April 21, 2024, was a beautiful spring day at the American University (AU) campus in Washington DC. Yet, there was palpable tension in the air as the university’s student union was about to vote on one of the most contested topics ripping apart the political discourse in the United States — the issue of the horrific, genocidal violence unleashed by Israel on the Palestinian people.

The resolution called for supporting the Palestinian civil society’s call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, which in practice meant severing ties between AU and Israeli institutions. This was a contentious topic, as the university has a long history of deep ties to the Zionist project, as well as to the military-industrial complex that sustains American support to Israel.

Since October 7, 2023, the American University campus had witnessed a number of protests, by both by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups, with each side accusing the other of being aligned with violent, regressive forces in the Middle East. Under the spotlight of the local media and the watchful eye of the university administration, this tension finally found its way into the student union, where the elected student representatives had to make a choice on the future orientation of the union with regards to the crisis in the Middle East.

On the day of the debate, I accompanied my wife, Tabitha Spence, an active member in the pro-Palestine movement on campus, to the room where the student union meeting was convened. The room had almost no space to sit as eager students, some wearing keffiyehs while others waving the Star of David, awaited to see how their elected representatives would respond to one of the most pressing moral challenges of our times.

In front of a packed audience, student leaders debated the controversial topics of settler colonialism, US imperialism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and the efficacy of BDS. After over an hour of intense debate on the pressing historical, economic and ethical questions, the motion was put to vote. Twenty-one students voted in favour of the resolution, two voted against it, while two students abstained.

This year marks 40 years since student unions were banned in Pakistan by dictator Gen Ziaul Haq. As student activism in the West over the issue of Palestine is highlighted and celebrated in political and public discourse, the continued absence of student unions and repression of student voices in this country has become all the more glaring. So who is afraid of student unions?

This was a miraculous outcome. One of the most stridently pro-Israeli universities was witnessing its student body indict the Zionist state of committing genocide, an act reminiscent of the BDS movement on US campuses against apartheid South Africa.

The response of the administration was hysterical, as expected. Within an hour, the president of the university sent out an email refusing to accept the verdict of the student body, highlighting the contradictory logics with which the administration and the students, the old and the young, viewed the world.

It is this impasse that triggered the pro-Palestinian “encampments” on university campuses across the US and beyond, where students are taking a bold stand against genocide in the midst of intense media hostility and severe repercussions from the administration.

While these students became symbols of hope across the world, it forced me to think of the context that provided them with the confidence to debate controversial issues. One of the pillars of this confidence is the regular student union elections, as well the debates that take place within the unions on key policy issues related to campus, with topics often tied to national and global issues. One cannot but lament that this basic building block of democracy is denied to students in Pakistan.

Having taught in Pakistan, I could only imagine the kind of spirited debates that our brilliant students would engage in if they were provided the opportunity to elect their own representatives on campus and provide a moral compass to our decaying society.

Forty years ago, in 1984, a military dictator imposed an unconstitutional and antidemocratic ban on student unions in Pakistan, robbing us of this possibility. The global student revolts under the banner of the Palestinian flag are an opportunity to re-examine the history of student unions in this country and to consider paving the way for their return on our campuses.

My thesis is that Pakistan’s student movement must be situated in the global context of anti-imperialist student uprisings across the globe, while the ban on them should be read as part of a global counter-revolutionary effort to wipe out revolutionary fervour amongst the youth and force them to assimilate into the dominant order.

These campaigns for the pacification of students took place simultaneously in the Global South and the Global North, with Pakistan standing out as the most successful example of a counter-revolution, which managed to wipe out all traces of revolutionary organisations on campuses.

STUDENTS AND THE GLOBAL REVOLUTION

The 1980s are remembered as a period that laid the foundations for the global defeat of the Left and progressive forces. From Latin America to the Middle East to Asia, many countries were firmly placed in the grip of pro–US and right-wing military dictatorships, pushing their societies into a vortex of authoritarianism and terror.

These regimes were counter-revolutionary, ie dedicated to the violent elimination........

© Dawn (Magazines)