Tiananmen: a reminder to apathetic students?

(c) Jeff Widener (The Associated Press)

The twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre will be commemorated on 3-4 June this year. Once again it will raise questions about its impact on international human rights and specifically on democracy in China. The government has still not answered for this tragedy, which saw a disproportionate reaction to the largely student-led protests for democratic reform.

The iconic image of the events that took place in the summer of 1989 is that of the unknown man who stood against the might of the Chinese military. However, despite the power of this image in its depiction of the defiance of an individual against the system, the ‘tank man’ did not stand alone. Behind him were tens of thousands of peaceful protestors, many students, many already executed by their government. The legacy of Tiananmen does not just rest in questions of Chinese accountability but also the incredible vitality of those students who, risking their own lives, nonetheless came out to protest. This leads to the question of student activism today, and a consideration of whether our generation are letting down the legacy of those brave Chinese students.

Any talk of student activism immediately invokes memories of the student protests held throughout the world in 1968, most notably in France, which were accompanied by calls for revolution and the upheaval of the status quo. The 1980s saw student activism at a high once again with demonstrations against apartheid. However, just as women who decide not to vote are chastised for single-handedly undermining the suffrage movement, should today’s students be taken to task for disregarding the sacrifices that past students have made?

The recent university strikes carried out in France against the government’s plans to introduce aspects of privatisation into public university have seen month-long blockages of faculties, but also much scepticism about the students’ motives for striking. With time, their futility has become blindingly apparent. And in the UK, all the NUS seems to be good for is their 10% discount. Seen by many as “New Labour stooges”, they let down many students in their failure to support a campaign calling for the abolition of tuition fees and their condemnation of various demonstrations against the occupation of Gaza which took place earlier this year.

Perhaps my concerns over student apathy come from some misplaced nostalgia for the summer of ’68. Much activism remains in British universities, and the popularity of the societies that exist in most institutions are unique within Europe. Movements such as Plane Stupid and Amnesty International rely heavily on their student membership, if only because those young people are the leaders of the future. Moreover, in our technical age it is argued by many that student activism manifests itself in a different way. Instead of marches and banners, we have Facebook and Twitter. The digital age is bringing about changes in the methods of student mobilisation.

Whether or not student activism is dead, it is clear that the legacy of Tiananmen Square must live on. Student power, when unleashed, is a hugely powerful force for change and progress. This is particularly true in countries with dubious human rights records, where change must come from within. Some people might say that it is going a little far to say that student apathy is a betrayal of the memory of the Tiananmen Square protests. Students, after all, are just another group of people who don’t have an especial part to play in politics. But tell that to the Iranian students of 1978, the Indonesian students of 1998, and, of course, the class of ’68.

The content of this article is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views and beliefs of The Vibe.