BRANDEIS MEETS WORLD: Students should think globally, protest locally
by Naomi Spector
Staff writer
Columnists | 12/9/08
Posted online at 12:46 AM EST on 12/9/08
Why would anyone sacrifice a weekend (not to mention transportation fare and time spent organizing the expedition) to stand in the middle of a crowd for hours holding a sign, all for the sake of protesting a law that was passed in a state thousands of miles away that does not in any tangible way affect his daily life?
It may seem odd, but this is what quite a few Brandeis students did several weeks ago to protest the passage of California Proposition 8, a ballot proposition that altered the California state constitution to redefine marriage as between a man and a woman only. The majority of the Brandeis campus, of course, was probably not even aware that an anti-Prop 8 rally was taking place in Boston that weekend. Even among those who were aware of it and who support gay marriage, many did not make the effort to attend.
Why is political protest so unusual, and why are we not surprised that only a small percentage of Brandeis' most political students partake in it? Surely this has not always been the case. In the 1960s-America's golden age for protest politics-millions of students rallied, lobbied, organized and marched. They went bussing to protest racial segregation, wrote articles and manifestos and gave speeches.
It's hugely unfair and inaccurate to assume that our generation is by and large apolitical and indifferent. The deep involvement of the youth in Barack Obama's campaign is the most recent and immediate proof that young people are still politically active; we organized, went door-to-door, volunteered and, most importantly, turned out to vote in exceptionally high numbers. As Obama acknowledged in his victory speech, "[My campaign] grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep."
We have proven that we care deeply about civil and political issues. It is time to show the world that we can be involved in the political process, not just by supporting a political campaign, but by exercising our right to protest and rally, which is important for the health of our democracy and even for our health as individuals.
It may seem odd, but this is what quite a few Brandeis students did several weeks ago to protest the passage of California Proposition 8, a ballot proposition that altered the California state constitution to redefine marriage as between a man and a woman only. The majority of the Brandeis campus, of course, was probably not even aware that an anti-Prop 8 rally was taking place in Boston that weekend. Even among those who were aware of it and who support gay marriage, many did not make the effort to attend.
Why is political protest so unusual, and why are we not surprised that only a small percentage of Brandeis' most political students partake in it? Surely this has not always been the case. In the 1960s-America's golden age for protest politics-millions of students rallied, lobbied, organized and marched. They went bussing to protest racial segregation, wrote articles and manifestos and gave speeches.
It's hugely unfair and inaccurate to assume that our generation is by and large apolitical and indifferent. The deep involvement of the youth in Barack Obama's campaign is the most recent and immediate proof that young people are still politically active; we organized, went door-to-door, volunteered and, most importantly, turned out to vote in exceptionally high numbers. As Obama acknowledged in his victory speech, "[My campaign] grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep."
We have proven that we care deeply about civil and political issues. It is time to show the world that we can be involved in the political process, not just by supporting a political campaign, but by exercising our right to protest and rally, which is important for the health of our democracy and even for our health as individuals.
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