PEER Network Symposium

‘Activism Under Attack: Understanding the Repression of Student Activism’

Amy Kapit (Swarthmore College) and Selma Bratberg (Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund)

Since October 2022, Iranian university students have been at the forefront of nationwide protests demanding regime change. The Iranian government and security forces have met these protests with brutality. By early January 2023, at least 685 students had been arrested, according to the Volunteer Committee to Follow Up on the Situation of Detainees. Of these students, at least 44 had been sentenced, most to multiple years in person, with at least one student facing the death penalty if convicted. Students who disappeared during protests have been later found dead. Other students have been suspended, expelled, or banned from taking exams. As in the case of Iran, university students are often at the forefront of movements for social and political change and leaders in efforts to envision post-conflict reconstruction and societal transformation. Yet governments, university authorities, and the media often play a role in repressing student activism in ways that are overt–as in the case of Iran–as well as in ways that are more subtle.

This paper draws on research done in partnership with the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH) and has two purposes. First, it argues that facilitating student activism is an important function of institutions of higher education. Universities are centers for development of knowledge, transmission of ideas, and critical debate. According to progressive theorists of education, such as John Dewey, educational institutions are supposed to prepare students to become active participants in political and civic processes. Moreover, it is well established that some of the most transformative educational moments happen outside of the classroom. Engaging in student activism is an important way for university students to learn, develop skills, and gain experience. Some argue that student activism itself is a form of civic education. This discussion poses questions for the application of academic freedom. While academic freedom protects student learning, student activism is more often viewed as obstructing academic freedom (e.g. a student strike prevents students from learning) than as something that should be protected by it.

Second, this paper draws on interviews with students and human rights advocates, as well as a literature review, to analyze the ways in which student activism is most commonly suppressed. It focuses in particular on four subtle mechanisms of suppression: 1) Lawfare, the use of law prohibiting public disturbance or terrorism to constrain student organizing; (2) Delegitimization, the use of rhetoric that labels student activists as “terrorists,” “hooligans,” “criminals,” “idiots,” or “perverts;” (3) Co-option, the establishing or empowering of government-controlled or -aligned student organizations or the incentivizing student support for government policies in ways that neutralize political opposition by students; and (4) Factionalization, the inflammation of broader political or social tensions within the student population. This analysis has important implications for efforts to understand the ways in which universities are being caught up in increasing social and political polarization, shrinking civic space, and rising authoritarianism, and the extent to which student activism is protected by existing normative frameworks.

Biographies:

Author – Amy Kapit: Amy Kapit is a visiting Assistant Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College. She holds a PhD in International Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and a BA in Religion and Peace and Conflict Studies from Swarthmore College. Her research and teaching focus on the relationships between education, armed conflict, and violence; paradigms of humanitarian aid; and critical analysis of global indicator frameworks. Dr. Kapit previously worked as the Research Director for the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack and as Research Director of the Assessment of Learning Outcomes and Social Effects of Community-Based Education in Afghanistan, a research project led by Dana Burde and Cyrus Samii (NYU) and Joel Middleton (University of California, Berkeley). She has consulted with a variety of organizations, including the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, Scholars at Risk, UNESCO, and USAID.

Co-Presenter – Selma Bratberg: Selma Bratberg is the President of the Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH). She has been active in Norwegian student movements for several years, and has previously served for two years as the Vice President of SAIH. Selma holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies from Oslo Metropolitan University. She has worked on advocacy related to access to higher education, academic freedom, intercultural education and human rights.

‘Arab Spring and Arab Universities’

Adnan El-Amine (American University of Beirut / Lebanese Association of Education Studies)

1. Perhaps hundreds of studies and reports have been published on the Arab Spring (2011). Yet little reference has been made to the role of Arab universities in these movements. When the term “universities” was mentioned, it was often to refer to the participants in the demonstrations (university students, university graduates). They appear alongside with other categories such as university professors, employees, civil servants, teachers, etc. In this respect, there is no difference between the two countries in which the uprisings led to the overthrow of the rulers (Egypt and Tunisia) and the countries in which the protests against the rulers turned into armed conflicts (such as Yemen, Libya, and Syria) and countries where uprisings ended without significant regime change (Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon).
2. This intervention attempts to provide a preliminary explanation of this phenomenon, including the transformations that the university and the protests have witnessed.
3. Following the setback of June 1967, the student mood changed in all the Arab countries and the agenda of their movements became a mixture of academic demands and political requests. In the case of Egypt, for example, a major student uprising took place on February 21, 1968, during which, for the first time since 1952, slogans were raised calling on the leader (Jamal Abdel Nasser) to resign from the power. A similar demonstration took place at the time of Sadat (1971). But it was, it is said, “the last real uprising of the student movement”.
4. The first half of the 1970s saw a fundamental shift in university governance in many countries of the Arab Levant, towards the establishment of what might be called the political governance of universities. This governance is based on the top-down appointment of all university leaders, loyal to the ruling party. On the other hand, it relies on the support of student organizations hostile to left-wing student currents (such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the militia parties in Lebanon). It is also based on the restriction of academic freedom and the establishment, openly and secretly, of security services on university campuses (Egypt and Syria). This type of governance is still dominant today.
5. In the 1990s, with the rise of neoliberalism, there was a transformation in the role of the university. Market-oriented private universities and institutes began to appear and spread in Arab countries. Within public universities, the emphasis has shifted towards “useful” colleges and institutes, that is, those of a professional nature, while marginalizing the human and social faculties. It is evidenced by the growing disparity between these two types of colleges, in terms of allocated resources, student admission criteria and degree of openness to the outside world. As a result, the role of the university in providing an environment for reflection and interaction with public social affairs has diminished, and conflicts over the distribution of capital and competition for power have increased. At the student level, interest in the profession and responsibility has increased.
6. But student involvement in public affairs could not be extinguished. At the dawn of the new millennium, technology and social media have provided a new platform for public affairs interaction. This has been accompanied by growing alienation from political parties, both in power and in opposition. These have been replaced in the public sphere by civil society organizations. In both online platforms and civil society organizations, students engaged with university graduates and other residents, in addressing self-general issues (unemployment) and public issues (political power). They have been freed from the supervision and restrictions of state agencies in universities. Instead of the university being the setting for the rebellion against academic authority and political authority, digital platforms and public squares have become the space for the movement. And “youth” replaced “students”.
7. What happened in the Arab Spring turned out to be part of a global phenomenon. From the “Occupy Wall Street” uprising in New York, through Spain (indignadas), Mexico, Brazil, Turkey and Chile to Moscow and Iceland, among others. It is estimated that 951 cities in 83 countries witnessed protests that year, and the number of protests in the United States itself exceeded 600, so much so that Time magazine named the “Protester” as Person of the Year for 2011 and wrote on the cover: “From the Arab Spring to Athens, from Occupy Wall Street to Moscow”. In all these events, public squares replaced university stadiums.

‘Reclaiming or Resisting Academic Freedom: Universities as Spaces for Dissent in India and Pakistan’

Laraib Niaz and Kusha Anand (University of Cambridge and UCL-Institute of Education)

Background: As postcolonial states borne out of a violent conflict, India and Pakistan have witnessed the consistent fashioning of national consciousness through the medium of education. This is often actualised through the politicisation of the education system and the curbing of dissent from students. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been an unprecedented curb on student voices in universities. Similarly in Pakistan, higher education has witnessed a lack of academic freedom perpetuated by a ban on student unions and surveillance of academic voices.

Objectives: The authors will illustrate how students in universities in both countries to reclaim or resist spaces for dissent in two ways. First, the article will show how the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2020 in India and student solidarity marches (2018- present) in Pakistan have been used by students as a medium for protests. Second, it will discuss how the physical spaces of universities in India and Pakistan were used as platforms for channelling student voices (in the form of art works, graffiti’s, slogans etc).

Methodology: The authors will use secondary data sources such as documents, policies, visual data to presents the ways in which students in higher education institutions in both countries have attempted to reclaim or resist universities as spaces for dissent. The authors will use the case of contrast approach to illustrate the findings and show how students across the border supported each other in the times of protests.

Contribution: The article will add to conversations around the agency and sense of community and collective resilience afforded by universities for students as a space for dissent.

Keywords: Universities; India; Pakistan; Dissent; Resilience; Resistance

Biographies:

Dr Laraib Niaz is a post-doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge where she is working as part of the Independent Evaluation relating to the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC). She is also working on evaluating an inclusive education intervention in Bangladesh, funded by UKAID, and on a TASO funded evaluation of disability inclusive initiatives of higher education institutions in the UK. She is also an education consultant at the World Bank where she focuses on gender and disability inclusive education in Pakistan. She completed her doctorate from the UCL Institute of Education where her research focused on the intersection of religion and education in schools in Pakistan. Her research interests lie in the area of inclusion and exclusion in education, with a particular focus on gender, disability, and religion.

Dr Kusha Anand is an Associate Lecturer and Master Dissertation Lead at the UCL Institute of Education. As an international policy sociologist, she specialises in researching education reforms in India. She has recently published three books: Teaching India–Pakistan Relations, Delhi’s Education Revolution, and Bridging Neoliberalism and Hindu Nationalism. Her research findings have been shared with policymakers and parliamentarians in the UK, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Digital Education. Additionally, she has contributed to interdisciplinary research projects focusing on minorities, refugees, and migrants in the UK.

‘The Paradox of Erasure: Transformation and Unequal Economic Relations at a South African University’

Isha Dilraj and Azeem Badroodien (University of Cape Town)

Existing in a neoliberal, precarious higher education environment shadowed by apartheid and colonialism, the university space in South Africa is yet to escape its colonial and patriarchal underpinnings. One of the biggest challenges within the post-apartheid higher education sector has been how to develop higher education policies that contribute to a free, fair, equal, and democratic society, while at the same time contributing to the knowledge project within universities and different forms of knowledge and skills produced amongst graduates. The goal has been to reconcile creating a fairer and equal system of access to higher education that consider past injustices and generate new forms of knowledge that feed and contribute to economic and sustainable growth.

The paradox, however, is that in seeking to transform, the neoliberal university structure is reproducing the very past inequalities and violence it arguably seeks to undo. The student protests which erupted in 2015 re-emphasised the damning issues which perpetuate the devastating inequalities that continue to marginalise and exclude students. Over the years, the severity of the problems raised with regard to high fees, financial exclusions, university housing shortages, decolonisation of the curriculum and university space, and access and equality concerns continue to be ignored within a landscape that privileges neoliberal agendas. Student concerns and efforts to help reshape the university space are often regarded as countering the operations of South African Universities. Positioned in this way unequal economic relations bring transformation agendas into direct conflict with financial operational approaches. Is transformation possible as a lived reality given the unequal power relations and neoliberal environment that drives policy at the university?

The paper raises critical questions about the current state of higher education in South Africa, with a focus on how violence and erasure play out within student lived experiences as well as through the university structure and neoliberal environment. Depicting how transformation is a hallucination of scarred black bodies whose blood-stained resilience and fight for social justice, and a quest for an equal, fair, free, decolonised university space is constrained by the deeply problematic neoliberal environment within which the university exists. We apply a critical Political Economy Analysis lens to engage with and explore issues

tied to: (a) recent student struggles around funding that mirror concerns tied to the 2015 #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall protests, (b) the constant refrain from South African universities about the lack of funding to address the concerns, and (c) the effects of this on student transformation agendas across the education system. The analysis is offered in relation to bigger debates about the changing form of public education in South Africa and whether the university system in its new, evolving form serves the public good.

Keywords:

Higher Education, University, Political Economy Analysis, Student Protests, Violence, Erasure, Neoliberalism

Biographies:

Isha Dilraj: Isha Dilraj is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at the University of Cape Town, and a National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) Scholar. She is also the Research Manager for the Political Economy of Education Research (PEER) Network Africa Hub which is funded by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to support ground-breaking, impactful research in conflict-affected regions in Africa, and is engaging in research using Political Economy Analysis within Education.
She is passionate about social justice issues pertaining to education policy, transformation and access, decolonisation debates, and gender equity/equality issues. Her doctoral study is focused on the political economy of higher education in South Africa with an emphasis on issues of access, inclusion and transformation in a neoliberal South Africa given the impact of the complex history of apartheid and colonialism within the country. Isha has worked in the higher education sector in South Africa where she engaged in project management, administration and planning, staff-and-student development, system development, and policy formulation and implementation. This experience drives her resolve to engage in research to further understand and contribute to research in the complex higher education arena. Her research interests include political economy of education, education policy, higher education, theories of power, violence, resistance and transformation.

Azeem Badroodien: Azeem Badroodien is Professor of Education Policy and the Director of the School of Education at the University of Cape Town. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator for the Political Economy of Education Research (PEER) Network Africa Hub which is funded by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) to support ground-breaking, impactful research in conflict-affected regions in Africa, and is engaging in research using Political Economy Analysis within Education.

His research interests are in education policy sociology and the enactment of education policy within education and training practice, institutional provision, and in the workplace. His main intellectual interest is in youth, race and criminalisation in South Africa, looking specifically at youth socialisation in residential settings in South Africa and the links between race, vocational education provision, discipline, inequality and poverty, and social welfare and crime in educational discourse. His work explores both the empirical data level and the underpinning theoretical discourses of education, work and skills development – both in academic writing and for various consultancy projects.