, with the kind of perspective and experience I bring: in organising protests, campaigning for social justice, fighting the government, and university management.
With an activist NUS, our campaigns for climate action, against government attacks on living standards, and more would be so much stronger – with more resources and reach to fight the big political battles in society.