tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/student-protests-13118/articlesStudent protests – The Conversation2023-04-21T12:42:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029072023-04-21T12:42:02Z2023-04-21T12:42:02ZBlack students in Washington state played key role in the Civil Rights Movement, new book states<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522174/original/file-20230420-29-ne9bdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C102%2C6692%2C4444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest led by the Black Student Union at the University of Washington at Seattle, 1968. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://depts.washington.edu/labpics/zenPhoto/uw_bsu/pitre/photo12.jpg">Emile Pitre Collection</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>When it comes to civil rights history, the focus is often on the marches, boycotts, sit-ins and other protests that took place in the South. In “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479810406/washington-state-rising/">Washington State Rising</a>,” Marc Arsell Robinson, assistant professor of African American history at California State University, San Bernardino, takes a look at the civil rights protests that occurred in a lesser-examined region of the United States: the Pacific Northwest. The following Q&A is about what Robinson found for his forthcoming book, which is set to be published in August 2023.</em></p>
<h2>Why write a book on Black student activism in the Pacific Northwest?</h2>
<p>As an African American born and raised in Seattle, I was curious to learn if and how my hometown was connected to the protests of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. I was pleased to learn the city, and region, was deeply connected to these larger movements. I felt a responsibility to share what I had learned. </p>
<p>Also, studies of Black protests from the 1960s tend to focus on the South. And even studies of civil rights events and groups outside the South position the Pacific Northwest as marginal. This pattern holds true of research on 1960s Black student activism, such as the studies of nationwide protest by <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/black-campus-movement-black-students-and-the-racial-reconstitution-of-higher-education-1965-1972/oclc/744287241">Ibram X. Kendi</a> and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520282186/the-black-revolution-on-campus">Matha Biondi</a>. </p>
<p>My book shines light on Black Power’s reach beyond major cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. It shows Black Power’s impact on higher education, and it details how some Black student activists used community organizing and interracial alliances to create change.</p>
<h2>What was one of your most interesting discoveries?</h2>
<p>The Black Student Union, or BSU, at the University of Washington helped connect the Black Panther Party to Seattle. The group formed in fall 1967, and later several of its members helped co-found the Seattle Panthers in April 1968. This includes Aaron Dixon, who <a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/421-my-people-are-rising">confirms in his memoir</a> that he was in the Black Student Union at UW before being appointed by Bobby Seale as Captain, or leader, of the Seattle Panthers.</p>
<p>Moreover, as detailed in “Washington State Rising,” Dixon and other Seattle activists were introduced to the Panthers through BSU activities, including a trip to Oakland and San Francisco in April 1968 for a Black political conference, and the BSU’s network of local campus chapters and allied groups.</p>
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<img alt="A book cover featuring a black and white photo of two Black men and one Black woman sitting at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=894&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521726/original/file-20230418-20-tb6yny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1123&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Washington State Rising’ tells the little-known story of the civil rights struggle in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nyupress.org/9781479810406/washington-state-rising/">Marc Arsell Robinson/NYU Press</a></span>
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<h2>What is the legacy of the Black Student Union in Washington state?</h2>
<p>Examples of the Black Student Union’s legacy are the Black studies courses and programs that were established in the 1960s. Prior to this, very few, if any, classes or assigned materials included the perspectives and experiences of Black people. Today, students and faculty continue to study Black history, even if names of programs or departments have changed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/california-vetoed-ethnic-studies-requirements-for-public-high-school-students-but-the-movement-grows-148486">ethnic studies and so forth</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, ongoing efforts to recruit and retain diverse students, faculty and staff are part of the Black Student Union’s legacy. The most prominent example is the <a href="https://www.washington.edu/omad/">Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity</a>, known as OMAD, at UW. This initiative was a direct outcome of the Black Student Union’s <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_beginnings.htm">1968 sit-in</a> of the UW president’s office and negotiations with campus officials. The BSU was protesting UW’s small population of nonwhite students and faculty, along with related concerns. Today, the OMAD continues to offer African American and other minority students academic advising, cultural support, tutoring, leadership development and more.</p>
<h2>What does Black student activism in Washington state look like today?</h2>
<p>Black Student Unions are active at numerous colleges and universities in Washington, including the two schools featured in my book, the University of Washington and <a href="https://dailyevergreen.com/tag/black-student-union/">Washington State University</a>.</p>
<p>Like their 1960s counterparts, progressive Black students today continue to push their institutions to create, maintain and expand initiatives to graduate Black students, hire Black faculty and fund Black studies and related curricula.</p>
<p>In recent years, Black students across the Pacific Northwest have <a href="https://www.dailyuw.com/news/keep-the-pressure-on-uw-blm-continues-to-protest-for-unmet-demands/article_d1e7828e-ba7f-11ea-a0e5-9735552dd63b.html">organized in support of Black Lives Matter</a> and against the killings of unarmed Black people, often using social media as a tool for communication and public education. Overall, today’s Black student politics and struggles for greater equity continue the legacy of the Black Student Unions of the 1960s.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Arsell Robinson received the 2022 Mellon Emerging Faculty Award. He was also previously a student and employee of the University of Washington and Washington State University.</span></em></p>Washington isn’t a state that typically comes to mind in discussions about student-led protests from the Civil Rights Movement. A Black history professor seeks to change that with a new book.Marc Arsell Robinson, Assistant Professor of History, California State University, San BernardinoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1986772023-01-31T10:05:33Z2023-01-31T10:05:33ZSouth Africa’s dysfunctional universities: the consequences of corrupt decisions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507045/original/file-20230130-14-707210.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The integrity of the academic project should underscore universities' work at all times.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">xtock/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What happens when those responsible for managing universities cannot trust each other to act with integrity? In a nutshell, as I discuss in <a href="https://witspress.co.za/page/detail/Corrupted/?K=9781776147946">my new book</a>, Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities, dysfunction is the consequence.</p>
<p>This is the situation playing out in some South African universities – sometimes with fatal results. In early January 2023, a protection officer who was guarding Fort Hare University vice-chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu was <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2023/01/07/fort-hare-vc-at-safe-location-after-bodyguard-killed-in-assassination-attempt">shot dead</a> in an apparent assassination attempt. The shooting has <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/university-of-fort-hare-killings-higher-education-institutions-becoming-a-cradle-for-criminality-20230110">been linked</a> to <a href="https://www.siu.org.za/siu-authorised-to-investigate-four-contracts-and-degrees-at-the-university-of-fort-hare-and-five-public-works-and-infrastructure-tenders-including-parliament-properties/">ongoing investigations</a> into corruption at the university.</p>
<p>This appears to be just one example of how eroded trust has led to conflict among university managers that’s spilled into the public domain.</p>
<p>The principal conclusion I reach in my book is that chronic dysfunction in a sample of South African universities can be explained by two intertwined factors. One is institutional capacity. This is the expert ability to lead, manage and administer universities. The other is institutional integrity – the steering academic values that buffer universities against instability. Where both capacity and integrity are weak, dysfunction is inevitable. </p>
<h2>Integrity matters</h2>
<p>Individual integrity involves a person acting honestly and doing the right thing. It means consistency in the values that connect words and actions.
An <a href="https://satoriproject.eu/media/1.e-Institutional-Integrity.pdf">institution with integrity</a> has been described as: </p>
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<p>an organisation that defines and acts within a strong code of ethical conduct and positive values.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t tolerate deviance from the code by its employees or partners.</p>
<p>Universities with high levels of institutional integrity vigorously pursue their core mandate. This is rooted in a strong sense of academic values. It is the glue that holds functional universities together and focuses their operations. Those academic values also steady an institution in turbulent times. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507043/original/file-20230130-22-jvpwxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Such values centre on high-quality teaching, higher learning and cutting-edge research. Together these values advance social and human development. They are prominent on management’s weekly meetings agendas, on senate’s term meetings and on council’s quarterly meetings. Everything revolves around the academic project.</p>
<h2>The case of student protests</h2>
<p>One of the most important functions of academic values is to hold the institution together in times of challenge. For instance, how does an institution react when the integrity of the academic degree is at risk because of a prolonged shutdown?</p>
<p>In 2015 and 2016, students embarked on <a href="https://theconversation.com/student-protesters-must-move-beyond-hashtags-to-real-change-51138">historic protests</a> at campuses across South Africa. They demanded free and decolonised higher education. The press for free higher education arose because degree studies were becoming more expensive. This excluded more and more people from university. The decolonisation movement at formerly white universities protested that the curriculum was too European, the professors too white, and the institutional culture too alienating. </p>
<p>In response to the disruptions, the better-resourced, formerly white universities quickly transitioned to emergency remote teaching to ensure that the academic year was not lost. This highlights the importance of academic values to those institutions.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-protests-it-cant-be-business-as-usual-at-south-africas-universities-50548">After protests, it can't be business as usual at South Africa's universities</a>
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<p>By contrast, in 2021, after a dysfunctional university specialising in the health sciences <a href="https://www.heraldlive.co.za/opinion/2021-11-11-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-smu/">was shut down</a> by routine protests for months on end, the students received their degrees as if nothing had happened.</p>
<p>The academic project was seriously compromised. But there was little institutional concern about the integrity of the degrees.</p>
<p>It is quite possible to see a structure or an organisation and to misrecognise it as an institution of higher learning. It would be easy to be fooled by the symbolic functions – like graduation – and administrative routines – such as registration – of university life and mistake these for a university. As I have <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/340/Jansen%20%282005%29d.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">argued elsewhere</a>, a university ceases to exist when the intellectual project no longer defines its identity, infuses its curriculum, energises its scholars, and inspires its students.</p>
<h2>When integrity is undermined</h2>
<p>The crisis of dysfunctional institutions commonly arises when universities make compromised decisions on everything from tenders for infrastructure to appointments of key personnel. Such decisions compound foundational weaknesses and increase the risk of systemic failure. This is how institutional dysfunction begins and is sustained: through the breaching of institutional integrity.</p>
<p>The institutional integrity of vulnerable institutions is weakened, for example, through the decisions it makes about personnel appointments and promotions. Critical skill sets are compromised by populating crucial positions in administration with friends and family members. In one instance, as I document in the book, a whistle-blower at a serially dysfunctional university gave the new administrator “a list of all the family members appointed by the vice-chancellor”. Action was promised. None was taken.</p>
<p>The integrity of the academy is undermined even more when people who would not enjoy such elevation at an established university are promoted to senior academic positions in the name of equity. </p>
<p>And the governance of an institution is placed at serious risk through the appointment to council of junior members who have never governed anything in their lives. A university council is the most senior body responsible for governance. It should consist of senior people from professional fields with the experience to govern a higher education institution.</p>
<h2>Tackling the crisis</h2>
<p>There is no shortcut to restoring the institutional integrity of a chronically dysfunctional university. </p>
<p>It requires the appointment of smaller, professional councils without political interference. It demands competent leaders who are not beholden to political parties or factions. These leaders must hold strong convictions about the importance of academic values in the gradual rebuilding of a university.</p>
<p><em>This is an edited excerpt from <a href="https://witspress.co.za/page/detail/Corrupted/?K=9781776147946">the book</a>, Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities (Wits University Press, 2023).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Jansen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Where both capacity and integrity are weak, dysfunction is inevitable.Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1724102021-11-25T14:33:29Z2021-11-25T14:33:29ZActs of violence or a cry for help? What fuels Kenya’s school fires<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433888/original/file-20211125-19-1ar0sua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A young boy walks by a burnt-out dormitory building set on fire by students after a night of school unrest in western Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The torching of schools by students has become a <a href="http://crimeresearch.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rapid-Assessment-of-Arsons-in-Secondary-Schools-in-Kenya-2016.pdf">regular occurrence</a> in Kenya over the past two decades. The most infamous of these is the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/kenya/article/2001253987/kyanguli-school-fire-tragedy-that-claimed-67-lives">dormitory fire</a> at a secondary school near Nairobi in which 67 students were killed 20 years ago. This year, another spate of dormitory and school building fires forced the government to <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/all-learners-to-break-for-midterm-in-two-weeks-clarifies-magoha-102117/">close all primary and secondary schools</a> for a few days. </p>
<p>Amid a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41145324">wave of deadly school fires in 2017</a>, the government-run National Crime Research Centre conducted <a href="http://crimeresearch.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rapid-Assessment-of-Arsons-in-Secondary-Schools-in-Kenya-2016.pdf">“a rapid assessment of arson in secondary schools”</a>. The centre outlined possible causes and strategies to address the problem. The causes listed included exam-related anxiety, schoolwork load, peer pressure, school leadership, and lack of guidance and counselling. </p>
<p>These explanations overlooked other important factors. These include deplorable conditions in many public schools, oppression of students and violation of their rights to humane treatment. A focus on external factors ignores the psychological impacts of institutionalisation and authoritarian governance.</p>
<p>There have been few academic studies of the Kenyan school protest phenomenon. A 2013 <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336278980_Students_Violent_Protests_and_the_Process_of_Self-Realization_in_Kenyan_Secondary_Schools">study</a> concluded that violence was a means to self realisation that only served to perpetuate cycles of violence. Another in 2014 drew the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43817396">conclusion</a> that students have learned over the years that protest is the language that elicits response from authorities. Finally, a third study observed that school violence is the outcome of conflicts due to <a href="https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=95131">political and social differences</a> that could be managed by peace education.</p>
<p>My own <a href="https://www.eujem.com/boarding-schools-as-colonizing-and-oppressive-spaces-towards-understanding-student-protest-and-violence-in-kenyan-secondary-schools">research</a> found that student violence was a response to the devaluing and oppressive environment in boarding schools. We argue that school authorities could mitigate violent protests by providing formal political means of representation and democratic decision-making. They should create new spaces for negotiation and peaceful protest and listen to the voices of students.</p>
<h2>The Kenyan boarding school</h2>
<p>Boarding schools in Kenya are closed off facilities where students live and learn for a period of nine months in a year. Historically, they were set up by colonial governments and Christian missionaries with the purpose of <a href="https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/IPS_Boarding_Schools.pdf">assimilating or civilising indigenous people</a>. These schools were patterned on colonial models of education to produce needed skills and labour to serve the colonialist. </p>
<p>Today, there are three tiers of secondary boarding schools in Kenya – national, county, and district. National schools are well equipped and attract the highest performing students and wealthy parents. The least endowed are the district schools.</p>
<p>Overall, parents prefer secondary boarding schools because they tend to have better facilities than day schools. Students have more time to focus on education, and parents leave teachers to discipline the children on their behalf. Other benefits of boarding schools include learning social skills, independence, and extracurricular activities. They also form part of government policy to bring children from different regions of Kenya to learn together and <a href="http://repository.kippra.or.ke/bitstream/handle/123456789/1359/MEST-Sessional-Paper-No-1-of-2005-on-a-Policy-Framework-for-Education-Training-and-Research.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y">for economies of scale</a>. </p>
<p>But these schools have <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Africa-Works-Disorder-Political-Instrument/dp/0253212871">retained</a> their colonial hierarchical legacies of control, authoritarianism, violence, alienation, bureaucracy, and strict discipline. There is limited consideration for student needs, balance of power, technological advances, changes in the economic structure, and emerging progressive laws. They are what the American sociologist Erving Goffman called <a href="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/638332/mod_resource/content/1/chapter13.pdf">“total institutions”</a>. Students are organised under strict rules and singular authority. Daily activities are carried out collectively on a rigid schedule of explicit order. </p>
<p>Punishments are severe and consequences predictable – rebellion. </p>
<p>My co-researcher and I undertook a three-year project of gathering data about boarding schools in Kenya for the purpose of understanding the roots of persistent student protests and violence. The study focused on three boarding schools that had experienced protests and violence before and at the time of this study. One school served girls only, the other boys only and the third was a co-ed school. </p>
<p>Initial interviews with those who had experienced school protests or violence led to others who were approached to participate in the study. Respondents were teachers, school administrators, county officials, students, and members of the community. The research revealed that students experienced prison-like conditions in boarding schools. As a result of the dehumanising experiences at the hands of the school authorities, students vented their frustration through destructive behaviour, including violent protests.</p>
<h2>Stuck in the past</h2>
<p>Boarding school attendance is resilient in Kenya because of <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5821227/A_Comparative_Evaluation_of_Direct_Private_Costs_in_Day_and_Boarding_Schools_after_the_introduction_of_free_secondary_education_in_the_Kenyan_schools">economy of scale, bureaucratic control and efficiency</a>. The result is that the direct supervision of millions of children has been transferred from parents to educators who often know little about the students. Until they get to school, the children know little about boarding schools as there is no preparation for transition.</p>
<p>At any rate, nothing could prepare any student for the worst excesses of boarding school life in Kenya. A 2017 report described <a href="https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/life/chilling-details-bullying-torture-alliance-high-school-photos">chilling accounts of bullying</a> at the country’s top school. Students pulled out of a dormitory at night and frog marched while being beaten; students forced to wake up at night to clean toilets and classrooms while being whipped with belts and hockey sticks; younger boys missing meals due to inadequate cutlery and short mealtimes. </p>
<p>These experiences are forms of violence with varying intensities on their effects. However, society is more fixated on student violence than the autocratic nature of institutions and the oppressive structures <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1514792">which nurtured it</a>. Until authorities shift focus to the deep negative experiences and anguish in boarding school, the burning is likely going to continue.</p>
<p>Students are political actors and conscientious beings with expectations and capacities to act. When dehumanised, students will act, react, or engage, sometimes with protest and intense violence. Kenyan students <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43817396">have learned</a> that arson is effective as a tactic in protest politics. Some of the students we interviewed considered protests and violence as instruments of power to negotiate survival needs. </p>
<h2>What authorities can do</h2>
<p>Although suggestions have been made to <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001418716/magoha-end-of-boarding-schools-to-be-gradual">abolish</a> Kenyan boarding schools, the problems plaguing the institutions are complex and systemic. Closing boarding schools is the path of least resistance by bureaucrats who avoid reform that would change balance of power. Boarding schools are not in themselves a problem, what happens in the schools are the problem and these can be changed. </p>
<p>Democratic space and public participation have expanded dramatically in Kenya in the last two decades. However, boarding schools have been left behind. There is minimal student participation or engagement in decisions that govern them. There is a strong case for school administrators providing formal political <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40223829">means of representation and democratic decision-making</a> to mitigate conditions that lead to strife in boarding schools. </p>
<p>Literature <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513541011080011/full/html">indicates</a> that successful schools embrace democratic principles of leadership, social justice, and community engagement. These would reduce the psychological injury and the pressure associated with total institutionalisation – which offers escape through unrest, protest, and non-gratuitous violence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teresa A. Wasonga does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Student violence is a response to the devaluing and oppressive environment in boarding schools.Teresa A. Wasonga, Professor, Educational Administration, Northern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1576952021-03-30T13:23:48Z2021-03-30T13:23:48ZSouth Africa needs to address the lingering legacy of its police using excessive force<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391883/original/file-20210326-19-18fdex1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African Police Service march to disperse students blocking traffic in Johannesburg, in March. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michele Spatari / AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa has a painful history of police using excessive force against protesters. In one of the worst incidents under the apartheid government 69 protesters were shot in cold blood by police outside a police station <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/sharpeville-massacre-21-march-1960">in Sharpeville in 1960</a>.</p>
<p>One of the legacies of that terrible day is that no one was held to account. No one was ever held criminally responsible or civilly liable for the deaths. Instead of identifying, naming and holding responsible those who shot protesters, the apartheid state brought <a href="https://idep.library.ucla.edu/sharpeville-massacre">charges of public violence </a> against 70 residents of Sharpeville who were part of the protests.</p>
<p>The protests were against the <a href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/dompas">identity documents</a> the apartheid regime forced black people to carry, <a href="https://www.parliament.gov.za/project-event-details/2">restricting their movements</a>.</p>
<p>A quarter of a century later South Africans need to be reminded of the past they seek to leave behind. When he signed into law the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf">Constitution of the Republic of South Africa</a>, 1996, President Nelson Mandela chose to do it at Sharpeville. To him the constitution was brought into being <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/history/MEDIA/PRESIDEN.PDF">by an</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>unshakeable determination that respect for human life, liberty and well-being must be enshrined as rights beyond the power of any force to diminish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But the hard truth is that excessive use of force, impunity and efforts to circumvent transparency remain features of policing in South Africa.</p>
<h2>Systemic</h2>
<p>Earlier this month a young man, Mthokozisi Ntumba, was <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-03-12-mthokozisi-ntumba-know-the-man-who-was-killed-in-the-wits-protest-crossfire/">shot dead by a policeman in Johannesburg</a>. At the time the police were confronting a student protest. Ntumba was passing by. </p>
<p>Following the shooting the minister of police, Bheki Cele, characterised the police action as an <a href="https://www.702.co.za/articles/410978/it-s-a-sad-situation-cele-says-after-mthokozisi-ntumba-s-killing">unexplainable exception</a>. In a radio interview he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can’t explain it, it is something without an inch and has no grain of explanation in it. Somebody, for me, just went crazy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But his statement negates the extent and underlying systemic nature of police brutality. Here are just a few examples from across South Africa, over the last decade.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In February 2011, Bongani Mathebula, 21 years old, was <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/2021-03-12-shirley-de-villiers-deadly-violence-is-hardwired-into-saps-dna/">shot and killed</a> in crossfire, as police fired on protesters in Ermelo, a town in the Mpumalanga province. </p></li>
<li><p>On 13 April 2011, Andries Tatane, a 33-year-old father of two, <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2011-04-18-police-under-fire-after-ficksburg/">was shot and killed</a> with a rubber bullet during a service delivery protest in Ficksburg, a small town in the Free State province. </p></li>
<li><p>At Marikana, a platinum mining town in the North West province, on 16 August 2012, <a href="https://justice.gov.za/comm-mrk/docs/20150710-gg38978_gen699_3_MarikanaReport.pdf">police shot and killed 34</a> striking mineworkers. </p></li>
<li><p>In 2015, Lucas Lebyane, a 15-year-old boy, was <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2015-02-27-police-kill-boy-in-mpumalanga-protest/">shot dead</a> during a service delivery protest, demanding that the Bushbuckridge local municipality, a rural area in Mpumalanga province, provide them with water.</p></li>
<li><p>In July 2020, Leo Williams, a 9-year-old boy, <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2020/08/17/leo-williams-the-laingville-boy-shot-in-service-deliery-protest-dies">was shot</a> during a service delivery protest in Laingville, St Helena Bay, a coastal town in the Western Cape province, and died later in hospital. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These are but a few examples based on anecdotal media reporting. But incidents of police excess are much more prevalent. This is known from annual reports of the <a href="http://www.ipid.gov.za/">Independent Police Investigative Directorate</a>, the oversight body charged with ensuring police respect the rule of law and uphold human rights. </p>
<p>In the last two reporting cycles, the number of cases of deaths resulting from police action submitted to the oversight body (393 in 2018/2019 and 392 in 2019/2020) averaged <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/IPID_Annual_Report_2019-2020.pdf">more than one case a day</a>.</p>
<h2>A lack of accountability</h2>
<p>The shootings listed above had two things in common: excessive use of police force, and a lack of accountability. </p>
<p>In some instances, as in Tatane’s case, those accused <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2013-03-28-court-acquits-all-seven-police-accused-of-killing-tatane/">were acquitted</a>. </p>
<p>In other cases, such as in Marikana, there were no prosecutions. In the case of Leo Williams, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2021/03/18/laingville-community-frustrated-with-ipid-probe-into-leo-williams-death">recently confirmed that investigations were continuing</a>. </p>
<p>Under the constitution, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/chp11.html">job of the South African Police <em>Service</em> is to</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>protect and secure the inhabitants of the Republic (section 205(3)). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But without transparency, it’s impossible to hold them to this.</p>
<p>South Africans deserve a fuller picture of the extent of police brutality and the level of accountability, especially when people die at at the hands of police. The statistics that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate provide are informative. But the focus is on its own efficiency in investigating alleged police misconduct, rather than specific cases. The information is nameless and provides no link to specific cases. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>This year provides an opportunity to face the challenge head on. </p>
<p>Some work has already been done. But it hasn’t been shared with the public.</p>
<p>Three years ago a panel of national and international experts put together a report that provided recommendations on addressing the underlying problems relating to public order policing, including policy, methods and training. The panel was convened on the back of a recommendation made by the <a href="https://justice.gov.za/comm-mrk/index.html">Farlam Commission of Enquiry</a> on Marikana.</p>
<p>The panel handed its <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/marikana-experts-report-points-the-way-to-better-policing">report</a> to the minister of police in 2018. It has now finally been <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/marikana-massacre-136-recommendations-by-expert-panel-for-reforms-in-saps-20210329">made public</a> by the police minister.</p>
<p>The senseless death of Mthokozisi Ntumba should make the report a pivot for an urgently needed national dialogue on issues around policing. The proposed amendment to the South African Police Service <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/docs/120523police.pdf">Act 68 of 1995</a>, introduced <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=28546#:%7E:text=The%20South%20African%20Police%20Service%20Amendment%20Bill%2C%202020%2C%20provides%20a,children%20and%20persons%20with%20disabilities">in 2020</a>, provides an excellent opportunity for such a dialogue. </p>
<p>Topics should include the <a href="https://theconversation.com/marikana-shining-the-light-on-police-militarisation-and-brutality-in-south-africa-44162">demilitarisation</a> of the police, changing the culture in the police, and building better relations with communities. The criteria and process for recruitment, ethics, equipment and leadership should also be open to debate. </p>
<p>While the immediate impetus is the use of force in response to protest, other aspects of policing should be part of the discussion. These include the high level of deaths in police custody, with 237 such cases being reported to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in the 2019/2020 cycle.</p>
<p>The aim of this process should be to ensure that the country’s police better appreciate that they are custodians of democracy. They are there to protect the most basic right, the right to life. When they fall short due to excessive use of force, the right to know should be fully respected. Full transparency would be a milestone on the road to greater trust between the police and the people of South Africa. Full transparency will also bring about greater accountability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frans Viljoen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africans deserve a fuller picture of the extent of police brutality, and the level of accountability, especially when people die at the hands of police.Frans Viljoen, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569662021-03-11T16:28:03Z2021-03-11T16:28:03ZA close look at how the net has tightened on the right to protest in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389051/original/file-20210311-22-1rh4exy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters clash with police in February in Cape Town over student funding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s public order policing is as ill as it ever was. This has been illustrated in recent <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-11/protests-spur-south-africa-to-bolster-university-student-funding">student protests</a> spreading across the country’s campuses. In Johannesburg <a href="https://mg.co.za/education/2021-03-10-why-am-i-being-shot-witnesses-describe-last-moments-of-man-shot-during-wits-protests/">police shot dead</a> a pedestrian at a protest outside the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. </p>
<p>In March 2020 the government imposed a <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-01-19-south-africas-new-lockdown-regulations-explicitly-ban-all-political-gatherings/">ban</a> on political gatherings as part of a host of interventions aimed at managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The move was <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/government-using-lockdown-decide-who-may-or-may-no-protest/">unprecedented</a> in the country’s post-apartheid history. </p>
<p>Since then there has been a distressing level of uneven and inconsistent policing of gatherings. The message this has sent is that the police were going easy on some gatherings, while taking <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/continued-prohibition-political-gatherings-irrational/">tough action</a> on others to suppress dissent. </p>
<p>As a scholar of the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/323143697/Introductin-to-Protest-Nation-The-Right-to-Protest-in-South-Africa#from_embed">right to protest</a> I have not been surprised by the heavy handed action. In my view the state has merely been reproducing behaviour patterns entrenched over the past two decades.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.2989/CCR.2020.0009">Research I conducted</a> prior to the lockdown pointed to anti-democratic patterns of behaviour towards protesters. This is despite a 2018 Constitutional Court <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2018/45.html">judgment</a> in South Africa that affirmed people’s right to protest. </p>
<p>I concluded from my findings that much more needs to be done at municipal level to ensure that the judgment changes how the state regulates and polices protests. South Africa’s Regulation of Gatherings <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/regulation-gatherings-act">Act</a> requires a convener to give notice of their intention to hold a gathering to their local authority, in most cases their municipality.</p>
<h2>Understanding local practices</h2>
<p>The Constitutional Court <a href="https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/mlungwana-v-the-state/">found</a> in the <em>Mlungwana and Others v S and Another</em> judgment that a convener’s mere failure to give notice of an intention to hold a gathering should not be criminalised. </p>
<p>The court argued that criminalisation was an unjustifiable limitation on freedom of assembly. It argued that less restrictive means could be used to encourage notification, which it recognised served important public purposes.</p>
<p>The ruling covered all gatherings. But it was particularly significant for the right to protest. This is because protests are more susceptible to government repression than ordinary gatherings.</p>
<p>Using notification as a lens through which to view the state’s treatment of protests, I explored whether actual municipal practices on the ground were opening or closing spaces for protests, and what impact <em>Mlungwana</em> was likely to have on these practices.</p>
<p>I drew on two datasets, which provided rich detail about actual municipal practices over the past decade. The first was collected from 12 municipalities between 2012 and 2013 around the country by a team of researchers under my direction. The second was sourced from the <a href="https://www.saha.org.za">South African History Archives</a>. It had assisted a public interest law clinic to send access to information requests to all municipalities in the country where an information officer’s contact details could be found. Many municipalities simply ignored their requests.</p>
<p>The documents they obtained covered the period 2015 onwards. </p>
<p>I supplemented these datasets with interviews with municipalities, activists and lawyers.</p>
<p>The research results did not paint a flattering picture of municipal practices. Municipalities used pre-emptive restrictions on gatherings, and especially protests, as a matter of course. </p>
<p>For example, municipalities impose onerous conditions that are not required by, or even supported by, the Act. Some require conveners to pay fees to hold a gathering. </p>
<p>In addition, the Act should regulate gatherings in a content-neutral manner with the narrowest prohibitions possible on harmful forms of expression. Yet, there was evidence of municipalities interfering in the lawful expressive content of protests.</p>
<p>In one municipality conveners had to provide information about whether placards would be displayed in gatherings, the names and copies of the identity documents of people who were going to give speeches at the gathering, as well as the duration of the speeches.</p>
<p>Another required conveners to provide details of whether speeches would be made at gatherings, and if so, by whom. In two others they required conveners to give descriptions of the placards and slogans to be displayed.</p>
<p>These requirements risk chilling freedom of expression in gatherings as speakers may be unwilling to be identified in advance out of fear that their speeches may make them targets for harassment or intimidation.</p>
<p>The datasets revealed that municipalities held preparatory meetings for most gatherings they’d received notices about. This is in spite of the fact that in terms of the Act, meetings are needed only if the responsible officer has concerns about the gathering.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-student-protests-in-south-africa-have-turned-violent-66288">Why student protests in South Africa have turned violent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>My research showed that outright prohibitions or refusals of requests for gatherings were a rarity. However, municipalities have also been known to impose blanket prohibitions on gatherings during special events – such as around the time of the 2010 football World Cup and, more recently, the 2016 local government elections – effectively suspending the right to gather in public spaces outside of a State of Emergency.</p>
<h2>A shift</h2>
<p>Municipal over-regulation of protests, coupled with over-policing, suggests a doctrinal shift in how they are viewed by the government. Instead of recognising protests as a democratic right and legitimate form of expression, increasingly protests have been framed as threats to domestic stability and, consequently, national security.</p>
<p>For example, I found no evidence from my research that the national government stepped in to curb abuses.</p>
<p>This shift is not confined to South Africa. It reflects a more conflictual global social order, declining respect for democracy as a political form, and consequently increasingly common framings of protests as riots and protesters as mobs. </p>
<p>State conduct during the lockdown has been yet another sign of this doctrinal decline.</p>
<p><em>Mlungwana</em> was an important step towards reforming the problematic notification process. But, unless the judgment is followed by a deeper and more consistent ideological and doctrinal commitment to respecting the right to protest and ensuring a more genuine incorporation of the majority of South Africans into the political system, then the changes are likely to be limited.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Duncan receives funding from the Open Society Foundation for South Africa and Luminate.</span></em></p>Instead of being a democratic right and legitimate form of expression, protests have increasingly been framed as threats to national security.Jane Duncan, Professor, Department of Journalism, Film and Television, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552232021-02-12T14:22:39Z2021-02-12T14:22:39ZMyanmar: memes and mantras of a new generation of democracy protesters<p>What do the internet memes <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge">Doge</a> and <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cheems">Cheems</a>, the Hollywood film franchise The Hunger Games, and a sachet of instant tea have in common? They are all part of a rich lexicon of protest now being deployed by young activists contesting Myanmar’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/myanmar-coup-how-the-military-has-held-onto-power-for-60-years-154526">military coup</a>. </p>
<p>The country has been in turmoil since the military seized control on February 1, imprisoning state councillor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and leading NLD party officials, who won another landslide victory in November’s elections.</p>
<p>But, as a new generation of protesters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-protest-idUSKBN2A702Y">take to the streets</a> of the country’s towns and cities in growing numbers, they are drawing on a range of internet memes, slogans, cartoons, and cultural symbols to make themselves heard and mobilise support within the country and across the region.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/08/three-finger-salute-hunger-games-symbol-adopted-by-myanmars-protesters">three-finger salute</a>, initially appropriated from the hugely popular The Hunger Games trilogy by young democracy activists protesting the 2014 military coup in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2020/8/19/in-pictures-thai-students-hunger-games-protests-spread/">neighbouring Thailand</a>, is their shared signal of defiance, enumerating the need for equality, freedom, and solidarity as they find themselves engaged in a similarly dystopian struggle with an unscrupulous tyrant.</p>
<iframe src="https://player.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/episodes/myanmars-collective-fury?theme=default&cover=1&latest=1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="110px" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
<p>They deploy cartoon characters including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/08/three-finger-salute-hunger-games-symbol-adopted-by-myanmars-protesters">Pepe the Frog</a> and the internet memes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/08/three-finger-salute-hunger-games-symbol-adopted-by-myanmars-protesters">Doge and Cheems</a> to ridicule senior general Min Aung Hlaing and other junta leaders. Their placards are in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55982001">English as much as Burmese</a>, and they now set the protest songs employed by previous generations of the country’s pro-democracy activists to <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210209-worse-than-my-ex-myanmar-s-very-online-youth-take-on-the-junta">western rap and hip-hop</a> soundtracks.</p>
<p>Myanmar’s young protesters epitomise a culture of transnational activism now favoured by a generation of technically savvy and increasingly cosmopolitan young people intent on resisting the imposition of authoritarian agendas. </p>
<h2>Sharing a taste for (milk) tea</h2>
<p>As the authorities suspend the internet and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/6/22269831/myanmar-orders-block-twitter-facebook-instagram-military-coup">block social media platforms</a> such as Facebook, many are resorting to VPN access to get their message out on Instagram, TikTok and Discord through an avalanche of rapidly mutating hashtags. Likeminded netizens in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand are working in support through the <a href="https://time.com/5904114/milk-tea-alliance/">Milk Tea Alliance</a>, a movement pushing for democratic change across south-east Asia and beyond.</p>
<p>This diffuse, largely online, democratic solidarity movement unites young people confronting riot police in downtown Yangon and Mandalay with <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3118468/thailands-king-works-bolster-his-image-protests-set">Thai youth in Bangkok</a> campaigning for reform of the monarchy, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-security-timeline-idUSKBN29B0B7">pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong</a> contesting Beijing’s National Security Law, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/10/milk-tea-alliance-anti-china/616658/">and young Taiwanese nationalists</a> countering the increased presence of Chinese trolls and bots from the internet cafes of Taipei. </p>
<p>Thai artist Sina Wittayawiroj’s <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Milk_Tea_Alliance/comments/legj53/the_new_milk_tea_alliance_sina_wittayawiroj/">illustration</a> of a set of fists defiantly holding aloft steaming cups of milk tea – fast becoming the unofficial logo of the alliance – has now been joined by one bearing the Myanmar flag. Images of <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3120526/asias-milkteaalliance-has-new-target-brewing-generals-behind">Royal Myanmar “Teamix” sachets</a>, featuring its distinctive milky brew much like Thailand’s orange-hued and Taiwan’s boba tea, are being enthusiastically disseminated on social media and emblazoned on street placards.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graphic posters depicting arms aloft with cups of milky tea, symbolising dissent across south-east Asia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383973/original/file-20210212-21-nts69x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Solidari-tea’: poster for the Milk Tea Alliance, an protest meme spreading across south-east Asia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Sina Wittayawiroj</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like other members of the alliance, <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/myanmar-anti-coup-protesters-rally-at-chinese-embassy-14171132">they are quick to blame China</a> (where tea is of course traditionally served without milk) as they accuse Beijing of lending the Myanmar military logistic support as well as working to undermine democratic rights and freedoms elsewhere in the region.</p>
<p>Solidarity is being expressed by the alliance in other ways. Some young activists in Myanmar are wearing hard hats like the “flashmobs” in Hong Kong, and others have created impromptu “<a href="https://twitter.com/JohnLiuNN/status/1359394538356264965">Lennon Walls</a>” on bridges and underpasses redolent of those created by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lennon-walls-herald-a-sticky-note-revolution-in-hong-kong-129740">Umbrella Movement</a> there. These, in turn, were inspired by anti-communist street propaganda in Europe’s former Eastern bloc shortly after the assassination of the Beatles front man. </p>
<p>Young members of Thailand’s Progressive Movement and anti-establishment organisation Ratsadon (The People) have <a href="https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-politicians-and-activists-join-myanmar-people-at-embassy-to-protest-against-the-coup-in-myanmar/">organised solidarity protests</a> banging pots and pans as anti-coup demonstrators are doing nightly in Myanmar to drive out evil spirits which have torn down their fledgling democracy.</p>
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<p>One young aerobics instructor in the the Myanmar capital Naypyidaw happened to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3120255/myanmar-aerobics-instructor-dances-indonesian-protest-anthem">record a video</a> of her regular workout session in front of the Burmese government buildings as armoured personnel carriers moved into the shot. This has subsequently been set to an Indonesian protest anthem which has gone viral.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55930799">Art</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-02-05/myanmar-coup-youth-movement-democracy-rebel-riot-band">music</a> are being expertly employed to articulate messages of protest and solidarity that bridge cultural and linguistic divides and unite political interests.</p>
<h2>The past is a foreign country</h2>
<p>Not for the first time, young people – particularly educated young people – are playing a decisive role in Myanmar’s growing civil disobedience movement. Student protests in 1920, 1936, 1962, 1974, 1988, 2007 and 2015 have been part of the long struggle for independence and democracy. They ignited the momentous democratic uprising in 1988, and the so-called “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/saffron-revolution-good-monk-myth/541116/">Saffron Revolution</a>” in 2007, when the country’s monks joined them on the streets in a defiant show of moral support.</p>
<p>For the most part, these popular uprisings were violently crushed. It is <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burma-inside-the-saffron-revolution-5329400.html">estimated</a> that hundreds if not thousands died in the 1988 uprisings alone. How is this latest expression of dissent likely to be any different? Already we hear of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/09/myanmar-protesters-curfew-junta-demonstrators-army">police brutality</a> and with the protests gathering momentum it is likely the authorities will respond with increasing force. </p>
<p>Indeed, the stage is set for just such a confrontation as the commitment of young people – largely innocent of history but with a brief taste of freedom – encounter the dark forces of authoritarian rule that have yet again undermined a democratic future for their beleaguered country.</p>
<p>And yet there is hope that this generation of young activists might succeed where others have failed. They are politically and technically literate. They inhabit a wider world than young pro-democracy activists in Myanmar have done in the past. They have access to new places and spaces of protest thanks to the technological benefits of globalisation. They are actively forging new networks of solidarity and resistance beyond their country and communities. They are, in short, on the right side of history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Dolan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Hunger Games salute, teabags and Pepe the Frog are being adopted by young pro-democracy activists across south-east Asia.Richard Dolan, Post-doctoral researcher, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1543742021-02-04T05:01:56Z2021-02-04T05:01:56ZFilm review: Wild Things packs passionate climate activism into an overly polite documentary<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382386/original/file-20210204-14-a6kbih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3695%2C2434&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Potential Films</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The content of some films is so close to the heart that it’s difficult to critically evaluate them. If you’re an atheist, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The Passion of the Christ</a> is not for you. By the same token, if you’re a denier of anthropogenic global warming, then you’ll hate <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13517364/">Wild Things</a>, the latest film from Australian producer-director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2022006/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Sally Ingleton</a>. </p>
<p>A passionate call to action against global warming, Wild Things is documentary at its slickest, even if it is oddly-named (sharing the title with the 1998 risque romp <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120890/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Wild Things</a>). </p>
<p>It seamlessly combines archival footage, camera phone footage, stunningly panoramic aerial photography and beautiful-in-forest images with the whole thing anchored around a group of very likeable environmental activists. </p>
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<h2>To every season, turn</h2>
<p>In keeping with the subtitle — A Year on the Frontline of Environmental Activism — Wild Things follows a group of activists (it’s not clear why they are called “wild things” or by whom) – with each section of the film following a season.</p>
<p>We move from the anti-Adani campaign in Central Queensland led by <a href="https://andypaine.wordpress.com/">Andy Paine</a> at Camp Binbee, to <a href="https://www.tasmaniantimes.com/2020/06/lisa-searle-environment-activist/">Lisa Searle</a> and the campaign to save old-growth forests in Tasmania, to high school students <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/why-we-re-striking-from-school-over-climate-change-inaction-20181031-p50d30.html">Milou Albrecht and Harriet O’Shea Carre</a> from Castlemaine in regional Victoria as they found their own climate change movement. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman hangs alongside a tree trunk that looks to be as wide as a car." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382391/original/file-20210204-14-xkdhk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dr Lisa Searle climbing an old growth tree she is fighting to protect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Cooper/Potential Films</span></span>
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<p>The groups often face serious peril — we see a semi-trailer pushing against protesters outside an Adani contractor site — yet continue their passionate fight for ecological justice. </p>
<p>In many respects, this is an optimistic film. We can feel the enthusiasm of Albrecht, and O’Shea Carre as their campaign spreads from 20 to thousands of students. We even travel to New York City with the latter as she watches, starstruck, as her idol Greta Thunberg addresses a rally. </p>
<p>In other ways, the film is deeply sad. We are forced to witness the brutal destruction of Tasmanian forests. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-we-need-childrens-life-stories-like-i-am-greta-148178">Friday essay: why we need children's life stories like I Am Greta</a>
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<h2>Across time and place</h2>
<p>The old cliche of the dole-bludging treehugger is quickly dispensed with. We follow an organised group of people as they brush up against the systems that began and perpetuate anthropogenic global warming. There isn’t much of a focus on their powerful antagonists, but, one senses, they probably don’t need more opportunities in the spotlight. </p>
<p>We also see the activists’ canny use of social media and new technologies to generate support. As the film points out, these are radically different times from those of the <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/environment-and-nature/conservation/protesting-franklin-dam">Franklin River Dam protest</a>, when film had to be flown in and out every day. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young Bob Brown and other protesters, a banner reads 'Tasmanians do care'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382393/original/file-20210204-22-2xdoyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The film includes a look at historical events, like a rally at Tasmania’s Crotty Road in 1983.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Potential FIlms</span></span>
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<p>Specific campaigns are put in the broader context. The film’s style — its balance between types of footage, and across geographical and temporal locations — seems to embody an ecological rationale. Every part (past or present, here or there) is connected to every other part. </p>
<p>And so notable past Australian environmental campaigns are interspersed with coverage of the current year. The <a href="https://www.greenbans.net.au/">Green Bans in Sydney’s Rocks</a> in the 1970s, <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learning-resources/learning-resource-themes/environment-and-nature/conservation/protesting-franklin-dam">Bob Brown and the Franklin River Dam protests</a> in the 1970s and 1980s, and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44257574?seq=1">anti-Jabiluka mine protest of 1998</a> all make an appearance. Some of this involves contemporary interviews with major players, but much of it is meticulously put together from archival footage.</p>
<p>This temporal cross section seems as significant as the geo-spatial one, and this appears to be a key point the film would like to make. Global warming and ecology are about time — like all death, about temporal limitation.</p>
<p>The continuity of these struggles past and present is of prime significance — the victories as well as the defeats.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ignoring-young-peoples-climate-change-fears-is-a-recipe-for-anxiety-123357">Ignoring young people's climate change fears is a recipe for anxiety</a>
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<h2>Passive protest</h2>
<p>Wild Things may have been conceptually stronger — and more critically coherent — if this point had been made in a more forceful and direct fashion. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is part of its vision — things aren’t neat in this space. Or maybe it’s symptomatic of a more significant criticism: the whole thing seems a little too polite.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two teenage protesters with red megaphones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382390/original/file-20210204-18-mlicc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harriet O'Shea Carre and Milou Albrecht founded their own climate change movement in Castlemaine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Meehan/Potential Films</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wild Things is a document of people struggling to save the planet — and this is as brutal and existentially charged a battle as you can get, <em>lebensraum</em> (the German concept of “living space” for humans) for the population of the entire globe. </p>
<p>Yet interviewees repeatedly emphasise they are “non-violent” as though constantly apologising, in advance, to some imagined criticism. </p>
<p>This disclaimer appears frequently towards the beginning of the film, as though thereby allowing it entry into polite discourse. At times the film seems similarly gentle, genteel — even middlebrow — in its approach to global warming. </p>
<p>It is most impressive as a piece of documentary cinema. Its production value is exceptional, and the balance, in terms of style of footage, is excellent. Fly-on-the-wall footage unfolds amid carefully placed interviews and video diaries. The 90-minutes duration passes in a flash. </p>
<p>The score is a little uninspired but also doesn’t distract from the content of the film. A documentary of this scale is not going to be able to afford composer John Williams — but Missy Higgins sings the closing number, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPReg58dM10">The Difference</a>. </p>
<p>Wild Things is definitely not a non-partisan film — but why should it be? It’s on the side of the population of the globe! </p>
<p>Still, a more detailed and engaged analysis of the relationship between past and present would have enriched its ultimate call to action. It is good — it’s emotionally compelling and enjoyable — but one can’t help feeling a more intellectually robust and less sentimental approach may have made it great. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-youth-climate-movement-is-influencing-the-green-recovery-from-covid-19-147519">How the youth climate movement is influencing the green recovery from COVID-19</a>
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<p><em>Wild Things is in cinemas from today.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new documentary follows a group of young Australian climate activists, loosely weaving their fresh protests with historical events. It’s powerful, if a little too polite.Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1372802020-07-15T14:49:02Z2020-07-15T14:49:02ZOn decolonising teaching practices, not just the syllabus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336491/original/file-20200520-152298-1o0kfsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Student protests dubbed #FeesMustFall in 2016 in Pretoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cornel van Heerden/Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In South Africa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-south-africa-students-protest-tuition-hikes-49620">student calls</a> for free, quality, decolonised higher education have coincided with demands for the transformation of canons, curricula and pedagogies. </p>
<p>At the height of the protests assembled around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-student-protests-are-about-much-more-than-just-feesmustfall-49776">#FeesMustFall</a> movement since 2014, some students at the University of the Witwatersrand formed their own reading groups, attempting to develop their own curricula. </p>
<p>They presented memorandums demanding that their disciplines decolonise the universals they base their assumptions upon. Assumptions like the very non-secular secularism that shapes all aspects of what the practice of knowledge is; the separation of nature and culture; and the primacy of Western canons as universal and not particular. Students wanted the university to better reflect their experiences and contexts. </p>
<p>Danai Mupotsa’s paper <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026119892403">Knowing from Loss</a> considers the practice of teaching in the light of these student protests. Aretha Phiri spoke with her. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Aretha Phiri:</strong> You paper is primarily situated in the Fees Must Fall ‘moment’. How did the student protests help shape your teaching?</p>
<p><strong>Danai Mupotsa:</strong> This paper has <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004356368/B9789004356368_003.xml">had</a> and will likely have a number of afterlives. I started my first full time teaching position in 2015 and I was excited and energetic and certainly thinking about what teaching as a practice means. Being confronted with questions of what the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46176-2_3">classroom is</a>, what it is for, how people learn in that context, was acutely present. </p>
<p>In my paper, I give the example of the student in a second-year course on post-independence Africa, who, once we were reading Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s <a href="https://www.jamesmurua.com/a-review-of-adaobi-tricia-nwaubanis-i-do-not-come-to-you-by-chance/"><em>I Do Not Come to You by Chance</em></a>, was a bit teary. The story is told around Kingsley, who places his hopes in education. Kingsley graduates as an engineer, but education is no longer the language of success in Nigeria. After reading this novel, the student felt that perhaps getting an education might not promise the freedom he imagined – also realising the cost of this education to his family – and he could not reconcile with the narrative and what it might represent. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346334/original/file-20200708-43-15biu0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1157&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hachette Books UK</span></span>
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<p>It made me think about the responsibility that we bear as teachers in contexts of rare optimism. A day later, the university was <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-10-26-wits-to-stay-shut-as-feesmustfall-protests-continue/">shut down</a> because of #FeesMustFall protests. I had to think about the spaces that I occupy. </p>
<p><strong>Aretha Phiri:</strong> Your paper title, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026119892403">Knowing from Loss</a>, specifically references the work of US poet, critic and theorist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/fred-motens-radical-critique-of-the-present">Fred Moten</a>. Are you attempting to apply his analyses of blackness (in America) to the current ‘decolonial’ South African moment?</p>
<p><strong>Danai Mupotsa:</strong> My turn to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23128740">Moten</a> came out of a workshop on literary traditions in the face of <a href="https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=6024&context=lkcsb_research">decolonisation</a>. There were people in the room who were broadly dismissive of students who were turning to <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/685969">Afropessimism</a> as a line of thought or to Blackness as the condition that oriented their political vocabulary.</p>
<p>Some of the statements from colleagues, I just found reactionary. But there were also those who were dismissive because of their non-expertise in Black intellectual traditions such as Moten’s, which thinks through the space between Black and Blackness, experience and our knowledge of that experience.</p>
<p>In my writing, my questions often begin with experience – with intimacy, with relation. I use the tools and methods at my disposal to write embodied ‘love letters’. What feminist critic <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1354255">Barbara Christian</a> asks us to think about when we use the word ‘theory’. When theory is removed from the context of its emergence, it works to exclude Black people, queer people and womxn among others from the work of theory. Christian’s reminder is that theory is in the practice of culture, of Black social life. </p>
<p><strong>Aretha Phiri:</strong> In discussions arising from your paper, you describe your deliberate deployment of ‘embodied teaching’. Could you explain how that might contribute to quality decolonised education? Or be useful for women and queer bodies in higher education in particular?</p>
<p><strong>Danai Mupotsa:</strong> <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cecb/0a74a48bf4db6343cf055bfd9b1c077aa87c.pdf">Peace Kiguwa</a> has done substantial work on what it means to be a queer Black person in the classroom and how one mobilises this position to <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-46176-2_6">engage students</a> on important questions. I find this work instructive. Being embodied, for me, is about dealing with myself, and participants in a classroom, as living, whole creatures. </p>
<p>So it might be a small thing like, it’s 8am on a Monday and we are a bit tired, so we start with a laughing meditation. People will laugh. Perhaps it’s ridiculous. But even if they’re laughing at me, we are now engaged with each other – we are in conversation. It means that what you bring to the classroom in the way of experience matters. It is part of what informs your judgements long before language helps ‘explain’ it. I ask people to be attentive to the pull of the stomach. To the moment when the hair on the skin rises. This expands the terrain and capacity of ‘intellectual’ engagement.</p>
<p><strong>Aretha Phiri:</strong> Your analysis also offers ways in which embodied teaching and learning can disrupt Black Atlantic studies and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/arts/paul-gilroy-holberg-prize.html">Paul Gilroy’s</a>
1993 text <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674076068">The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness</a>. What do you predict as the future of Black Diaspora Studies?</p>
<p><strong>Danai Mupotsa:</strong> I think Black Diaspora studies exist in multiple lives, temporalities, futures, presents and pasts. It is the way that Black people make/ think/ do life. It is the mundane, the ordinary, the radical, the intimate, the erotic, the poetic, the relational. It’s a fundamentally dense knot but equally exciting promise.</p>
<p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=%23BlackAtlanticsSeries">series</a> called Decolonising the Black Atlantic in which black and queer women literary academics rethink and disrupt traditional Black Atlantic studies. The series is based on papers delivered at the <a href="https://stias.ac.za/events/revising-the-black-atlantic-african-diaspora-perspectives/">Revising the Black Atlantic: African Diaspora Perspectives</a> colloquium at the <a href="https://stias.ac.za">Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aretha Phiri is an NRF rated researcher and has been a fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danai Mupotsa receives funding from the EDIT: Equality and Democracy as Transformation
Project (University of the Witwatersrand, University of Addis Ababa and Helsinki University)
funded by the Academy of Finland (nr. 320863, 2019-2022). </span></em></p>An African literature lecturer shares how embodied teaching can help students feel that their lives and stories matter.Aretha Phiri, Senior lecturer, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes UniversityDanai Mupotsa, Senior Lecturer in African Literature, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1370672020-04-24T05:56:26Z2020-04-24T05:56:26ZANU will invigilate exams using remote software, and many students are unhappy<p>The Australian National University (ANU) is facing a backlash from students over the proposed use of a digital platform to invigilate exams remotely. The university <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice/learning-remotely/remote-examinations">recently announced plans</a> to use the Proctorio platform to ensure the legitimacy of exams conducted away from campus during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1252478905069387776"}"></div></p>
<p>Students aren’t happy. A <a href="https://www.facebook.com/No-Proctorio-at-ANU-112247750446698/">Facebook page</a> and a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/australian-national-university-tell-anu-students-say-no-to-proctorio">Change.org petition</a> with more than 3,700 signatures have gained significant media attention. </p>
<p>But the use of technology to solve COVID-19 related challenges has been widespread. So what’s different now?</p>
<h2>What is Proctorio?</h2>
<p>In essence, <a href="https://proctorio.com/">Proctorio</a> is the digital equivalent of the invigilators walking up and down the aisles during student examinations. The software is already used by various institutions around the world, including <a href="https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/11544/files/2420382/download?verifier=J84eQ3dJ92MuPd5EINg3Sy0rThJ63NmfySF0lO5F&wrap=1">Harvard University</a> and other <a href="https://www.kent.edu/sites/default/files/file/Proctorio_StudentFAQ_Final.pdf">US universities</a>. The University of Queensland has also <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/uq-students-raise-privacy-concerns-over-third-party-exam-platform-20200419-p54l77.html">announced plans</a> to use a similar platform, ProctorU.</p>
<p>To use the Proctorio software, the student taking the exam has to install it on their computer and allow the program to access their camera and microphone. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329991/original/file-20200423-47841-zh66r0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A range of permissions are required by the Proctorio browser extension.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The software is a <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/proctorio/fpmapakogndmenjcfoajifaaonnkpkei">browser extension</a> for Google Chrome. Along with camera access, Proctorio requires permission to:</p>
<ul>
<li>access web page content to allow the extension to function correctly</li>
<li>capture the screen to facilitate screen recording</li>
<li>manage other extensions to monitor other tools being used in the browser</li>
<li>display notifications</li>
<li>modify clipboard data to prevent copy-and-paste capability</li>
<li>identify storage devices to allows the extension to “see” system resources and</li>
<li>change privacy settings to allow an external technical support function.</li>
</ul>
<p>While the provider gives <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/proctorio/fpmapakogndmenjcfoajifaaonnkpkei">reassurance in each category</a> (and there’s no evidence any of it’s untrue), it’s understandable some students are daunted by the extent of permissions requested.</p>
<p>The second part of the system is in the cloud. Data collected on a user’s computer is transmitted to the company’s servers to be analysed. This could include video and audio recordings, as well as images captured of a user’s screen.</p>
<p>In a statement to The Conversation, an ANU spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Data will be stored in a secure location in Australia. Only ANU staff who are trained in privacy and the use of Proctorio will have access to this data. These staff members are also responsible to the University’s privacy policy. Data will be deleted once exams are over and course results are finalised.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Facial detection (but not recognition)</h2>
<p>Proctorio claims to use <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-machine-learning-76759">machine learning</a> and <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/face-detection-for-beginners-e58e8f21aad9">facial detection</a> to identify the likelihood a student is cheating. It’s important to distinguish facial detection from the more controversial technology of facial recognition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/facial-recognition-is-spreading-faster-than-you-realise-132047">Facial recognition is spreading faster than you realise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By <a href="https://proctorio.com/platform/exam-monitoring">observing a student</a> throughout the exam, Proctorio’s system may be able to detect if the student:</p>
<ul>
<li>is looking at a second screen or reading from another source</li>
<li>is copying content</li>
<li>is being prompted by another person</li>
<li>has been replaced with someone else.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/20/concerns-raised-australian-universities-plan-use-proctorio-proctoru-exam-monitoring-software">Concerns have been raised</a> that the system will monitor keystrokes (typing), potentially compromising students’ personal information.</p>
<p>But an ANU spokeperson told The Conversation that “Proctorio does not monitor what keys are typed – just that keys have been typed”.</p>
<h2>What are the issues being flagged?</h2>
<p>Students may nevertheless feel Proctorio is “spying” on them. Any tool that overtly monitors a user’s behaviour, particularly when downloaded on a personal laptop, merits thorough examination.</p>
<p>ANU has released a <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/files/guidance/ANU-CyberAdvisory-Proctorio-Guidance_updated.pdf">cyber security advisory statement</a> and <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/files/guidance/Proctorio_PIA_0.pdf">privacy assessment</a> that aim to address concerns. The key points are:</p>
<ul>
<li>all data is encrypted in transit and storage, and is only available to designated ANU staff. Proctorio has no access to the student data</li>
<li>students may have to show their room to the camera (presumably to verify they are alone)</li>
<li>the system doesn’t record keystrokes or mouse movements</li>
<li>camera, microphone and browser are used to monitor the user. However, the document does make reference to a rather nondescript “other means” of monitoring.</li>
</ul>
<p>In a YouTube video statement, ANU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Grady Venville reassured students the university’s IT security team had undertaken a thorough assessment of the software, and were “very satisfied” it met ANU’s “rigorous cybersecurity standards”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hGqklmHhqok?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) on the use of Proctorio.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is perhaps not entirely reassuring, given the university’s own cyber advisory recognised its “recent security challenges”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/19-years-of-personal-data-was-stolen-from-anu-it-could-show-up-on-the-dark-web-118265">19 years of personal data was stolen from ANU. It could show up on the dark web</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Can ANU force students to use Proctorio?</h2>
<p>ANU, like any university, is entitled to implement assessment strategies it deems appropriate. Given the current situation, finding alternatives to traditional examinations is essential to adhere to social-distancing measures.</p>
<p>The university is somewhat vague with regards to the specific use of Proctorio. In its <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/covid-19-advice/learning-remotely/remote-examinations/proctorio-faqs">FAQ</a> it states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Course conveners will determine if your course requires the use of Proctorio for the assessment for your course.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>ANU has confirmed to The Conversation that students have the option to defer the exam instead of using the software. Those without a suitable device can also use a university computer on campus, or enquire about alternative assessments with their convener. An ANU spokesperson also said course conveners “can use a range of other assessment methods” if appropriate.</p>
<p>Some students have asked to be notified before May 8 (the deadline to withdraw from units) if they will be forced to use Proctorio. </p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>The legal situation is currently unclear. While ANU may be allowed to force the use of Proctorio for exams conducted on university-owned devices, mandating its use on privately owned devices is less certain.</p>
<p>If students do use Proctorio on their personal devices, they may want reassurance their device will be safe from surveillance when not being used for exams.</p>
<p>Also, while ANU offers the option to defer exams, students may feel pressure to unwillingly use the system simply to avoid a delayed graduation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-accept-government-surveillance-for-now-110789">Australians accept government surveillance, for now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Haskell-Dowland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian National University is turning to digital proctoring to replace the role of a walking invigilator. But who watches the proctor, what are the risks, and what data will be collected?Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1269022019-11-19T12:55:21Z2019-11-19T12:55:21ZHong Kong: violence at universities tests moderate support for more radical protesters<p>Hundreds of protesters at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/19/hong-kong-protests-hundreds-surrender-to-police-after-university-standoff">remained barricaded</a> in the university campus on November 19 after days of running battles around the campus between police and the protesters. The day before, police <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/18/heartbreaking-day-polyu-student-leaders-call-public-hundreds-trapped-campus/">successfully encircled</a> the campus in downtown Hong Kong, making mass arrests, before retreating and then preventing some of those who remained from leaving. </p>
<p>Many were concerned that the clash between protesters and police at PolyU could eventually lead to a massacre similar to what happened in <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiananmen-square-is-being-cleansed-with-blood-horror-of-that-night-lives-on-after-25-years-27552">Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989</a> if live ammunition were used against the protesters. </p>
<p>The violent scenes at PolyU were preceded by a standoff at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) which began on November 11. As researchers based at these two universities, we have witnessed first-hand the continuing clashes between police and protestors.</p>
<p>Many people sympathetic to the ongoing protest movement understood it as a defence of a university campus against the police. This partly reflects the liberal values, such as academic freedom, upheld by many of the protesters. For them, the brief police presence on a university campus was an outright attempt by the government to suppress the freedom of speech in universities.</p>
<p>The standoff at CUHK began as calls for another general strike grew following the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3036833/hong-kong-student-who-suffered-severe-brain-injury-after">death of a university student, Chow Tsz-lok</a> from an injury sustained during a protest. While the cause of Chow’s death remains unclear, many anti-government protesters think that the police are responsible. </p>
<p>Amid calls to paralyse Hong Kong during the strike, student protesters at CUHK took a call to disrupt traffic seriously. Under the number 2 bridge at CUHK campus is the Tolo highway which connects northern Hong Kong and the rest of the city. On the morning of November 11, protesters began to throw objects from the bridge down to the highway, hoping to stop the traffic there. The police responded by using force to deter the protesters who then retreated onto the campus.</p>
<p>We saw the clash between protesters and police turn the campus into a battlefield where the riot police fired thousands of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. They also used a water cannon truck to quell the protesters, who then threw back petrol bombs and used arrows of fire to attack in return. Mild vandalism also happened on the university campus. The clash led the university authority to announce a premature end to the university semester and in the face of such severe confrontation, various foreign consulates urged <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/hong-kong-uk-british-universities-exchange-students-recall-a9205071.html">foreign exchange students</a>, including those from the mainland, to evacuate.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-fear-hong-kong-will-become-just-another-chinese-city-an-interview-with-martin-lee-grandfather-of-democracy-124635">'We fear Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city': an interview with Martin Lee, grandfather of democracy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On November 15, a former member of the Independent Police Complaints Council approached the protesters in CUHK, urging them to reopen Tolo Highway for three days and remove all petrol bombs. In exchange, the police would not enter CUHK for those three days.</p>
<p>In response, the protesters demanded that the Hong Kong government go ahead with district council elections scheduled for November 24, set up an independent commission of inquiry for investigation into alleged police brutality and misconduct, and release protesters arrested during the clash at CUHK. The protesters compromised by partly reopening the blocked Tolo highway and the government announced that the district council elections would continue, though it rejected the other two demands. Still, by November 16, protesters <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/9-hong-kong-university-chiefs-call-for-peace-to-be-restored-as-government-warns-civil">had left the CUHK campus</a>, an occupation which lasted for almost a week.</p>
<p>While PolyU, site of the most recent violence, is a separate university institution, it’s also located near a major transport artery, the Cross Harbour Tunnel at Hung Hum, which connects to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. By blocking the tunnel, the new protests at PolyU imitated what happened a week earlier at CUHK – marking the spread of the protests to other universities in Hong Kong. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-YAdzoh_mM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Student role in politics</h2>
<p>Although many participants of Hong Kong’s protest movement, which was sparked by anger against a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hong-kong-protests-against-extradition-bill-spurred-by-fears-about-long-arm-of-china-118539">new extradition bill</a>, refuse to identify with the Chinese nation, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/hong-kong-protesters-dont-identify-as-chinese-amid-anger-at-inequality-survey-suggests-122293">our ongoing research interviewing protesters is showing</a>, many are likely to be influenced by Chinese historical events, including the May Fourth movement of 1919.</p>
<p>Widely seen as the Chinese Renaissance, the May Fourth movement <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/653885?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">started when university students protested</a> after the post-World War I Paris Conference, where German interests in Shandong Province were transferred to Japan, instead of being returning to Republican China. After the leaders of the protests were arrested, the then-president of Peking University, Cai Yuanpei, resigned in protest.</p>
<p>Since then, not only have Chinese university students had a special role in Chinese politics, Chinese intellectuals often expect the university administration to protect politically active students or even support their political activism. </p>
<p>Amid the current protests, students in all public universities in Hong Kong have demanded their vice-chancellors condemn the police brutality. On November 15, <a href="https://www.ust.hk/news/announcements/statement-heads-universities-current-situation-hong-kong">a joint statement</a> by the heads of universities in Hong Kong called on the government to respond to the protesters’ demands and resolve the political deadlock and restore public order.</p>
<h2>Split emerging</h2>
<p>It’s been striking that, so far, the escalation of violence and vandalism across Hong Kong has not significantly driven away the support of more moderate protesters. Many moderate protesters have tolerated the violence of the movement’s more radical factions. </p>
<p>The underlying logic here is that the more moderate, well-off, middle-class Hong Kong protesters, who are unwilling to bear the political cost of imprisonment for rioting, have been content to leverage the radical faction’s disruptive tactics. Their hope is that the Hong Kong government will agree to compromise and respond to the protest movement’s remaining demands: 1) setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate alleged police brutality and misconduct; 2) amnesty for those arrested; 3) democratic reform; 4) removal of the categorisation of protests as “riots”, and 5) reform of the police organisation. </p>
<p>It’s this relationship between the two factions – moderate and radical – which has been instrumental in the past few weeks. But there are limits to how much violence the moderate faction will accept – and the type of objects being targeted.</p>
<p>Their patience wore thin when some radical protesters in CUHK started sporadically attacking faculty buildings and university facilities. For those moderate protesters on campus, the radicals’ attacks were illegitimate because these aren’t government properties and so it’s meaningless to damage them. Worse still, in the face of these sporadic and unreasonable attacks, the moderate protesters on campus started to worry that the vandalism could become uncontrollable and that the radical faction would turn the campus into its own permanent base. </p>
<p>There was also a concern when the protesters demanded the district council elections go ahead – something which wasn’t an agreed demand of the anti-extradition bill movement. All these moves led the moderate protesters on campus to think they had been hijacked. The university authority leveraged on the split to urge the radicals to leave the campus, or else they would ask for external support (probably the police) to quell the radicals, especially those who were not CUHK students.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it’s too soon to declare that the moderate protesters – both inside CUHK and outside it – would side with the Hong Kong government to endorse its repressive attempts to restore law and order. In fact, as long as the government remains unwilling to compromise over the movement’s demands – especially the demand to set up a commission of inquiry for investigation into alleged police brutality and misconduct which is popular among the moderate protesters – it’s unlikely that the radical factions will lose support from the moderate faction. And as the siege of PolyU continued on November 18, protesters marched towards the campus in a bid to save the protesters from the siege.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1196416374093967367"}"></div></p>
<p>The solidarity among the two factions is dependent on the moderates’ acquiescence of the radicals’ tactics. This means it’s also possible that the anti-government movement will start to fade if the moderates withdraw their support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How the protest movement in Hong Kong moved onto university campuses – by two researchers who have witnessed the unfolding events.Charles Fung, Researcher and Teaching Assistant, Sociology Department, Chinese University of Hong KongChun-wing Lee, Lecturer, Division of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1247642019-10-08T02:22:54Z2019-10-08T02:22:54ZThere are differences between free speech, hate speech and academic freedom – and they matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295930/original/file-20191008-128681-xwdo81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C134%2C4435%2C2766&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Academic freedom protects free speech, but also sets conditions. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/02-10-2019/250-university-of-auckland-staff-sign-open-letter-over-white-supremacist-materials-on-campus/">posters appeared</a> at the University of Auckland inviting young white men to “assume the mantle of re-taking control of our own country” and to confront “anti-racism ideology”. </p>
<p>The group was obviously unaware of the significance of the British High Commissioner’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpBVrvRdC1k">expression of regret</a>, in the same week, for the killing of several Māori people during their first encounter with the English explorer James Cook in 1769.</p>
<p>At least 1,300 academics and students signed an <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/116384678/auckland-university-vicechancellor-says-white-supremacy-row-not-about-free-speech">open letter</a>, arguing that racism and white supremacy have no place at the university and challenging the Vice Chancellor’s initial position that there is no justification for removing the posters.</p>
<p>This week, the Vice Chancellor changed his position, <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/07-10-2019/i-have-listened-to-our-people-auckland-university-vice-chancellor-responds-to-white-supremacy-on-campus-concerns/">telling staff</a> that a debate about free speech should be put to one side for now, as the most important matter was the “real hurt and sense of threat that some people in our university community feel in response to these expressions of white supremacist views”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/academic-freedom-is-under-threat-around-the-world-heres-how-to-defend-it-118220">Academic freedom is under threat around the world – here's how to defend it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Free speech vs academic freedom</h2>
<p>Neither the Vice Chancellor nor the signatories to the open letter bring academic freedom into the debate. But minister of justice Andrew Little, a former president of the <a href="http://www.students.org.nz/">New Zealand University Students’ Association</a>, argued that there is “<a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400230/universities-must-uphold-academic-freedoms-but-not-discrimination-justice-minister">no principle of academic freedom</a>” that says white supremacy ought to be protected.</p>
<p>Free speech, hate speech and academic freedom are related but different. And the differences matter.</p>
<p>Free speech is the right to say whatever one likes. It is unconstrained by the disciplines of reason and objectivity. It doesn’t require factual accuracy. As with academic freedom, it doesn’t matter if one’s opinion is unpopular. Both free speech and academic freedom are essential to democracy.</p>
<p>Free speech belongs in universities as much as anywhere else. It is the right to hold opinions and to challenge the opinions of others. A Chinese student in New Zealand once asked me if it was alright to criticise the prime minister in an essay. This underscores the importance of free speech, but also the need for great caution in setting its limits.</p>
<p>Academic freedom protects free speech on the one hand, but conditions it on the other. Universities cannot support the unrestricted pursuit of knowledge if one cannot think freely. But knowledge cannot be tested and doesn’t advance if there isn’t also a duty to be well informed and reasoned - and willing to have one’s ideas scrutinised by others.</p>
<p>In a university, the test of a reasonable opinion is higher. One cannot say whatever one likes and call it academic freedom. </p>
<h2>Hate speech as a limit</h2>
<p>Both free speech and academic freedom are limited by hate speech.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/people/msal020">According to the United Nations</a>, hate speech is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When people say that they want to “reclaim” a country as their own and contest “anti-racism” they are saying overtly and unapologetically that they don’t want others to have a democratic presence. They are saying that they don’t want others to have free speech. Nor do they want academics who are not “young white men” to have academic freedom. </p>
<p>These aren’t democratically legitimate differences of opinion because “<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/toleration/">toleration is not the solution to intolerance</a>”.</p>
<p>There are differences between what is wrong and what is intolerably wrong. There are some views that a free society can’t tolerate.</p>
<p>Racism is <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/toleration/">intolerably wrong</a> because it denies some people human equality. It creates a hierarchy of human worth and causes serious harm to its targets. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-networked-hatred-new-technology-and-the-rise-of-the-right-115837">Friday essay: networked hatred - new technology and the rise of the right</a>
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<h2>A ‘right to be bigots’</h2>
<p>In Australia, free speech is restricted under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00014">Racial Discrimination Act 1975</a> which <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s18c.html">provides that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if:
(a) the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and
(b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s18d.html">significant qualifications</a> to these restrictions. But, in spite of these, in 2014 the attorney general told parliament that the act imposed unreasonable constraints on people’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/george-brandis-people-have-the-right-to-be-bigots">right to be bigots</a>”.</p>
<p>The conservative think tank the Institute of Public Affairs claimed in 2018 that university <a href="http://www.chinafile.com/document-9-chinafile-translation">policies curtailing free speech had dramatically increased</a> in the preceding two years. The University of Sydney’s Vice Chancellor argued that <a href="https://www.redlandcitybulletin.com.au/story/5757356/free-speech-at-universities-to-face-probe/?cs=4012">robust processes</a> “ensure that freedom of speech from all parts of the spectrum is alive and well on our campuses”.</p>
<p>But earlier this year, a <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/report_of_the_independent_review_of_freedom_of_speech_in_australian_higher_education_providers_march_2019.pdf">government-commissioned inquiry</a> found that “claims of a freedom of speech crisis on Australian campuses are not substantiated”. The review also found that universities should not allow visitors to use their premises to “advance theories or propositions … which fall below scholarly standards to such an extent as to be detrimental to the university’s character as an institution of higher learning”.</p>
<p>Defending a right to bigotry, or to express hate speech, trivialises what the denial of both free speech and academic freedom can really look like.
In China, for example, the state has warned against the presence of “<a href="http://www.chinafile.com/document-9-chinafile-translation">mistaken views</a>” in universities, including the study of constitutional democracy, civil society, economic liberalisation, freedom of the press, challenges to socialism with Chinese characteristics and discussion of universal values including academic freedom.</p>
<p>In the case of the white supremacy posters, it would seem that University of Auckland academics, not the Vice Chancellor, had the stronger argument.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Academic freedom protects free speech, but also conditions it. Knowledge cannot be tested and doesn’t advance if there isn’t also a duty to be well informed and reasoned.Dominic O'Sullivan, Associate Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233572019-09-19T20:55:29Z2019-09-19T20:55:29ZIgnoring young people’s climate change fears is a recipe for anxiety<p><strong><em>This story is part of <a href="https://www.coveringclimatenow.org/">Covering Climate Now</a>, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.</em></strong></p>
<hr>
<p>Thousands of school students across Australia are expected to join in the <a href="https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/sept20">global protest today</a> calling for action on climate change.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time students in Australia have rallied against climate change – <a href="https://theconversation.com/students-striking-for-climate-action-are-showing-the-exact-skills-employers-look-for-113546">many took to the streets in March</a>. But today is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/14/going-to-the-streets-again-what-you-need-to-know-about-fridays-climate-strike">expected to be one of the biggest protests</a> as they’ll be joined by others, including <a href="https://www.notbusinessasusual.co/#participants">many workers</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/everyones-business-why-companies-should-let-their-workers-join-the-climate-strike-122976">Everyone's business: why companies should let their workers join the climate strike</a>
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<p>The participation of our school students is a sign of how seriously they see climate change. As the <a href="https://www.schoolstrike4climate.com/about">organising website says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are striking from school to tell our politicians to take our futures seriously and treat climate change for what it is – a crisis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the end of this century, average temperatures on the surface of our planet are predicted to be <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-climate-statement-past-4-years-warmest-record">more than two degrees Celsius or higher</a> than today. The average level of the ocean surface could be <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203700-sea-level-rise-could-hit-2-metres-by-2100-much-worse-than-feared/">more than a metre higher</a>. Such changes will challenge the ways we live now. </p>
<p>There are plenty of evidence-based projections of future climate readily available, such as the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/">IPCC</a>). </p>
<p>But then there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-old-school-climate-denial-has-had-its-day-117752">denial</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-are-climate-change-skeptics-often-right-wing-conservatives-123549">scepticism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-climate-change-science-misconceptions-debunked-122570">misconceptions</a> about climate change that confuse people and create unnecessary fear and anxiety, especially in school-age students.</p>
<p>Young people are still developing their ability to critically reason, contextualise and realistically assess risk. They are vulnerable to emotion-charged information and less likely to understand the possible agendas of people with differing ideas.</p>
<h2>Fear and anxiety about climate change</h2>
<p>Anxiety is a form of fear we experience when a threat is not immediate or catastrophic but has the potential to be so. It can be useful when it mobilises us to act on a problem.</p>
<p>Two important criteria underpin both fear and anxiety. You find yourself faced with a potentially dangerous situation that appears to be uncontrollable and unpredictable.</p>
<p>Either unpredictability or uncontrollability on their own can lead to a fear or anxiety response. In concert together they form a perfect storm of stress and confusion.</p>
<p>Looking at climate change through this emotional lens, we can certainly see the element of uncontrollability. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736">Some climate scientists</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gloves-are-off-predatory-climate-deniers-are-a-threat-to-our-children-123594">activists</a> believe we have started a chain reaction that is almost irreversible. </p>
<p>Most climate scientists are careful not to talk about predictions of future climate and favour model-informed projections. That still gives us an idea of the nature of our future world, at least for most of the rest of this century.</p>
<p>This knowledge encourages the perception that we can <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">control or mitigate certain aspects of climate change</a>. From a human point of view, this brings us some relief.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203094402/chapters/10.4324/9780203094402-11" title="The difficult problem of anxiety in thinking about climate change">anxiety related to the impending climate change</a> should not be underestimated. Some researchers list it as a top concern for population <a href="https://ijmhs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1752-4458-2-13" title="Hope, despair and transformation: Climate change and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing">mental health</a>.</p>
<p>It is therefore not surprising that many of our younger generations feel particularly anxious about the impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>On the one hand, teenagers are especially sensitive to fear-based messages as they have a tendency to catastrophise – they imagine the worst possible outcome.</p>
<p>For example, in the last century, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219180/" title="Children's and Adolescents' Perceptions of the Threat of Nuclear War: Implications of Recent Studies">it was the threat of a nuclear war</a> that caused anxiety in many children. </p>
<p>Fast forward to today and climate change is seen as the next big threat for future generations.</p>
<h2>How to ease the anxiety</h2>
<p>Today’s school students know they will inherit the fallout of climate change. They will live to see their children and grandchildren doing the same. So they have reason to be concerned, and anxiety may mobilise useful action. </p>
<p>So what can we reasonably say to teens who are feeling shut out of the debate and experiencing heightened anxiety about their future?</p>
<p>Adaptation is one of the most valuable skills of the human species. Understand that we can and must adapt to the impacts of climate change.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-attending-a-climate-strike-can-change-minds-most-importantly-your-own-122862">Why attending a climate strike can change minds (most importantly your own)</a>
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<p>Climate change isn’t new so we will need to work together to care for the Earth and one another. Importantly, taking an interest in understanding why and how things happen helps us to manage them (rather than sticking our collective heads in the sand and engaging in denial).</p>
<p>While there is genuine cause for some anxiety, a fear reaction that is out of place or disproportionate to the actual threat serves very little actual purpose other than leaving a person in great distress.</p>
<p>Listening to the valid concerns of school students, and engaging them in discussions about the mitigation and adaptation strategies we will need to adopt, will go some way towards easing their fears and anxieties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick D. Nunn receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Natural Environment Research Council (UK).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Sharman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young people have reason to protest today and call for action on climate change. But they risk anxiety if they feel they are not heard and nothing is done.Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine CoastPatrick D. Nunn, Professor of Geography, School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1189072019-06-17T04:31:31Z2019-06-17T04:31:31ZPressure builds with more protests in Hong Kong, but what’s the end game?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279707/original/file-20190617-158927-u56zfz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">According to organisers, two million people marched Sunday in Hong Kong, with many shifting focus away from a controversial extradition bill to the resignation of the Beijing-backed chief executive, Carrie Lam.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jerome Favre/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html">latest protests in Hong Kong</a> on Sunday, which organisers said brought some 2 million people to the streets, represented yet another striking show of “people power” in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s efforts to bring calm to Hong Kong included an uncharacteristic about-face on her position over the weekend, a rare apology and the indefinite <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3014669/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-backs-down-over-extradition">suspension</a> of the proposed changes to the city’s extradition laws, which sparked the initial protest against the government last weekend. </p>
<p>But laden with qualifications and a subtle rebuke of the protesters, Lam’s repositioning of the issue has had limited impact, suggesting that she may have seriously underestimated the anger and determination of her constituency. The protesters are now calling for nothing less than her resignation, making her the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/carrie-lam-hong-kong-chief-executive-china-beijing-puppet">lightening rod</a>” for public anger in the face of growing resentment towards Chinese influence in Hong Kong.</p>
<p>As the people of Hong Kong continue to take to the streets, one wonders whether the real struggle has only just begun.</p>
<h2>How the fight over the extradition bill mushroomed</h2>
<p>For many, Lam’s controversial extradition bill represented the “thin edge of the wedge” of Chinese control. If passed, the proposed law could have seen local and foreign criminal suspects sent to mainland China to stand trial in a judicial system that is opaque and vastly uncompromising.</p>
<p>But there’s much more at stake for the people, identity and prospects of Hong Kong. For those concerned about China’s rising influence in the city, the legislation represented a dangerous break in the firewall that has preserved civil liberties for the people of Hong Kong within the “<a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3014608/hong-kong-extradition-protests-one-country-two-systems-good">one country, two systems</a>” framework.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/two-systems-one-headache-hong-kong-twenty-years-after-the-handover-to-china-79587">Two systems, one headache: Hong Kong twenty years after the handover to China</a>
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<p>While its proponents claim the bill has a narrow application, many fear it would enable China’s leadership to target political opponents, entrepreneurs and activists as part of its wider strategy for exercising control over the region. The implications for Hong Kong’s reputation as a vibrant global financial, business and transit hub would be significant.</p>
<p>Of course, the latest demonstrations cannot be viewed in isolation – they are the latest chapter in Hong Kong’s longstanding tradition of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/13/mass-street-protests-are-an-expression-of-hong-kongs-identity">public dissent</a>. And there have been some notable successes in the past, including the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/07/01/hk.protest/">indefinite suspension</a> of plans to implement a national security law in 2003 and the reversal of a proposed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/world/asia/thousands-protest-chinas-curriculum-plans-for-hong-kong-schools.html">comprehensive national curriculum</a> in 2012.</p>
<p>Yet, as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/hong-kong-democracy-protests-china-umbrellas-police">2014 Umbrella Movement protests</a> revealed, the mood in Hong Kong appears to be taking on a more sombre tone. Much of this reflects the changing mood within China.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279720/original/file-20190617-158967-1l4zm68.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters in Hong Kong wore black on Sunday night, a striking change from the white apparel worn last week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roman Pilipey/EPA</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Under President Xi Jinping, civil protests — even those organised in the special autonomous region of Hong Kong — are increasingly fraught. Xi himself set the tone with a particularly <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2100856/full-text-president-xi-jinpings-speech-one-country-two">hard-line speech</a> during his 2017 visit to the city for Lam’s swearing-in.</p>
<p>Flagging new levels of intolerance for activities that might be interpreted as encouraging Hong Kong independence from China, Xi <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2100856/full-text-president-xi-jinpings-speech-one-country-two">noted</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government … or use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage activities against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite the efforts of China’s state-run Global Times newspaper <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1154055.shtml">to lay blame</a> for the “uncontrolled street politics” on “Western forces” and “malice from afar”, however, Chinese political authorities have remained relatively quiet on the Hong Kong protests this week. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-cyber-attack-hampered-hong-kong-protesters-118770">How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters</a>
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<p>This is unsurprising. Coming just a week after the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/hong-kong-commemorates-30th-anniversary-of-tiananmen-square/11180318">30th anniversary</a> of the Tiananmen Square protests, China was never likely to take an openly provocative stance against the protesters. </p>
<p>But it is clear Beijing is keeping a close eye on the situation, <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1149158.shtml">pushing back</a> on criticisms from abroad and now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/world/asia/carrie-lam-hong-kong-protests.html">possibly wavering</a> in its support for Lam. Ever sensitive to external critiques that relate to questions of sovereignty, the Chinese government may decide to take a harder line should the protests continue to gather momentum. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1140144004664721408"}"></div></p>
<h2>Lack of foreign pressure</h2>
<p>Thus far, the response to the protests has been relatively muted. The European Union has <a href="https://qz.com/1643858/foreign-governments-are-worried-about-hong-kongs-extradition-law/">called for the rights</a> of the Hong Kong people to be respected, noting its concern for the “potentially far-reaching consequences” of the extradition bill. UK Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, has called on authorities to ensure the extradition arrangements “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-extradition-britain-may/uk-pm-may-says-hong-kong-extradition-must-be-in-line-with-sino-british-declaration-idUSKCN1TD1G6">are in line with the rights and freedoms</a>” set forth in the joint declaration when the British handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997.</p>
<p>US President Donald Trump has remained <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/opinion/hong-kong-protests-trump.html">ambivalent</a> so far, saying only last week, “I’m sure they’ll be able to work it all out.” But according to his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, Trump is now <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/17/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/trump-raise-hong-kong-protests-xi-g20-mike-pompeo/#.XQbo3tMzbUI">expected to raise the issue</a> when he meets Xi at the G20 Summit at the end of the month. This is only significant insofar as it reminds us of Trump’s transactional interest in the region.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hong-kong-in-crisis-over-relationship-with-china-and-there-does-not-appear-to-be-a-good-solution-118591">Hong Kong in crisis over relationship with China – and there does not appear to be a good solution</a>
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<p>As for Australia, Foreign Minister Marise Payne issued a fairly neutral <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-hong-kong-community-disappointed-by-mp-s-response-to-controversial-extradition-law">statement</a> in support of the Hong Kong people’s right to protest. It left many, including those in <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/hong-kong-extradition-bill-hundreds-gather-in-rundle-mall-adelaide-to-show-support-for-protesters/news-story/e0a163f5b3f89addcf458157ffb0be73">Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere</a> who protested in support of Hong Kong last week, somewhat underwhelmed.</p>
<p>Beyond the protests, how the current tensions unfold will have serious implications for Australia’s engagement in the region and our ongoing relationship with China. The <a href="https://www.fpwhitepaper.gov.au/foreign-policy-white-paper">2017 Foreign Policy White Paper</a> reinforces the core values underpinning our international engagement, including support for political, economic and religious freedoms, liberal democracy and the rule of law. </p>
<p>How and when we articulate our commitment to these values, and reinforce their place in our region, will be the key test of our diplomacy going forward. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279728/original/file-20190617-158925-2hxhax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As protesters turn their ire on Carrie Lam, the Chinese government may retreat from its support for her.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roman Pilipey/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where do the protests go from here?</h2>
<p>Lam’s decision to suspend consideration of the extradition bill offers a necessary moment for pause. But it hasn’t taken the heat out of the protests. </p>
<p>At this stage, Lam hasn’t backed away from her intent to revive the bill at a later stage. It’s also likely the Chinese government will continue to press towards that outcome, though perhaps in a different form and even under different leadership. Much hangs in the balance.</p>
<p>Hong Kong’s protesters appear galvanised by their cause. But whether they can sustain the necessary momentum for the long game — where crossing red lines may come at a cost — is another matter altogether.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlin Byrne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hong Kong’s protesters are galvanised by their cause, but whether they can sustain their momentum and bring about real change remains to be seen.Caitlin Byrne, Director, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1179922019-06-03T07:43:39Z2019-06-03T07:43:39ZChinese students and workers are uniting again, 30 years after Tiananmen Square crackdown<p>“We will fight together, advance and retreat together,” concluded Qiu Zhanxuan in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/if-i-disappear-chinese-students-make-farewell-messages-amid-crackdowns-over-labor-activism-/2019/05/25/6fc949c0-727d-11e9-9331-30bc5836f48e_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d05437fe02c8">video his comrades released</a> on May 4, 2019. Qiu was the former leader of a Marxist student association at the prestigious Peking University. He had prepared the digital testament to be released in case he disappeared. </p>
<p>Qiu did <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3009068/missing-chinese-student-activist-accuses-police-abusing-him">disappear in late April</a> after he’d dared to <a href="http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/China_university_students_protest_Marxist_group_shakeup_999.html">call for a united front</a> between students and workers, 30 years after the infamous Tiananmen Square crackdown. He had previously been arrested and then released in December 2018 <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-politics-mao/leading-chinese-marxist-student-taken-away-by-police-on-maos-birthday-idUSKCN1OP0EK">on his way to a memorial marking</a> Mao Zedong’s 125th birthday. </p>
<p>This came after students from Peking united with <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2158991/chinese-maoists-join-students-fight-workers-rights">striking workers</a> at the company Jasic Technology, whose attempts to form a union were blocked in July 2018. Students from Peking University, but also Renmin and Tsinghua universities, travelled to the south of China the following month to support the aggrieved workers. They were <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/williamyang/more-than-50-student-activists-arrested-in-police-raids-in">arrested</a>, some released, and others, such as Qiu, have since disappeared. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1111169513196683264"}"></div></p>
<p>It was students based in Peking who began protesting in April 1989 after the sudden death of Hu Yaobang, the reform-minded former Communist Party of China secretary-general. They called for political reform and democracy, but also for more social freedom and equality. Progressively, workers joined the movement all across China. Initially they weren’t welcomed by the students, who feared their movement would be diluted, but they soon realised that all Chinese citizens were fighting for the same cause: the realisation of the socialist ideal in the form of a more democratic and equal society. </p>
<p>The students’ peaceful hunger strike in Tiananmen Square ended on June 3 and 4 when more than 200,000 troops were sent in to suppress what the communist regime saw as a counter-revolutionary riot. It’s estimated anywhere between <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-29/how-the-tiananmen-square-protests-shaped-modern-china-quicktake">hundreds and thousands or protesters</a> were killed. </p>
<p>Today again, the same issues are at stake, that of equality and justice in a society which hasn’t achieved the socialist dream, but instead become a fierce capitalist market. With economic growth in <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-03-11/whats-causing-chinas-economic-slowdown">China stagnating</a> and as President Xi Jingping’s promise of a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22726375">“China dream”</a> becomes more distant for many of the 300m Chinese workers, student agitation could jeopardise the regime’s stability. </p>
<h2>Fallen proletariat</h2>
<p>Long gone are the days of the “iron rice bowl” – the guarantee of a stable job for life with the assorted social benefits. The Chinese proletariat is no more the elite of communism but the prime victim of Chinese-style capitalism and fierce globalisation. Chinese workers are in a worse situation than they were in 1989. They have fewer state protections, and the fate of many depends on their ability to accept and survive the often unregulated working conditions of the private sector.</p>
<p>As Han Dongfang, executive director of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin (CLB) <a href="https://www.ihrb.org/other/governments-role/podcast-han-dongfang">observed</a>, the situation is much more complex now than it was 30 years ago. The charismatic railway worker was only 26 when, on April 17, 1989, he gave a speech at Tiananmen Square to advocate the right of Chinese workers to freely organise. He helped create the Beijing Worker’s Autonomous Federation, the People’s Republic of China’s first independent trade union. It was dismantled soon after the June 4 crackdown in 1989. </p>
<p>One of the most wanted Tiananmen protesters, Han turned himself into the police and spent two years in prison. Banned from China, he continues his fight from Hong Kong where he set up CLB in 1994. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277222/original/file-20190530-69063-1quc80v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Han Dongfang on a visit to the University of Portsmouth in April 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Salil Tripathi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is still a lot to struggle for. There is no right to go on strike and no right to unionise in China today – yet some workers still protest over issues such as unpaid wages, restructuring plans, health and safety or even gender equality. The <a href="https://maps.clb.org.hk/strikes/en">CLB recorded 1,701 strikes</a> in 2018. Chinese workers are very active despite the risks strikes entail – from being fired, to be being arrested, imprisoned or even disappeared. </p>
<h2>Disenchanted and repressed labour</h2>
<p>Chinese labour law is actually <a href="https://www.cairn-int.info/article-E_LMS_244_0047--legal-reforms-and-social-protest-in-a.htm">well designed to protect workers</a>, as my research has documented. Chinese-style public-interest litigation as well as forms of collective negotiation – if not yet collective bargaining – have become widespread in China since legal reforms in the 1990s and early 2000s. But these laws only work if they are implemented and adjudicated independently, and the system remains unpredictable. </p>
<p>The past ten years have also brought massive disenchantment about a Chinese legal system that circumvents the rule of law. Too many murky practices remain commonplace, such as forced labour known as “reform through work” (<em>laogai</em> or <em>laodong gaizao</em>) or “re-education through work” (<em>laojiao</em> or <em>laodong jiaoyang</em>). Such practices are still used by the <a href="https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/findings/country-studies/china/">state</a> and some private companies alike, both on Chinese territory but on <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/efef39d0-471b-11e9-b168-96a37d002cd3">flagship foreign investment projects abroad</a>. Reports have detailed Chinese workers dispatched overseas forced to live in inhumane conditions <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/23/forgotten-victims-chinas-belt-road-initiative/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ae6888b60027">deprived of their passports</a>, going unpaid for months. </p>
<p>In the past, discontent was centred <a href="https://clb.org.hk/content/will-china%E2%80%99s-construction-workers-see-change-fortune-new-year">among construction workers</a>. Many migrated from the countryside to the cities without a clear residence permit, or what’s known as <em>hukou</em> status, making them vulnerable to possible abuses. Now, discontent is spreading. </p>
<p>One recent movement, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html">called “996”</a> made headlines as Chinese tech employees name and shame their employees about a culture of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. This has included <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/15/business/jack-ma-996-china/index.html">denouciations</a> by workers of the powerful Alibaba founder Jack Ma who advocates such a punishing working culture. Tech workers have also <a href="https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3074523/microsoft-workers-protest-as-github-blocks-996-china-complaints">protested online</a> about long hours via GitHub or in using memes, stickers and T-shirts. </p>
<p>While a lot has changed in China since 1989, much has remained the same. The state is present at every level of society, which has become <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2018/06/05/Inequality-in-China-Trends-Drivers-and-Policy-Remedies-45878">extremely unequal</a>. The leadership of the Communist Party of China remains unchallenged politically, and yet a form of civil society coexists with an authoritarian regime that represses individual democratic aspirations. In this context, some students and workers are trying to unite around the same hopes and aspirations as their predecessors in 1989 – for equality and justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leïla Choukroune does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Back in 1989, workers joined students in pro-democracy protests. Now students are joining workers agitating for better conditions.Leïla Choukroune, Professor of International law and Director of the University Research and Innovation Theme in Democratic Citizenship, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1162922019-05-02T14:32:46Z2019-05-02T14:32:46ZBook review: one VC’s account of student protests in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272192/original/file-20190502-103078-juwi8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A protest outside South Africa's Parliament demanding amnesty for students arrested during "fees must fall" protests.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nic Bothma/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/feesmustfall-21801">#FeesMustFall protests</a> of 2015 and 2016 have made an indelible mark on higher education in South Africa. The protests left no university untouched. And they elicited significant emotions: for, against or a mixture of the two. </p>
<p>Most could agree with the sentiments that underpinned the protests. Students wanted more equitable access to higher education. They called for free education. But there was significant disagreement and concern around their methods of protest, tactics and outcomes. </p>
<p>Student leaders from the time will rightly claim victory. Tuition increases were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/world/africa/south-africa-freezes-tuition-fees-after-student-protests.html">frozen</a> for the 2016 academic year. Support workers who had been outsourced were given <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2017/01/12/wits-spending-r120m-on-insourcing-workers-this-year">permanent employment</a> at some institutions. The government agreed to create a <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-higher-education-in-south-africa-cutting-through-the-lies-and-statistics-90474">fee-free</a> university environment for those below a determined household income threshold. </p>
<p>Those who opposed the protests will argue that the sacrifices made to secure these gains came at too great a cost. Students and staff were traumatised. Infrastructure was destroyed. Books and artworks were burned. The reallocation of financial resources had real consequences in the broader society: government expenditure on the social wage declined in nominal terms, making it more difficult for South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens to survive.</p>
<p>These positions persist and have not been reconciled. More than ever, South African universities need a new social contract that charts a way forward and begins to heal divisions. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272188/original/file-20190502-103063-17gf4ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Ball Publishers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two Vice Chancellors – one who has completed his term, the other still serving– have written books on the issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-south-african-universities-82180">The first</a>, <em>As by Fire, the end of the South African university</em>, was written by Professor Jonathan Jansen. He ran the university of the Free State during the protests. More recently, the vice chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand (known as Wits), Professor Adam Habib published <em><a href="http://www.jonathanball.co.za/component/virtuemart/new-releases-1/2019-releases/rebels-and-rage-reflecting-on-feesmustfall-detail?Itemid=6">Rebels and Rage</a></em>.</p>
<p>My analysis of Habib’s book is that it is a participant-observer account but does little to contribute ideas that might be used to develop such a contract or to move South African higher education forward. This is a pity given that this was meant to be <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-30-adam-habib-tipped-to-give-wits-the-edge">a central premise</a> of his leadership at Wits. </p>
<h2>Division and contestation</h2>
<p>Habib proffers a set of insights and commentary on the politics and political economy of what took place at Wits and across the sector. He situates his analysis in discussing moments and offering personal reflections. It is an insider view of the protests. </p>
<p>Quite rightly, he argues that a lot was at stake during #FeesMustFall, in particular the integrity of the whole higher education sector. He weaves this narrative throughout a series of chapters that seek to unpack particular moments, events and the individuals involved in this. But often, these end up being derisive of others; questioning tactics, political motivations, aspirations and ideology. </p>
<p>Some of this is understandable, especially when considering some of the deception or miscalculations that took place or when questioning the intellectual basis – such as quoting Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko – for engaging in violence.</p>
<p>But the issues and moments raised remain divisive, contested and are certainly not settled. At times the book feels like an endeavour to settle scores and to use the authority and privilege assigned through being the Vice-Chancellor to set the narrative. He frequently uses hyperbolic, dismissive language. </p>
<p>This creates a real conundrum for Habib when he needs to execute his role as the final point of decision-making. For academics and students derided in the book, can they reasonably expect fair treatment by their Vice-Chancellor on matters pertaining to career and studies? </p>
<h2>Disclosure</h2>
<p>In the spirit of full disclosure, I was present and involved in the protests in 2015 and 2016. I am mentioned in the book, but am not counted among the major role-players and come in for no particular praise nor scorn.</p>
<p>When the protests began, I was an academic and was among the leaders of the Academic Staff Association of Wits University. </p>
<p>Our main role throughout was to be present and try – where possible – to diffuse conflict between students, staff, police and private security and to build understanding. Some of us were tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, had stones thrown at us or were pushed around by various parties. Sometimes we were effective, and other times we were not. The scar on the back of my head can attest to this.</p>
<p>I witnessed many of the stories and moments Habib describes. He offers insights and reflections that feel familiar and make logical connections, and his account of some events is accurate.</p>
<p>But gaps also emerge among these recollections. </p>
<h2>What’s missing</h2>
<p>Habib contends that this is a personal reflection on the #FeesMustFall movement. Yet he makes assumptions about other people’s intent. Here I think not just of students, but also of some academic staff whom he seems to set up as proverbial boogeymen. To Habib, he was right, and anyone who disagreed with him, was wrong. This is an overly simplistic approach to a complex set of moments and leads to unfair characterisations.</p>
<p>I also found Habib’s lack of self-reflection and ownership over decisions and how some events unfolded striking. The reader gets some glimpses, such as his regret over berating a student for requesting security assistance for student residences. But this is a unique moment and little consideration is given to actions and decisions taken at the senior management level. </p>
<p>For example, was it helpful to issue written warnings to protesters in 2015 threatening arrest for blocking entrance gates? Did it diffuse the situation to use an apartheid era <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201505/act-6-1959.pdf">trespassing law</a>? Finally, how does he reconcile his beliefs with the fact that the protesters were ultimately successful in achieving their ends and what does this mean for social movements in South Africa?</p>
<p>No one emerged from #FeesMustFall a hero or a villain. Everyone made mistakes. Everyone miscalculated. Everyone misunderstood elements of the moment. Instead of pointing fingers and casting blame, what is needed is consideration and thought into how Wits and other South African universities are going to move forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David J Hornsby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than ever, South African universities need a new social contract that charts a way forward and begins to heal divisions.David J Hornsby, Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1110032019-02-18T14:20:47Z2019-02-18T14:20:47ZAfrica’s student movements: history sheds light on modern activism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259279/original/file-20190215-56243-e5ssa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African students at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1964 protesting against being called "savages" in parliament.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rhodesian Herald</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 9 March 2015, a student hurled faeces at a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes. This act led to <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-09-rhodes-statue-to-be-removed-after-uct-council-decision">the statue’s removal</a>. It also inspired <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-students-are-protesting-again-why-it-neednt-be-this-way-109964">the most significant period of student protest</a> in post-apartheid South Africa’s history. </p>
<p>Student protesters called for the decolonisation of universities and public life. They spurred similar actions by student activists in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-37430324">the Global North</a>. Students in other African countries like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/racist-gandhi-statue-removed-from-university-of-ghana">Ghana</a> and <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2016/08/01/decolonising-makerere-on-mamdanis-failed-experiment/">Uganda</a> also got involved. But the debate about what the decolonisation agenda means and who has the authority to lead it is still wide open – and often acrimonious. </p>
<p>The lessons from older, non-South African experiences of student protests in post-colonial African politics are often missing from those debates. </p>
<p>After independence, generations of university students in countries like Uganda, Kenya, Angola and Zimbabwe mobilised for change. They wanted politics and education to be decolonised, transformed and Africanised. These cases, and others, are explored in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/issue/450ED9F309972E6B034AEB155590EA9A">a special edition</a> of the journal <em>Africa</em>.</p>
<p>Today’s student activism and that which came before it share two common traits. One is student protestors’ belief in their own political agency. The other is the fear state authorities have that these groups may, in the words of Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani, act as a “<a href="https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/handle/10625/13489">catalytic force</a>”. They have the power to spur other groups into action.</p>
<p>By looking back, scholars can understand the potential that such activism has for emancipating people from the legacies of colonialism. It’s also a useful way to identify the limits that student decolonisation projects can hold for both broader politics and society, as well as for the activists themselves. </p>
<h2>Looking back</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/introduction-student-activism-in-an-era-of-decolonization/05CE1FD0D1C81EC17EA829DBC5F3095E">our introduction</a> to the journal, we point out that African students in the 1960s and 1970s believed themselves to be emergent political elites and intellectuals. </p>
<p>They questioned political leaders’ assumed role as the agents of decolonisation. They agitated for radical alternative projects of political change. These projects commonly incorporated socialist or pan-African ideological frameworks.</p>
<p>African universities were key actors in developing post-colonial and decolonised societies. They trained an entire new class of doctors, economists, lawyers, and other professionals. </p>
<p>This was happening in countries with low levels of formal schooling. And so, university students’ education was seen to give them the knowledge and skills to both understand and challenge state authority in a way that few other social groups could. These challenges led to frequent clashes between university students and the states that funded their education.</p>
<h2>Historical protests</h2>
<p>There was no single decolonisation project during this era. Students’ challenges to state authority looked very different in different countries. The <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/shama-will-not-dance-university-of-khartoum-politics-196469/B00518BA4D475318B38013962A77FC92">fatal contests</a> between radical Islamist and secular Leftist students at the University of Khartoum in Sudan in the late 1960s offer one example. </p>
<p>These two factions debated and violently fought over whether a decolonised Sudan should be secular and socialist, or bound by Islamic customs and values. Women’s public performances of their femininity became a lightning rod for these tensions. This boiled over into tragedy after <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/shama-will-not-dance-university-of-khartoum-politics-196469/B00518BA4D475318B38013962A77FC92">the <em>Adjako</em> women’s dance</a> was controversially performed in front of a campus crowd of men and women. The Islamic movement denounced this. Riots ensued, and a student was trampled to death. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/africa/article/political-life-of-the-dead-lumumba-cold-war-histories-and-the-congolese-student-left/5CAB511BE7B085E0E9D138D93B350BB8#fndtn-metrics">example</a> was how the 1961 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination">assassination</a> of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba influenced students in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His death pushed young educated Congolese to revisit the meaning of decolonisation. They turned ideologically to the Left. This shaped the ideas and practices of a generation who challenged President Mobutu Sese Seko’s authoritarian rule.</p>
<h2>New understandings</h2>
<p>Scholars of African student activism have typically devoted more time to analysing earlier historical periods. These include the early anti-colonial activism of nationalist leaders such as Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7d3qBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=mark+matera+london+africa&ots=CY_XVWWIzX&sig=xvPJHSwbxuRR6P9-xurnpD9C4u8#v=onepage&q=mark%20matera%20london%20africa&f=false">London</a>, or Senegal’s Leopold Senghor in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LNMmCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=goebel+paris+book+anti-colonial&ots=AeCaUKHRip&sig=kjvg-lUyWyYPaPyCTBrA_cDVZHU#v=onepage&q=goebel%20paris%20book%20anti-colonial&f=false">Paris</a>. </p>
<p>By focusing on the 1960s and 1970s, the research that appears in the special edition opens up new ways of thinking about the significance of African student activism. Some students took their political ideas and behaviour into subsequent careers as opposition political leaders in Kenya, Niger and Uganda. In Zimbabwe and Angola, on the other hand, student activism opened the way into high-status careers as state leaders. These former protesters’ uncomfortable association with authoritarian governance forced them to defend the meaning of their past activism. </p>
<p>The articles show how decolonisation in this period shaped a generation of university students’ aspirations to challenge post-colonial forms of governance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African universities were key actors in developing post-colonial and decolonised societies.Dan Hodgkinson, Departmental Lecturer in African History and Politics, University of OxfordLuke Melchiorre, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Universidad de los Andes Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1114672019-02-09T12:30:39Z2019-02-09T12:30:39ZSouth African president’s education plans don’t quite make the grade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258008/original/file-20190208-174851-dr6lsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the 2019 State of the Nation Address.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2019-state-nation-address-7-feb-2019-0000">State of the Nation Address</a>, delivered in Cape Town on February 7, has attracted a fair amount of <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2019-02-08-boredom-and-praise-mzansi-reacts-to-sona-2019/">praise</a>. But while the speech scored an A for its vision and plan for economic renewal, it scored an F for education.</p>
<p>If the amount of time spent on a topic during the speech is any indication of where the president’s priorities lie, then those concerned about South Africa’s education system –- at all levels –- have reason to be concerned. Early on, he listed “improving education” as one of the government’s five most urgent tasks, but he didn’t elaborate on this point until well into his second hour of speaking. In fact, more time was given to tourism than education.</p>
<p>One can appreciate that the president had many pressing points to make about the country’s <a href="https://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/SOE-crisis">dysfunctional parastatals</a>, and <a href="https://www.news24.com/Columnists/MaxduPreez/the-time-is-ripe-for-a-massive-corruption-clean-up-campaign-20190122">weeding out corruption</a>. It’s likely that the audience he was most concerned about were potential foreign investors, not ordinary citizens concerned about the safety of their children on university campuses after a week of <a href="https://www.enca.com/news/witsshutdown-continues">protests</a> or those who worry about the quality of basic education. </p>
<p>But it would have been good to hear Ramaphosa use his brief time at the podium to give a considered, thoughtful – and sobering – assessment of the state of South Africa’s entire education system. He could have acknowledged that, after 25 years as a democracy, the country’s education system hasn’t yet turned the corner from deep dysfunctionality to sustained success. And this critical assessment should have been accompanied by a strategy to map the way forward.</p>
<h2>Basic education</h2>
<p>Instead, Ramaphosa spoke of his government’s commitment to basic <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2019-state-nation-address-7-feb-2019-0000">infrastructural backlogs</a>, such as toilets. Ensuring that schools have basic infrastructure in place is critical. But the fact that the president had to raise this as an issue at all is a shame to the minister of basic education. Ramaphosa made similar promises in his <a href="https://www.enca.com/news/has-ramaphosa-kept-his-2018-sona-promises">2018 State of the Nation Address</a> about school infrastructure development which the department of basic education hasn’t delivered on. </p>
<p>These infrastructural problems should have been sorted out a decade ago especially given that the department has been taken to court to make it happen. The focus now should be on substantive educational issues. It would have been important to hear the president comment on South Africa’s ongoing challenges in <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-south-africas-matric-pass-rate-means-for-universities-109441">producing school leavers</a> who are qualified for first year university mathematics. </p>
<p>The president also created a fanfare by announcing the rollout of e-tablets for all school children. If he sincerely believes that access to this form of technology is one of South Africa’s most pressing problems, he has been badly advised by his minister. Technology is a merely a tool for teaching and learning. If the teaching and learning experience is poor for a variety of reasons, access to a tablet will make no difference. </p>
<p>Where are the country’s skills going to come from to compete in the fourth industrial revolution? Probably not from giving pupils access to e-tablets when the principles of basic numeracy are still not properly taught. </p>
<h2>Higher education</h2>
<p>With respect to the technical and vocational education and training sector, Ramaphosa echoed the same promises that have been made before, vowing to build up this sector so it can contribute to the development of technically skilled graduates. No one will disagree with this. </p>
<p>But what should have been discussed was the progress or lack thereof that has been made in the past five years to strengthen this important sector. This was among the former Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s priorities, and is high on the current Minister’s list, too. So: what progress has there been on their watch?</p>
<p>The week leading up to Ramaphosa’s speech saw student protests erupt on a number of university campuses. One protest ended in tragedy: Mlungisi Madonsela, a student at the Durban University of Technology, was <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-02-06-is-this-your-government-outrage-as-dut-student-shot-and-killed-amid-protest-action/">shot dead</a> – allegedly by a security guard hired to protect the campus. Ramaphosa acknowledged both the protests and Madonsela’s death.</p>
<p>But the sector urgently needed some stabilising assurances. Will the promise of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-students-are-protesting-again-why-it-neednt-be-this-way-109964">free education</a>” for the poorest be delivered on now and in the future? Is the state thinking beyond the current crises to issues of financial sustainability for the future? What happens to academically eligible students whose <a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/">National Student Financial Aid Scheme</a> funding runs out after four years?</p>
<p>Finally, Ramaphosa rightly lauded the achievements of the <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/">Square Kilometre Array</a>, which will be the world’s largest radio telescope when it’s completed in the mid-2020s. </p>
<p>But the reality is that sustaining this kind of research will require investment in South African universities’ research capacity. It would have been good if the President had acknowledged the deplorable conditions of research funding in universities and the huge risk this presents to the country unless it is addressed. Academics and the public need to know that this is on the President’s radar – and, specifically, how this trend will be reversed.</p>
<p>Overall, the president failed to convince ordinary South Africans that education – arguably one of the most important contributors to a thriving society – is in good hands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suellen Shay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Education remains one of government’s key priority sectors yet it continues to be in a crisis.Suellen Shay, Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1084072018-12-08T13:31:04Z2018-12-08T13:31:04ZWhat French populists from the ‘50s can teach us about the 'yellow vests’ roiling Paris today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249513/original/file-20181208-128214-1wwgf0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators march down Paris' Champs-Elysees Dec. 8.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/France-Protests/5ac333a6752c49bdb5790955d8b7f4d6/67/0">AP Photo/Michel Euler</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The populist protests roiling France remind me of a similar anti-tax revolt that occurred in Paris nearly 65 years ago. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/demonstration-at-the-porte-de-versailles-directed-by-pierre-news-photo/107409483">January 1955</a>, tens of thousands of French men and women gathered at the Porte de Versailles in Paris to express their disgust for the elites who had burdened their lives with crushing taxes. They had come to hear the populist icon <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38370962">Pierre Poujade</a>, a bookstore owner from the rural Lot valley and the leader of a movement that <a href="https://electionsfrance.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/the-poujadist-movement-in-1956/">tried to topple</a> the government of Pierre Mendès-France. </p>
<p>Today, the French government is <a href="https://theconversation.com/gilets-jaunes-why-the-french-working-poor-are-demanding-emmanuel-macrons-resignation-107742">again facing</a> an <a href="http://time.com/5472304/france-yellow-vests-macron-fragile/">existential threat</a> over an unpopular tax, but this time by the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/topics/gilets-jaunes-62467">gilets jaunes</a>,” or <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/gilets-jaunes-63133">yellow vests</a>. And even though President Emmanuel Macron has since nixed his government’s plan, the demonstrations show no sign of abating.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y58-EhUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I believe</a> that the Poujadist protests, which I am studying as part of a book project on the political economy of France, can shed light on today’s unrest – as well as on the many other <a href="https://medium.com/@lseideas/understanding-the-global-rise-of-populism-27305a1c5355">populist movements</a> agitating governments across the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249486/original/file-20181207-128220-ec7x0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the protests have turned violent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-France-Gas-Price-Protests/2e4ec01db6e64ff1aab2fb858c95908a/65/0">AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘gilets jaunes’</h2>
<p>The “gilets jaunes” movement <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/yellow-vests-protesting-france-181206083636240.html">started in November</a> as a response to a fuel tax hike meant as an environmental measure. </p>
<p>Cars, trucks and tractors play a critical role in the lives of rural and suburban French people, and the insensitivity of the government to this reality sparked the anger of these “non-metropolitan” citizens. They have long felt <a href="https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1340637898&disposition=inline">marginalized</a> by city-dwelling French elites, who would <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/french-minister-says-fuel-tax-protests-smaller-more-violent">barely be affected</a> by the rising fuel prices.</p>
<p>The yellow vest itself perfectly embodies the resulting sense of grievance. </p>
<p>All French drivers are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/why-people-in-yellow-vests-are-blocking-french-roads-quicktake">required to keep</a> a yellow vest in their car for emergencies. Practically speaking, therefore, it is a cheap and readily available garment for supporters of the movement. </p>
<p>More than that, the yellow vest is a <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/12/french-protests-gilets-jaunes-yellow-vests-paris-gas-tax/577300/">potent symbol</a> because motorists don it to attract attention in an emergency. For many protesters, that is exactly what they are trying to do by marching through the streets.</p>
<h2>Revolt or revolution?</h2>
<p>But the protests have evolved from a pure tax revolt into something broader, combining a <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2018/12/emmanuel-macron-has-succeeded-uniting-france-s-different-groups-against-him">wide range</a> of political views. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://elabe.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/20181128_elabe_bfmtv_les-francais-et-les-gilets-jaunes.pdf">recent poll</a> shows that about 42 percent of the protesters supported the far right candidate <a href="https://theconversation.com/macron-and-lepen-are-battling-for-frances-heart-and-soul-in-election-runoff-76966">Marine Le Pen</a> in the last elections. The survey also shows that 20 percent of them backed the far leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while many others voted a blank ballot or even supported the conservative François Fillon.</p>
<p>And perhaps because the movement lacks a leader, its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/world/europe/yellow-vests-france.html">demands</a> have included everything from reinstating a wealth tax to increasing welfare protections. <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20181206-french-student-protests-intensify-alongside-yellow-vest-revolt">Students</a> are demanding that the government backtrack on proposed education reforms, while more radical elements want a fundamental transformation in government.</p>
<p>To top it all off, extremists known as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/world/europe/france-yellow-vests-protests-macron.html">les casseurs</a>” – literally “people who break things” – and anarchists have added violence to what were primarily peaceful protests. As a result, <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/8xpm3a/paris-riots-yellow-vests-macron-fuel-tax">there have been</a> hundreds of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-08/police-arrest-317-in-paris-ahead-of-new-yellow-vests-protests?srnd=premium">arrests</a> and injuries.</p>
<p>Under tremendous pressure, Macron, on Dec. 5, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46460445">backed away</a> from the fuel taxes. But protests continued on Dec. 8, with more <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-08/police-arrest-317-in-paris-ahead-of-new-yellow-vests-protests?srnd=premium">violence reported</a>, and signs that they will continue. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2018/12/06/01016-20181206ARTFIG00352-eric-drouet-ce-leader-des-gilets-jaunes-qui-appelle-au-putsch.php">Loose talk</a> among some extremists of violently overthrowing the government, along with a small but growing current of <a href="https://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/1505/Monde/article/detail/3502399/2018/12/07/La-grogne-des-gilets-jaunes-tout-profit-pour-l-extreme-droite.dhtml">anti-Semitism</a>, has done little to calm the situation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249487/original/file-20181207-128190-wjzyz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A demonstrator holds a french flag at the toll gates on a motorway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/France-Protests/d38913b95d494ee0bf037a343bd4bf4f/15/0">AP Photo/Bob Edme</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The past and the present</h2>
<p>The perception of burdensome taxes as a symptom of unjust elite rule was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1406514">something shared</a> by Pierre Poujade and his followers in their day. </p>
<p>His protests – like today’s – represented a populist <a href="https://theconversation.com/gilets-jaunes-why-the-french-working-poor-are-demanding-emmanuel-macrons-resignation-107742">rejection</a> of “the system,” which the lower middle classes saw as serving only the elite and leaving them behind. </p>
<p>In the 1950s, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/387/Transformative_Relationships_-_Journal_Article_-_Hankla.pdf?1544198980">France was just a few years past the suffering</a> caused by the Second World War, the German occupation and the quasi-fascist Vichy regime. In order to rebuild the country, the leaders of the new Fourth Republic adopted a system of economic planning to channel huge amounts of central investment to selected industries. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/capitalism-and-the-state-in-modern-france-renovation-and-economic-management-in-the-twentieth-century-by-kuisel-richard-f-new-york-cambridge-university-press-1981-pp-xv-344-3750-cloth/3C8BB4F8E60A914484F3617BC1338730">historians believe</a> this helped drive the incredible growth that France experienced through the early 1970s. But it had a downside for millions of small business owners, especially those outside the big cities, who believed that their high taxes were being used to help privileged big businesses <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42843321">take over</a> the economy.</p>
<h2>Populism today</h2>
<p>The “gilets jaunes” are very much following in the tradition of the anti-elite movements before them, especially the Poujadists.</p>
<p>Today, as then, the French economy is <a href="http://www.oecd.org/economy/france-economic-forecast-summary.htm">doing reasonably
well</a>, with its annual growth rate <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=FR">improving since 2012</a> and currently <a href="http://www.oecd.org/economy/france-economic-forecast-summary.htm">close to 2 percent</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249488/original/file-20181207-128196-10o16a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pierre Poujade led a movement that bears similarities to today’s ‘gilets jaunes.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-International-News-France-File-/2e8b5ca008f2da11af9f0014c2589dfb/1/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But, as in the 1950s, the times are not good for everyone. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly <a href="https://data.oecd.org/unemp/unemployment-rates-by-education-level.htm">above 9 percent</a> and is much higher at 15 percent among those without a high school diploma. <a href="http://piketty.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/04/18/inequality-in-france/">Data</a> from the French economist Thomas Piketty shows that income inequality has widened since the 1980s.</p>
<p>More importantly, the rising cost of living makes it difficult for members of the lower middle class to make ends meet. And all the while they see the privileged enjoying a lifestyle that they cannot imagine. </p>
<p>All of this echoes the Poujadists, but the “gilets jaunes” of today are responding to economic challenges that are very different from the ones of the past.</p>
<p>Today, what matters most are the <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300233766/twilight-elites">uneven gains</a> of globalization. Although deeply integrated world markets have benefited many in France, they have left behind workers and small-business owners who lack the skills to profit from them. </p>
<p>And Macron’s policies are seen as <a href="http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/yellow-vest-protests-macrons-failure-to-address-inequality.html">exacerbating</a> these inequalities and favoring the elites over the lower classes. Besides the fuel tax, his decision to abolish the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/france-could-keep-wealth-tax-in-bid-to-placate-yellow-vests-1544025588">wealth tax</a> and plan to make <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-reforms-education/no-kid-left-behind-macron-tries-to-fix-frances-education-system-idUSKBN1JV0MM">university admissions more selective</a> have added to Macron’s pro-elite image. </p>
<p>So how might it all end? Poujade’s movement, for its part, was able, at its height to win <a href="https://www.economist.com/obituary/2003/09/04/pierre-poujade">52 seats</a> in the French National Assembly. Poujadism did eventually disintegrate, but its longevity shows how it had tapped into something much deeper than a simple aversion to taxes. </p>
<p>This “something deeper,” a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/02/france-is-deeply-fractured-gilets-jeunes-just-a-symptom">suspicion of the system</a>, is shared by the yellow vests and explains why we should not be surprised that Macron’s backtracking on the fuel tax has done little to quiet the protests. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248873/original/file-20181204-34131-500r02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Riot police use a water cannon and tear gas against demonstrators.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-1st-december-2018-riot-1246495381?src=j1OCKrFnYEq3RY7foMcsfA-1-7">Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Populism around the world</h2>
<p>Their rage against out-of-touch elites also links the “gilets jaunes” protests with other recent populist movements in Britain, the United States and elsewhere.</p>
<p>In all these places, populism has emerged as a result of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/chart-of-the-week-distribution-of-globalization-s-gains">uneven distribution of economic gains</a> that have accrued from globalization. </p>
<p>For example, while most elites <a href="http://fortune.com/2013/09/11/the-rich-got-a-lot-richer-since-the-financial-crisis/">have fully recovered</a> their losses from last decade’s global financial crisis, nearly everyone else has seen their income and wealth little changed. This situation is especially galling for the <a href="http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/global-crisis-rooted-in-systemic-failure-of-the-financial-and-political-elite/">many who blame</a> those very elites for causing the crisis in the first place. </p>
<p>When Macron upended the French political system to become president in 2017, many hoped that he could channel the <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/anti-establishment-anger-drives-france-elections/3815593.html">anti-elite anger</a> brewing in France into his new, youthful party. But Macron’s paradoxical “centrist populism” has not delivered the change that many citizens sought, one reason the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20181205-french-back-yellow-vest-protests-despite-govt-u-turn-poll">vast majority</a> of the public supports the protests.</p>
<p>The “gilets jaunes” represent a reckoning. It is a reckoning that will take more than tax policy to avert, and one whose future impact will be difficult to predict. </p>
<p>After all, among the young legislators first elected on Poujade’s ticket was Jean-Marie Le Pen, a man who would go on to create the modern French far-right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108407/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Hankla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A populist movement that threatened to topple a French government more than 60 years ago has important lessons for today’s protests and why they represent a reckoning.Charles Hankla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1082582018-12-05T23:40:07Z2018-12-05T23:40:07ZStudent protests show Australian education does get some things right<p>Australia’s education system often suffers a barrage of criticism – claims of <a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-2018-summary-results-a-few-weeks-late-but-otherwise-little-change-from-previous-years-102096">stagnant or declining NAPLAN results</a>, slippage in <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">international comparisons and rankings</a>, and an irrelevant curriculum, tend to draw the attention of politicians, the media, and the Australian public. </p>
<p>It’s not often we are able to celebrate what’s right in Australia’s education system. But yesterday’s student presence at Parliament house and Friday’s protests where more than 15,OOO Australian students skipped class to demand greater action on climate change should be cause for celebration.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-needs-a-new-generation-of-citizen-lobbyists-84354">The world needs a new generation of citizen lobbyists</a>
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<p>Far from being concerned about an afternoon off school, parents should feel satisfied schools and teachers are doing their job. Participation in these protests meets many of the key goals of our current education system, including students’ <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000494410004400205?journalCode=aeda&fbclid=IwAR362y9QhTYqoueJlMKsThvBF1c9QWK1tX877lTZvz36-R1OerI8nb_9qX0&">capacity to engage in, and strengthen, democracy</a>. Rather than proof of a flawed education system, politically active and engaged students are evidence many aspects of our education system are working well.</p>
<h2>Students want action on climate change</h2>
<p>Protests called out the federal government’s lack of action on climate change during the protests. Wednesday’s parliament house rally specifically targeted the <a href="https://theconversation.com/adanis-new-mini-version-of-its-mega-mine-still-faces-some-big-hurdles-108038">Adani coal mine</a> project. Students were also seeking an audience with the prime minister to have their concerns heard.</p>
<p>The government’s response to these protests has been, at best, dismissive. Students’ actions have not been recognised as a genuine attempt to engage in robust democratic debate about climate change. Before Friday’s walk-out, Scott Morrison relegated students to the confines of their classrooms, “what we want”, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-morrison-tells-students-striking-over-climate-change-to-be-less-activist">he argued</a>, “is more learning in schools and less activism”. </p>
<p>Other members of government have been equally off-hand. Senator James McGrath was more concerned with <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/rioting-is-not-one-of-the-three-rs-liberals-say-protesting-students-should-give-up-ice-creams-20181201-p50jmf.html?platform=hootsuite">a spelling error</a> on a single student’s placard than the basis of their grievance. Resources minister Matt Canavan deemed protests as nothing more than a quick ticket “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/climate-change-protest-will-lead-to-dole-queue-minister-tells-students-20181130-p50jbt.html">to the dole queue</a>”.</p>
<p>The government’s response is both misinformed and misdirected. Beyond the obvious lack of recognition of political protest as a fundamental pillar of democracy, and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/EqualParticipation.aspx">means to political change</a>, it also demonstrates a lack of recognition of the goals of Australian schooling, as outlined in our <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf">Melbourne Declaration</a>. </p>
<h2>The Melbourne Declaration and the role of education</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf">Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians</a> is a document signed by all Australian education ministers which outlines the mandated knowledge, skills and values of schooling for the period 2009-2018. The declaration is a national road map for education and a statement of intent by both federal and state governments, across partisan lines. </p>
<p>The declaration outlines two key goals:</p>
<ol>
<li> Australian schooling promotes both equity and excellence</li>
<li> all young Australians become: successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens</li>
</ol>
<p>It’s the first goal that gathers public attention as excellence and equity, in the form of measurable academic outcomes, dominates public discussion (think NAPLAN, My School, and PISA). More often than not, we’re told it’s here we’re getting things <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-13/australian-school-results-money-inequality/8103250">wrong</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-melbourne-declaration-on-educational-goals-for-young-australians-what-it-is-and-why-it-needs-updating-107895">The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians: what it is and why it needs updating</a>
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<p>In the second goal, the declaration attends to the broad purpose and significance of education. That is, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17508487.2013.776990">democratic purpose</a> of education, as an avenue for students’ successful participation in civil society. If events of the last week are anything to go by, our students are all over goal two.</p>
<p>Sustainability is a stated priority in the <a href="http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities">Australian curriculum</a>. Beyond understanding sustainable patterns of living and impacts of climate change, students are expected to develop skills to inform and persuade others to take action. Through these protests, relevant sections of the Melbourne Declaration read like a tick-list of student achievement. Students have demonstrated:</p>
<ul>
<li> the ability to think deeply and logically, and obtain and evaluate evidence</li>
<li> creativity, innovation, and resourcefulness</li>
<li> the ability to to plan activities independently, collaborate, work in teams and communicate ideas</li>
<li> enterprise and initiative to use their creative abilities</li>
<li> preparation for their roles as community members</li>
<li> the ability to embrace opportunities and make rational and informed decisions about their own lives</li>
<li> a commitment to participate in Australia’s civic life</li>
<li> ability to work for the common good, to sustain and improve natural and social environments</li>
<li> their place as responsible global and local citizens.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Melbourne Declaration is a recognition that education is more than a classroom test and more than measurable results. This is not to suggest the much lauded 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) are not important in education - they are. Rather, it’s an understanding that education and learning is also, and importantly, social, and sometimes immeasurable in nature and practice.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-building-a-climate-change-game-for-12-year-olds-85983">Why we're building a climate change game for 12-year-olds</a>
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<p>Australian students’ activities over the past week evidence their knowledge and capabilities in an education system valuing both economic and democratic functions of education. </p>
<p>Rather than dismiss students’ actions as ill-informed or misdirected, or deny their capacity to effectively participate in democratic processes, we should recognise their learning and achievements. Let’s celebrate this achievement in Australian education, and encourage their capacity as active and informed citizens within our democracy. </p>
<p>Australian students understand progress happens when individuals join together to demand change. Politicians, take heed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Far from proof of a flawed education system, politically active school students are evidence our education system is working well.Kellie Bousfield, Lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityJacquie Tinkler, Lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022432018-08-27T20:20:08Z2018-08-27T20:20:08ZRevolution Starts on Campus<p>The radical student takeover of Columbia University in 1968 sparked a worldwide student protest movement: From Eastern Europe to South America, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, against the war in Vietnam. Host Phillip Martin talks to African-American studies professor Stefan Bradley about how the Columbia uprising inspired similar events at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 28, 1968, and to historian Michael Kazin, who was arrested for his activism at that DNC. </p>
<p>Both scholars were student organizers: Kazin orchestrated a takeover of Harvard University in the ‘60s, and Bradley combated racial discrimination at Gonzaga University. Bradley was also on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri, among the young people protesting the killing of Michael Brown. He reflects on what current movements can learn from the protests of 1968.</p>
<p>Read more in this accompanying article from Stefan M. Bradley: <a href="https://theconversation.com/1968-protests-at-columbia-university-called-attention-to-gym-crow-and-got-worldwide-attention-102093">1968 protests at Columbia University called attention to ‘Gym Crow’ and got worldwide attention</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="300" height="97"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Fifty years ago, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, the war in Vietnam. Two historians reflect on those momentous days in 1968 – and discuss what current movements learn from them.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1020932018-08-27T20:17:57Z2018-08-27T20:17:57Z1968 protests at Columbia University called attention to ‘Gym Crow’ and got worldwide attention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233695/original/file-20180827-75972-19v0afj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black power militant H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael (right) appeared at a sit-in protest at Columbia University in New York City on April 26, 1968.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-New-York-United-/1aea42ff04f2da11af9f0014c2589dfb/287/0">AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“If they build the first story, blow it up. If they sneak back at night and build three stories, burn it down. And if they get nine stories built, it’s yours. Take it over, and maybe we’ll let them in on the weekends.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is what <a href="https://snccdigital.org/inside-sncc/the-story-of-sncc/">Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee</a> and Black Panther Party affiliate <a href="https://snccdigital.org/people/h-rap-brown/">H. Rap Brown</a> told a crowd of Harlem residents at a community rally in February 1967.</p>
<p>They were there to protest Columbia University’s construction of a gymnasium in Morningside Park, the only land separating the Ivy League university from the historic black working-class neighborhood. The gym, along with the discovery that Columbia was affiliated with the <a href="https://www.ida.org/">Institute for Defense Analysis</a> – a national consortium of flagship universities and research organizations that provided strategy and weapons research to the U.S. Department of Defense – stirred students to protest for more decision-making power at their elite university. </p>
<p>When considering the key events of 1968, such as the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/tet-offensive">Tet Offensive</a>, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/01/1968s-chaos-the-assassinations-riots-and-protests-that-defined-our-world/?utm_term=.3eae1a9710a2">assassinations of national leaders</a>, demonstrations at the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/protests-at-democratic-national-convention-in-chicago">Democratic National Convention</a> and the <a href="http://time.com/3880999/black-power-salute-tommie-smith-and-john-carlos-at-the-1968-olympics/">Olympics</a>, as well international events concerning democracy, the Columbia uprisings merit attention.</p>
<h2>Issues converge on campus</h2>
<p>As I detail in my book – <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/69erx5xt9780252034527.html">“Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s”</a> – all the issues of the 1960s and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Left">New Left</a> collided on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia. Students contended with the war in Vietnam, institutional racism, the generational divide, sexism, environmentalism and urban renewal – all while trying to find dates and attend classes.</p>
<p>Everything came to a head on April 23, 1968 – just weeks after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. That was when members of the Columbia chapter of Students for a Democratic Society hosted a <a href="http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19680424-01&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------">rally</a> on campus to decry the war – and, what many considered the racist gym in Morningside Park. Members of the Students’ Afro-American Society, or SAS, and Columbia varsity athletes – known as jocks – were in attendance as well. SAS followers showed up to resume an earlier fight they had with the jocks who supported the construction of the gymnasium.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revolution-starts-on-campus-102243">Revolution Starts on Campus</a>
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<p>Some students had been working with Harlem community groups. They saw the gym as a symbol of the university’s “power” over a defenseless and poverty-stricken black neighborhood. They joined local politicians who opposed the gym for a myriad of reasons, including its concrete footprint in a green park and the inability of the community to have access to the entire structure once built.</p>
<h2>Troubled relations</h2>
<p>The situation was, of course, complex. Columbia had long been a contentious neighbor to Harlem and Morningside Heights. The campus gym was decrepit and prevented the university from competing with its Ivy peers effectively in terms of facilities and space. Regarding the park, Columbia had constructed softball fields that initially community members could use. By 1968, however, only campus affiliates could access the fields. Then, white faculty members had been mugged in the park.</p>
<p>The university, seeking to expand in the postwar period, purchased US$280 million of land, mortgages and residential buildings in Harlem and Morningside Heights. That resulted in the <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/69erx5xt9780252034527.html">eviction of nearly 10,000 residents</a> in a decade, 85 percent of whom were black or Puerto Rican.</p>
<p>Columbia acted in coordination with Morningside Heights, Inc., a confederacy of educational and religious institutions in the neighborhood that also sought to “renew” the area to serve their mostly white patrons. David Rockefeller, grandson of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, acted as MHI’s first president. Columbia was the lead institution.</p>
<p>Despite being close to a black neighborhood, the university admitted few black students and employed a handful of black instructors. For instance, as I report in my book, in the 1964-1965 school year, there were only 35 black students out of 2,500 students enrolled in Columbia’s College of Arts and Sciences, and just one tenured black professor. By spring 1968, there were more than 150 black students enrolled. </p>
<p>On April 23, protesting students attempted to take over the administration building but were repelled by campus security. Then, they walked to the gym construction site where they tore down fencing and physically confronted police. From the park, they returned to campus where they finally succeeded in taking over a classroom building, Hamilton Hall. In doing so, they surrounded the dean of the college, Henry Coleman, who chose to stay in his office with his staff. To “protect” Coleman, <a href="http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19680424-01.2.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------">several jocks stood guard</a> outside his door.</p>
<h2>Clashes with police</h2>
<p>What started as a racially integrated demonstration of students took a turn in the late night when H. Rap Brown and several community activists showed up at the invitation of the Students’ Afro-American Society. The student group, Brown and the community activists agreed that black people solely should occupy Hamilton Hall and that white activists should commandeer other buildings. The white demonstrators accommodated, leaving Hamilton and taking over four other buildings. That forced Columbia officials to contend with not just a student protest but a black action on campus at that height of Black Power Movement. Incidentally, the community activists removed and replaced the jocks as sentries of the dean’s office.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233697/original/file-20180827-75996-1t09zhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants of a student sit-in assist each other in climbing up into the offices of Columbia University President Grayson Kirk on April 24, 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-New-York-United-/e464d889dde6da11af9f0014c2589dfb/297/0">AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To the ire of many white university administrators of the period, Stokely Carmichael of SNCC and the Black Panthers fame showed up to explain – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1968/04/27/archives/facultys-effort-fails-to-resolve-columbia-dispute-protest-leader.html">through the press</a> – that the university deal either with the student activists on campus or militants coming from Harlem. This insinuated the tone of the demonstrations would change drastically. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated less than three weeks before. From offices in Morningside Heights, Columbia administrators had watched Harlem burn as residents mourned and reacted to the black leader’s death. The only thing that separated the elite white institution from angry black rebels was the park in which the university was building a gymnasium <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/69erx5xt9780252034527.html">against the will of many community members</a>.</p>
<p>In consultation with New York Mayor John Lindsay, Columbia administrators chose to end the demonstrations by calling 1,000 New York police officers to clear the five occupied campus buildings on April 30. <a href="http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19680430-01&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------">Chaos and brutality prevailed</a>. As the NAACP and other Harlem community organizations stood watch, black students vacated Hamilton, which SAS had renamed Malcolm X Hall, and were arrested peacefully. In the building that national Students for a Democratic Society leader and <a href="http://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/antivietnamwar/exhibits/show/exhibit/origins-of-students-for-a-demo/port_huron_statement">Port Huron Statement</a> author Tom Hayden occupied, police and demonstrators collided physically. One of the most iconic documents of the postwar period, the 1962 Port Huron Statement outlined the need for young people to be in the vanguard of the movement to eradicate racism and grind the military-industrial complex to a halt; it centered the notion of participatory democracy, which called for greater inclusion of the citizenry in decision-making. In other buildings, students found themselves on the hurt end of police batons when they resisted arrest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233699/original/file-20180827-75978-mpc9p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police rush toward student protesters outside Columbia University’s Low Memorial Library on April 30, 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Columbia-Protests-Anniversary/76748e36da3c4dac84fd27e87105c29f/9/0">AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Worldwide attention</h2>
<p>In opening the door to violence, the university turned what was a local matter into an <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03/the-students-behind-the-1968-columbia-uprising">international story</a> and radicalized moderate students and neighborhood residents. Young radicals abroad learned of “Gym Crow” and university-sponsored defense research. In solidarity, they supported the Columbia student activists’ causes and chanted “two, three, many Columbias” – a refrain that gained popularity among American student protesters.</p>
<p>After the demonstrations in April, ensuing violent demonstrations in May, and a <a href="http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19680501-01&e=23-04-1968-30-06-1968--en-20--1--txt-txIN-Strike------">six-week student strike</a>, the university did not build the gym in the park and <a href="http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19680920-01.2.11&srpos=8&e=23-04-1968-30-12-1968--en-20--1--txt-txIN-IDA------">renounced its membership</a> in the Institute for Defense Analysis.</p>
<p>In my view, elements of the 1968 Columbia rebellion are inspiring and instructional for today’s students, protesters and community residents. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/10/atlanta-super-gentrification-eminent-domain">gentrification threatens</a> the homes of poor black people in urban areas today, activists should recall that 50 years earlier young people believed they could cut their university’s ties to war research and prevent a prestigious white American institution from expanding into black spaces at the same time. They succeeded.</p>
<p><em>Our new podcast “<a href="https://heatandlightpod.com">Heat and Light</a>” features Prof. Bradley and Columbia University’s Michael Kazin discussing this issue in depth.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="134" height="34"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="134" height="34"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="116" height="34"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="105" height="34"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="86" height="34"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefan M. Bradley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1968 protests at Columbia University led the institution to abandon a gym project that residents considered racist and cut off its defense work – and generated worldwide attention in the process.Stefan M. Bradley, Chair, Department of African American Studies, Loyola Marymount UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958952018-05-09T10:22:19Z2018-05-09T10:22:19ZEmmanuel Macron and echoes of May 1968<p>As France marks the 50th anniversary of the revolts of May 1968, Emmanuel Macron might get more than he bargained for. Instead of celebrating the occasion, the French president appears to be inadvertently recreating it. He has proposed a controversial higher education reform at a particularly inopportune moment, sparking major protests.</p>
<p>May ’68 had a significant impact on French society, politics and culture. Beginning with student protests, civil unrest soon spread and took on a philosophical dimension, touching every social milieu. Today these events have become a globally recognised myth of French culture and social change.</p>
<p>Macron, who has barely completed his first year in power, designated the anniversary an opportunity for France to <a href="https://www.lopinion.fr/edition/politique/l-elysee-reflechit-a-commemoration-mai-68-136101">“come out of the ‘morose’ ways in which the events that contributed to the modernisation of French society are discussed”</a>. For years, this period in French history was talked about in a negative way, and blamed for France’s ongoing social ills, including by <a href="https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/elections-2007/20070430.OBS4781/nicolas-sarkozy-veut-liquider-l-heritage-de-mai-68.html">former presidents</a>. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/egalit-libert-sexualit-paris-may-1968-784703.html">Contradictions of aims and demands</a> at the time (clear on the part of the workers, vague and mixed on the part of the students) made May ‘68 a messy affair. Opinions in its wake have been so divided that memory of it is often distorted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218169/original/file-20180508-5968-1nhh309.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Have I … messed this up?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Macron, as the first French president born after May '68, seemed to want to instill <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/2017/10/20/25001-20171020ARTFIG00161-emmanuel-macron-veut-commemorer-le-cinquantenaire-de-mai-68.php">a more positive attitude</a>. Nevertheless, he soon <a href="https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/finalement-pas-de-mai-68-pour-emmanuel-macron_1957826.html">changed his mind</a>, deciding not to commemorate it at all, but without giving a real reason. It’s against this backdrop that he brought in his reforms, perhaps explaining why he finds himself facing a rerun.</p>
<p>Macron’s proposed reforms include competitive selection and specialisation processes for universities in a bid to tackle oversubscription and high failure rates. The plans have been greeted with outrage among the general population and targeted action on campuses. Universities across France have suffered closures over the last month as students resist these changes, decrying elitism and social injustice. </p>
<p>Students have occupied campuses, set up blockades, and taken to the streets to protest. Banners and placards have taken inspiration from '68 to give a visual voice to the crowds. This is all as exam season enters into full swing, preventing many from sitting assessments. </p>
<h2>Philosophical roots</h2>
<p>France’s education system has its egalitarian roots in the 19th century. A series of <a href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/constitutional-right-to-an-education/france.php">laws</a> progressively made school education mandatory, secular and free. Central to the higher education system is the rule that anyone holding the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/sep/24/alevels2002.schools">baccalaureate</a> qualification (roughly equivalent to A-Level) is free to attend university. The reform of this qualification is one of the central points of contention in the student protests.</p>
<p>This history adds up to a fierce sense of pedagogical morals, and woe betide anyone who threatens them. If the laws and entry requirements add up to equality and liberty of access, the only remaining strand of the <a href="https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/france-facts/symbols-of-the-republic/article/liberty-equality-fraternity">French national motto</a> is the fraternity required to stand up and defend the right to education. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, these shining ideals bring with them a different cost: success. While around 90% of pupils pass the baccalaureate, less than 40% of university students complete the degree which they initially began. This discrepancy was what caused Macron’s government to launch a wide reaching reform of the baccalaureate. The <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=B828BEACEFDAE7DEDFFCFAD017491017.tplgfr21s_2?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000036683777&dateTexte=&oldAction=rechJO&categorieLien=id&idJO=JORFCONT000036683774">new law</a>, introduced in March 2018, will give universities the power to introduce selection criteria and candidate ranking, in the hope of only taking on students equipped to stay the course.</p>
<h2>2018: the anti-May '68?</h2>
<p>Centre-left French newspaper Libération began the year asking <a href="http://www.liberation.fr/debats/2018/01/01/2018-sera-t-il-l-anti-mai-68_1619824">“Will 2018 be the anti-May '68?”</a> Singing the praises of May '68’s revolt and revolutionary spirit, the paper presented a counter-revolutionary 2018, in which the freedom, equality and fraternity sought back then are stifled under <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/10/18/16490818/france-me-too-weinstein-sexual-harassment">harassment</a>, threats to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f5309ff8-a521-11e7-9e4f-7f5e6a7c98a2">security </a>, and social <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/opinion/probing-the-heart-of-french-malaise.html">malaise</a>. Little did the newspaper realise that May 2018 would actually bear a striking resemblance to its predecessor.</p>
<p>Social unrest sprang up in similar ways in both cases. Today’s students have been occupying campuses across the country, against a background of <a href="https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2018/04/14/2780166-trains-avions-la-vie-en-temps-de-greve.html">transport strikes</a>, railway workers protesting in the streets, and Air France being grounded as staff strike over pay. The events of May '68, like those of May '18, stem from student resistance to measures to counter chronic oversubscription. Both have been mirrored by protest in other key groups. And both instances have exploded into a fierce defence of French principles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218148/original/file-20180508-34006-chpt31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parisian students march in 1968.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The current student protests may sit in a radically different context to those of '68 (with a shift from the socio-cultural to the socio-economic), but there is no denying the continuity of spirit. In both cases, we have a “convergence des luttes” (convergence of struggles) that shows that the threat to the French social model is at stake.</p>
<p>The numbers aren’t looking good for Macron if he wants to avoid a scene. Recent YouGov polls indicate that in the context of the current protests, <a href="https://fr.yougov.com/news/2018/04/09/commemoration-des-evenements-de-mai-68/">52% of French people</a> support a return to the events of May '68. With <a href="https://fr.yougov.com/news/2018/05/03/emmanuel-macron-un-de-pouvoir/">only 28% satisfied with Macron’s first year</a>, the French president could find himself reliving rather than commemorating May '68.</p>
<p>Despite the poor timing of Macron’s reform proposals, the May '68 / May '18 convergence highlights an engagement with socio-political issues that could be used to his advantage. In the same poll that indicated dissatisfaction with the president’s first year, over half of French people estimated that Macron carries out his promises. The French collective voice will clearly not be silenced, and Macron would do well to provide an ear to its message. Revolutionary ideals die hard, especially in France.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Benjamin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 50th anniversary of major student unrest was perhaps not the ideal moment to propose controversial higher education reforms.Elizabeth Benjamin, Lecturer in French, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944582018-04-05T10:46:05Z2018-04-05T10:46:05ZHoward University student protest: 3 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213311/original/file-20180404-189816-b34gd1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students have been protesting conditions at Howard University for several days.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_University#/media/File:Howard_University_logo.svg">en.wikipedia.org</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: In order to gain more perspective on the underlying issues of the student-led protest at Howard University, which is now in its seventh day, The Conversation reached out to Marybeth Gasman, a leading scholar on historically black colleges and universities, commonly referred to as HBCUs. What follows is a brief Q&A with Gasman</em>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"979799588440870918"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>HBCUs are often portrayed as more <a href="https://medium.com/@DrMichaelLomax/6-reasons-hbcus-are-more-important-than-ever-6572fc27c715">nurturing environments</a> for black students than predominantly white institutions. But the current student protest at Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent HBCUs, seems to seriously call that rosy portrayal into question. Among other things, students at Howard are complaining about issues that range from lack of housing to indifference to sexual assault on campus to financial malfeasance. Why is there so much trouble in paradise?</strong></p>
<p>The research on nurturing and supporting environments at HBCUs pertains to <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674736801">faculty and student relationships and also the relationships between peers</a>. Research also tells us that the area that Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough has long called “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=nOO8RZ5IuwMC&pg=PT27&lpg=PT27&dq=Bermuda+Triangle+and+Walter+Kimbrough&source=bl&ots=osfwqWkB3I&sig=PXuhd5iTJAWLk1bQ7G_Shl8y9DM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip1uyjoqHaAhUqneAKHSYPBYwQ6AEIXzAL#v=onepage&q=Bermuda%20Triang">The Bermuda Triangle of HBCUs</a>” (the offices of the financial aid, the registrar, and the bursar) and how well those three offices are run is a problematic area for many HBCUs. My own <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1400&context=gse_pubs">research</a>, and research that I conducted along with <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED527585">Nelson Bowman</a> as well as <a href="https://works.bepress.com/marybeth_gasman/28/">Sibby Anderson-Thompkins</a>, drawing upon interviews with over 4,000 HBCU alumni, finds that problems in this area are the number one reason why HBCU alumni do not give back to their alma maters. It is vital that HBCUs conduct internal and external audits in this area, just as all colleges and universities should.</p>
<p>I also think it is important to not see HBCUs as “paradise.” There are aspects of HBCUs that are wonderful and supportive, but they are complex institutions that are all very different. They are similar in design to all colleges and universities, and thus messy and sometimes complicated; all colleges and universities have problems in various areas. If you look around the nation, you find <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/eight-scandals-that-ended-college-presidencies/2011/11/21/gIQA4diYiN_blog.html?utm_term=.e0588a53a37f">financial aid, sexual assault and financial mismanagement</a> at all types of colleges and universities. In the case of Howard, it is a very prominent HBCU and thus attracts a great deal of attention. In addition, <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1201&context=gse_pubs">research</a> shows that many people paint HBCUs with a wide brush — blaming what happens at one on all of them. It’s the same thing people do with African-Americans — the actions of one person are used to describe everyone. That’s how racism works and it is often used against HBCUs. We don’t see the problems of one majority institution being used to describe other majority institutions.</p>
<p><strong>Howard University gets <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/howard/funding.html">nearly $200 million</a> in direct funding annually from the federal government and is the only HBCU to get direct federal funding. How could or how should this special relationship with the federal government come into play given the issues that students are currently raising?</strong> </p>
<p>Yes, they receive direct funding from the federal government through Congress, as does deaf-serving <a href="http://www.gallaudet.edu/">Gallaudet University</a>. </p>
<p>If federal financial aid dollars were misused, then Congress or the Department of Education could be involved. That said, it is important that Howard University properly steward the federal funds (or any funds) and this was not the case in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/03/28/howard-university-fires-six-employees-after-investigation-into-misappropriated-funding/">alleged misappropriation of funds at Howard</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Some members of HUResist – the student group that is leading the protest at Howard – have indicated that <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Howard-U-Sit-In-Could-Be-the/243012">they hope students at other HBCUs</a> will rise up and demand change as well. To what extent do you think that will happen – and also to what extent do you think that is necessary – and why?</strong></p>
<p>I think you are seeing more <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1160433.pdf">activist and emboldened students at HBCUs</a>. See the <a href="http://www.wral.com/students-outraged-over-conditions-at-hampton-university-frustrations-going-viral-after-town-hall-meeting/17367436/">student voices at Hampton</a>, for example. It’s important to note that with the increased use of social media and protest movements across the nation about various topics (racism, gun control, sexual assault), colleges and universities, including HBCUs, are not immune to protests playing out on their campuses.</p>
<p>One thing I am concerned about is the way that some HBCU alumni and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds (who did not go to HBCUs) are <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CALLTYRONE&src=tyah">making fun of</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HowardUniversity?src=hash">mocking Howard</a> and other HBCUs because of the alleged embezzlement of funds at Howard. This type of behavior doesn’t help Howard or HBCUs even though it may bring laughs on social media. It will be used against HBCUs by those who do not have their best interest at heart.</p>
<p>Instead, people would benefit from researching the situation to get all the facts, meeting with key individuals involved, and working out a plan to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again. If people care about HBCUs, they can be critical, but they also have to take action to make HBCUs stronger and more resilient when these kinds of issues arise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marybeth Gasman receives or has received funding from the Mellon Foundation, Kresge Foundation, ECMC Foundation, Educational Testing Service, the University of Pennsylvania, Council for International Educational Exchange, Lumina Foundation, USA Funds, The Helmsley Trust, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation </span></em></p>As the student protest over conditions at Howard University continues, a scholar weighs in on what the fallout means for historically black colleges and universities.Marybeth Gasman, Professor of Higher Education and Director Penn Center for Minority-Serving Institutions, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/937132018-03-23T19:37:32Z2018-03-23T19:37:32ZMarch for Our Lives awakens the spirit of student and media activism of the 1960s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211772/original/file-20180323-54863-b9vifi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students rally in front of the White House in Washington, March 14, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://marchforourlives.com/mission-statement/">student movement</a> against gun violence is receiving <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/03/02/the-parkland-shooting-is-different-the-news-coverage-proves-it/">sustained news coverage</a> and was instrumental in building momentum around the March For Our Lives Rally Saturday March 24 in Washington D.C. and other U.S. cities.</p>
<p>Students are using social and news media to build momentum and advocate for legislation in the wake of a Feb. 14 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/us/parkland-school-shooting.html">shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida</a>. A former student opened fire in the school, killing 17 people. </p>
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<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qKWYg20AAAAJ&hl=en">an expert</a> on the history of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2017.1335607">youth journalism and media activism</a> that blossomed in the 1960s, I see today’s students as part of a continuum that began with that movement.</p>
<p>Despite not all being old enough to vote, Parkland students are putting pressure on government and private corporations to meet their demands.</p>
<p>Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/7026/BillText/er/PDF">a gun safety bill</a> into law on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/09/us/florida-gov-scott-gun-bill/index.html">March 9</a>, while companies like Delta Airlines and Hertz have <a href="http://time.com/longform/never-again-movement/">cut ties with the National Rifle Association</a>. The student movement is a force to be reckoned with.</p>
<h2>Students create their own media</h2>
<p>Student journalists used media as a key tool for activism in the widespread social movements of the 1960s, journalism scholar Kaylene Dial Armstrong writes <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498541169/How-Student-Journalists-Report-Campus-Unrest">in her book</a> “How Journalists Report Campus Unrest.” One notable student protest happened in Washington, D.C., <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2018/03/demand-answer-howard-university-protest-50/slide/1/">50 years ago</a>.</p>
<p>In the spring of 1968, student demonstrators occupied the administration building at <a href="https://www2.howard.edu/">Howard University</a>, a historically black school in Washington to protest racial inequality. Starting on March 19, more than 1,000 students shut down administrative operations at the university until March 23. </p>
<p>One of the lead organizers, Adrienne Manns, was the editor-in-chief of Howard’s student newspaper, <a href="http://thehilltoponline.com/">The Hilltop</a>. The Hilltop supported the protesters from the outset. </p>
<p>“It is the responsibility of The Hilltop to present issues and suggest solutions,” <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498541169/How-Student-Journalists-Report-Campus-Unrest">read a front-page editorial</a> on March 8, 1968, in the lead-up to the occupation.</p>
<p>The organizers saw the protest as part of the broader <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2018/03/demand-answer-howard-university-protest-50/slide/1/">civil rights movement</a> of the 1960s. Armstrong writes that Howard students demanded that the administration make the curriculum more relevant to black students and give them authority over the student paper. The administration met these demands on March 23, and the students ended their occupation.</p>
<p>In 1968, Howard’s student journalists presented these issues and solutions, covering events supporting black pride and identity. They also suggested university-wide reforms. Suggestions included a black-centric curriculum, a work-study program allowing students to connect with the surrounding community and more student control over campus activities.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498541169/How-Student-Journalists-Report-Campus-Unrest">Hilltop’s journalists</a> provided deeper reporting that year on issues than the objective and detached approach the professional media gave student protests. Manns demonstrated that student journalists could draw on their experiences as activists, using media to tell alternative narratives, build public support and create change.</p>
<p>Later in 1968, as I explore in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2017.1335607">my own research</a>, university students across Ontario, Canada, joined journalists who were on strike to advocate for union recognition. At the time, the <a href="https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/">Peterborough Examiner</a> in Ontario was owned by multinational media corporation Thomson Newspapers – today known as <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en.html">Thomson Reuters</a>. Hundreds involved in the student movement from at least six universities joined employees on the picket line. Together, they started a local off-campus newspaper, The Free Press, which they published for nearly two months.</p>
<p>The Free Press <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2017.1335607">described itself</a> as a local “alternative to the Examiner” and a “community-conscious newspaper like the Peterborough Examiner was before Thomson took over.” </p>
<p>Thomson Newspapers continued publishing the Examiner during the strike, but it carried little reporting on the strike and other local information. Some Free Press articles were focused on the strike, criticizing Thomson Newspapers and the profit-driven press. But most articles reported local news on a range of topics, including municipal politics and sports. </p>
<p>The Free Press helped fill a gap in local news coverage about the strike. The alternative paper also helped the Thomson journalists put pressure on Thomson to negotiate with them. While Thomson didn’t meet all of their demands, the journalists ended their strike on May 6, 1969, and returned to work.</p>
<h2>Parkland students produce multimedia journalism</h2>
<p>Today, students have more media tools at their disposal than in 1968. During the Parkland shooting, student <a href="https://twitter.com/davidhogg111">David Hogg</a>, 17, took out his phone and started filming and interviewing classmates. He was hiding in a school closet at the time, as the gunman walked the halls.</p>
<p>“If I was going to die, I wanted to die doing what I love, and that’s storytelling,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/17/us/david-hogg-profile-florida-shooting/index.html">Hogg said</a>. </p>
<p>People around the world also got an inside view of the school shooting from students who posted photos and video clips on <a href="https://www.snapchat.com/">Snapchat</a>. Soon after the shooting began, Snapchat published a featured story titled “High School Shooting” on its new desktop feature called <a href="https://mashable.com/2018/02/15/snap-maps-high-school-shooting/#P7tYzN2qTkqC">Snap Maps</a>. The feature was released two days before the shooting and consisted of a group of snaps submitted by users in that location.</p>
<p>Students Nikhita Nookala and Christy Ma, both 17, published their account of the shooting in <a href="http://eagleeye.news/news/violent-shooting-occurs-at-msd-killing-17-and-wounding-15/">The Eagle Eye</a>, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s newspaper. Unlike journalists at commercial news outlets, Nookala and Ma drew on their unique experiences as <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/parkland-school-shooting.php">journalists and survivors</a> to build trust with community members and legitimize their coverage.</p>
<h2>The revolution will be tweeted</h2>
<p>The Parkland students have used social media <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/us/parkland-students-social-media.html">on a daily basis</a> since the shooting.</p>
<p>Student organizer <a href="https://twitter.com/emma4change">Emma González</a> <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/27/us/gonzalez-nra-twitter/index.html">created a Twitter account on Feb. 18</a> — four days after the Parkland shooting. Now she has 1.2 million followers. She’s using Twitter to share messages of solidarity and to ridicule politicians about gun control.</p>
<p>“People always say, ‘Get off your phones,’ but social media is our weapon,” says student organizer <a href="http://time.com/longform/never-again-movement/">Jaclyn Corin</a>. “Without it, the movement wouldn’t have spread this fast.”</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the shooting, another student organizer <a href="https://twitter.com/cameron_kasky">Cameron Kasky</a> <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-survivors-of-parkland-began-the-never-again-movement">used the hashtag #NeverAgain</a>, which has gone viral as a rallying cry for the movement.</p>
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<p>By using various media, the Parkland students have demonstrated they’re <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/young-people-and-the-future-of-news/E73A053188B9C194ADF02FEEA8F94574">politically engaged</a>, despite what some critics say about millennials being <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/allstate/when-it-comes-to-politics-do-millennials-care-about-anything/255/">politically disinterested</a>. In <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/young-people-and-the-future-of-news/E73A053188B9C194ADF02FEEA8F94574">their book</a> “Young People and the Future of News,” researchers Lynn Schofield Clark and Regina Marchi call these practices “connective journalism.” They explain how youth move from interest in an issue to political participation in a social media age.</p>
<p>History demonstrates that student-led media could provide a platform for youth to express their opinions, control their messages and facilitate political participation. </p>
<p>Seen in this light, it’s important to recognize how young people are using social and news media as a powerful mobilizing tool, like students involved in March for Our Lives are doing. For the Parkland teens, media provide a weapon to advocate for gun reform and <a href="http://time.com/longform/never-again-movement/">mobilize young people to vote</a>. Although students used media for activism in the 1960s, students now have more tools to quickly spread their messages widely and, in doing so, shape national conversations.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on March 24 to include a reference to the rally taking place.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Errol Salamon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young activists are using journalism to advance their cause. Though their work echoes student activists and journalists of the 1960s, they use new tools not available to the activists of that era.Errol Salamon, Postdoctoral Researcher and Visting Scholar in Communication, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922722018-03-15T00:26:03Z2018-03-15T00:26:03ZArticulate US teenagers could finally force action on gun control<p>On Wednesday in the US, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/us/school-walkout.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">thousands of students left their classrooms</a> in a national day of action <a href="https://www.actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/enough-national-school-walkout">designed to force political change on gun crime</a>. Following the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, this walkout is part of an extraordinary national movement. Young people across the US are doing what countless others have tried and failed to do: using grassroots strategies to take on the powerful gun lobby.</p>
<p>The US has an epidemic of gun crime. Mass shootings <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/oct/02/america-mass-shootings-gun-violence">occur every day</a>, and school shootings have become so common that over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2018/02/20/how-mass-school-shootings-affect-the-education-of-students-who-survive/?utm_term=.6382da2f25e8">170 schools and some 150,000 students have been affected by school-based gun violence since 1999</a>. </p>
<p>Beyond the psychological trauma such attacks inflict, these shootings have a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0162373715590683">profound effect on academic success rates</a>.</p>
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<p>And yet, in spite of <a href="http://time.com/5167216/americans-gun-control-support-poll-2018/">the overwhelming majority of Americans who want tighter gun control laws</a>, very little is done to stem the presence of guns in schools, or the ability of Americans to access high-powered weaponry with relative ease.</p>
<h2>Policy inertia and the NRA</h2>
<p>The main reason for this inertia is the extraordinary influence of the <a href="https://home.nra.org/">National Rifle Association</a> (NRA). Since it turned to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-big-tobacco-gifted-campaigns-of-misdirection-and-misinformation-to-the-gun-lobby-45108">more aggressive lobbying strategy in the 1970s</a>, the NRA has helped <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/nra-guns-second-amendment-106856">redefine the meaning of the 2nd Amendment</a>, bestowed a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/wayne-lapierres-trumpian-base-strategy/553964/">divine blessing on guns</a>, and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/23/politics/nra-political-money-clout/index.html">bent half of Congress to its will</a>.</p>
<p>The NRA succeeds because it has created powerful (<a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/tfcl11&div=7&id=&page=">and mostly false or distorted</a>) narratives to support gun use. It deploys familiar tropes to distract from tragedies. When gun-related tragedy hits, NRA-backed politicians call for “thoughts and prayers”. </p>
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<p>The reality of US gun deaths is set against such pro-gun arguments, and each tragedy widens the stark divide between those <a href="http://www.nrafff.com">who associate guns with freedom</a>, and those who see them as <a href="http://time.com/5198721/capitol-gun-death-protest-shoes/">devices for terror</a>. So, when others call for legislative action, as they did following the massacre at Sandy Hook and other mass shootings, the gun lobby scolds them for <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274461-norquist-accuses-obama-of-politicizing-sandy-hook-school-shooting">“politicising tragedy”</a>.</p>
<p>But murdered kids are political. Sandy Hook exposed the US to the <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/news-photo-gallery/sandy-hook-victims-names-list-photos-bios-1#id0">faces of erstwhile happy kindergarteners</a>, their lives snuffed out by a disturbed young man with easy access to guns. It’s an all-too-familiar story for Americans and, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html">by international comparison, a unique one at that</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the resulting push for change soon turned to despair: <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-pitts-20150903-story.html">many came to believe</a> that if 26 deaths at an elementary school can’t bring Congress to act, nothing can.</p>
<h2>Gun laws and the possibility of change</h2>
<p>The last last major piece of gun control legislation to pass Congress was the <a href="http://legisworks.org/GPO/STATUTE-108-Pg1796.pdf">federal assault weapons ban</a> in 1994. It was specifically designed to reduce the incidence of mass shootings, and targeted the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/what-i-saw-treating-the-victims-from-parkland-should-change-the-debate-on-guns/553937/">enhanced killing power of assault rifles</a>. But, under <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2013/02/did-the-1994-assault-weapons-ban-work/">sustained attack from the gun lobby</a>, the ban expired under its “sunset clause”.</p>
<p>Since then, the one major piece of gun legislation in the US, in spite of the national rise in mass and school shootings, has been an <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-119/pdf/STATUTE-119-Pg2095.pdf">act designed to protect gun manufacturers in 2005</a>.</p>
<p>Now, for the first time in decades, there is a real possibility that some gun controls might be implemented. The NRA, as well as numerous politicians associated with it, are facing significant pressure to act. </p>
<p>Recent news footage showed <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/375835-rubios-approval-rating-near-all-time-low-in-florida-poll">Senator Marco Rubio</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AtOU0dDXv8">NRA’s Dana Loesh</a> publicly sparring with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, to a chorus of boos and jeers. Millions witnessed their discomfort.</p>
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<p>This has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43298384">already led to some action by states</a>. Florida is looking to pass age restrictions and waiting periods for gun purchases, and Oregon has imposed gun prohibitions on domestic abusers and those with restraining orders. </p>
<p>Even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/us/politics/trump-gun-control.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">President Donald Trump</a>, who has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-41479161/what-s-donald-trump-said-about-guns-and-gun-control">been keen to show off his pro-gun credentials in the past</a>, has recognised the public outcry. He has called for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/trump-bump-stocks.html">regulation of bump-stocks</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/27/politics/guns-donald-trump-sarah-sanders-age-limit/index.html">age restrictions</a> (though he is wavering on both).</p>
<h2>The high school advocates</h2>
<p>The reason gun control looks possible right now is largely due to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/us/florida-shooting-parkland-students.html">the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas</a>. Beyond the pressure they have been applying directly to the NRA and politicians, the students have been busy using advocating on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/26/17054408/parkland-shooting-activist-teens-gun-control">social media</a>, writing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/opinion/florida-guns-training-trump.html">op-eds</a>, <a href="http://time.com/5169357/gun-control-rally-walkouts-us-capitol/">organising rallies and walkouts</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47C-s0FMXlI">making media appearances</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/23/us-companies-nra-best-western-wyndham">and pressuring companies to drop support for the NRA or pro-gun politicians</a>.</p>
<p>As a result of these efforts, the students are presenting important, emotionally powerful counter-narratives to those of the gun lobby. They are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/02/23/4807913.htm">offering examples of successful gun control</a> and pointing out that guns in schools are the problem, not the solution. They are also forming a coalition in opposition to the well-organised <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/does-the-nra-really-have-more-than-45-million-members/2013/02/07/06047c10-7164-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_blog.html?utm_term=.9c3ba8b65385">2-4 million members</a> of the NRA and affiliated organisations.</p>
<p>Whether these efforts are successful or not will depend largely on whether they are sustained. This is why the gun lobby calls for “hopes and prayers” and to not “politicise tragedy”. These are stalling tactics: if the NRA can wait it out, while at the same time applying pressure to its political allies, nothing gets done.</p>
<p>However, the gun lobby has not faced a political force like this before. While it is inevitable that media attention will eventually wane, the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas and around the country have access to tools — such as social media — that circumvent traditional outlets. They also have the ability to draw the national spotlight back, especially via their use of rallies and walkouts.</p>
<p>These tactics reinvigorate the Democratic base and ratchet up the pressure on the Republicans, already jittery following a string of shock <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/pa-election-results-paul-ryan-tries-to-calm-gop-after-conor-lamb-win.html">political losses</a>.</p>
<p>If the passion and dedication they have shown so far is sustained, especially as the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/politics/parkland-gun-control-politics-midterms.html">congressional midterm elections approach</a>, the young people of the US might just be able do what no one has done in decades, and force action on gun control.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article has been update to correct the statement that the federal assault weapons ban followed the Columbine school shooting.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Rennie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Student activists are presenting important, emotionally powerful counter-narratives to those of the gun lobby. Their success will depend on whether they can sustain these efforts.George Rennie, Lecturer in American Politics and Lobbying Strategies, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.