The Campus Soapbox
Kirran Shah, York Young Greens
As exciting events unfold around us, such as the scrapping of the Barbican pool, the new pedestrian crossing point on Fishergate and the Old York Garden Club giving a little back this year by decorating miniature Christmas trees, I feel it my duty to inform you there are even more exhilarating things York students can do to make a difference in the local area.
Reasons to get involved: The Green Party are committed to education. They are willing to advocate an independent source of finance – from the day students turn 16. This would give every student a grant and entitlement to benefits during the vacations. We believe students should be able to drop in and out of learning as fits their needs. A citizen’s income scheme would ensure that adults could afford to do this and you could afford to stop worrying about how much a masters degree will cost.
Furthermore, The Greens oppose the ‘Heslington East’ expansion to York University. Despite City Council backing, there is no Local Plan or agreed Green Belt, so we are calling for a public enquiry. We want to reduce traffic in the area and encourage the University to offer more residence places on campus, at lower rent. ‘Studentification’ is not damaging to Heslington so long as the Green Party has provision to save our local shops. We will be launching a local food campaign on campus this term and hope to motion against Nestle advertising on campus. Last year, with support, we managed to boycott the advertising of Coca-Cola.
If that’s not enough, the Greens are the only party standing in York that advocates the return of the railways to public ownership, saving billions of pounds that are going on bureaucracy and private shareholders. Surely, you would prefer a better rail service with cheaper fares? In 1997 John Prescott said: “I will have failed if in five years time there are not many more people using public transport and far fewer journeys by car.” Bearing in mind these forgotten promises, as a student, you can easily invest in public transport, including the nationalisation of the Railtrack.
Green voters are growing steadily each year, and now there a higher percentage of Green than Tory voters in York. The more votes we have, the more impact we can make locally and nationally. What would you rather facilitate decorating miniature Christmas trees or building political change? It’s your choice.
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