Dylan Kerrigan
  • Home
  • About
  • Academic Writings
  • Books
    • Therapeutic Cultures
  • Opeds/Blogs
  • Teaching
    • Graduate Supervision
  • Presentations
  • Other Writings
  • Videos
  • In the Press
  • Blog
  • Research
    • Past
    • Current
    • Future

Reigniting student activism at UWI

21/6/2020

0 Comments

 
This co-authored op-ed from University of the West Indies, Sociology PhD candidate Nathan Chapman and myself, is meant as a conversation starter about the importance of student activism at the UWI
Picture
According to Prof Genevieve Carlton, university student activism has always been a burning flame internationally, regionally and locally.

“From riots over butter to protests against tuition increases, student activists have spoken out for centuries. Campus activism has played a major role in shaping higher education itself.”

In the 1960s, when the Jamaican government of Hugh Shearer banned Guyanese scholar and political activist Walter Rodney from returning to his teaching position at the UWI, the Guild of Students closed down the Mona campus. The action continued with a march to the Prime Minister's residence, which eventually led to severe disturbances.

In 1969, the president of the Guild of Students at the UWI – Makandal Daaga – led a protest in solidarity with West Indian students at Concordia University, Canada, against allegations of racism against a university professor.

When the Governor-General of Canada, Roland Michener, came on an official visit to the UWI, St Augustine campus, students blocked the entrance of the campus to prevent the governor's entry to the university.

These examples of university student activism within the region reiterate the prominent role universities play in challenging oppression and channelling social change within the world. More than that, student activism forms an essential part of the university ethos (spirit and culture) and mission.

In a world scarred by structural inequalities of race, class and gender, there is need for the continued protection of this flame and flame-bearers within university spaces.

As stated by UWI’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, “Our students, our academics, our administrators, they do have the right to express their disappointment and their objection to philosophies, to practices, to cultures. This is embedded in every fine institution.”

However, it appears as though that flame has dimmed, particularly after the student activism that took place at the UWI St Augustine campus on October 18, 2018.

In the wake of an alleged sexual assault on the campus, students organised protest action speaking to safety concerns at the university. Hundreds of students and some members of academic staff gathered at the UWI south gate and formed a human blockade preventing the flow of traffic into and out of the campus.

The police soon arrived and in attempting to disperse the crowd, deployed armed officers to wrestle with students blocking the thoroughfare. Police violence duly erupted and two young, black, male students, with kinky hair texture and a plaited hairstyle – amongst students of many different hues – were targeted and thrown to the ground, pinned by knees on their neck and had automatic weapons pushed into their faces.

Two years have already passed since the student protest action in UWI and the arrest of two students (Brian Richards and Nathanael John). Till this date, the students are still waiting for their matter to proceed in the courts.

Indeed, this is untenable, because this has caused not only a silencing of the issues affecting the students, but also a dimming of the spirits of the flame bearers and the powerful flame of vociferous university student activism at the university.

This arrest of students by the police disenchanted many upcoming activists supporting the cause, because it gave the impression to the public that the university student activism which took place was wrong and illegal.
This impression is cemented by Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith, who stated categorically that while it is the right of citizens to protest, it must be done within the confines of the law. This includes seeking police permission before engaging in protest action.

This procedure for engaging in protest action has concerned many social activists in TT, such as president general of the Oilfields Workers' Trade Union Ancel Roget, who see it as a means of suppressing the voices of people.

More than that, these young students currently have to endure the burdensome experiences of a potentially lengthy court trial.

On that basis and within the current context of global decolonial activism fuelled by the Black Lives Matter movement, it is imperative that the flames of activism at UWI are reignited through introspection and reflection on the ways student activists at the institution are protected and supported by the administration.

In particular, we need the university to voice support for flame-bearers and ensure that their rights and freedoms are protected and respected.

The UWI must provide a space conducive to demonstrations and expressions of activism, free from arrest and reproach.

This is a central role of a university and it must be protected here at the UWI too.

This flame of introspection and reflection must also spread throughout wider TT as we rethink the current approaches utilised by police officers interacting with members of the public in times of social activism.

Nathan Chapman is a PhD student in sociology at UWI, St Augustine. Dr Dylan Kerrigan is a lecturer in the School of Criminology, University of Leicester, UK, and a visiting lecturer at the Sociology Unit, UWI, St Augustine. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Academia
    Amerindian
    Bias
    Capitalism
    Carnival
    Census
    Change
    Charlotteville
    Christmas
    Cipriani
    Citizenship
    Class
    Clico
    Colonialism
    Comedy
    Community
    Conspiracy
    Corruption
    Crime
    Critical Thinking
    Cultural Logic
    Cultural Logic
    Cultural Myth
    Culture
    Degradation
    Development
    Differences
    Disabilities
    Discourse
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Division
    Drugs
    Economic
    Economics
    Economy
    Education
    Emancipation
    Emigration
    Employment
    Environment
    Equality
    Ethnicity
    Ethnocentrism
    Ethnology
    Family
    Gang
    Gender
    Governance
    Government
    Grenada
    Hcu
    History
    Homophobia
    Identity
    Imperialism
    Inequality
    Institutions
    Intellectualism
    Justice
    Language
    Legislation
    Marriage
    Mas
    Militarism
    Military
    Morality
    Multiculturalism
    National Security
    Nepotism
    Opportunity
    Patriarchy
    Policy
    Politics
    Poverty
    Power
    Precolonial
    Prejudice
    Prisons
    Privatisation
    Privilege
    Progress
    Propaganda
    Prostitution
    Race
    Reflexivity
    Relationships
    Religion
    Rights
    Science
    Security
    Segregation
    Sexism
    Sexuality
    Sex Work
    Slavery
    (small-goal) Football
    Social Media
    Soe
    Solidarity
    Speed
    State
    Status
    Success
    Taboo
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tobago
    Tourism
    Trade
    Transparency
    University
    Violence
    War
    White Collar
    White-collar

    Archives

    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    February 2019
    November 2017
    October 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

    RSS Feed