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Political shit happens every day at uni. The views, debates, and petitions are endless, but most students shy away from issues that truly concern them.

“For fuck’s sake”, you’re thinking, about to turn the page. No, stop! I’m not telling you what political party to vote for or what to believe in, I’m just saying that everything – EVERYTHING – is political. So you should listen. Your dinner has a spicy tinge of politics, your shoes walk on it, your friendships are bathed in it, and you unknowingly observe it every day.

Uni is the time to get political and informed. After this extended holiday we fall into the world of work woes and responsibilities. In a couple of years’ time, we’ll have to vote for people we don’t know to represent us on policies we don’t understand. But we’ll have to pretend, right?

This is why you should spare a sec or two now to listen to the handful of politicos around campus. Some of us are loonies, but we’re kind of a laugh, right? You’ve seen us around spreading our propaganda, so have a read.

The few of us involved in student politics keep students informed, try to save foreign territories, and push the uni to become environmental- and gay-friendly. In all, we try to make things a bit fairer.

We stand up for your rights, even if you don’t. The problem is, there aren’t many of us, so we have to sacrifice a lot of time to the cause. Activists are more dependent on coffee than anyone else in the world – true story. But think about it – is catching that show on TV really worth the fee rises and lax student representation?

Activists are relatively happy to please. In fact, we go out of our way to make things simple for you. Our info can often be found online, or else we’ve made a short waffle-free version on a tiny piece of paper. Protests only require attendees; we’ve done all the hard work!

So next time you see any of us smile at you, pretend you’re interested and you may find out that we’re not batshit crazy and that you actually do care about the issue.

At the end of the day, politically active students have achieved big things for students in the past. We don’t want current or future scarfies to get fucked over.