Protests New Generation in the Streets

By Wayne Svoboda

The times are tough now

Just getting tougher

This old world is rough

It's just getting rougher

-- Bruce Springsteen, Cover Me

The pouring rain did not deter several thousand Spanish students from taking to the streets of Madrid last week. Their purpose: to protest attempts by the Socialist government to tighten university admissions and academic standards. The march, one of the latest in a series of nationwide demonstrations, resulted from a deepening concern among students that the door may be closing on the accessibility of a university degree, the traditional path to a good job and financial security. "People study now who probably would have found work before," says High Schooler Raul Cabezas. "But because there is no work, what else can they do? They might as well study as do nothing."

Similar anxieties, though often framed quite differently, have contributed to a worldwide outbreak of student activism not seen since the late 1960s. During the past few months, street demonstrations in France, Spain, Mexico, China, South Korea and elsewhere have ended a period of relative quiet on many campuses. While student complaints and causes are hardly identical, they are similar enough to reveal at least some common threads: dissatisfaction with government policies on access to higher education, on economic opportunity and on the right to dissent.

The current wave of unrest in Western Europe began last November, when students closed more than 50 French universities in an attempt to defeat a government-sponsored bill that would have tightened admissions requirements and raised tuition fees. Students criticized the changes as "elitist." In December they gained a dramatic victory when Premier Jacques Chirac withdrew the proposal. Part of their motivation was to continue the elitism they deplored: while total French unemployment is about 11%, only 3% of university graduates are jobless.

In Mexico, students at Mexico City's sprawling National Autonomous University (enrollment: about 400,000) share many of the same concerns with their French and Spanish counterparts. Last April newly appointed Rector Dr. Jorge Carpizo McGregor warned that government belt tightening would require an end to U.N.A.M.'s open admissions policy and a hike in tuition. Last week protests from Mexican students forced Carpizo to back down.

As Western youths took on officialdom, thousands of Chinese students marched in December in Hefei, Shanghai and other cities to protest the slow pace of the government's economic reforms and to press for political liberalization. Some demonstrators told Western reporters they had been motivated by televised reports of rallies in France, the Philippines and South Korea, where students have protested against government repression for years. Last year alone, South Korean students held more than 1,700 demonstrations, including a rally at Kon- kuk University in October at which 1,288 students were arrested. The death last month of Park Jong Chul, a student who was killed while being tortured by police, has ensured that the protests will continue.

- Some observers believe the demonstrations are linked by a "secret network of the young" that involves the spontaneous sharing of goals and values among students in different countries, mainly through the media and exchanges of information. Indeed, French students have sent emissaries to meet with students in Spain, Italy and Canada. But their Asian counterparts, though perhaps inspired by events in Europe, have markedly different motives.

In China and, to a lesser extent, South Korea, marches and demonstrations are among the few ways students have to make their voices heard. Says Kim Young Sam, a South Korean opposition leader: "If politics were functioning properly, there would be no need for the students to take to the streets." Observes a Peking graduate student: "There are inherent affinities among youth in various countries -- idealism, impatience and untempered courage. Chinese students thought that those traits could be channeled to promote changes."

It is virtually certain that the action will pick up this spring as the weather warms and universities reopen after midwinter semester breaks. Classes begin in China this week and in March in both South Korea and France, where students plan further protests to consolidate their gains. In Spain, authorities have agreed to give ground on some major student concerns, but they have drawn the line at a few of the students' flightier notions. For example, some are demanding a minimum wage for needy students over 16. "Impossible," snaps Spanish Education Minister Jose Maria Maravall. The total cost, he points out, would be almost double that of Spain's current defense budget.

With reporting by Jane Walker/Madrid, with other bureaus