The long, hot, revolutionary summer of 1968 was just over 30 years ago – about the time it takes for a completely new generation to grow up without the baggage of their parents’ experiences. The Vietnam War was raging, and the Tet Offensive, while militarily a disaster for North Vietnam and the Viet Cong guerrillas, really turned up the heat on politicians back home – the protest movement grew with every passing day. In May it was France’s turn, when the students and workers nearly toppled the De Gaulle government and came very close to a complete transformation of society. Then it was the Czech students and workers, fed up with totalitarian Stalinism who took to the streets to fight for democratic rights and genuine socialism.
But like all things in nature, human activity is dialectic. If revolutionary energy is not channeled consciously towards the task of changing society, it inevitably dies down and turns into its opposite. For example, when you boil water you produce steam. That steam possesses a tremendous amount of energy, which if harnessed properly can drive an engine, and was in fact the basis for the whole industrial revolution. But if that energy is not channeled into something useful like turning a crankshaft, the steam dissipates and all the energy is lost. It then takes a long time to boil the water to produce that sort of energy again. This is precisely what has happened over the past few years. Slowly, the contradictions have been building up in society, and the youth and workers are reaching a sort of "boiling point" of their own.
After a period of relative passivity, during which the American youth and working class were written off as "bourgeoisified", and quiescent, it is visibly apparent they are once again showing signs of life. Union membership is on the rise, there have been a number of important victories by workers in strikes and negotiations, and especially promising is the dramatic rise in student activism. Issues ranging from conditions in sweatshops, low wages for campus workers, and the bombing of Yugoslavia are all being addressed by the "snowballing" rise in activity. According to the New York Times:
"In the biggest surge in campus activism in nearly two decades, student protests have burst onto the scene with rallies, teach-ins and sit-ins protesting sweatshops and other labor issues.
The protests are the biggest wave of campus activism since the anti-apartheid movement in the early 1980s, when students called on colleges to sell off stock in companies doing business in South Africa.
The surge stems in part from unions' efforts to attract students to labor's cause and to train them to be activists. Over the past three years, unions recruited hundreds of students for summer internships and, upon returning to campus, many of these students were galvanized to continue their battle to help workers in the United States and abroad."
What is important is that students are not focusing only on campus life, but are linking their demands to the broader international working class movement. One of the campaigns, which over 20 different universities have participated in, focuses on the clothing sold in on-campus shops. They demand that the companies that provide the sweatshirts, caps, and other gear with university logos on them not use overseas sweatshops. They have staged "knit-ins" to bring attention to the sweat-shop issue, as well as staging mock fashion shows with the models describing the appalling conditions under which much of the clothing was made.
In what was described as a success by student activists, the New York Times explains:
"Pressured by students, many schools have agreed to require monitors and the disclosure of the names and locations of factories, a step that would make monitoring easier but is opposed by many companies because they do not want competitors to know about their factories.
Two weeks ago, the University of Michigan agreed to a far-reaching code of conduct for the companies that produce the university-name apparel that called for monitoring and disclosure and said workers at these companies' factories should receive a living wage. But, to the students' chagrin, the university did not commit to a living wage standard because it had not been defined."
While reminiscent of the anti-Vietnam War protests of the past, these protests have in general been quieter and without violence. And also quite different than in the past, the school administrators, instead of calling for their arrest and expulsion, have even praised the protesters.
"They are terrific students," Lee Bollinger, president of the University of Michigan, said of the 30 students who occupied his office and the 200 others who rallied outside.
"They're just the kind of students you want on your campus. They were interested in a serious problem, they were knowledgeable about the problem, and they really wanted to do something about it."
Today’s administrators were yesterday’s activists, which puts things in a whole new light. The protest movement has really come around again but on a whole new level. Instead of blindly protesting the "system" and "the man", today’s campus activists are often pin-pointing specific issues and using their "their moral stature and their universities' financial muscle" to try and bring about change in the $2.5 billion college-name merchandise industry.
Another very important campaign the students have taken part in is the demand for a raise in wages for the campus’s lowest paid workers such as janitors and food-service workers. They argue it is unfair that these workers often need to hold two jobs just to get by.
What is especially significant is the fact that they have united regardless of racial, religious, or other differences in order to fight for improved conditions for all. This combined with the links to the unions is a very powerful combination for change.
With the recent bombing of Yugoslavia, the activity of students has been raised yet another notch. While there have been some students who have voiced support for NATO, the majority are opposed to it, and have staged rallies at campuses across the country, holding banners such as: "Clinton and Albright—How many children did you kill today?" and "Remember Vietnam? Here we go again."
Jelena Veljkovic, a BU graduate student at Boston University from Belgrade, Yugoslavia studying for a Ph.D. in microbiology, said: "I’m against the bombings. My main reason is that they will not solve anything, They were supposed to stabilize the region but they did not. It’s created a lot more tension than there was before. And it’s not hurting Milosevic one bit."
Students have staged candlelight vigils for all the victims in the Balkans, and have also held "teach-ins" in order to explain the history, politics, and geography of Kosovo and the Balkans to those not familiar with the often confusing situation.
This heightened activity provides a lot of ideas for students wanting to get involved in practical political activity at their universities and high schools. It would not be difficult to organize such meetings at any school across America. By working with other school organizations, the resources and planning could be quickly coordinated. From educational meetings and protests over the bombings of Iraq or Yugoslavia, to pressuring campus stores to do business only with companies that can give hard proof they do not exploit workers in other countries. From joining with the low-paid, non-unionized workers to demand better wages and benefits, to spending a summer as an intern at a union to learn about the process of organizing workers, young students and workers can and do make a difference in the world. We don’t want the "steam" that is building up in society to dissipate without being put to the task of the revolutionary transformation of society. Get involved!
Peter Johnson
Editor, New Youth
April 19, 1999
Sources:
New York Times March 29, 1999
The American Reporter Vol. 5, No. 1046 - April 12, 1999
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