Militant students at Warwick

[ardcarp]

Judging by today's news, it sounds as if students are becoming less complacent. I suspect my views are unusual in welcoming a return to the militancy of the 1960s! I do hope however. they spend their energies on protesting firstly about civil rights, secondly about disarmament, thirdly about global warming and lastly about outrageous tuition and accommodation fees.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Quite so. There's too much cow-towing going on.

[teamsaint]

Judging by today's news, it sounds as if students are becoming less complacent. I suspect my views are unusual in welcoming a return to the militancy of the 1960s! I do hope however. they spend their energies on protesting firstly about civil rights, secondly about disarmament, thirdly about global warming and lastly about outrageous tuition and accommodation fees.

I hope you aren't that unusual, Ards. From my personal experience, there is a LOT of unspoken discontent about.

your thoughts about priorities probably take many of us back to days of student politics.
Back then, I couldn't really see the point of the NUS campaigning on issues such as the problems in the middle east, when we could be , perhaps, more effective campaigning on issues a bit closer to home, such as the campaign to stop the introduction of loans, ( well THAT went well, didn't it) !! So I guess I was wrong .
But back then, there were Unions and a labour party to fight those big issues , and today...oh well we all know.

Anyway, I agree that civil rights needs a lot more priority in national life....eroded before our very eyes.

[jean]

...There's too much cow-towing going on.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qYa1pmpMDCc/RpmsyT6Y8-I/AAAAAAAAAM4/MUEhouhgh9g/s400/cow_leash.jpg

(Sorry couldn't resist)

[ardcarp]

:laugh: (shame no emotikons here)

[P. G. Tipps]

Judging by today's news, it sounds as if students are becoming less complacent. I suspect my views are unusual in welcoming a return to the militancy of the 1960s! I do hope however. they spend their energies on protesting firstly about civil rights, secondly about disarmament, thirdly about global warming and lastly about outrageous tuition and accommodation fees.

Heaven Forbid! I think the current generation of students (and youth in general) is much less naive and starry-eyed than we 'baby-boomers' ever were! Kids have it much tougher now in so many ways and therefore most of them probably tend to grow up rather quicker, imv.

I could never see the point of useless protest marches with participants mouthing silly slogans in unison and waving political flags and banners, many coloured red and black. Furthermore such actions are a direct assault on the civil liberties of others (most obviously car-drivers and pedestrians trying to cross the road) and very often end in violence and damage to public and private property.

If people feel strongly about something it would surely be much more adult and civilised (and possibly effective) to organise a petition to Parliament or something along those lines?

[ardcarp]

I couldn't disagree with you more. PG...though I'm not going to march about it. I think the average 18-year-old (and of course there are many exceptions) is far less concerned about political and social matters and much more focused on 'self'. I am afraid this is a legacy of the Thatcher era. As far as being 'adult' is concerned, young people remain dependent on Mum and Dad for far longer, leave home later, have children later and, if we're going to 'talk capitalist' have a far hazier idea of the value of money and where it comes from.

[P. G. Tipps]

I couldn't disagree with you more. PG...though I'm not going to march about it. I think the average 18-year-old (and of course there are many exceptions) is far less concerned about political and social matters and much more focused on 'self'. I am afraid this is a legacy of the Thatcher era. As far as being 'adult' is concerned, young people remain dependent on Mum and Dad for far longer, leave home later, have children later and, if we're going to 'talk capitalist' have a far hazier idea of the value of money and where it comes from.

Well, I'm delighted to report we are not in total disagreement, ardcarp!!

I agree that kids (and adults) are much more materialistic these days and this is not something to be celebrated.

Youth certainly was more idealistic in the 1960s. probably not surprising after two world wars occurring not that long before. There was an undoubted longing for peace which, unfortunately, was hi-jacked by 'flower-power' and all that sort of shallow, drug-induced stuff.

The 'anti-war' marches though were grotesquely one-sided, protesting about the West's 'aggression' but turning a blind eye to the brutal communist regimes to the East, and in some case actively supporting them.

I fear I've now gone even more off-topic than off-topic, so I'd better swiftly get off my soap-box!

[amateur51]

Heaven Forbid! I think the current generation of students (and youth in general) is much less naive and starry-eyed than we 'baby-boomers' ever were! Kids have it much tougher now in so many ways and therefore most of them probably tend to grow up rather quicker, imv.

I could never see the point of useless protest marches with participants mouthing silly slogans in unison and waving political flags and banners, many coloured red and black. Furthermore such actions are a direct assault on the civil liberties of others (most obviously car-drivers and pedestrians trying to cross the road) and very often end in violence and damage to public and private property.

If people feel strongly about something it would surely be much more adult and civilised (and possibly effective) to organise a petition to Parliament or something along those lines?

Who said satire was dead?

[Richard Barrett]

the civil liberties of others

Where do you think those civil liberties came from? Organising petitions to Parliament "or something along those lines"? Think again. Universal suffrage, free education and health care for all, the abolition of child labour and all kinds of other oppressive and dangerous working practices, to name only these, exist in British society directly or indirectly because of mass movements for whom social justice was more important than the law of the land. (Indeed the Labour Party itself grew out of such movements.) I'm surprised that civil disobedience on a large scale has not yet been the response to the present not-really-elected government and its austerity policies, but since these are set to go on whichever party is in power, maybe it's waiting a little way down the road.

[ardcarp]

Where do you think those civil liberties came from? Organising petitions to Parliament "or something along those lines"? Think again. Universal suffrage, free education and health care for all, the abolition of child labour and all kinds of other oppressive and dangerous working practices, to name only these, exist in British society directly or indirectly because of mass movements for whom social justice was more important than the law of the land. (Indeed the Labour Party itself grew out of such movements.) I'm surprised that civil disobedience on a large scale has not yet been the response to the present not-really-elected government and its austerity policies, but since these are set to go on whichever party is in power, maybe it's waiting a little way down the road.

Spot on.

[P. G. Tipps]

Where do you think those civil liberties came from? Organising petitions to Parliament "or something along those lines"? Think again. Universal suffrage, free education and health care for all, the abolition of child labour and all kinds of other oppressive and dangerous working practices, to name only these, exist in British society directly or indirectly because of mass movements for whom social justice was more important than the law of the land. (Indeed the Labour Party itself grew out of such movements.) I'm surprised that civil disobedience on a large scale has not yet been the response to the present not-really-elected government and its austerity policies, but since these are set to go on whichever party is in power, maybe it's waiting a little way down the road.

Well, that, of course, should work both ways ...

One's idea of 'social justice' may not be shared by another, so presumably you'd have no problem with Fascists disrupting the lives of ordinary citizens as well?

Marching down streets bawling and shouting because one doesn't get one's way is, at best, the behaviour of a child and, at worst, that of a thug and hooligan!

Surely we have progressed since the 19th Century and the dark, dark days of 1970's socialism ... ?

[MrGongGong]

If people feel strongly about something it would surely be much more adult and civilised (and possibly effective) to organise a petition to Parliament or something along those lines?

You are joking aren't you?
There's no point in doing that because no one will listen, take notice or do anything.
It's NOT effective at all.

The 'anti-war' marches though were grotesquely one-sided,

Indeed they were
They were full of people who thought that killing people was a bad idea

Do you really think that this implies support for others who kill people?

(I think that's on the list of fallacies I posted a while ago)

[Flosshilde]

Marching down streets bawling and shouting because one doesn't get one's way is, at best, the behaviour of a child and, at worst, that of a thug and hooligan!

It goes beyond satire - not even the Wail or Repress could come up with something like that.

[ardcarp]

since the 19th Century and the dark, dark days of 1970's socialism

...er, are the two somehow linked? Was everything in the 19th century bad? Likewise every aspect of '1970s socialism' whatever that may be?