Student protest

By Keith Noel

STUDENTS AT the University of the West Indies (UWI) were involved in an imbroglio regarding the disruption of examinations last year. The authorities have dealt quite firmly with those who led the protest that resulted in the disruption. Some persons have expressed the view that the penalties were not nearly as harsh as they should be.

A young student who was interviewing me for a radio documentary on student protests expressed the increasingly popular view that student protests in the 1960s and 70s were far more 'meaningful' than those of today and that student concerns then were about matters of national, and even international importance. But during the conversation, it dawned on me that, in that era, there were those who expressed similar attitudes to the leaders of student protest.

Our concerns about national identity, black pride, and students' right to use certain facilities of the UWI for our own creative and artistic development had led to the student occupation on the Creative Arts Centre at the university.

The straw that had broken that particular camel's back was the fact that a group of students had approached the administration of the centre for permission to use the facility to stage a concert to honour the memory of Martin Luther King. They were refused and their concerns treated in a manner they considered disrespectful.

During that protest action, the students organised a free concert. A featured artiste was Louise Bennett, who declared during her performance that it was the first time that she had ever been invited to the Creative Arts Centre to perform. We also used the 'round' in the centre to stage an exhibition of struggling 'conscious' artists in which persons of the calibre of Ras Dizzy and Daniel Hartman exhibited.

Finally, the leaders of the occupation met with the university authorities to hammer out a management structure for the centre which was acceptable to all stakeholders.

However, as there were 'extremist' elements in the group of occupiers, rifts had evolved and, to the horror of some, on Good Friday, these persons left the centre, went to the nearby University Chapel and proceeded to disrupt the service, badgering the congregation that they should be "helping the students with their cause rather than wasting their time".

Those students were all eventually expelled from the university.

The other major protest action of the era took place when the Government of Jamaica banned Walter Rodney, a history lecturer, from entering the country. Rodney, a communist, was a particularly good lecturer and was also intensely popular among some students for his lucid and inspiring talks on 'Black Power' which put a perspective on this movement that gave it centrality to our lives. Students decided to march to Jamaica House and to the ministry to present a petition.

Cowed into submission

The Government called out the police to prevent this march. Hindsight shows that they were justified in trying to stop this, as they were afraid of what it could escalate into once the student protesters were joined by the disgruntled, potentially violent, masses of people who 'awaited' them downtown. But you can't stop hundreds of students! Despite tear gas and batons, the march continued and the petition presented. The police eventually locked down the university for days and we were cowed into submission.

But all of this had to do with our growth into the society we are today. The cultural relevance of the university, accepting ourselves as a black nation! The debate on governance that the communists engendered! The view of ourselves that the Rastafarian movement forced us to take! These were all truly important issues. Of that era.

Today, student protests surround issues like their inability to pay their tuition. A significant number of students qualify each year for university matriculation, but simply cannot afford the tuition and other costs. Is it really acceptable for us to say to them, "Sorry, yuh parents cyaan afford dis, go drive taxi for somebody, or work a KFC!" ?

Maybe what is developing is a movement that demands that we find a way to provide for the tertiary education of all our brightest young people.

An yuh cyaan tell dem dat dat nuh important!

Keith Noel is an educator. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.