Student activism
Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. In addition to education, student groups often play central roles in democratization and winning civil rights.
Modern student activist movements span all ages, races, socio-economic backgrounds, and political perspectives. Some student protests focus on the internal affairs of an institution ; others tackle wars or dictatorships. Student activism is most often associated with left-wing politics.
Early examples
Student activism at the university level is nearly as old as the university itself.Students in Paris and Bologna staged collective actions as early as the 13th century, chiefly over town and gown issues.
Student protests over broader political issues also have a long pedigree. In Joseon Dynasty Korea, 150 Sungkyunkwan students staged an unprecedented demonstration against the king in 1519 over the Kimyo purge.
By country
Argentina
In Argentina, as elsewhere in Latin America, the tradition of student activism dates back to at least the 19th century, but it was not until after 1900 that it became a major political force. In 1918 student activism triggered a general modernization of the universities especially tending towards democratization, called the University Revolution. The events started in Córdoba and were accompanied by similar uprisings across Latin America. The Córdoba Manifesto encapsulates the interests of students' during this time in making their education institutions more democratic.Australia
Australian students have a long history of being active in political debates. This is particularly true in the newer universities that have been established in suburban areas.For much of the 20th century, the major campus organizing group across Australia was the Australian Union of Students, which was founded in 1937 as the Union of Australian University Students. The AUS folded in 1984. It was replaced by the National Union of Students in 1987.
Bangladesh
Student politics of Bangladesh is reactive, confrontational and violent. Student organizations act as the armament of the political parties they are part of. Over the years, political clashes and factional feuds in the educational institutes killed many, seriously hampering the academic atmosphere. To check those hitches, universities have no options but go to lengthy and unexpected closures. Therefore, classes are not completed on time and there are session jams.The student wings of ruling parties dominate the campuses and residential halls through crime and violence to enjoy various unauthorized facilities. They control the residential halls to manage seats in favor of their party members and loyal pupils. They eat and buy for free from the restaurants and shops nearby. They extort and grab tenders to earn illicit money. They take money from the freshmen candidates and put pressure on teachers to get an acceptance for them. They take money from the job seekers and put pressures on university administrations to appoint them.
Brazil
On August 11, 1937, the União Nacional dos Estudantes was formed as a platform for students to create change in Brazil. The organization tried to unite students from all over Brazil. However, in the 1940s the group had aligned more with socialism. Then in the 1950s the group changed alignment again, this time aligning with more conservative values. The União Metropolitana dos Estudantes rose up in replacement of the once socialist UNE. However, it was not long until União Nacional dos Estudantes once again sided with socialism, thus joining forces with the União Metropolitana dos Estudantes.The União Nacional dos Estudantes was influential in the democratization of higher education. Their first significant feat occurred during World War II when they successfully pressured Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas to join the side of the Allies.
In 1964, UNE was outlawed after elected leader João Goulart was disposed of power by a military coup. The military regime terrorized students in an effort to make them subservient. In 1966, students began protesting anyway despite the reality of further terror.
All the protests led up to the March of the One Hundred Thousand in June 1968. Organized by the UNE, this protest was the largest yet. A few months later the government passed Institutional Act Number Five which officially banned students from any further protest.
Canada
In Canada, New Left student organizations from the late 1950s and 1960s became mainly two: SUPA and CYC. SUPA grew out of the CUCND in December 1964, at a University of Saskatchewan conference. While CUCND had focused on protest marches, SUPA sought to change Canadian society as a whole. The scope expanded to grass-roots politics in disadvantaged communities and 'consciousness raising' to radicalize and raise awareness of the 'generation gap' experienced by Canadian youth. SUPA was a decentralized organization, rooted in local university campuses. SUPA however disintegrated in late 1967 over debates concerning the role of working class and 'Old Left'. Members moved to the CYC or became active leaders in CUS, leading the CUS to assume the mantle of New Left student agitation.In 1968, SDU was formed at McGill and Simon Fraser Universities. SFU SDU, originally former SUPA members and New Democratic Youth, absorbed members from the campus Liberal Club and Young Socialists. SDU was prominent in an Administration occupation in 1968, and a student strike in 1969. After the failure of the student strike, SDU broke up. Some members joined the IWW and Yippies. Other members helped form the Vancouver Liberation Front in 1970. The FLQ was considered a terrorist organization, causing the use of the War Measures Act after 95 bombings in the October Crisis. This was the only peacetime use of the War Measures Act.
Since the 1970s, PIRGs have been created as a result of Student Union referendums across Canada in individual provinces. Like their American counterparts, Canadian PIRGs are student directed, run, and funded. Most operate on a consensus decision making model. Despite efforts at collaboration, Canadian PIRGs are independent of each other.
Anti-Bullying Day was created by high school students David Shepherd, and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia, and is now celebrated annually across Canada.
In 2012, the Quebec Student Movement arose due to an increase of tuition of 75%; that took students out of class and into the streets because that increase did not allow students to comfortably extend their education, because of fear of debt or not having money at all. Following elections that year, premier Jean Charest promised to repeal anti-assembly laws and cancel the tuition hike.
Canadian universities have been active sites for debate and mobilization, with student groups advocating on both sides of the conflict. This activism has led to significant polarization on campuses, with heated debates, protests, and resolutions at institutions like McGill University and York University. The discussions often involve broader issues of academic freedom and concerns over rising antisemitism and Islamophobia. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved, it continues to be a key issue driving student activism in Canada.
Chile
From 2011 to 2013, Chile was rocked by a series of student-led nationwide protests across Chile, demanding a new framework for education in the country, including more direct state participation in secondary education and an end to the existence of profit in higher education. Currently in Chile, only 45% of high school students study in traditional public schools and most universities are also private. No new public universities have been built since the end of the Chilean transition to democracy in 1990, even though the number of university students has swelled. Beyond the specific demands regarding education, the protests reflected a "deep discontent" among some parts of society with Chile's high level of inequality. Protests have included massive non-violent marches, but also a considerable amount of violence on the part of a side of protestors as well as riot police.The first clear government response to the protests was a proposal for a new education fund and a cabinet shuffle which replaced Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín and was seen as not fundamentally addressing student movement concerns. Other government proposals were also rejected.
China
Since the defeat of the Qing Dynasty during the First and Second Opium Wars, student activism has played a significant role in the modern Chinese history.Fueled mostly by Chinese nationalism, Chinese student activism strongly believes that young people are responsible for China's future. This strong nationalistic belief has been able to manifest in several forms such as pro-democracy, anti-Americanism and pro-communism.
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement saw over 3,000 students of Peking University and other schools gather together in front of Tiananmen and demonstrate. It is regarded as an essential step of the democratic revolution in China, and it had also given birth to Chinese Communism.
During the 1927–1937 Nanjing decade, student activism played an outsized role.
While nationalist Anti-American movements led by some students and intellectuals during the Chinese Civil War were instrumental in winning enough support for the CCP in urban areas to prevail, there remained lots of polarization on campuses in the late 1940's with a wide range of views. Ironically, America's influence in post-war China, designed to prevent Soviet influence appears to have backfired for the United States as some Chinese students were sensitive to any overt foreign influence after the Japanese occupation.
In 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests, led by students, inspired ended in a brutal government massacre of thousands, damaging the reputation of the Chinese Communist Party as it moved towards a more repressive approach to speech and dissent.