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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Books are Weapons - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Books are Weapons 

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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by Alan Sears﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, December 1997 - January 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿</center>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Helen Hudson, Tom Keefer, Lana Rabkin, Andrew Thompson (editors) ﻿<i﻿>﻿When Campus Resists: The Politics of Space, Power, and the Culture of Resistance in the Guelph Occupation﻿</i>﻿ (Occupation Press, 1997, $10.00). ﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


The last few years have seen an important wave of student activism in Ontario focusing on tuition increases linked to cutbacks on campus. The high points of the struggle were the pan-Canadian days of action called by the Canadian Federation of Students on January 25, 1995 and February 7, 1996 when tens of thousands of students mobilized, shut down campuses, and held marches. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

However, the 1996-1997 school year did not see mobilizations of that scale. Instead, students at a number of campuses, such as Guelph which is discussed in this book, occupied key administrative sites (particularly Presidents' offices) to protest against tuition hikes and cutbacks. At Guelph, students occupied the President's office, sat-in at the University Centre, and shut down a meeting of the Board of Governors between February-March 1997. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

This book documents and analyzes those struggles, as well as providing a "how-to" guide for others planning occupations. It opens discussion on a broader assessment of this wave of student mobilization and student activist politics. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The University of Guelph administration responded to these measures by bringing charges against 37 individuals. This is an outrageous attack on students' right to protest on campus. The Guelph administration is trying to set a precedent in stifling dissent, as Ontario University administrations have not generally tried to punish protesters since the early 1970s. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿When Campus Resists﻿</i>﻿ is also a focus for the defense campaign for the students charged, raising money and awareness. It is important both as an analysis of struggles and a tool in an ongoing campaign. This book gives the real flavour of an occupation, from great images of the University President yelling through his office door to reflections on stir-craziness. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

I highly recommend this book; I also strongly disagree with two of its central arguments about the significance of occupations and the meaning of student power. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It is a central claim of this book that the occupations of February-March 1997 marked a step beyond the protests of 1995 and 1996. "This move towards occupations, a political response to the perceived ineffectiveness of previous protests, thus marks an increase in the intensity of student resistance..."(p.8). Occupations are cast as a more "radical" alternative, taking it to the administration and disrupting their rule (pp.7-9,93-94). 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

There is, however, another reading of the occupation wave. In February-March 1997 the gap between the more militant student activists, and many others on campus who hated tuition hikes and cuts was much wider than in January 1995 or February 1996. The more isolated activists were actually more radical than the previous year, while others were more conservative in that they did not feel it was possible to fight and win. The occupations were mounted by the radicals who had no confidence that it was possible to mobilize greater numbers of students. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

I don't think we should be claiming that one tactic is inherently more radical than the other. An occupation can be a useful tool to draw more students into activism if it becomes the hub of a range of protests. But, university administrations can work around occupations (or bust them up by using cops) just as they can wait out a day of protest. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The goal of campus activism must be to mobilize the greatest number of students and other members of the campus community into effective actions that challenge university administrations and the provincial government. Numbers matter because people change through protest and begin to see their own activism as important. At the University of Windsor, where I am active, students on January 25, 1996 and February 7, 1996 invented chants and made up signs about issues ranging from a future of shitty employment in Mcjobs to underfunding for the fine arts departments. They thought about the world and their own activity in new ways. And then, sadly, it ended. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

We need to figure out why these protests ended so suddenly with such a limited residue of radicalization. I think that students are really pissed off at tuition hikes, overcrowding, debt, and poverty. They know that the job market upon graduation sucks. This can lead to radicalization, but it can also lead to narrow horizons and a competitive attitude (I'm going to be the one who gets the job). Also, in a time where protest seems to be going so much against the tide, it is easy for people to get resigned and think that cutbacks, tuition hikes, and the corporate agenda are inevitable. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Moreover, this book suggests that the central dynamic in student protest should be to expose and challenge the power relations in education (see pp.10, 185-87). The goal, then, is student power and a system of education for freedom. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The problem is that the power relations in education are not simply produced on campus. The major goal of the capitalist education system is training for relations in the workplace and society. Potential workers are trained in habits such as showing up on time and acceptance of authority. Women and men learn gender roles, while people from various backgrounds are assimilated as "Canadians" or marginalized. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

We are currently seeing a real shift in capitalist education priorities, rightly associated in this book with the neo-liberal corporate agenda. Quite simply, employers believe that the schools, colleges, and universities are pumping out too many graduates with high expectations who don't take well to the low-wage, part-time, or temporary jobs that are out there for younger people. From the bosses' perspective, there is an oversupply of educated labour. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Therefore, they want a more streamed education system that directs more people bluntly towards dead-end jobs with bad pay and little or no security, a system of user pay so that education becomes a commodity on the market available only to those who can afford it, and they want a "back to basics" curriculum that puts discipline more frankly at the centre. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

At some level, students know this. Their concerns are often about the relations between university and the rest of their lives (jobs, debt, etc.). The challenge for the student movement is to transform this knowledge into an activist movement that builds solidarity with workers and others fighting the corporate agenda. The aim should be a student-worker alliance rather than simply student power. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The student-worker alliance can start on campus. University workers are facing speed- ups, layoffs, and contracting out as part of the neo-liberal management agenda for the "lean" university in the age of lean production. In 1997, we have seen strikes by York University faculty, and CUPE 1001 (groundskeepers, cafeteria workers, and housekeepers) at the University of Windsor. It was a real challenge to build solidarity in the﻿se strikes, especially when some students were actively hostile, but real student power depends on this. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

I hope the discussion opened up by this book will continue in these pages and elsewhere. The current struggles in education, mounted by students, teachers, and education workers are crucial in contesting the neo-liberal agenda. We need to learn from our activism as we engage. This book is an important contribution to that learning. 

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