Education and youth together or how to start a revolution

2006 "While they don't allow us to dream,
we don't allow them to sleep"

2011 "Neither terrotists nor criminals
socially aware students!"

In 2006, the world saw here in Chile the beginning of the "Revolución Pingüina" (LINK: Penguins' Revolution) that demanded the end of the "Ley Orgánica Constitucional de Enseñanza" (Organic Constitutional Act of Teaching) or "LOCE", which was enacted during the Pinochet's Dictatorship, introducing a unique national student transport pass, among other things. After that in 2011 this movement awoke again but this time stronger than 2006. It was called the "Invierno Estudiantil Chileno" (LINK: Chilean Students Winter) which was represented by different strikes and occupations in both high schools and universities that lasted even 4 months and took place along almost the whole country. That time, they demanded, among many things, to increase the quality of education and the funding, so public universities may be for free.

Even though this is one of the most important student movements in Latin America, there was another important movement started by students which acted as a catalyst. In fact, this movement was so important that motivated to a group of people to arise and fight with all their efforts against a system that oppressed them, by that time, for almost 30 years regardless the time before the establishment of the “Apartheid”. I’m talking about the “Soweto Uprising” (LINK) on the 16 of June 1976.

This history started, as we know, in 1948 when the National Party came to the power and started dozens of reforms in order to segregate white people from the other races so they could keep the political and economic power just among them. This institutionalization of the segregation of non-white people is known as the “Apartheid”. During many years, many black leaders tried to reach the equality for all through different means from pacific protests to urban violence and the system of guerrilla warfare. The consequences were thousands of casualties, most of them from the black people, and many others in jail, like the well-known leader Nelson Mandela .

In 1974 the white government forced through the “Afrikaans Medium Decree” to use the Afrikaans and English as instruction languages in the classroom and native languages just for few subjects. Black people considered English as an attractive language because its use in business and commerce while the Afrikaans represented the “oppressor’s language”. The conditions got worse when black boys knew that their white peers were allowed to choose the language that they wanted to be taught. Teachers and students from different schools united as one single group and decided to protest. Many secret meetings had been organized by the leaders of the movement before they decided to make a big march on the 16 of July 1976.

Hector Pieterson being carried by
Mbuyisa Makhubo after policemen
opened fire against the demostrators.

A little group made up by students and teachers started a peaceful protest. Many others, who just realized about the protest that very day, joined on the way to Orlando Stadium just to find out that the police had barricaded the route. In order to avoid an eventually violent confrontation, they decided to take another route but...it was useless: the police started to shoot and they loosed their dogs on the children. Students repealed them by stoning the animals to death and the police answered shooting against demonstrators which finished with, according to the government at that time, in 27 casualties but other organizations said between 176 to 700 people were killed including the little 13-year old-boy Hector Pieterson who became a symbol of the resistance after he was photographed being carried by another boy and doctor Melville Edelstein, a white doctor who had been dedicated his life to help black people but some of them stoned him to death and hanged a sign saying "Beware".

The fountain at the musseum

From that day on everything changed: the struggle against the Apartheid government was organized in a better way and it was criticized not only by the international community but many South African white people who marched in protest of the killing of children. Finally, 18 years later the Apartheid finished: it was a long way to get that but everything started there, in the township called Soweto where people still remember that event. In fact, every 16 June is celebrated as the "Youth Day" (LINK) in honor of the massacre happened in that township and there is a large museum called Hector Pietersen which has a memorial engreved with the following words: "In memory of Hector Pietersen and all other young heroes and heroines of our struggle who laid down their lives for freedom, peace and democracy"

Do you want to know a curiosity? Do you remember Zakumi, the official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup? Well, its birth date is 16 June, the South Africa Youth Day.

Before leaving, I want to ask you about Chile, do you think we need a "revolution" like the one started in South Africa? If you say yes, what do you think we need, as Chilean students, to change the Chilean's mind so we could be just "one will" as South Africans were during the Apartheid?