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The wisdom of youthful experience

25/03/2018 22:00 / Leave a comment

Student journalists from Parkland have guest-edited The Guardian this weekend. Nobody should ever rubbish “kids” again after this year. I want to say to the politicians: You should be afraid: these great students, grieving, injured, hurt, patronised and trashed by the system you are so proud of and the society you think you manipulate and control are determined to hold you to account. I don’t think they’re going to rest until they’ve got you. Just do what they tell you. You have no wisdom. They do.

‘The NRA are fearmongers’: students excoriate gun group and politicians’ lack of action
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/25/march-for-our-lives-parkland-students-excoriate-nra-politicians?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Students set the example

28/02/2018 18:00 / Leave a comment

We had the protests in Florida against American gun laws, during which the students showed themselves to be more adult than the adults. In the UK, students are supporting their lecturers on strike. And now, in France, it is students leading the way in taking action to protect migrants and refugees, and to protest against France’s policy towards them. Here is my translation of the introduction to an article in the French newspaper Libération:

Tonight, Hafez should be able to sleep in the warm. Unless, that is, the authorities at Jussieu University (in the 5th arrondissement of Paris) decide to evacuate the prefabricated building occupied since Wednesday by students, activists and migrants. The occupation movement, the aim of which is to provide accommodation for “people in exile”, [i.e. asylum seekers and refugees] was started in Lyon in the autumn, has continued during the winter in Nantes, and has inspired similar movements elsewhere. The University of Paris-VIII has joined in, so there is now a second Paris university being occupied. It has a twofold aim: to offer a roof to migrants, while the thermometer shows minus-freezing temperatures in the capital; and to create a platform for political demands, particularly against the migration policies of the [French] government.

Keep going – and keep warm.

Here’s the full article:

http://www.liberation.fr/france/2018/02/28/des-etudiants-installent-des-migrants-a-la-fac-de-jussieu_1632904

“Do you really want to hurt me …?” – Trump says Yes

12/03/2016 10:22 / Leave a comment

According to The Guardian today (see below), he cancelled a rally in face of a student demonstration because of “safety concerns”, although it’s not clear the police were worried enough to cancel and much of what The Guardian calls “mayhem” was caused by Trump’s own supporters using racial abuse against black and Hispanic demonstrators (these Trumpite supporters no doubt saw themselves as the advanced guard, readying themselves to build the wall against Mexico).
    The very idea of a Trump rally at the University of Illinois in Chicago was enough in itself, of course, to provoke a demonstration: Trump of all people having a rally in “one of the most diverse [universities] in the country”. There would have been something wrong if the students hadn’t demonstrated. They were right to protest, and they aren’t the problem – Trump is.
    For me the quote to note comes from Trump himself at another rally, when protesters were being removed. It sets the tone for a Trump presidency: “Part of the problem”, he said, “and part of the reason it takes so long [to kick protesters out] is nobody wants to hurt each other any more … There used to be consequences. There are none any more.”
    So beware: if he gets to be President we’ll all have “safety concerns”.