The power of student protest

Younger generations are a significant threat to oppressive regimes. A driving force behind revolution, the student population is both at risk of repression and formidable in its opposition. Far too often student protests end in bloodshed and government crackdown.

We were reminded of the risk and significance of student protests by the death of fourteen-year-old Kluiver Roa Nunez in Venezuela at the end of February. Protest sparked in San Cristobal in response to continuing economic challenges and the recent arrest of a dissident politician, and students flocked to the streets. Such demonstrations have continued since last year, resulting in dozens of deaths; this student’s death at the hands of the police was the most recent.

This is not the first time a student has been killed in protest. Student demonstrations are a part of history, notably in the US in the late 1960s and around the world since then. Myanmar, for example, saw a student protest in 1988 grow into an expansive movement, during which 3,000 people were killed. Revolt stemmed from a lack of rights and economic opportunity for the youth coming of age under a military dictatorship – circumstances similar to those that prompted protests in Venezuela this year.

The prevalence of student protests indicates a common theme of dissatisfaction under repressive governments, and their ferocity shows they are the fire behind a number of social movements. Look at Myanmar in 1988: student dissatisfaction with the government became a nation-wide strike referenced to by its date, 8/8/88. Sudan in 2011 was similar. Encouraged by the Arab Spring, students used social media to organize protests calling for the National Congress Party to relinquish control. Peaceful demonstrations soon turned violent, but that did not stop more demonstrators from joining the student ranks, proving youth are catalysts for protests worldwide.

Student demonstrations say something about governments as well as the youth. Governments repeatedly respond to student demonstrations with violence, fail to investigate police perpetrated attacks and falsify the number of casualties. Such was the case in Mexico in 1968, which allegedly turned bloody when government-sponsored snipers shot into the crowds, provoking police aggression. The regime reported four deaths, but new estimations total near 3,000. It was not until 2001 that the government began a serious investigation of the event that has been dubbed the Tlatelolco massacre.

Time and time again, students take on oppressive regimes, and often such movements are inspired by similar causes. Sometimes, the goal is to call on the government to help its youth build a stable future, often focusing on education reform. Current protests in Myanmar aim to abolish new education laws which eliminate student unions and give the government more control over curriculum. Student Htya Kywe says “we students had no hopes for any jobs after school. We were totally lost.” It is this same feeling of disillusionment and hopelessness that sparked protests in Mexico in 2014 when students protested the hiring practices at their school.

Other times, protests stem from a desire for democracy and the downfall of oppressive governments, as in the demonstrations mentioned earlier in Sudan in 2011 or the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. “I got pepper-sprayed last Friday … but I am here to defend my future and the future of Hong Kong,” said Eric Wong, summarizing the opinions of so many others in Hong Kong and around the world.

There is a growing culture of protest in the global youth, but such protest comes at a heavy price. Hundreds have died in student-sparked protests, their blood spilled for their respective generations' chance at success and freedom. The seed of change starts with the young generation.