Apathy today, Disaster tomorrow!
What's the future of PSN?
By Tom Burke, Progressive Students, UIC-Chicago-Circle
What we do makes a difference
It depends on two things. One is whether more struggles
break out on campus in the coming year. The other thing is
how the core of the PSN and other student activists do their
organizing. At this point it seems unlikely that there is going to
be any single unifying issue, like the Gulf War, which will
galvanize students to struggle. So how the PSN activists do
their work takes on greater relative importance.
Slow growth is likely
I think we may do relatively well in the next year if we
continue to do our work methodically and look for gradual
growth instead of great leaps. In the past we have raised the
slogan "Boldly build the PSN!" and somewhat glorified the
student activism of the 1960's to promote organizing. While it
is good that students want to build the PSN, it takes careful
work and painstaking gains in school years like 1992-1993.
Struggle builds the network
The upcoming year, 1993-1994, looks to be one where
small cores of student activists build single issue campaigns
on their campuses. This was done at a handful of campuses
in recent years, with some significant success. Professors'
jobs were saved from a posse of racist administrators in
Louisville; a corporate bank was forced to institute racial
sensitivity training at Northwestern University; students at
George Washington (slave owner) University held Clinton to
his campaign promises by hunger striking to end the military
imprisonment of Haitian people, while others fought a
homeless shelter from being shut down. Last fall many PSN
groups and other student activists forced people to rethink
Columbus! These were hard won skirmishes, but they provide
the basis on which we continue to build the PSN.
Campaigns are key
The PSN is always good at showing the connections
between issues, but it is single issue campaigns which have
produced struggle, and struggle is what produces more
student activists. These campaigns, involving tabling,
petitioning, postering, educationals, protests, demonstrations,
and boycotts, result in a campus where the changes we fight
for create broad discussion and the PSN group becomes well
known. It is hard, but satisfying work. Sometimes we lose,
but more often we win. We may appear "BOLD," but we
should be patiently systematic in our activism. That is how we
will build the local chapters, the PSN, and the broader student
movement.
Leadership development
As I said earlier, we have wanted new student activists to
look to the 1960's as a great period of student activism. It
was. We should not over do it, however. The PSN should
validate and support the work we and others do now, as its'
importance when the next upsurge occurs, will be precious.
What makes our activism precious is the experienced
leadership it develops. Student groups develop leadership
when they struggle. Leadership is not something people build
by reading a good book about past student activists while
waiting for the next upsurge. While this can be helpful, the
PSN should mainly be concerned with and focus on students
who want to engage the forces of reaction on campus and in
society today. Yes -- today! Students want to struggle
against the administration, bureaucratic and conservative
departments, well-entrenched miseducators (i.e. professors,
many whom pretend to be liberal), and those backward
boneheads -- the young republicans. The PSN needs to
connect with students who actively try to change things such
as people concerned about the environment, the homeless,
U.S. interventions, racism, and other issues.
How should the PSN proceed?
We should treat every hardworking activist with friendship
and respect. We should encourage those who are organizing
and fighting to hold Clinton's feet to the fire and then fan the
flames and demand more. People are not molded by our
society to have perfect politics, so we need to understand their
imperfections -- wrong ideas, bad dynamics, etc.. The PSN
respects people enough to hear them out and then struggle
with them to improve themselves, their organizations, and
their society.
The PSN really needs to concentrate on the tasks ahead of
us. Building the campus struggles is so important, and we
need to promote this at our fall conference. Student
organizers and groups need to understand that they are not
isolated. That is what the PSN is for. At each school, we
have to combine our particular camps and issues, with a
general call to stop Clinton's backsliding and demand more
than what he has promised.
Clinton the chameleon!
We need to wage an ideological struggle against those, like
the College Democrats, who think Clinton and his regressions
are the answer. Clinton's era may look politically correct, but it
is a mask for nearly the same policies as Bush. Abortion may
not be under attack, but funding is not overflowing. Clinton
tells Queers "Don't ask, Don't tell" and then bombs civilians in
Iraq. Students should say "Kiss! Tell! and Stop U.S.
Intervention!" Bill Clinton pushing George Bush's exact same
NAFTA plan with Mexico and Canada. We want an end to
environmental destruction, healthcare for all working people,
and more control over corporations eit-----her side of the border.
When governors of Clinton's era say "Educational Cutbacks!",
students should shout "Fight Back!" When they imprison
political refugees and immigrants, activists will demand that
they be set free! While Clinton talks about the homeless, we
must fight to save their shelters. If he wants students to work
for their student loans and grants, then why not give them jobs
organizing to empower people to control their own lives,
schools, and neighborhoods instead of governments and
corporations setting the agendas?
We should challenge the College Democrats to become
activists and not just cheer leaders. If their group is active on
campus, then they should join the PSN and discuss what they
are doing to change things. We are open to all sorts of
political views. If their group isn't active, then individuals
should quit and start PSN chapters. Either that or they will be
left behind by those who want real change.
Today's choices affect tommorow
The future of the PSN is this. We need to organize and
fight. We need to build on our successes, no matter how
small. We also need to understand our failures, which harden
us, and then move on. Above all, we need to win. If we do
not have successes now, we will be sorry in the future. Very
sorry. Not just for ourselves, but for all those who are
negatively affected by the structure of U.S. society, especially
those at the bottom. Winning our struggles on the campuses
can only help empower others. When we leave the campuses
there are other struggles where we are wanted.
