User:Yellow1830/sandbox

Topic Paragraph

I chose the topic Overview of Student Protests Across Africa because:

1. I am interested in student activism.
2. I wanted to research a whole continent rather than a country.
3. There is no article so I thought it would be impressive to be the first to write about it.

Annotated Bibliography

Balsvik, R., 1998. Student Protest—University and State in Africa 1960–1995. Forum for Development Studies, 25(2), pp.301-325.

The article deals with the relationship between the university and the state authorities in the newly independent African countries. The object is to indicate the cause, degree and pattern of unrest and disruptions in African universities. There are preliminary notes on the research on students and the relationship between formal education and development, then follows an exposition of the problem itself, student unrest and the closures of universities.

(Balsvik, 1998)

Bank, L., 2018. Sobukwe’s children: nationalism, neo-liberalism and the student protests at the University of Fort Hare and in South Africa. Anthropology Southern Africa, 41(3), pp.212-228.

This article explores the provocation of the former vice-chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, Dr Mvuyo Tom - made at the university's centenary celebrations in 2016 - that the #FeesMustFall (#FMF) movement was a misguided and destructive millenarian movement, similar to the great Xhosa Cattle-Killing of the 1850s. The article interrogates this proposition by reflecting on the higher education and political dynamics at Fort Hare during the #RhodesMustFall and #FMF campaigns over the past five years.

(Bank, 2018)

Hardy, S., 2016. A Brief History of Student Protests | The Chimurenga Chronic. [online] The Chimurenga Chronic. Available at: < https://chimurengachronic.co.za/a-brief-history-of-student-protests-2/> [Accessed 25 October 2021].

‘A Brief History of Student Protests’ describes how the university in Africa has always been a site of turmoil, conflict and insurrection. It cites articles and other writings by Mamdani and P’Bitek which highlight that the sources of the conflict and how it is enacted are varied, and often dependent on complex specific political climates, as well as the ongoing flows of ideas between the continent and elsewhere.

(Hardy, 2016)

Kusá, D., 2018. The Born Frees as Assertive Citizens? Student Protests and Democratic Prospects in South Africa. Polish Political Science Yearbook, 47(4), pp.722-741.

This article describes massive student protests in South Africa in the past few years, the largest since the times of the anti-apartheid struggles, which raised several questions for political scientists. Are we witnessing a generational change? Or are they a sign of a broader global shift towards "assertive citizenship" present in advanced democracies and democratizing countries? To answer these questions, this paper examines the levels of political support and nature of political participation among the young generation.

(Kusá, 2018)

Nyamnjoh, F., Nkwi, W. and Konings, P., 2012. University crisis and student protest in Africa. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing.

This book describes how African students have been faced with a deepening crisis in their universities and demonstrated growing activism and militancy. They have been engaged in numerous, often violent, strikes for improvements in their deteriorating living and study conditions and the introduction of a democratic culture in the universities and society as a whole, including the right to express their views, organise in student unions and participate in university management. This book focuses on recent violent strike action in Cameroon’s state universities, with special attention to the University of Buea – the only English-speaking university in the country between 1993 and 2011.

(Nyamnjoh, Nkwi and Konings, 2012)

Overview of Student Protests Across Africa

Overview

Student protests across Africa have always been a site of conflict, insurrection, and turmoil. The first section is about the history of student protests across Africa. The second section is about sources of conflict and how it is enacted. These are varied and often dependent on complex specific political climates and ongoing flows of ideas between the continent and elsewhere. The third section is about examples of recent student protests across Africa. It focuses on #FeesMustFall which was a massive student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. These were some of the largest student protests since times of anti-apartheid struggles and raised several questions for political scientists.

Section 1 - History of Student Protests Across Africa

In Senegal throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, student revolts earned the University of Dakar reputation of being a hotbed of radical politics. Under President Senghor in particular, Senegal’s educational policies were a sore spot for a large segment of the Senegalese intelligentsia. They thought the French-based Senegalese education system was not adapted to the country’s needs and was a form of cultural neo-colonialism. The presence of 1,000 French teachers in the school system reinforced this impression, as did Senghor’s resistance to making national languages a more important part of the curriculum.

As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, governments on the continent became wary of student action. Student protests proved to spark more widespread social unrest which was the case for many unstable African regimes. For African universities, this meant a curtailment of critical scholarship, harassment of staff and students, jailing and detentions of scholars, and periodic closure of universities.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the rise of the educated class and political awareness was not matched by economic mobility. This situation created frustration among literate unemployed youth. This fed politicisation of education and fuelled conflict gripped the country following the October 2010 elections. Universities became embroiled in struggle, as tension mounted between pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara student camps. Several universities, including those in Abidjan, Daloa and Korhogo, were forced to shut down. Others were transformed into improvised military training camps. Occupation and use of university facilities by forces on both sides led to substantial damage, looting and destruction.

Section 2 – Sources of Conflict and How it is Enacted

African students have been faced with a deepening crisis in their universities and demonstrated growing activism and militancy. They have been engaged in numerous, often violent, strikes. These are for improvements in their deteriorating living and study conditions and introduction of a democratic culture in universities and society as a whole. This includes the right to express their views, organise in student unions and participate in university management. Student unrest and closures of universities is a problem. The propensity to rebel is influenced by several factors. The least visible is related to the perception of the relevance of university studies in the African context, most visible to declining economic conditions which affected student lives and studies. The main causes are connected to the quality of interaction between state and university. The latter demands the right to free expression and to participate in a public political debate which the former is not. Weak and nervous governing elites in states lacking coherence will not tolerate their privileges being challenged and the very security of the state is at stake. Violent responses of government to student challenges more than anything else gained active few their large followings among the student body in general.

Section 3 - Fees Must Fall

Since 1994, South African students have had their struggles. In the first two decades following the advent of democracy, there has been wave after wave of student protest action, on campuses of South Africa’s black universities. At the University of Limpopo in 2009, 2011 and 2012, the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Durban in 2009, the Tshwane University of Technology in 2012 and 2014, the Vaal University of Technology in 2014, the Walter Sisulu University of Technology in Eastern Cape, and at two Western Cape further education and training colleges, False Bay College and College of Cape Town, in 2012.

#FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. Major demands by protesting students across the country are similar. These include tertiary institutions that do not exclude students on academic grounds; tuition and accommodation fees are reduced, and those students are provided with more financial support and wider access to bursaries.

The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the University of Witwatersrand and spread to the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University before spreading to other universities across the country. Although enjoying significant public support protest movement started to lose public sympathy when protests started turning violent.

These protests received little attention in media until 2015, when students at the University of Cape Town (UCT), a white institution, took issue with the legacy of colonialism. This was symbolised by the statue of Cecil John Rhodes on campus. Protests at UCT soon spread to other campuses. Underlying youth anger at legacies of racial discrimination and colonialism, high levels of unemployment and pronounced and increasing income inequality, crystallised into a national movement in October. Universities began to announce fee increases of over 10% for the 2016 academic year. The government was forced to impose a freeze on fee increases and find emergency funding.

These massive student protests in South Africa in the past few years were the largest since times of anti-apartheid struggles. They raised several questions for political scientists and brought with them a challenge to the founding narrative of a united Rainbow Nation and reconciliation with the past. Generational change is not visible in public opinion polls. A process of gradual narrative construction led to a fracture in democratic stability. For a democratic project to succeed, a national project in South Africa must not fall apart.

Peer Assessment

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Carpet49/sandbox#Peer_Review Yellow1830 (talk) 16:57, 29 November 2021 (UTC)

Plans to Improve

About the introduction, I think my overview can be a little brief at times. It might be better to explain more about Section 1 because so far there is only one sentence introducing it. I think that a sentence or two briefly outlining what I say in Section 1 rather than stating its title may improve it. I did this well for the others. It could be any information from when the protest started, where it was, key eras/dates of increased protests or geographical hotspots within Africa etc. and so on as a brief introduction. The other thing I can do is to put an external link at the end. I found that there is an independent Wikipedia article about 'FeesMustFall' that I explain in Section 3. By setting up the Wikipedia links to these specific protests, the readers will be able to know more about protests in Africa. I would also ensure that there is as much detail as possible, which I have already done a good job of. Finally, I will add images.

Overview of Student Protests Across Africa

Overview

Student protests across Africa have always been a site of conflict, insurrection, and turmoil. The first section is about the history of student protests across Africa. These are a form of student activism that take the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academic issue and mobilisation to communicate this dissatisfaction to the authorities (university or civil or both) and society in general and hopefully remedy the problem. Protest forms include but are not limited to sit-ins, occupations of university offices or buildings, strikes etc. The second section is about sources of conflict and how it is enacted. These are varied and often dependent on complex specific political climates and ongoing flows of ideas between the continent and elsewhere. The third section is about examples of recent student protests across Africa. It focuses on #FeesMustFall which was a massive student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. These were some of the largest student protests since times of anti-apartheid struggles and raised several questions for political scientists.

Section 1 - History of Student Protests Across Africa

Dakar University, Senegal - 1967

In Senegal throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, student revolts earned the University of Dakar reputation of being a hotbed of radical politics. Under President Senghor in particular, Senegal’s educational policies were a sore spot for a large segment of the Senegalese intelligentsia. They thought the French-based Senegalese education system was not adapted to the country’s needs and was a form of cultural neo-colonialism. The presence of 1,000 French teachers in the school system reinforced this impression, as did Senghor’s resistance to making national languages a more important part of the curriculum.

As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, governments on the continent became wary of student action. Student protests proved to spark more widespread social unrest which was the case for many unstable African regimes. For African universities, this meant a curtailment of critical scholarship, harassment of staff and students, jailing and detentions of scholars, and periodic closure of universities.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the rise of the educated class and political awareness was not matched by economic mobility. This situation created frustration among literate unemployed youth. This fed politicisation of education and fuelled conflict gripped the country following the October 2010 elections. Universities became embroiled in struggle, as tension mounted between pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara student camps. Several universities, including those in Abidjan, Daloa and Korhogo, were forced to shut down. Others were transformed into improvised military training camps. Occupation and use of university facilities by forces on both sides led to substantial damage, looting and destruction.

Section 2 – Sources of Conflict and How it is Enacted

African students have been faced with a deepening crisis in their universities and demonstrated growing activism and militancy. They have been engaged in numerous, often violent, strikes. These are for improvements in their deteriorating living and study conditions and introduction of a democratic culture in universities and society as a whole. This includes the right to express their views, organise in student unions and participate in university management. Student unrest and closures of universities is a problem. The propensity to rebel is influenced by several factors. The least visible is related to the perception of the relevance of university studies in the African context, most visible to declining economic conditions which affected student lives and studies. The main causes are connected to the quality of interaction between state and university. The latter demands the right to free expression and to participate in a public political debate which the former is not. Weak and nervous governing elites in states lacking coherence will not tolerate their privileges being challenged and the very security of the state is at stake. Violent responses of government to student challenges more than anything else gained active few their large followings among the student body in general.

Section 3 - Fees Must Fall

'Do not shoot' a group of students shout at the #FeesMustFall movement

A video of the #FeesMustFall protest outside Parliament - 21 October 2015

Since 1994, South African students have had their struggles. In the first two decades following the advent of democracy, there has been wave after wave of student protest action, on campuses of South Africa’s black universities. At the University of Limpopo in 2009, 2011 and 2012, the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Durban in 2009, the Tshwane University of Technology in 2012 and 2014, the Vaal University of Technology in 2014, the Walter Sisulu University of Technology in Eastern Cape, and at two Western Cape further education and training colleges, False Bay College and College of Cape Town, in 2012.

#FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. Major demands by protesting students across the country are similar. These include tertiary institutions that do not exclude students on academic grounds; tuition and accommodation fees are reduced, and those students are provided with more financial support and wider access to bursaries.

The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the University of Witwatersrand and spread to the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University before spreading to other universities across the country. Although enjoying significant public support protest movement started to lose public sympathy when protests started turning violent.

These protests received little attention in media until 2015, when students at the University of Cape Town (UCT), a white institution, took issue with the legacy of colonialism. This was symbolised by the statue of Cecil John Rhodes on campus. Protests at UCT soon spread to other campuses. Underlying youth anger at legacies of racial discrimination and colonialism, high levels of unemployment and pronounced and increasing income inequality, crystallised into a national movement in October. Universities began to announce fee increases of over 10% for the 2016 academic year. The government was forced to impose a freeze on fee increases and find emergency funding.

These massive student protests in South Africa in the past few years were the largest since times of anti-apartheid struggles. They raised several questions for political scientists and brought with them a challenge to the founding narrative of a united Rainbow Nation and reconciliation with the past. Generational change is not visible in public opinion polls. A process of gradual narrative construction led to a fracture in democratic stability. For a democratic project to succeed, a national project in South Africa must not fall apart.

Further Reading

Media related to FeesMustFall

• Groundup.org.za. 2015. Student fees: facts, figures and observations. [online] Available at: <https://www.groundup.org.za/media/features/studentfees/studentfees_0023.html> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• Swingler, S., 2015. Daily Maverick Chronicle: #FeesMustFall – Violence at the Gates of Parliament. [online] Daily Maverick. Available at: <https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-10-21-daily-maverick-chronicle-feesmustfall-violence-at-the-gates-of-parliament/> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• Between 10 and 5. 2015. Imraan Christian's Firsthand Account of the #FeesMustFall Protest at UCT | Between 10 and 5. [online] Available at: <https://10and5.com/2015/10/20/imraan-christians-firsthand-account-of-the-feesmustfall-protest-at-uct/> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• The Journalist. 2015. Police brutality must fall - The Journalist. [online] Available at: <http://www.thejournalist.org.za/spotlight/police-brutality-must-fall/> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• Nicolson, G., 2016. #FeesMustFall: Wits students accuse police of abuse. [online] Daily Maverick. Available at: <https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-10-18-feesmustfall-wits-students-accuse-police-of-abuse/> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• Haffejee, I., 2016. Student leader Shaeera Kalla shot multiple times. [online] GroundUp News. Available at: <https://www.groundup.org.za/article/student-leader-shaeera-kalla-shot-multiple-times/> [Accessed 1 January 2022].
• Everything Must Fall film