December 2

December 2

https://www.equaltimes.org/south-africa-s-student-protests#.WFDz8YctAZY

            The use of force by police and private security forces is at the forefront of conversations about the increase in violence. The protests were relatively peaceful in 2015, after the victory of having the Cecil Rhodes statue at UCT was removed. But the longer the government kept the protesters in doubt about the future of fee increases and free education, frustrations grew and so did outbreaks of violence that have ultimately created a new tone for the protesters. In addition, the fact that the violence garnered the protests even more media attention, but in a more negative light condemning the violence, the FMF movement has become known in the media as violent and misguided. The ways many media outlets have portrayed the protests detract from the most salient issues surrounding the cause: the need to decolonize curriculum and provide free education. The violent reaction from police is reminiscent of the apartheid era, the excessive tactics and unjustified and mysterious arrests are all too familiar for black South Africans. In this article however, one woman who is a former student representative from Wits University claims she does not see the police as the enemy. Rather, she sees them as caught up in the same struggle, of working and middle class men and women suffering in the drastically uneven socio-economic climate in South Africa, for this woman it is a class struggle. This might be the healthiest way of looking at it if students want to move forward and focus on the real enemy: the state, to whom the police are just puppets doing their dirty work without a choice. As some schools wonder whether or not they will be able to carry out a full school term this year, protesters are in this battle for the long run, for a better future, and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.