Written by Evan Vezmar
Two political societies, LSESU Greens and LSE Left, have been ratified by the LSE Student Union, with both organizations aiming to build their membership ahead of events and campaigning projects throughout the year.
After a year hiatus, LSE Greens were renewed and ratified in May. LSE Greens is affiliated with Young Greens of England and Wales and advocates with the Green Party, but President Mathias expressed that political participation is not a requirement to join the society.
LSE Greens are planning several speaker events this term, including talks from two MPs as well as the former chief political commentator at the Telegraph. Mathias also announced that in November, his society will co-host with the LSE International Inequalities Institute.
While LSE Left became an official society this academic year, its members have been involved in campus and global politics for much longer. Inspired by the Your Party movement led by Jeremy Corbyn, Monty Rumbold and Soufyaan Timol joined with other students to plan a society for progressive and radical students on campus. Similarly to LSE Greens, Rumbold and Timol hope to establish a community space for discussion and organizing.
“I think one of the things that we’re trying to do is create a bit of a social and cultural space where people who are on the left can share that space … where that’s all tied to a socialist politics,” Rumbold said.
Both Rumbold and Timol have leadership roles with LSE Left, but they said that even as they manage day-to-day logistics, the aim of the society is to be as democratic as possible. “The existence of this space is to open a democratic spot on campus where people can come. We’re going to keep going with open meetings where anyone who considers themselves progressive can join and participate in the building of this space,” Timol said. “It is a process of bringing people in with different ideas and testing them out against the reality of relations on campus.”
Both society leaders highlighted the work they have done on campus and discussed future projects. Mathias noted how the Greens worked on last year’s “Kick BP out of LSE” campaign, and Rumbold described how he and other leaders of LSE Left conducted social research on campus to find issues that students resonated most with. They found that far right politics was a prominent fear among students, which has inspired the society’s newest campaign against the rise of the far right.
Mathias noted that although LSE Greens campaign for issues they stand for, the society views itself as more affiliated with the Young Greens than the university, and thus the organization often looks out to city or nationwide issues.
LSE Left committee members support the idea of a potential coalition between other student societies and local organizations for larger-scale projects, both on campus against the university and in the London political sphere. “Coalitional politics is absolutely essential. There is no way of change happening if you remain a marginal group, you need to become a majoritarian force. And I think the only way you do that is you understand what people are concerned with, and you meet them where they’re at, and then you try and bring them into forms of political action,” Rumbold said.
While both societies are eager to begin to flesh out what their events and plans will look like as official campus societies, the leadership teams also recognize the need to build a community of invested members to grow and sustain their societies in years to come. “Politically, Young Greens are the fastest growing youth movement in the country, and I think it’s an excellent time to become involved in green politics,” Mathias said. “I think it’s also just creating sort of a forum for those progressive ideas on campus.”
Rumbold reiterated that LSE Left was open to anyone, especially “if you feel disgusted, if you feel anxious, if you feel moved by the multiple crises that are enveloping the world or you are inspired by the various social movements that have risen to the challenge, and you want to be part of relating to those movements and building a social force on campus to transform the university space.”
