Galvanise

I haven't written a note or political blog for quite some time, but i have been watching with interest numerous debates around facebook whose primary focus is the WITS student protests currently taking place on main campus. I also should say now that i'm not trying to capitalise on the debates of others for personal gain - but am hopeful of bringing a different perspective to the party.

Let me just signpost my position:
1) I am not on main campus, therefore my lectures have not been disrupted.
2) I have a vague idea about what the protests are about, but i have got the general gist that they are protesting fee increases.
3) I have heard stories about Vigilantism from affected students involving mace being sprayed and classes being evacuated - but seriously, that is about all i know about the real impact on the ground. I am trapped in a bubble at the WITS Business School and am sadly, and ashamedly, out of touch.

I remember when I was in 2nd year or so, that a similar protest took place on campus. I remember the toyi toying, police standing menacingly with their riot gear, students marching through campus, class disruptions. It all happened then, and I remember it clearly. I thought it was all rather exciting. It was a real protest, a demonstration by a group of people united on the basis of a common idea. That idea had merit, even if that merit didn't apply to me and my economic situation - and I wasn't frightened by the "Riots" - rather, I was emboldened by it.

I thought to myself, these people are actually making a stand. Misguided or not, they were standing up for what they hold true, and that, in my eyes then, was a noteworthy and respectable endeavour.

However, time and experience since that point has shown me, that this notion of standing up for beliefs that key groups of people either disagree with or couldn't care less about it - is not seen to be respectable or noteworthy. For these key groups, to stand up is an insult, an attack that challenges them forthright and draws them further and deeper back into their deeply entrenched and self centred views.

It is apparent to me, at least, that young South Africans should start waking up to the positive role that peaceful, mass protest can play in society. It can enable the individual to make a difference by uniting him with people who feel similar injustice. Not to say that vandalism or disruption of lectures is fine...its not at all. But to condemn the entire protest on the basis of a few people who get swept up in the euphoria of unity, which seems to have happened, stems primarily from ignorance, and also a non-attempt to empathise with these people and their point of view.

But then again, who am I to say this? I'm not involved and off campus. I've had a full education, postgrad and all - I've never needed the support of the university to create affordable fees...I'm sorted! But, I would advise people to be more mindful of the plight of other people and their rights to vent their anger and frustration - because who knows when one day we might have to unite and protest an injustice against ourselves...

An Exercise in Futility

Its overcast outside. Builder's bash at my neighbours house. I hear sledgehammers, non stop, incessant. The clanging reverberates through my house like a concrete gong.

As a result, my concentration flags. In front of me, two seven hundred page textbooks are open. Yellow and green post its poke through the pages like jagged shards of glass. As the threat of paper cut takes a new and much more disturbing meaning, I realise that I can no longer concentrate. I stand up. I look down at my books. I sit down. I look up at the portrait of Magneto on my wall.

And then, I give up.