‘Student Protest Not Communist’

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32017, 18 June 1969, Page 18

‘Student Protest Not Communist’

To suggest that the world-wide protest of students is an international Communistinspired plot is to misunderstand the situation, according to the secretary-general of the International Student Movement for the United Nations (Mr R. J. Harmston), who is visiting Christchurch.

In this country to meet university students and officers of the New Zealand University Students’ Association —a member of the International Student Movement with headquarters in Geneva —he said that student protest in all countries used similar techniques and occasional violence.

This was the image seen

by the public and often featured. But if a closer look was taken, student protest in various countries dealt with national issues. Mr Harmston said it was true that protest was very much against hypocrisy in society and in politics where governments said one thing and did another. But in Japan, for example, student protest was against the American presence in Okinawa; in Latin America it was against military suppression and in New Zealand against an Omega navigation station. There was always a local character to the protest—in Germany, Italy and France the university institutions were archaic and the opposition was against them. Asked whether student protest generally achieved its object, Mr Harmston said generally it did. In France, for example, the students bad achieved more by protesting about the archaic institutions

than had been done in decades.

“Sometimes they do go to excess and the issues become fuzzed as protests develop into students versus society, and this is unfortunate,” he said. “An anarchist who was a student would by nature resort to the extreme to get rid of what was established." At the same time, in some cases some form of violence by young people could be necessary.

Asked about his organisation’s link with the United Nations, Mr Harmston said its Ideals were those of the United Nations and it embraced 40 national groups of students, including those of several Eastern European countries. It promoted discussion of international problems, and understanding of the United Nations and its functions, and an international consciousness among students. It had access to documentation on

many issues coming before the United Nations and these were circulated to students in various countries who were asked for their reaction. A regional centre of the organisation was to be set up, possibly in Singapore, and this would promote exchanges of ideas and discussion among students of various countries in South-East Asia, including Australia and New Zealand, Mr Harmston said. New Zealand students would send the centre views on issues and opinion, and discussion of them would be sought in other countries. Examples of the sort Of topic that could be discussed were economic co-operation in Asia and future attitudes to the Chinese People’s Republic. Mr Harmston said there was no contact with any student group in China, but as diplomatic contact was being re-established, he hoped that the way would become open.