Over two days in early October the Cambridge branch of Socialist Appeal managed to sign up over 150 people at the Cambridge University Fresher’s Fair for the Hands Off Venezuela campaign. We were well received by the majority of people, who showed a lot of interest. Many had already heard of the campaign and were keen to find out more, whilst many wanted to know more about Latin American politics in general. We also met many Venezuelans, a couple of whom were Chavistas, but most of whom were anti-Chavez and against the Bolivarian Revolution, unsurprisingly as they are the one’s who are rich enough to afford the £10,000 per year fees for international students!
We were also positioned next to the University Labour Club stand, with whom we have organised talks by John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn this term. The Labour Club is mainly made up of left-wing Old Labour supporters, so we are looking forward to working with them in the future.
We sold over 35 journals of Socialist Appeal, with many people showing interest in our stance on issues such as working within the Labour Party.
Our first event was a week later and was a showing of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" with an update on events in Venezuela by Pablo Roldan and a discussion. Attendance was about 30 people, and it seemed like people really agreed with the message of the movie and the campaign. The discussion afterward mainly centred around a question from an Economics student about whether it was wise for Chavez to switch to a Capitalist
economy, but there were also interesting questions raised about the nature of the media and the oligarchy in Venezuela. Most encouraging was a keen attendee who joined us in the bar afterwards and seemed interested in joining Socialist Appeal.
Hopefully from these small beginnings the right-wing fortress that is
Cambridge University can finally be broken down.
Upcoming Events at Cambridge
No Volveran! The Revolution Now – Free Film Screening – Thurs 25 October, Umney Theatre, Robinson College, 730pm.
John McDonnell – 1st November, Benson Hall, Magdalene College 6.30pm. The event is being hosted by Cambridge University Labour Club in conjunction with Socialist Appeal.
