August 3, 2011
August 2, 2011 1987 Intifada by France24 (this is the first of two articles on the role of adolescents in mass uprisings) Much has been made of the role of youth in sparking the so-called “Arab Spring” revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. The historical significance of the mass insurrections in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Syria is yet to be determined — given their failure to bring about genuine political reform. Even Egypt, which received the most media attention, remains under the firm control of the Egyptian military, which has banned strikes and continues to shoot, arrest and torture protestors. Nevertheless, the willingness of Arab citizens to engage in public protest against some of the most oppressive regimes in the world is a new and significant phenomenon. It highlights the distinction between political and psychological oppression. Psychological repression is a state of wholesale resignation. A population makes no attempt to resist, owing to their belief they will be utterly crushed. Although the Arab populations in the Middle East and North Africa remain politically oppressed, they have made giant strides in overcoming their psychological oppression. The Role of Youth in Sparking Revolutions Youth are nearly always the engine behind any movement to throw off psychological oppression. Marxist psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich relates this to the absence of “biological rigidity” that sets in as people age. Older people have an overwhelming drive for “business as usual,” which Austrian-born child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim credits for the failure of European Jews to resist the Nazi campaign to enslave and exterminate them (seehttp://stuartbramhall.aegauthorblogs.com/2011/04/27/pacifism-as-pathology-book-review). Based on my own clinical experience, I would pin it more on the illusion of immortality in children and adolescents — their inability to grasp the finality of death. It’s an inability to fully comprehend this concept that leads to adolescents’ reckless disregard for personal safety in their driving, gang banging and other risk taking activities. The population demographics of the Arab world have special significance in this respect. At present, North Africa and Egypt currently have the highest proportion of young people in the world. Sixty-one percent of the Egyptian population is under 25 (in the US 35% are under 25). This relates mainly to Egypt’s low life expectancy (70.3 years, in contrast to 78.7 years in the US) and low numbers in the upper age brackets. Moreover the high rate of unemployment among Egyptians under 25 (25% overall and 30% among collage grads) is credited for an extremely high level of anger and frustration among Egyptian young people. Lessons from History: Soweto and the Intifada I have always been fascinated by two other major political movements initiated by teenagers — the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa and the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987. Both were influenced by circumstances I consider even more important than demographics or high youth unemployment. The factor characterizing both the Soweto uprising and the first Intifada is the widespread breakdown of parental authority, which is quite common during periods of social upheaval. This, in turn, leads to precocious development of personal autonomy in teenagers. I believe both the Soweto uprising and the first Intifada have important implications for political change in the US, given present trends in American families. Over the past two decades, declining earning power has forced most parents (men and women) to work extremely long hours, leaving them have little time or energy for their kids. In many families teenagers are essentially raising themselves — which has very important implications for generation Z activism. Lessons from Soweto The 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa is widely credited as heralding the start of mass popular resistance to apartheid. While various scholars dispute its significance relative to other resistance activities, the courage and resolve of black teenagers played a pivotal role in inspiring a critical mass of black adults to throw off their psychological oppression and actively resist the brutal apartheid regime. The uprising has always interested me owing to the social conditions — namely a breakdown in family structure in the black townships — that made it possible. Marxist psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich wasn’t the first — or the last — to study the conservatizing influence of the traditional family, especially in authoritarian societies. The breakdown of that influence is often linked to revolutionary political change. The students involved in the initial Soweto and Alexandria uprisings were, in essence, a generation that raised themselves. Owing to the strict pass laws implemented in the 1950s, many black residents were forced to give up to their homes and property in South African cities and move to black-only townships or Bantustans, where there was no work. The only work open to black men was in remote work camps associated with the gold and diamond mines. While Soweto women worked as domestics and nannies for white families in Johannesburg and only returned to their own children on their days off. In 1976 Soweto teenagers had a lot in common with homeless teens, third world street children and “young carers” (children who care for parents with physical or mental disabilities or drug and alcohol problems). Forced to look after themselves from an early age, it’s typical for these teenagers to mature emotionally at a very early age. Conditions that Politicized Bantu Schools The event the triggered the June 16, 1976 Soweto uprising was a decree requiring that all Bantu schools teach their subjects in Afrikaans (the language of the original Dutch settlers of South Africa), rather than English. Unlike their parents, students in Soweto and the other townships were already highly politicized, owing to the atrocious conditions in the Bantu schools. While education in which schools was free, black parents were charged 51 rand a year (a half month’s salary) The Bantu schools were also incredibly overcrowded, with sixty or more students per class and teachers who often had no education qualifications. In 1968, students in the black townships formed the African Students Movement to address these atrocious conditions. In 1972, they affiliated with the South African Students Organization (which arose out of the Black Consciousness movement at black universities). The prelude to the June 16 uprising was a classroom boycott in early June of seventh and eight graders at Orlando West Primary School. Seven other Soweto schools immediately joined the boycott. Students at Naledi High School demanded to speak to the regional director of education. Instead the government sent out the Police Special Branch, who were forced to lock themselves in the principal’s office while the students rioted and overturned their cars. On Sunday June 13th, 400 students met in Orland (hard to imagine without cellphones Facebook or Twitter) to call for a mass boycott and demonstration June 16th. They also made a pact not to inform their parents, who they believed would try to stop them. On June 16, fifteen to twenty thousand students age 10-20 in school uniform met at Orlando West Secondary school to march to the stadium. The police formed a line in front of them. When the students refused to disperse, even after the police fired tear gas and set dogs on them, the police opened fire, killing several students. The other students went wild, throwing rocks and bottles at the police and setting fire to all symbols of apartheid — government buildings, liquor stores, beer halls and trucks, buses and cars belonging to white businesses. Where Deadly Police Force Fails The next morning rioting spread to Alexandria township. After three days, the South African government shut down the Soweto and Alexandria schools, as rioting spread to other townships and to Pretoria, Durban and Capetown with “colored” (mixed race) and Indian students also joining the rebellion. The police were totally unable to quell the rioters, even with force, owing to the students’ greater numbers and their total disregard for their own safety. When rioting was suppressed in one area, it flared up in another. It took sixteen months for the student riots to die down, in October 1977. The Soweto riots heralded in the start of mass popular resistance to apartheid. Prior to 1976, resistance was limited to sporadic acts of sabotage by the African National Congress (the ANC had operated along strictly non-violent principles prior to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre). The Aftermath The Soweto uprising won major concessions from the South African government: Bantu school principles were allowed to choose the language of instruction; Pretoria opened more schools and teacher training colleges in the townships; urban black were given permanent status as city dwellers; and the law was repealed that banned blacks from owning business in the townships. Despite these concessions, thousands of students who participated in the riots left school and went into exile in neighboring countries, where they obtained military training. They eventually filtered back into South Africa to working for the African National Congress committing acts of sabotage. Teenagers in the First Intifada Like the 1976 Soweto uprising, the teenagers who sparked the first Palestinian Intifada in 1987 were influenced by a similar breakdown in parental authority, though for different reasons. From 1967, when Israel first seized the Gaza strip from Egypt, until the 1987 Intifada, Gaza, which has always been much poorer than the West Bank, was little more than a cluster of refugee camps. This meant there was no central authority, other than the soldiers from the Israel Defense Force (IDF), who maintained order. According to a recent study by EuroMed Youth (http://www.euromedyouth.net/IMG/pdf/07-EuroMedJeunesse-Etude_PALESTINE.pdf), the lack of central authority laid the groundwork for the breakdown of parental authority. Because civil society broke down following Gaza’s separation from Egypt, it was up to young people, who freely intermingled in schools, universities and the streets to create the social/political arena in which intellectual debate could occur. In 1987, Yasar Arafat and the other Palestinian resistance leaders in the PLO — who would later assume this role — were still in exile. Children Supporting Their Families Other factors contributed to the strong sense of autonomy Palestinian teenagers felt from their families. Witnessing the routine humiliation of their parents by Israeli soldiers was a major factor in undermining their authority. Although some Palestinians were allowed to cross into Israel to work, their wages were extremely low. Many families depended on the income of children and teenagers, working as street vendors. In some cases young people were the sole source of income. Demographic factors also played a major role in the empowerment of Palestinian youth in the late eighties. Approximately 65% of Palestinians were under 25 (due to low life expectancy, older age groups are underrepresented). In 1987, this group had a 37% unemployment rate. Children take on the Israel Defense ForceThe first Palestinian Intifada started spontaneously when Palestinian children, teenagers and college students rioted in response to the killing of six Palestinian students by the IDF. Initially Palestinian youth battled Israeli solders armed only with rocks, bottles and slingshots. The movement quickly spread to the West Bank and was joined by underground Palestinian resistance organizations, such as Fatah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who taught the youths how to make Molotov cocktails and sophisticated tactics, such as burning tires or constructing barricades to protect themselves from retaliation. The response by the IDF was massive brutality, with random killings, arbitrary detention and torture of Palestinian children and teenagers. By 1989 13,000 Palestinian teenagers were in Israeli jails. Israel Forced to Establish the Palestinian Authority The first Intifada didn’t end until 1993, when under the Oslo agreement, Israel agreed to establish the Palestinian Authority, and Yasar Arafat and other PLO members returned from exile to run it. Author’s Bio: I am a 63 year old American child and adolescent psychiatrist and political refugee in New Zealand. I have just published a young adult novel THE BATTLE FOR TOMORROW about a 16 year old girl who participates in the blockade and occupation of the US Capitol. In 2010 I published a memoir, THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE describing the circumstances that led me to leave the US 8 1/2 years ago to start a new life in the South Pacific. I blog at www.stuartbramhall.com |
