Referendumb

'If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.'

Marian Wright Edelman

The referendum campaign has been going for less than a day and already I can see myself getting upset with the voice that seems to be the 'No' campaign. Right, so to lay down what this is about, the Guild is having a referendum next month, we need 10% of students (3,000 of ya!) to approve a rather dull new constitution or as of 2009 we will in cease to be as an organisation. That is not of the good. There are some students I've been arguing with on facebook (where else?) who are questioning why we have a Guild and that we should be more focused on the fees battle and working with Trade Union groups. To be honest I feel we do that to an extent with our affiliations to NUS and WMANUS. That we should talk to Birmingham City Council, MPs and the Police (we do all of that when necessary, we have great links with the police) and should focus less on African poverty and gender issues (We let our student groups campaign on what matters to them, these aren't priority Guild campaigns and we shouldn't apologise for engaging students in what engages them. Plus I don't remember any Africa or gender identity campaigns since I got here).

This is about whether we have a Guild or not, this is not a 'The Guild is totally perfect, innit?' campaign and nor should it be. Am I happy with our voter turnout? Our representative structures? No. So am I going to sit and moan safely separated by you via the net? No. I'll be out there campaigning about the potential of our students, how they contribute and how much they care. I'll wrestle you to the floor and hack your my.bham account if need be to get you to vote (I won't actually), I'll promulgate the value of being involved to the proverbial heavens if needed. I'll also use the structures we have, writing motions, talking to the rest of exec, to students, to groups, mini-forums etc to advance what I care about. If they agree great. If not, well, as a certain guild bastion once told me, the issues with democracy is you need 49% of people to lose and be happy about it. The point is you try.