Friday 25-01-2019 - 09:00

Bristol SU has a number of societies which have been accredited with silver status on the Balloon Accreditation Scheme. We caught up with People and Planet to find out more about their student group.

What do we do?

Interested in human rights and the environment? Want to make positive changes to the way the university is run? Want to gain skills in political organising and activism? If the answer to these questions is yes, then the People & Planet Society is the group join! 

The People & Planet Society is an activist group, campaigning for social and environmental justice at the University of Bristol. We are connected to the People & Planet network which is the largest student campaigning network in the UK. Our previous projects include the successful Fossil Free and These Walls Must Fall campaigns. Currently we are working on a campaign called Undoing Borders and welcome new members to join us this term in lobbying the university to cut its ties with the border industry. 

What have we achieved?

Between 2014 and 2018, our group pressured the university into divesting from the fossil fuel industry in order to reduce the university’s carbon impact and to fight against climate change. Last term, the People & Planet team joined forces with other political groups and won the These Walls Must Fall campaign. This resulted in the Bristol City Council passing a motion that called on MPs to raise the issue of immigration detention in the House of Commons and support laws that would create alternatives to detention. 

Why is this important to us?

At any given time, there are between 2,000 to 3,500 people held indefinitely in immigration detention centres across the UK. You might have seen headlines concerning human rights abuses at Yarl’s Wood, the most notorious of these detention centres. Often conditions in these centres are poor and residents don’t know when they’ll be able to leave the holding facility, see their families or resume their normal lives. Very few students are aware that the University of Bristol is complicit in the immigration detention system. Indeed, the university holds contracts with companies that profit from running these detention centres. 

This is what makes the Undoing Borders campaign so imperative. Undoing Borders aims to persuade university management to pledge not to take out new contracts with the company's profiting from detention: Capita, Mitie, G4S, GEO, and Serco. Over the coming weeks, the campaign will involve extensive discussion with senior management and non-violent direct actions which you could be involved with. If environmental and sustainability issues are more your area, have no fear as the People & Planet team will be collaborating frequently with other university environmental groups on events and actions to ensure that the environment remains a priority on campus. 

What is a Silver Balloon?

The Balloon Accreditation Scheme is Bristol SU's way of recognising and celebrating the brilliant things that student groups get up to. The scheme helps groups offer the best possible experience for their members and supporters. Having a Silver Balloon means we've reached a large number of the criteria in the scheme.

We’re a friendly and inclusive team and will be sure to host plenty of socials over the coming term which is great if you’re looking to meet like-minded people.There is no membership fee to join the group and no previous experience of activism is required, only an enthusiasm and passion for social justice. Just come along to our weekly meeting (which happens every Tuesday at 6pm in the Multi Faith Chaplaincy) to meet the team and get started! 
 

---

More information

Find out more about Societies and Clubs

Find out more about the Balloon Accreditation Scheme