Daniel Williams, Sheffield Socialist Students
We carried out a banner drop and held a demonstration in front of the University of Sheffield student union on Friday 30 October – in solidarity with dockworkers striking in over 100 ports across 22 countries to oppose arms exports.
We gave speeches about conflict zones and genocides funded by the capitalist war machine, such as in Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. Speeches highlighted Sheffield uni’s complicity, through its receipt of over £500 million from defence partnerships, and its role as a founding member of the Defence University Alliance.
We also promoted the 20 November international youth strike. We called on students to follow the example of the dockworkers, and refuse to accept an education system funded by war and genocide.
Our leafleting efforts are already yielding results. We distributed 150 leaflets at a local college, leading several of them to join the N20 Sheffield WhatsApp group, and express their intention to walk out.
5,000 Sheffield-specific N20 leaflets, funded by the coalition of groups supporting the walkout in Sheffield, have been printed.
We held a ‘speed door-knocking’ session, and leafleted the Endcliffe Student Village. We have plans to cover other student accommodations, university buildings, and lectures.
Socialist Students are working alongside other student and anti-war groups in Sheffield to make N20 as big as possible, while continuing to keep our socialist message at its heart.
Capitalism has driven this descent into militarism and climate catastrophe, and socialist change is required to save our futures.
