If you're going to sing "We Shall Overcome", you could at least use the Bruce Springsteen version

Last night, I caught a few minutes of Newsnight Review. This isn't something I often do, although that's not because of any fervent dislike of the reviewers - I just happen to like my TV a bit glossier, American and crime-based, that's all. Anyway, the book they were talking about was set in the world of radical student politics in the US, in the Vietnam War era. My knowledge of the student movements was limited - I knew there was considerable opposition, but that's about it - so it was really surprising to learn about the mass marches, the draft-card burnings, and Governmental surveillance and hostility.

It's a shame, really, that this just isn't seen nowadays. I've only just left university, having been there during three years in which we've seen heavy British involvement in an unpopular and shockingly executed war, illegal imprisonment of people without trial, open admissions of torture and extraordinary rendition by the US, extensive prisoner mistreatment in Abu Ghraib, and any number of other things to get angry about. So why have there been practically no student demonstrations?

There were some, I have to admit. There was a regular protest outside the Campsfield immigrant detention centre, a couple of Make Poverty History demonstrations, one or two pro-animal-testing marches, and a few others. I even took part in a couple (a human chain around the Radcliffe Camera for Make Poverty History and a protest against the deportation of a student, if you're interested), but in every case it was something of a fringe activity. There was no mass outrage, no mobilisation of thousands of students...just a few people filling Broad Street for a couple of hours.

This isn't an Oxford thing, either - back in the '70s, there were some serious protests for the right to form a student union in Oxford. Indeed, it was only when the (then not formally-recognised) union approached Parliament to ask them to amend the laws governing Oxford and Cambridge that the university gave in. I cannot possibly imagine that kind of mobilisation these days, especially given how little most students care about the student union. (I think I voted in a grand total of one of their elections during my time there.) It's also not because Oxford students are publicity-shy - witness what happened when Nick Griffin and David Irving were invited to speak at the Oxford Union. (Even though that did produce a demonstration, note that the whole thing could fit in the Town Hall.)

So why has student protest fizzled out so much in recent years? Today's students are better-informed, more resourceful and more organised than ever before; walk down any main road in the city and you'll see people doing things that convince you students have no compunction about making idiots of themselves in public; and talking to any of them in a college bar will show you that they do feel strongly about a whole range of issues. There must be another reason, and I think it's all about fashions. When the Iraq occupation began, there were more protests around the country than had been seen for years; demonstrations were therefore no longer the unique preserve of the angry young student. In the same way that rock and roll became demoted to "golden oldie" status when its original fans grew up, marching on the streets is no longer a statement that The Man can't hold you down. Perhaps, once this jaded generation has grown up, there will be a new group of eager protesters ready to pound the tarmac.

I think it's a shame that protest is no longer an integral part of the student experience. Railing at The Man is what being a student is for - it's the one chance you get to do it before you grow up, get a job and become The Man. More importantly, raising a whole bunch of people who don't want to make their voices heard about the issues that really concern them is a terrible idea. There are terrible things going on today (I listed some of them earlier in this post), and without the people singing unoriginal chants and waving poorly-made banners as they march along the streets, where is everyone going to get the impetus to actually do something about it?

It's too late for me to be a student again, but I think that if society is changing this much anyway, it's worth re-evaluating our roles. Next time something else worth protesting occurs, look for me on the march.