Does Political Education and Activism have a place today at Universities and Colleges? An Address to the NASDEV Winter School By Luthando Jack 03 May 2014 - East London International Convention Centre The President of NASDEV Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you very much for inviting me to address you on this important occasion the Winter School of NASDEV. Your winter school takes place exactly six days after we had celebrated 20 years of freedom and the 1994 democratic breakthrough. We have characterised 1994 as a breakthrough but not the end of the liberation process. This was because we understood that the ushering in of democracy did not mean that through the franchise we had instantly wiped out the evil of apartheid. We saw 1994 as just an entry point to a new struggle for social transformation under new conditions. We saw it as opening up a new democratic space to forge ahead with the struggle for fundamental social transformation. What then do 20 years of democracy mean to us as a people, as a country and as students and staff in institutions of learning? It is my sincere hope that you the generation that history accidentally located at these institutions of knowledge at this historic moment in our country, have had an opportunity to make your own reflections on this question. I am sure you have been able to respond to the question: how far have we come in building a truly democratic society? What are the victories? What are the setbacks? What needs to be done to overcome the shortcomings? The foundations of the last twenty years can only be built upon if there is honest collective reflection on the progress we have made towards building a transformative society and indeed in your immediate context, a truly people centred and people driven education system. 1
Is there a place for political education and activism in universities and colleges? The answer is a resounding YES. Now that we have that, the pressing question becomes the of political student activism have in contemporary societies undergoing change. And subsequently, what becomes of institutions of higher learning where such activism occurs? The importance of student activism in institutions of higher learning What is activism? What is this phenomenon that is called activism? Whilst there are many definitions of activism, we shall only concern ourselves with social activism. Social activism is born out of a need to bring about social change in society. Social activists are thus commonly referred to as change agents. The central doctrine of social activism is the fulfilment of a historic mission i.e. a recognition that our present conditions are influenced by our past and that the present actions will determine and inform our passage to the future. Activists therefore have a clear understanding and appreciation of the interconnectedness between the past, present and future. They take this into account when envisioning the type of society they collectively seek to create. Activists and social activism are also driven by a great concern for the people, a great love for the people. Activists must be rooted amongst the people and understand the mechanics of society and the processes of social change. It is important to understand that activism does not happen automatically. It requires a consistent and persistent process of conscientisation. Paulo Freire elucidates this point when he says that a change in understanding, which is of basic importance, does not itself, however, mean a change in the concrete. Mohamed Imran and Mohamed Taib (2006) posit that activism can be built and sustained through: A constant effort to raise social consciousness in society; Building the will to think - the willingness to identify and define problems in society; the willingness to define these problems; the courage and ability to offer possible solutions; 2
Moral courage to articulate the concerns of the people. Articulating the concerns of the people requires deep thinking and reflection. It is about subjecting your thoughts to constant scrutiny. Finally activism requires a collective vision that is embedded amongst the people and has a deep concern for human existence. The above disposition in the kind of situation we face illuminate what Che Guevara (1965) characterised as an imperative he felt it necessary to have as a large dose of humanity, a large dose of a sense of justice and truth in order to avoid dogmatic extremes, cold scholasticism, or isolation from the masses. He argued that we must strive every day so that this love of living humanity is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force. He reinforces this statement in 1966 by characterising true activists and revolutionaries as people who must be imbued and guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of the leader that he or she must combine a passionate spirit with a cold intelligence and make painful decisions without flinching. Our vanguard revolutionaries must idealize this love of the people, of the most sacred causes, and make it one and indivisible. A brief historical account In his book titled Student Power in Africa's Higher Education: A Case of Makerere University (2006), Frederick Byaruhanga provides one of the most critical narratives on student activism. Using historical analysis, Byaruhanga examines the role of student activism in shaping Uganda's higher education. He focuses on critical incidents of student protest, using the eyewitness accounts of past and present student leaders. To put the study in context, the author provides a brief history of Uganda from pre-colonial times to the present, an overview of education in Uganda, and a consideration of certain theoretical debates on student activism in higher education. It is with the tools of analysis that he employs that we ought to develop our own analysis and critiques of student activism in South Africa. Throughout history, education has been a site of struggle. The history of South Africa s liberation struggle cannot be written or told without emphasising on the role played by student activists, both black and white, who formulated a liberating pedagogy both for the oppressor and the oppressed. The impact made by students went beyond merely challenging the academic curricula that sought to entrench segregation. Their contribution can be understood as actually bringing the apartheid regime, and indeed the system of capitalism under which it functioned, to its very knees. It is in the context of our student struggles that the notion of people s education for people s power was born in the 80 s. Premised on the rejection of the then apartheid education system which was education for domination, people s education sought to: 3
Create interconnectedness between education transformation struggles and the broader struggles for people s power and freedom. The struggle for an alternative education system was inextricably linked to a struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and united society. Ensure the centrality of the people, their organisations and the broader society, in taking control of their education and lives. This meant the formation of alliances of broader formations in pursuit of these ideals. Entrench the fundamental purpose of people s education as a system to advance the aspirations and needs of the masses of the people. In other words it had to directly respond to the people s needs and desires. It is for this reason that some of us called for a people -centred and people-driven education system. Develop an education system that instilled democratic values, and encouraged active participation, co-operation and people s empowerment. In summary, the call was for an alternative education system that prepares people for total human liberation; one which helps people to be creative; to develop a critical mind, to help people to analyse; one that prepares people for full participation in all social, political and cultural spheres of society. The historic role of student activism One of the most critical moments in the development of our struggle was the student uprising of 1976 that began in the township of Soweto and would eventually spread to other towns on the Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Protests that began as resistance to the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, soon developed into the largest outbreak of violence South Africa had experienced. Coloured and Indian students joined their black comrades. And unlike the riots of 1952 and the Sharpeville riots of 1961, the police were unable to quell the rioters, even with force. Students showed reckless disregard for their own safety to vent their frustration. As soon as the upheavals were suppressed in one area, they flared up elsewhere. And so it continued for the rest of 1976. But the significance of the June 16 uprising is that it led to the most sustained period of resistance to apartheid since the period before the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania after the Sharpeville and Langa Massacres. The new series of struggles ultimately toppled the apartheid regime in the early 1990s. The significance of and the need for student activism in apartheid South Africa cannot be denied. The draconian apartheid laws, even those relating to property relations, had direct consequences for students. For example, because of the government's homelands policy, no new high schools were built in Soweto between 1962 and 1971. Students were instead meant to move to their relevant homeland to attend the newly built schools there. 4
There is however, an ongoing debate about the significance of student activism in the post- 1994 dispensation. Some argue that the absence of a race-based two-tier education system as applied during the apartheid era makes for a student environment with no real struggles. But such a simplistic argument demands critical analysis. The present government as led by the ruling party came to power with a strong transformationalist agenda. The government however inherited a system in crisis. Apartheid education was characterised by glaring racial, gender and class disparities which impacted negatively on access, resourcing and educational outcomes. A key aspect of the new government s transformation agenda was the dismantling of this apartheid legacy in education. But, while efforts have been made through the reform of legislation to address these challenges, not enough transformation has translated into practical progress. The South African system of education is still based on apartheid patterns of combined and uneven development. The countryside is still characterised by severely under-resourced institutions as compared to the metropolitan ones that served and continue to serve, in the main, the interests of the white community. It therefore follows logic that only the Black child is still failing to access sufficient resources to attain the highest qualifications. in her Budget Speech in Parliament on 19 May 2006, the former national Minister of Education, Ms GNM Pandor, articulated this most aptly: We must acknowledge that up to this point we have not yet dealt a blow of death to all the legacies of apartheid education. We do intend to deal decisively with the problem of thousands of poorly performing schools. These schools are located in the poorest sections of our society and sadly their inadequacies perpetuate the legacy of disadvantage There is no doubt that, our country has an education system that is still fractured on the basis of class, race and patriarchal social relations. Above all this, education in South Africa is still a commodity that must be procured as with all other commodities in the capitalist market. The so-called invisible hand of the market regulates its price. And in addition this happens within a neoliberal framework. What all this tells us is that much like the apartheid era, education in post-apartheid South Africa continues to be a site of struggle. This is particularly true for the black working class child who continues to be on the receiving end of the structural inequalities that define the country s socio-economic realities. It remains a responsibility of students as the primary stakeholders, to champion the creation of an education system that responds to the broader programme of addressing national oppression, class exploitation and gender subordination. The curriculum question is related to the question of research. The relationship between the two is often seen to be central to the inner workings of higher education institutions. Of 5
central interest, therefore, are questions of what gets taught and researched. The role of universities in labelling particular aspects of knowledge as valuable enough to be investigated, passed on to others, and preserved for future generations may determine the ultimate impact of universities. To what extent are decisions on what to teach, how to teach it and who to teach congruent or in contrast to the ideals and tenets of people s education as articulated above? If the process of knowledge generation is primarily informed by notions of research for its own sake and for the love of it in a country engulfed by poverty, unemployment, inequality and the ills they cause, then certainly there is a place for student activism in our institutions of learning. The role of institutions of higher learning In recent years, governments around the world, including South Africa, have come to regard a substantial or growing higher education system as essential for economic development. Where once it was an industry-based economy, South Africa has, like most developing nations, is steadily becoming a knowledge-based economy. Although universities role is the formation of national and cultural identity, enhanced individual opportunity, and democratic commitment, are regarded as important by political leaders, it is the economic pay-off that increasingly counts. There is widespread acceptance that a nation s human capital, and the new ideas and innovations generated by that human capital, are the major drivers of economic growth. The four major functions of universities posited by Manuel Castells (2001) as applicable to all societies, provide a suitable starting point for the analysis that follows. First, Castells notes that universities have historically played a major role as ideological apparatuses, expressing the ideological struggles present in all societies. Second, they have always been mechanisms of selection and socialisation of dominant elites. Third, the generation of knowledge, often seen as their most important function, is actually - according to Castells a relatively minor one, with functions of scientific research often assumed by specialised national institutes (in Europe and many developing countries) or within in-house laboratories of private firms (for example, Japan). Fourth, the most traditional - and today the most frequently emphasised function of universities is the training of a skilled labour force. Castells suggests that universities are also subject to more implicit pressures from the host society, and that this combination - of implicit and explicit pressures and of local and universal functions - generates contradictions in their roles. The distinctive character of each higher education system lies in how these contradictions are managed. Social transformation lies at the radical end of conceptions of social change. It implies at very least some fundamental changes in society s core institutions, the polity and the economy, with major implications for relationships between social groups or classes, and for 6
the means of the creation and distribution of wealth, power and status. Universities have frequently been regarded as key institutions in processes of social change and development. The most explicit role they have been allocated is the production of highly skilled labour and research output to meet perceived economic needs. But to this role may be added, especially during periods of more radical change, the building of new institutions of civil society, the encouraging and facilitating of new cultural values, and the training and socialising of members of new social elites. In the South African context in a post-democratic dispensation, the role of institutions of learning should be to bring about: a society of knowledge workers to drive the economy and sustain knowledge-based national productivity and competitiveness; progress in economic activity from use of raw materials to knowledge products through research and innovation; knowledge based social transformation characterised by high levels of social intelligence; development of economic value chains and creation of local livelihoods. It is my argument that in a knowledge driven society, an African university of the 21st century must be adequately resourced to address the above role areas can only be delivered by a generation of academics, administrators, students and broader society that understands the bigger task of education as the training of capable, dynamic cadres. These must be able to combine their social and technical skills to galvanise a social, political and economic order that brings about social justice whilst ensuring that the country occupies its place amongst nations. We therefore need an education system that promotes transformative values of people s education whilst at the same time being concerned with the production of a human resource for the country s competitiveness. In the words of Harold Wolpe, education and training policies, which are coupled with the ingredients of people's education, must, therefore, be formulated together with the construction of a new institutional and organisational order. In this sense, the possibility of education and training serving as instruments of social transformation requires that they are inserted as part of an overall development strategy and not considered in isolation. A case for student activism after 20 years of Freedom? The previous generations of student activists probably had the easiest mission with respect to the above tasks. The cause for their activism was easy to define and rally behind. I would want to argue that for the present generation it has not been easy to define a new historic 7
mission. While the country is now 20 years into freedom, this does not necessarily mean that there is no on-going mission to pursue. Frantz Fanon (1961) was instructive regarding generational missions when he made his historic statement that each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it. This means that history will always bestow historic tasks to each new generation. This is why Marx remarked that man makes history but not under the conditions of his own choosing. Apart from the obvious secondary tasks that the current generation of student leaders pursue on a daily basis, I would like to pose the following challenges to the present generation in our institutions of learning: 1. Do not lose sight of the objectives of your primary existence in institutions of learning which is learning. Engage in continuous learning, learn from life, learn from our people, learn from books, and learn from the experiences of others. Never stop learning. 2. Act as champions of the production and reproduction of knowledge that leads to social progress. We need knowledge that positions the country strategically in the everchanging knowledge society and knowledge driven economy. 3. Advocate for a curriculum that promotes diversity of thought and pluralism in society whilst being bound by a collective agenda and vision. We need plurality of ideas. Our education system must produce a new breed of intellectuals whose pre-occupation will be the production of counter-hegemonic ideas to the dominant that serve as the bedrock of the present system of higher education. We need alternative paradigms and new development trajectories if we are to build an egalitarian society. 4. Advocate for the quality of access and success to institutions of learning. Your forebears fought for access. Yours is to fight for the quality of access and success. Quality is not only about resources in these institutions, it is also about the fitness of purpose of what is thought, how it is thought and its responsiveness to the development imperatives of the society we seek to build. 5. Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone's head. They are fighting to win material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children, Amilcar Cabral (1965). Always make sure that your activism is directly linked to the pressing issues confronting students and society. 6. Always strive to build unity amongst yourselves as the leadership and amongst the student masses you lead. Unity can only be built if there is a common objective to be pursued. Such an objective should be the product of robust engagement amongst yourselves a product of a democratic process. Your unity must be unity in action in a practical way. 8
In conclusion Activism is a continuous process of fighting for and influencing social change. It takes place in conditions that are determined by various forces. Given this objective and subjective reality, certainly [your] policy [and actions] could only endeavour to achieve what [is] possible under given circumstances Rosa Luxemburg 1898. Necessarily, as we celebrate twenty years of freedom as activists we should recognise as a matter of conscience that there have been many faults and errors in our action an important number of things we should have done we have not done at the right times, or not done at all. Amilcar Cabral (1965). Perforce the best analogy to characterise the last twenty years is that made by Rev Finca, which we are finding ourselves at a time between times. We are in lands between lands. We are neither where we were before 1994, nor have we arrived at the Promised Land which is the eradication of poverty, unemployment and inequality. To put it simply we have not yet achieved fundamental social transformation. In the course of pursuing the intractable and stubborn challenges facing us as students, and society at large, it is also instructive to always bear in mind the wise words of one of our greatest African organic intellectuals, Amilcar Cabral. In his party directive in 1965, Cabral had this to say to the Cape Verde/Guinea Bissau party leadership: Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories. As a community of student leaders and student development practitioners, I encourage you to pursue your collective endeavor and aspirations with foresight, vigour, resilience and bravery, knowing very well that as a people, we are bound by a common history and destiny. The difficulties and setbacks of today should not make us lose sight of the bigger agenda and vision. We must not allow things to fall apart because the centre cannot hold. You must not allow the words of the poet W.B. Yeats to find traction in your space. 9
We must never be able to say of your generation: Things Fall Apart; Turning and turning in the widening gyre; The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. I sincerely hope that as the present generation of student leaders, you will, out of relative obscurity, discover your own mission and fulfil it. I wish you a productive and historic Winter School! 10