Class struggle back on student agenda

Tying together a few political loose ends from now and various other points in recent history:

Amidst the decomposition of the old world, false consciousness -- which still reigns but no longer governs -- has the nerve to take to task a whole generation of young proletarians, who have re-launched the offensive against the society of the spectacle, for not being able to resolve all the questions at the origin of both their revolt and the crisis in which all the appointed powers are floundering. The real situation is very different: what the young proletarians are in fact being taken to task for is posing questions that power cannot resolve, for it is power itself that is being questioned.

-- Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Milan, March 1979
On Terrorism and the State

A recent article from the Independent:

The Independent
Students are revolting: The spirit of '68 is reawakening
Sunday, 8 February 2009

They are the iPod generation of students: politically apathetic, absorbed by selfish consumerism, dedicated to a few years of hedonism before they land a lucrative job in the City. Not any more. A seismic change is taking place in British universities.

Around the UK, thousands of students have occupied lecture theatres, offices and other buildings at more than 20 universities in sit-down protests. It seems that the spirit of 1968 has returned to the campus.

While it was the situation in Gaza that triggered this mass protest, the beginnings of political enthusiasm have already spread to other issues.

Oh yes. Below are some student occupation web sites triggered by the recent dramatic murderous increase in the plight of human beings in Palestine:

• ManUni Occupation - Solidarity with Gaza
• Cambridge Gaza Solidarity Campaign
• King's College Occupation in Solidarity with Gaza
• Leeds Uni Occupation
• LSE Solidarity with Gaza!
• Occupation Nottingham
• Oxford Occupation in Solidarity with Gaza!
• Queen Mary Occupation
• Sheffield Hallam Free Gaza Movement
• Strathclydeunioccupation’s Blog
• SUSSEX OCCUPATION
• The Warwick Solidarity Sit-In
• Plymouth occupation
• UAL occupation
• Cardiff University Occupation
• St Andrews occupation
• UEL occupation
• UWE occupation
• NY University occupation
• University of East Anglia (UEA) Occupation
• Goldsmiths Occupation
• Edinburgh Occupation
• Glasgow occupation
• Rochester NY occupation
• Dundee campaign
• Bradford occupation
• Free MAN MET! occupation
• SOAS occupation
• Essex occupation
• Birmingham occupation
• Plymouth occupation

Any others?

As the Independent article noted, political enthusiasm spreads to other issues, with the spirit of Mario Savio running through them:

http://www.anothereducationispossible.org.uk/

No wonder senior police officers are concerned about a "summer of rage" and less wonder still that such concerns were pre-empted by the Minstry of Defence, which wrote:

The Middle Class Proletariat

The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx. The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples’ attachment to particular states. The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite. Faced by these twin challenges, the world’s middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest.

Source: The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Progamme 2007-2036 [PDF]
Published by the Ministry of Defence

Viva la people's revolution!