And for a Friday as student agitations in US are flaring up, some thoughts….. some musings…..
Some of the world’s best known Excellence Centres in Columbia, NYU, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Brown, UT Austin, Emory, USC and many others are currently in news, not for what we normally know them for. Highest standards in Research, Education and building the Global leaders of tomorrow, these Universities are now struggling with student protests and look more like theatres of war with two camps; those pitching for the Palestinians and against all American support to Israel and those who are fully loyal to Israel’s unequivocal stand against the Hamas as the Terrorist group. The larger question; what are the limits to right to protest by students. Democracies can survive only if individual freedom to express and dissent is allowed. But then, what are the limits in Campuses on issues of Global geopolitical implications?
In India, student unions, protests, morchas, dharnas, gheraos, fasts and occasional violence are a daily affair for one reason or the other in some part of the country. The fundamental right to dissent is accepted by all citizens. There have been major protests like the “Anti-Hindi imposition” in Tamil Nadu which finally sealed the three language formula in the country. Or the student immolations and reservation uprising which led to the Mondal commission bringing in major reservations in all sectors. In India, law enforcers are not allowed to enter student campus unless requested by the University management with many checks and balances. Women and girls cannot be arrested or stopped by men police. Only women police have the right to do so. India as a democracy has matured a lot in its ability to handle students unrest. Hence the struggles at the US campuses begs the question; are democracies capable of handling future AI and social media instigated violence and student troubles for “external” causes?
Youth in general must be bold to stand up for what they feel is right, fair and for protection of human causes. Let us all support this right, the principled way, the constitutional way, the SEEGOS way.