S (STUDENT): “Amandla! professor.” P (PROFESSOR): “No, I‘m sorry, my name is not ‘Amandla‘, but how are you?” S: “No fine. Just got back from a protest and we burned a building on campus and torched a police van.” P: “And you‘re proud of yourself?” S: “You see, that‘s the problem with your generation, prof. We are talking past each other. Why are you suddenly against violence? Remember the ANC made the decision to take up arms against injustice? When the state would not listen to the masses of our people, the liberation movements decided there was a need for a militant response.” P: “True, but this is not apartheid, this is a constitutional democracy. You express yourself through the ballot box, not through violence.” S: “Well, you know what they say, prof, ‘Voting helps but violence works‘. Here we are, and my family still lives in a shack and I still can‘t afford to study at university. So what must I do? Give up on my dreams? The only message the university management understands...
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