Wits students protest over tuition fee increase

Humberto said:
The hypocrisy and irony coming from the behaviour of these Wits students amazes me:

  • They have been barricading entrances to Wits to stop people from exiting the campus, and have been blockading public roads, but now they are complaining that they are "stuck" after Wits suspended the intercampus bus service for the rest of the week.
  • They wanted the university "shut down" and have been disrupting students who want to study, but now they want to study in Senate House and are complaining that Wits won't provide them with tables, chairs and WiFi to do so.
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Yeah - bunch of clowns.
 
SammyD said:
What happened to being impartial?

I don't know if anyone took pictures. I'll find out though if it makes you feel better.
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Their impartiality understandably went out the window when they were told to leave or they would be assaulted.
 
Sinbad said:
Their impartiality understandably went out the window when they were told to leave or they would be assaulted.
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They were never impartial to begin with except the Daily Vox. Just asking in general not just particularly for this case.
 
Humberto said:
The hypocrisy and irony coming from the behaviour of these Wits students amazes me:

  • They have been barricading entrances to Wits to stop people from exiting the campus, and have been blockading public roads, but now they are complaining that they are "stuck" after Wits suspended the intercampus bus service for the rest of the week.
  • They wanted the university "shut down" and have been disrupting students who want to study, but now they want to study in Senate House and are complaining that Wits won't provide them with tables, chairs and WiFi to do so.
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Buses will be working from 8am.

There was WiFi in the Senate House last I was there (around 20:00 last night).

Chairs were there too. Desks not so much. Just a few.
 
SammyD said:
Buses will be working from 8am.

There was WiFi in the Senate House last I was there (around 20:00 last night).

Chairs were there too. Desks not so much. Just a few.
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This is wrong. These students wanted the university shut down, so give them what they want. For as long as the academic programme is suspended, these students must not be permitted to study on Wits property; it was their idea after all - they were the ones who wanted lectures disrupted. They should not be provided with any Wits infrastructure to study with - no WiFi, no tables or chairs. I would go one step further and even switch off the electricity in Senate House - possibly the entire campus.
 
Humberto said:
This is wrong. These students wanted the university shut down, so give them what they want. For as long as the academic programme is suspended, these students must not be permitted to study on Wits property; it was their idea after all - they were the ones who wanted lectures disrupted. They should not be provided with any Wits infrastructure to study with - no WiFi, no tables or chairs. I would go one step further and even switch off the electricity in Senate House - possibly the entire campus.
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Ok. Do you feel better now?
 
I see News24 reporting that protesters are setting off fire alarms. That was yesterday. Protesters are cleaning up Senate House.
 
SammyD said:
I see News24 reporting that protesters are setting off fire alarms. That was yesterday. Protesters are cleaning up Senate House.
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Sure they are.

You are hardly an impartial source of news on this topic...
 
AthenianOwl said:
One way to get their voices heard. At least they are not seriously harmed. Unfortunately, it's been proven that if you protest peacefully, nothing will come out of it.
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While I don't disagree that they would have been ignored if they were peaceful, but the fact is the students who were studying could not careless about joining the protest If your protest is so small that you have to disrupt those that have chosen to sit and study on their own and deny them their right to study, If every one took these action on topic they felt strongly about ,Etolls,housing, schools, Post office and more every day as a country we would stall
 
schumi said:
While I don't disagree that they would have been ignored if they were peaceful, but the fact is the students who were studying could not careless about joining the protest If your protest is so small that you have to disrupt those that have chosen to sit and study on their own and deny them their right to study, If every one took these action on topic they felt strongly about ,Etolls,housing, schools, Post office and more every day as a country we would stall
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My friend is part of the protest. She was one of the people who were stopped from studying yesterday. She does what a lot of people are doing: Rotating days. Study one day, protest the next.
 
SammyD said:
My friend is part of the protest. She was one of the people who were stopped from studying yesterday. She does what a lot of people are doing: Rotating days. Study one day, protest the next.
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Is that how they plan their employment one day?
 
Wits fight about women leaders too

Johannesburg - For the female students at Wits, the fight is not only about the fees, but about claiming their space as women at the institution.

The nearly week-long protest against fee increases at the Braamfontein campus has been led by female student leaders like Nompendulo Mkhatshwa and Shaeera Kalla.

These young women have led the protest and at all times raised the importance of non-violence.

Incoming student representative council (SRC) secretary-general Fasiha Hassan said: “In the run-up to the protest, the majority of the preparations have been done by woman leaders and we are reclaiming our space.

“This is also an issue of intersectionality. Yes, we are fighting fees but we are also recognising that as women we have been marginalised in a certain space. We are reclaiming that.”

Hassan said that’s why students also decided to put political party differences aside to deal with the fee increase issue.

“The SRC is leading this movement and it is technically non-partisan. The important thing is that this issue of fees affects all 33 000 students at Wits. We need to be united to get what we want,” she said. But Hassan said it was worrying that white students weren’t part of the action.

“We have several white comrades who are on our side but unfortunately the proposed fee increments are going to be affecting the working-class students more than anyone else.

“The truth of the matter is that the working class in this country is black and that is why our representation has been predominately black.

“We welcome all students of all races to please join us in the picket lines.”

She maintained that at the university council, the students never agreed to the increments but were outvoted.

“We have never ever agreed to this fee increment. When student representatives sit on the council, they are one or two members out of something like 30 members.

“We are totally outnumbered and outvoted. Which is one of the calls we are making. We are also saying, the way the university’s decision-making system is set up, student leaders don’t have the voice we should have, even though we are representing 30 000 students.”

Hassan said it was important to maintain non-violence. “We have chosen a radical but peaceful protest because we don’t want to take attention from the issues. We have been subjected to violence.
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More at http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...bout-women-leaders-too-1.1933323#.VidLK26-Opo
 
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