by thecollective May 20, 2024
The Kent State shootings (also known as the Kent State massacre or May 4 massacre) were the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus. The shootings took place on May 4, 1970, during a rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus and the draft.

Last month, we asked you to discuss Anarchist Participation in the Free Gaza Protests. A lot of you had a lot of things to say about it!

Something that has received a ton of attention in the past and doesn't seem to be receiving as much now are critiques of the Student as a subject, as a role, as a prescribed way of existing in society with noteworthy capacities and limits to make total destroy, or anarchy, or social change. Sometimes the liminality of student life is emphasized. Sometimes the campus is explored as a testing-ground for radical ways of living differently. Sometimes the institutions that structure education and the experiences of students are examined. Sometimes the teacher-student relationship itself is investigated for possibilities.

One example is the 1966 Situationist text, On the Poverty of Student Life, but there have been many others since written around times of massive student uprisings and occupations.

Some examples of anarchic alternatives to the "student" role that have been proposed: apprenticeship-mentorship relations, informal guidance and advice, DIY-ness, autodidactism, etc.

What are your thoughts about all this?

  • Are students in a special situation that enables them to accomplish things that are otherwise difficult for non-students? Does it matter where they are students?
  • To what extent does the reproduction of capitalism and the State depend on these systems of education and the roles they establish? Can they be challenged or changed from within? What does history tell us?
  • What do you think about the way that students are thought about by other sections of society?
  • How has the category of "student" changed over time?
  • How has the administration of students changed over time?

LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION HERE

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anon (not verified) Mon, 05/20/2024 - 18:01

Are students in a special situation that enables them to accomplish things that are otherwise difficult for non-students?

Yes, they have access to the campus facilities non-students don't have. Therefore they can access the computers, printers, laboratories, dorms, and classrooms. They can temporary shut down or significantly disrupt the campus operations, vandalize it, and/or occupy it. What is that good for is another question.

Does it matter where they are students?

Yes, some countries are more quick to resort to overwhelming force, not limited to police, national guard, and the army, including use of paramilitaries, mercenaries, thugs, and gangs.

To what extent does the reproduction of capitalism and the State depend on these systems of education and the roles they establish?

To the extent that it is a very profitable business and makes people work within capitalism for a living in an assortment of jobs and careers. To the extent that the knowledge is instrumental for statecraft, the military industrial complex, and the economy in many ways.

Can they be challenged or changed from within? What does history tell us?

No. Even things that resemble the academia from the outside are just stale recycled inoculated recuperated material. Can prisons be challenged or changed from the inside? Yes, but what anarchists want is there to be no prisons, not for there to be better prisons, although those concerned for those inside will strive for better conditions, and not worse. There is no such consensus on academia in terms of its abolition. Anarchism has become academicized in recent years. A lot of anarchists are teachers and professors and de-schooling is often just a new curriculum and pedagogy. Anti-University seminars and conferences that are still very academic. Summer camps that are very school-like.

What do you think about the way that students are thought about by other sections of society?

It doesn't matter. But to answer anyways: Students are seen as innocent, infantilized and treated with paternalism. They are seen as the future and they are the continuity of the status quo. Future managers, technocrats and bureaucrats. Docile bodies in productive and reproductive age, the Malthusian couple, future household units of consumers. When they refuse those roles, they are seen as lazy ungrateful privileged and entitled immature adults who are spoiled by how easy they have it and are troublemakers that should be put in their place.

How has the category of "student" changed over time?

Now a lot of people have post-docs.

How has the administration of students changed over time?

Not much. Why is this last question relevant to anarchists?

anon (not verified) Tue, 05/21/2024 - 04:38

"The University, too, must be destroyed. Identifying antagonists in a world of genocide" is now available in 3 languages.
https://seditionist.uk/distro/readables/zine/the-universitytoo-must-be-…

« L’Université aussi doit être détruite. Identifier les antagonistes dans un monde génocidaire »
https://lacharlatanerie.wordpress.com/luniversite-aussi-doit-etre-detru…

"L’università, anche, va distrutta. Indentificare chi sono i nemici in un mondo di genocidi."
https://ilrovescio.info/2024/05/20/luniversita-anche-va-distrutta/

lumpy (not verified) Tue, 05/21/2024 - 10:42

i'm a pretty casual historian about it but that piece of greek history where the crimes of the junta led to normalizing no police allowed on campus? classic example of a real tangible power of the student.

or put another way, once you could reliably predict exactly where the police had to break off pursuit, the power of the students increased. i'm told this lasted for decades, up until quite recently

anon (not verified) Tue, 05/21/2024 - 10:52

yes, this has also happened in other gated campuses around the world where it’s easier to “lock it in” but in some cases they removed the gates and then welcomed cops back in

anon (not verified) Thu, 05/23/2024 - 11:57

The people on this forum who, when it came to Russia invading Ukarine said "we shouldn't side with anyone", have been very quiet recently... I wonder why.

anon (not verified) Fri, 05/24/2024 - 20:10

What is this even supposed to mean? Please try fleshing out your ghastly analogy some more so we can tear it apart properly. We haven’t gone anywhere, it’s just that there are less new articles here about Ukraine, and I guess you’re welcome to go try and ask the famous Ukrainian anarchists why that is.

triviabot (not verified) Mon, 05/27/2024 - 22:00

yeah i've been part of the local protests here and some things the students do inspire me while others make me roll my eyes or shake my head. i should try to do a little reportback or something. from what i can tell though the students are just making the same mistakes earlier generations made, for the most part, which may less about them and more about the nature of the universe.

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