Radicalisation in the air
International Viewpoint #256 May 1994
### STUDENT/YOUTH
ROUND -TABLE DISCUSSION
Paul is a member of the Dutch youth organisation, Rebel, and is active with
School students against racism. He is
17 years old.
Andrea is a leader of the Portuguese
Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR,
Portugese section of the Fourth International) and the president of the student union at the University of Porto.
She is 20 years old.
Cyril is a leader of the French youth organisation, Revolutionary Communist Youth (JCR-ES), and is 26 years old.
Pulika is a political science student and a member of the Italian Party of
Communist Refoundation (PRC). He is responsible for the Party's work in universitys and high schools. He is 21 years old
Thomas is a member of the Belgian youth organisation, Young Socialist
Guard (JSW) in the city of Ghent. He is involved in anti-racist and student activism. He is 23 years old.
Carole is a leader of the French youth organisation, Revolution-Equality-
Democracy (RED), and a member of the organisation of young feminists
Marie Pas Claire. She is active in the
"Act Against Unemployment" (AC)
campaign in Paris. She is 23 years
Raghu Krishnan spoke with them for
International Viewpoint in Amsterdam,
5 April 1994. 0 an you describe the struggles you've been involved in recently? Paul: The last student struggles in Holland took place in the spring of 1993. They were against cuts in Sate welfare benefits and in funding for the education system. This took the form of demonstrations and a big nation-wide student strike.
Andrea: At the beginning of this year, a student movement began in the high
### YOUTH schools in response to the legislation of testing that would prevent many youth who wanted to attend university from doing so. The movement shifted into the universities when the government implemented a massive hike in tuition fees. This struggle radicalised, leading to a number of large demonstrations, followed by strikes with the occupation of the offices where tuition fees are collected. During the demonstrations, the police attacked the youth with batons; this led people to organise not only against problems relating to education but also against police violence.
Cyril: In March 1994 there was a major youth struggle in France, linked to the creation of a contract which would allow employers to pay between 30% to 80% of the minimum wage for a year with no guarantee of a permanent job afterwards. There were more than 30 demonstrations of largely high school students, mobilising hundreds of thousands of youth, with strikes in high schools and certain universities. At one point, there were links made with workers, through joint demonstrations of trade unions and youth, or through trade union support for the youth mobilisations. The government refused to withdraw its legislation for a month, in the belief that a few changes would put a stop to the demonstrations. This went hand-in-hand with an increase in the repression of the movement - with, for example, the expulsion of two demonstrators not born in France. In the end, the mobilisations grew to a point where the government had to withdraw totally and abandon its legislation at the end of March.
Pulika: The last struggle in which I participated was that of university and high school students, which was rather small in terms of actual participation. It began in September 1993 in response to a decree increasing the number of students that could be in each class. This legislation also sought to cut the number of teaching and administrative personnel, beginning with certain precarious categories of teachers and student instructors. The movement literally exploded when the government brought forward a plan for reform — supported by the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS, ex-CP) - which established financial and pedagogical autonomy for schools, in other words privatisation and a highly uneven school system.
Thomas: In Belgium there were two university and high school student struggles recently. The first began at the end of October 1993 and continued throughout November. It was a struggle of nonuniversity post-secondary school students against the reforms of the Flemish Minister of Education aimed at fusing post-secondary institutions into groupings of 3,000 to 4,000 students. The movement demanded social assistance in the post-secondary system, called for the opening of cafeterias, and denounced the management of their colleges by people named by politicians. They called for greater student participation in the running of the colleges.
There were several big demonstrations, with the last one mobilising some 15,000 students. There were also some
For the second consecutive year there was a high school and student strike against racism and fascism and for equal rights, on 24 November, the anniversary of the electoral breakthrough of the Vlaams Blok in the 1992 municipal elections. Some 25,000 to 30,000 participated throughout both the French and Flemish speaking regions of the country.
• Some commentators have said that while these struggles are very radical the actual political level is very low. Is this a fair assessment in your view?
Carole: I think there is greater radicalisation in the struggles and in the forms of confrontation - including physical confrontation — with the government. I'm not convinced that there is a de-politicisation. For at the heart of these struggles is the question of employment, which allows for the building of strong links between the working class and youth, and for addressing broader social questions, and not just the specific problems of students. I think that even if there is a lower political level to begin with, the forms and motivations of these movements lead to easier and broader politicisation afterwards.
Andrea: I agree with Carole. There is both radicalisation and a growth in political consciousness. When the government
23
International Viewpoint #256 May 1994 tries to privatise the education system, youth ask themselves a whole series of questions linked to education, and further questions regarding society as a whole. The privatisation of education presents the same problems as the privatisation of the health system. People will be expected to pay more for nothing in return, while at the same time the police force and the army's budget grow.
Thomas: I think that youth are once again beginning to ask themselves questions concerning society as a whole, even though this radicalisation and these early signs of politicisation are fragile. The traditional parties, including social democracy, are totally discredited among youth, who also are very distrustful of trade unions, which are seen as relays for social democracy and the Christian Democrats. The absence of a credible left-wing political alternative is a tremendous obstacle for raising the political consciousness of
Pulika: I more or less agree that this radicalism can lead to a broader, more social consciousness as in France where there is a community of interests between students and young workers on the question of work and unemployment. But in Italy, there is a lot of confusion and a number of contradictions as far as political awareness is concerned. The essential thing is that the student movement came out clearly against privatisation - a sign of a greater political consciousness than in past years - since youth have understood that privatisation means an attack on the right to study.
I only wanted to add that while radicalism may be important, in Italy, for example, radicalism alone can very well lead to rightist political conclusions. This is what will happen if the left is unable to provide political answers.
In Italy, the "moral" crisis has produced a certain level of disgust among youth for everything related to politics and parties. This may explain why 55% of youth vote for right-wing parties. Radicalism, yes, but also a rejection of politics and parties, and this is a problem for us when we try to intervene in a movement which describes itself as "apolitical" and "non-parti-
Cyril: I think that youth, in France in any case, were determined to go all the way against the government. They were persuaded that the government was carrying out a global policy against the gains of workers and youth. This is politicisation, but there are a number of weak24 nesses. We saw that there was tremendous difficulty setting up structures of self-organisation, a result of the fact that these youth have very little in the way of political traditions — and this is a danger. The last major student movement took place some six or seven years ago, and this is not the same generation. The student unions have been greatly weakened and there is no significant organisation for high school students. Youth rise up spontaneously, without for all that joining "traditional" organisations such as our own.
Paul: When we had our student strike, 187,000 youth participated. Most of them didn't have any political consciousness, and when youth are interviewed you see that they are very apolitical. They have a general awareness about questions like ecology and racism. But 20% of youth in Holland are actually racist. There's not a real politicisation and I don't even think there's much social consciousness either. The government plans cuts, and youth are against this, but they don't draw any further conclusions. They think that what we have to say about capitalism and so on is too radical, "communist" and so forth.
• What links have been established with other social movements and what are the impli-
Thomas: In Belgium, we saw some rather impressive developments. The 24 November anti-racist and anti-fascist student strike coincided with working class strikes in a number of cities. In some demonstrations, youth and trade union contingents marched together against the government austerity plan. This makes it possible for us to talk with high school students about working class struggles and demands, and the anti-government fight. During the high school strike against racism, once again we saw a massive participation - especially in Antwerp and Liege — of young Turkish and Moroccan immigrants, even though they are not very involved in the organising committees.
Andrea: Students and trade unions came together at the last demonstration in Lisbon. We also had an experience of common struggle with teachers - beyond the question of tuition fees, there is also that of job loss for instructors, especially in
Paul: The movement against the cuts died out, and we are far too small an organisation to keep the momentum going. We have always had a very strong peace movement in Holland, but it too has died out, and there's no longer an example for new people entering into struggle.
Carole: It is important that the recent demonstrations in France led — largely as a result of the government's error, legislating against both youth and workers at the same time — to trade union unity, for the first time in at least 30 years. This can provide perspectives for a social movement. It is important that it was youth that precipitated this unity, and this may well lead to generally overcoming trade union and political divisions.
Cyril: We can see how the contradicbecoming explosive. The employers want the government to pursue the austerity agenda but the social and political situation prevents it from doing so. The big victory in March is an example for other social sectors, who have been waiting for signs that it is possible to defeat the government in spite of its comfortable majority in the National Assembly. Youth have also demonstrated that the question of unemployment will play a decisive role in the coming years. *
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