AlwaysAnarchy
4th November 2006, 22:56
I have come across this interested article online and I immediately thought of the people here. Do we agree with it's contents or disagree??
" For new activists, it's less radical, more practical
In the 1960s, anti-war protests and student revolts rocked America's college campuses. Today, despite the chaos in Iraq, a different generation chooses restraint over radicalism, and peace over violence as it looks to make its imprint on the nation's social conscience
Saturday, November 04, 2006
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff
The country is at war, and college students are protesting in the streets, boycotting classes, staging teach-ins and burning flags.
The year is 1968.
Flash forward. The United States is three years into an unpopular war in Iraq, and the loudest stir on most New Jersey campuses last week was leaves rustling in the autumn breeze.
Why do colleges, a historic rallying point for anti-war activism, seem so quiet?
Some say it's apathy. Others pessimism. Many student activists say it's a different war, and different times call for a new breed of activism.
"I can't affect the policies in the Iraq war; I can only affect the policies in my community," said Zak Hershman, a Drew University senior who recently formed a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), an anti-Vietnam War group now popping up in reincarnated form at colleges across the country.
The two generations of activists are getting a chance to meet on Drew's Madison campus, where iconic 1960s anti-war activist and one-time FBI fugitive Mark Rudd will speak tonight, closing the two-day conference focusing on 1968.
Rudd, who grew up in Maplewood and later led the 1968 student revolt at Columbia University, said he hopes to help budding activists organize.
"Kids now are the products of a different historical moment, but that doesn't mean they don't care," Rudd said. "They may care, but they think, 'What can I do about it?'"
Whereas the '60s generation had the civil rights and labor movements as models of organization -- and a military draft that gave just about every American a personal stake in the Vietnam war -- today's students lack broad cultural issues to unify them, Rudd said.
That is why Drew history professor Jeremy Varon, who organized the conference, hopes Rudd can catalyze the university community to think more about political and moral issues.
Rudd also has a cautionary tale -- he spent seven years hiding before turning himself in for his role in the Weather Underground, which bombed buildings to protest war. Federal charges were dropped in 1973.
"Violence makes no sense," Rudd said last week from New Mexico, where he teaches math at a community college. "I learned that the hard way."
Rudd said today's students should look to his generation for inspiration even as they forge their own civic identity. They may not be marching by the millions against the war, he noted, but students are engaging in activism on a broad spectrum of issues.
Across the country, student groups have urged colleges to divest from companies doing business in Sudan; in New Jersey, several hundred college students rallied in Trenton in April to protest a proposed $169 million cut to higher education; in October, Columbia University students stormed a stage during a talk by a founder of a conservative anti-immigration group.
At Drew, members of the SDS chapter say activism begins locally. While they oppose the war in Iraq, a big priority is changing the corporate food vendor on campus.
"A lot of activists are finding other issues feeding the war, like globalism and corporate power," said Jenna Peters-Golden, 21, an SDS member and a senior at Drew. "We're targeting the diseases rather than the symptoms of the war."
Melanie Shapiro, a sophomore at Drew who co-founded Act Out! -- a group focused on universal human rights and social issues -- said she prefers to target specific policies, writing letters to lawmakers to oppose the military's ban on gays and lesbians, rather than the war.
"That won't get us anywhere," said Shapiro, 19, of Watchung.
Shapiro's group plans to help organize speakers for Transgender Week; an event to promote fair trade practices for coffee farmers; a Darfurfest to raise awareness about genocide in Sudan; a condom fashion show for World AIDS Week; and karaoke for Katrina victims.
"The most radical thing we'll be doing will be a sleep-in (pulling an all-nighter to protest police brutality)," Shapiro said. "There will be no getting arrested. We're all serious students ... we're thinking of going to grad school or law school, and that's not in our best interest."
For many activists today, '60s-style civil disobedience seems too radical, and impractical.
"Tactics like sit-ins and rallies and protests are good as spectacles, but they're not necessarily good about getting people to think carefully about these issues," said Sarah Malkani, a senior at Princeton University who is trying to revive the campus Princeton Peace Network.
"Holding discussions, movies, lectures, distributing pamphlets, these are ways to bring about change in a long-term way that's more effective," said the 21-year-old Pakistan native.
But when the group recently hosted a screening of "The Rush to War" documentary, with the filmmaker at the event, only 10 of the 175 attendees were students.
The Rev. Bob Moore, executive director of the Princeton Coalition for Peace Action, which drew 250 people to an anti-war protest at Princeton University in September 2001, said undergraduates are the most challenging group to motivate.
"I think they're saying, 'I don't want to spin my wheels and waste my time,'" Moore said. "They have their priorities ... and one of them is trying to make a better life for themselves. They want to make sure their career is successful and that means not rocking the boat."
Students today also have more distractions, like reality TV and the Internet, said Peter Stuart, a senior at Drew who runs the Robert Smith Political Science and Law Society.
"I wish people in my generation would concentrate on really living here," said Stuart, 21, of Washington D.C., "working on their own communities instead of living a virtual life. It seems that nobody really cares."
Members of Rutgers Against the War recently held a "die-in" on the New Brunswick campus, in which 10 students smeared in fake blood played dead. Last semester, some members were arrested after infiltrating an army recruitment meeting. The group's president, Ian Chinich, said legal fees were $400 and they couldn't find a pro-bono lawyer.
"It's really not worth getting arrested unless you get a lot of publicity, which is almost never." said Chinich, 21, of Hillsborough. "Honestly, nowadays just voting and getting other people to vote is a pretty revolutionary act in and of itself."
Ana Alaya covers higher education. She may be reached at [email protected]@starledger.com or (973) 392-4258.
" For new activists, it's less radical, more practical
In the 1960s, anti-war protests and student revolts rocked America's college campuses. Today, despite the chaos in Iraq, a different generation chooses restraint over radicalism, and peace over violence as it looks to make its imprint on the nation's social conscience
Saturday, November 04, 2006
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff
The country is at war, and college students are protesting in the streets, boycotting classes, staging teach-ins and burning flags.
The year is 1968.
Flash forward. The United States is three years into an unpopular war in Iraq, and the loudest stir on most New Jersey campuses last week was leaves rustling in the autumn breeze.
Why do colleges, a historic rallying point for anti-war activism, seem so quiet?
Some say it's apathy. Others pessimism. Many student activists say it's a different war, and different times call for a new breed of activism.
"I can't affect the policies in the Iraq war; I can only affect the policies in my community," said Zak Hershman, a Drew University senior who recently formed a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), an anti-Vietnam War group now popping up in reincarnated form at colleges across the country.
The two generations of activists are getting a chance to meet on Drew's Madison campus, where iconic 1960s anti-war activist and one-time FBI fugitive Mark Rudd will speak tonight, closing the two-day conference focusing on 1968.
Rudd, who grew up in Maplewood and later led the 1968 student revolt at Columbia University, said he hopes to help budding activists organize.
"Kids now are the products of a different historical moment, but that doesn't mean they don't care," Rudd said. "They may care, but they think, 'What can I do about it?'"
Whereas the '60s generation had the civil rights and labor movements as models of organization -- and a military draft that gave just about every American a personal stake in the Vietnam war -- today's students lack broad cultural issues to unify them, Rudd said.
That is why Drew history professor Jeremy Varon, who organized the conference, hopes Rudd can catalyze the university community to think more about political and moral issues.
Rudd also has a cautionary tale -- he spent seven years hiding before turning himself in for his role in the Weather Underground, which bombed buildings to protest war. Federal charges were dropped in 1973.
"Violence makes no sense," Rudd said last week from New Mexico, where he teaches math at a community college. "I learned that the hard way."
Rudd said today's students should look to his generation for inspiration even as they forge their own civic identity. They may not be marching by the millions against the war, he noted, but students are engaging in activism on a broad spectrum of issues.
Across the country, student groups have urged colleges to divest from companies doing business in Sudan; in New Jersey, several hundred college students rallied in Trenton in April to protest a proposed $169 million cut to higher education; in October, Columbia University students stormed a stage during a talk by a founder of a conservative anti-immigration group.
At Drew, members of the SDS chapter say activism begins locally. While they oppose the war in Iraq, a big priority is changing the corporate food vendor on campus.
"A lot of activists are finding other issues feeding the war, like globalism and corporate power," said Jenna Peters-Golden, 21, an SDS member and a senior at Drew. "We're targeting the diseases rather than the symptoms of the war."
Melanie Shapiro, a sophomore at Drew who co-founded Act Out! -- a group focused on universal human rights and social issues -- said she prefers to target specific policies, writing letters to lawmakers to oppose the military's ban on gays and lesbians, rather than the war.
"That won't get us anywhere," said Shapiro, 19, of Watchung.
Shapiro's group plans to help organize speakers for Transgender Week; an event to promote fair trade practices for coffee farmers; a Darfurfest to raise awareness about genocide in Sudan; a condom fashion show for World AIDS Week; and karaoke for Katrina victims.
"The most radical thing we'll be doing will be a sleep-in (pulling an all-nighter to protest police brutality)," Shapiro said. "There will be no getting arrested. We're all serious students ... we're thinking of going to grad school or law school, and that's not in our best interest."
For many activists today, '60s-style civil disobedience seems too radical, and impractical.
"Tactics like sit-ins and rallies and protests are good as spectacles, but they're not necessarily good about getting people to think carefully about these issues," said Sarah Malkani, a senior at Princeton University who is trying to revive the campus Princeton Peace Network.
"Holding discussions, movies, lectures, distributing pamphlets, these are ways to bring about change in a long-term way that's more effective," said the 21-year-old Pakistan native.
But when the group recently hosted a screening of "The Rush to War" documentary, with the filmmaker at the event, only 10 of the 175 attendees were students.
The Rev. Bob Moore, executive director of the Princeton Coalition for Peace Action, which drew 250 people to an anti-war protest at Princeton University in September 2001, said undergraduates are the most challenging group to motivate.
"I think they're saying, 'I don't want to spin my wheels and waste my time,'" Moore said. "They have their priorities ... and one of them is trying to make a better life for themselves. They want to make sure their career is successful and that means not rocking the boat."
Students today also have more distractions, like reality TV and the Internet, said Peter Stuart, a senior at Drew who runs the Robert Smith Political Science and Law Society.
"I wish people in my generation would concentrate on really living here," said Stuart, 21, of Washington D.C., "working on their own communities instead of living a virtual life. It seems that nobody really cares."
Members of Rutgers Against the War recently held a "die-in" on the New Brunswick campus, in which 10 students smeared in fake blood played dead. Last semester, some members were arrested after infiltrating an army recruitment meeting. The group's president, Ian Chinich, said legal fees were $400 and they couldn't find a pro-bono lawyer.
"It's really not worth getting arrested unless you get a lot of publicity, which is almost never." said Chinich, 21, of Hillsborough. "Honestly, nowadays just voting and getting other people to vote is a pretty revolutionary act in and of itself."
Ana Alaya covers higher education. She may be reached at [email protected]@starledger.com or (973) 392-4258.