September 25

September 25

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/23/south-africas-student-protests-are-part-of-a-much-bigger-struggle/

Student protests have been erupting in South Africa over the past year and the movement has come to adopt the hashtag #FeesMustFall, following the hashtag trend of the BLM movement. The two movements have been paralleled because they both seek to address structural and systematic inequalities. Increases in tuition fees at prominent South African universities are seen to be both anti-poor and anti-black, perpetuating the inequalities that are reminiscent of the apartheid era. Beyond the fees, the movement in South Africa has sought to destroy images of colonial era and symbols of oppression. Many universities are devoid of statues or symbols that promote the black perspective and the black history of the state. The symbolism behind the protests themselves is the importance of democracy that has allowed so many students to gather and express their opinions, something that may not have been allowed a few decades earlier. The constitution that was drafted after the end of apartheid allows for much more civil freedoms and guarantees democratic processes of governance. However, although democratic, the state still does not cater to everyone equally. As the article notes, many people are frustrated on both sides, with the focus of the protesters and the response by authorities. One professor from Wits University, William Gumede, is concerned that protesters are fighting too hard against the universities and not enough against the state itself, from which the structural inequalities stem. Furthermore, the armed responses from police and security forces have been excessive, for protests of twenty to thirty unarmed students; authorities are prepared for the worst.