News Page Three

With the undertaking of a new academic term around the corner, Bangor was buzzing with fresh faces and an encouraging sense of avidity.
Lizz Evans. Bangor Socialist students.

‘Serendipity’ or ‘Freshers Fair’ took place on the 24th and 25th. The response to the two Socialist Student stalls that were set up on both days was very encouraging to say the least: twelve Socialist Student magazines and 12 copies of the socialist were sold in total, also nine people paid membership fees on the actual days of Serendipity. In addition to this, the response to the hard hitting posters that blazed the slogans of ‘Fight for Free Education’ and ‘Solidarity with Venezuela and Bolivia’ was promising; thirty people altogether approached the stand in order to sign up for further information, with many more signing our petition and taking away leaflets. With all this said, the Bangor Socialist Student society looks forward to another year.

Sarah Mayo reports
Despite the almost intolerable heat and crammed conditions at this years freshers fayre we had 34 students sign up to Socialist Students with several indicating an interest in joining the Swansea branch of the Socialist Party and getting involved in our local campaigns.
With the world economic crisis coinciding with freshers there was a lot more discussion about the future of capitalism and what a socialist alternative would mean. Students who were not drunk and looking for serious answers headed towards our stalls inside and outside of the fayre.
Greg Maughan, from the Socialist Party’s national office spoke to the most successful freshers meeting for many years and helped lay the foundations for an active Socialist Student society this year.

Over 40 students at Cardiff University agreed to join Socialist Students during the Freshers Fair. And 16 students attended a joint meeting of over 30 between Socialist Students and the Socialist Party on the crisis of capitalism. The room was packed to hear Hannah Sell, Socialist Party Assistant General Secretary, outline the shattering collapse of capitalist financial markets and their political effects today. There was a lively and wide-ranging discussion about whether a socialist solution was possible in the new period that is opening up. This was a fantastic start to the year for Socialist Students in Cardiff, and we are now looking forward to the Campaign to Defeat Fees Day of Action on October 16th.

At the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd, more than 30 students signed up to join the society, and five later came along to the Socialist Students meeting. Glyn Matthews, Socialist Students President, gave an introduction to the ideas and campaigning work of the society, and several students expressed an interest in getting involved.

At the University of Newport, where Socialist Students has never before has a society, over 45 students signed up! This was despite the student union bureaucrats attempting to bar political groups from the freshers fair. Socialist Students was alone in standing up to this ban, and now we have the potential to build an active and campaigning society on campus.

The mood of anger and openness to socialist ideas among a large section of students is clear to see. The recent collapse of the financial system in the United States has laid bare the failings of the capitalist system, and now workers and students are looking for an alternative. After our successes at the freshers fairs, Socialist Students is now in a position to put forward that alternative!

Members of Bangor University Socialist Students ran a stall outside the FE college, Coleg Menai campaigning against delays in paying Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
We received a lot of support from students who, in particular, agreed with our demand that FE students deserve an EMA they can actually live off, that does not leave them reliant on their parents.
One student came back after reading our leaflet and said we should organise a protest. We invited her to join our Campaign to Defeat Fees day of action on 16 October and our upcoming meetings. Others came back later with friends to sign the petition and buy copies of The Socialist and the new Student Socialist magazine. We now aim to build links between college and university students in Bangor.
It looks like a busy autumn as we also prepare to campaign for the student union to support the Campaign to Defeat Fees, despite opposition from NUS national leadership.