One of the reasons I was looking forward to Monday when we all went back to work and schools and universities after an exceptionally long and sad weekend, is because I was very curious and excited to see how the organized protests and demonstrations on campus would turn out, and what it would be like to be standing in the same march with the same slogans as the Islamic Current (i.e the IAF university arm). While I disagree with the IAF's ideology and vision, I've always respected how greatly organized they are. During the four years I've spent at university, they were the only ones who march and protest anything; from a raise in tuition fees, to university policies, to assassination of Hamas leaders… they always went ahead with it against university regulations, and always clashed with the student affairs administration!
So come Monday, and you find contradicting announcements; one flyer with the Islamic Current calling for a demonstration "licensed by the blood of black Wednesday's victims" at 11:00, and then another – full color – poster calling for a demonstration organized by the student council (backed by the administration) at 11:30. Go figure!! What a disappointment… the Islamists decided to organize their own thing and not be part of anything organized officially!! I dragged my friend along to go check out the demonstration at 11:00, to be utterly surprised at the small number of students… and then I caught a sight of the Dean of Student Affairs along with another official arguing (pretty much fighting) with the leader of this group (if I were a bit faster that would've made a great photo.) After a lot of yelling, the Islamists pushed on with their march, while the other demonstration was approaching from another direction. So the Dean's assistant walks angrily to this other (student council) group and starts saying "get more students, get more students"… Well, he didn't need to worry because this march was building up quickly whereas the Islamic Current's remained small. (Check out the picture) To give them (the Islamists) credit though, I really liked the slogans they carried and what they were saying; patriotic and at the same time logical and to the point.
I remember this argument was made previously in one of Khalaf's posts, where he said that the IAF supporters are a mere 16% of Jordanians, and I commented that from what I always saw at university, they were a lot more. When they participated in the student council elections two years ago they got 3 out of the 4 seats at the faculty of engineering, and got a total of 16 out of the 40 elected seats. But on Monday I realized that I was quite mistaken, and that the reason they always seemed to outnumber any other stream is because there was never any other organized stream to begin with!!
Just take a look at this other picture; I think the number of students in this demonstration is larger than any other that has taken place anywhere in Jordan in the aftermath of the tragic events.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if most of these were politically aware students! Imagine these thousands representing right-wingers, centrists, or leftists… socialists and capitalists, conservatives, liberals, or neo-liberals!! Imagine they were all students with independent critical thinking and a high degree of awareness and involvement!! Then we wouldn't have to worry about that a true democratic process would yield a majority of fundamentalists, and then the government wouldn't have to impose sanctions on anyone who " justifies or defends ideas which feed and support violence and harm to innocent people", because guess what, It's not by imposing sanctions and applying a heavy arm that people with such beliefs change them.
Why is it that there's this long history of mistrust and animosity between the university administration, and students representing the Islamic Brotherhood and fundamentalist Islamic currents? Isn't it about time the administration realized that its policies of containment only served to make this current appear stronger, and gain some sympathy and popularity as the underdog or the brave opposition?! In an interview last month the University president said that it is dangerous to allow political parties to be active on campus. I think it is more dangerous not to! What is desperately needed is an education process that creates awareness and political understanding, and an environment that allows healthy debate between different ideologies or streams of thought. Personally what I saw at the demonstration was potential for students who are normally passive, apathetic, and reactive… to get organized, take initiative, and balance off the sole organized and politically mature group on campus, and if I dare say, in Jordan.
So come Monday, and you find contradicting announcements; one flyer with the Islamic Current calling for a demonstration "licensed by the blood of black Wednesday's victims" at 11:00, and then another – full color – poster calling for a demonstration organized by the student council (backed by the administration) at 11:30. Go figure!! What a disappointment… the Islamists decided to organize their own thing and not be part of anything organized officially!! I dragged my friend along to go check out the demonstration at 11:00, to be utterly surprised at the small number of students… and then I caught a sight of the Dean of Student Affairs along with another official arguing (pretty much fighting) with the leader of this group (if I were a bit faster that would've made a great photo.) After a lot of yelling, the Islamists pushed on with their march, while the other demonstration was approaching from another direction. So the Dean's assistant walks angrily to this other (student council) group and starts saying "get more students, get more students"… Well, he didn't need to worry because this march was building up quickly whereas the Islamic Current's remained small. (Check out the picture) To give them (the Islamists) credit though, I really liked the slogans they carried and what they were saying; patriotic and at the same time logical and to the point.
I remember this argument was made previously in one of Khalaf's posts, where he said that the IAF supporters are a mere 16% of Jordanians, and I commented that from what I always saw at university, they were a lot more. When they participated in the student council elections two years ago they got 3 out of the 4 seats at the faculty of engineering, and got a total of 16 out of the 40 elected seats. But on Monday I realized that I was quite mistaken, and that the reason they always seemed to outnumber any other stream is because there was never any other organized stream to begin with!!
Just take a look at this other picture; I think the number of students in this demonstration is larger than any other that has taken place anywhere in Jordan in the aftermath of the tragic events.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if most of these were politically aware students! Imagine these thousands representing right-wingers, centrists, or leftists… socialists and capitalists, conservatives, liberals, or neo-liberals!! Imagine they were all students with independent critical thinking and a high degree of awareness and involvement!! Then we wouldn't have to worry about that a true democratic process would yield a majority of fundamentalists, and then the government wouldn't have to impose sanctions on anyone who " justifies or defends ideas which feed and support violence and harm to innocent people", because guess what, It's not by imposing sanctions and applying a heavy arm that people with such beliefs change them.
Why is it that there's this long history of mistrust and animosity between the university administration, and students representing the Islamic Brotherhood and fundamentalist Islamic currents? Isn't it about time the administration realized that its policies of containment only served to make this current appear stronger, and gain some sympathy and popularity as the underdog or the brave opposition?! In an interview last month the University president said that it is dangerous to allow political parties to be active on campus. I think it is more dangerous not to! What is desperately needed is an education process that creates awareness and political understanding, and an environment that allows healthy debate between different ideologies or streams of thought. Personally what I saw at the demonstration was potential for students who are normally passive, apathetic, and reactive… to get organized, take initiative, and balance off the sole organized and politically mature group on campus, and if I dare say, in Jordan.
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