Student ‘spring’ on US campuses also

The issues driving American university protest are very much the same

I’M FORTUNATE to be writing my column this week from the US, where I’m visiting various universities in California and speaking, later this week, on southern African liberation movements, at an African Studies conference in San Diego. I’m struck by how similar some of the debates here are to the ones we are having in South Africa – racism, police brutality and student protests remain firmly on the agenda, despite the fact that the US has had close to two and a half centuries of democracy as opposed to two decades of democracy in South Africa.

For example we know that in recent weeks South Africa has been gripped by the emergence of a new student politics that many have referred to as “the student spring”. It is clear that this new student politics contains both democratic and authoritarian dimensions. Although the state has responded with the usual allegations of there being a “third force” behind the protests, many commentators have been greatly encouraged by the democratic wing of the movement.

The student movement in South Africa has had two distinct phases, each known by a hash tag. The first phase, #Rhodesmustfall, was primarily concerned with issues pertaining to racism and colonialism. It was organised by small groups of students, usually postgraduates, and was mostly present in white dominated universities.

The second phase, “Feesmustfall, has had mass support across the country, has been strong in historically white and black universities, and has been primarily concerned with issues pertaining to student fees and the exploitation of workers.

Both phases of the student struggle have won extraordinary victories with impressive rapidity. The statue of Rhodes fell, a nationwide conversation about racism is under way, fee increases have been reversed and major gains have been won for workers. Neither the official channels – for students, Sasco, for workers, Nehawu – have been able to accomplish anything like the students and there is now a general awareness that working through official channels just doesn’t work.

But one facet of the student movement that has not been discussed with sufficient seriousness is its transnational character. From the beginning it was, as academic Achille Mbembe has noted, deeply linked to the #Blacklivesmatter movement in the US. The language was often exactly the same.

In the second half of October South African students organised a mobilisation that earned them global attention. By the end of the month students in London and Delhi were drawing inspiration from students in South Africa. Now American campuses have erupted. In many cases student activists have noted that they have drawn some of their inspiration from the student struggles in South Africa

The primary issues that have galvanised American campuses in recent weeks have been race and the poisonous legacy of colonialism. I’m at a campus today, where the administration building has been occupied, led by a student from my South African programme a semester ago.

So no doubt the South African spirit of activism has been inspirational, it seems.

Students want colonial statues removed, they want racist practices halted and they want to confront the everyday racism that they have always been told to shrug off. Students are, for instance, opposing offensive Halloween costumes.

Just as in South Africa, there is a real backlash against the students. Some white academics are supportive, but others are arguing that a prohibition on racist acts and speech is a violation of free speech. Others have countered that it is

The primary issues have been race and the poisonous legacy of colonialism

racism itself that silences the free flow of ideas.

It’s clear that we are in the middle of a global student awakening that, as in South Africa, is driven by three basic commitments. The first is opposition to the cost of university education, and to the debt that many students and their families acquire to get an education. The second is opposition to the complicity of the university with colonialism and racism. The third is solidarity with university workers. In some countries and in some campuses we only see some of these commitments, in others all are present.

These days when one travels abroad one often encounters people that commiserate with one about the state of South African society. One also encounters people who have been tremendously impressed by the student movement in South Africa.

For a long time South Africa, after apartheid, was seen as a country that gave hope to the world. We have lost that shine in recent years, especially after Marikana. But our students are winning respect on the international stage.

Buccus is a research fellow in the School of Social Sciences at UKZN and the academic director of a university study abroad programme on political transformation.