Apathy today, Disaster tomorrow! What's the future of PSN? By Tom Burke, Progressive Students, UIC-Chicago-Circle What we do makes a difference It depends on two things. One is whether more struggles break out on campus in the coming year. The other thing is how the core of the PSN and other student activists do their organizing. At this point it seems unlikely that there is going to be any single unifying issue, like the Gulf War, which will galvanize students to struggle. So how the PSN activists do their work takes on greater relative importance. Slow growth is likely I think we may do relatively well in the next year if we continue to do our work methodically and look for gradual growth instead of great leaps. In the past we have raised the slogan "Boldly build the PSN!" and somewhat glorified the student activism of the 1960's to promote organizing. While it is good that students want to build the PSN, it takes careful work and painstaking gains in school years like 1992-1993. Struggle builds the network The upcoming year, 1993-1994, looks to be one where small cores of student activists build single issue campaigns on their campuses. This was done at a handful of campuses in recent years, with some significant success. Professors' jobs were saved from a posse of racist administrators in Louisville; a corporate bank was forced to institute racial sensitivity training at Northwestern University; students at George Washington (slave owner) University held Clinton to his campaign promises by hunger striking to end the military imprisonment of Haitian people, while others fought a homeless shelter from being shut down. Last fall many PSN groups and other student activists forced people to rethink Columbus! These were hard won skirmishes, but they provide the basis on which we continue to build the PSN. Campaigns are key The PSN is always good at showing the connections between issues, but it is single issue campaigns which have produced struggle, and struggle is what produces more student activists. These campaigns, involving tabling, petitioning, postering, educationals, protests, demonstrations, and boycotts, result in a campus where the changes we fight for create broad discussion and the PSN group becomes well known. It is hard, but satisfying work. Sometimes we lose, but more often we win. We may appear "BOLD," but we should be patiently systematic in our activism. That is how we will build the local chapters, the PSN, and the broader student movement. Leadership development As I said earlier, we have wanted new student activists to look to the 1960's as a great period of student activism. It was. We should not over do it, however. The PSN should validate and support the work we and others do now, as its' importance when the next upsurge occurs, will be precious. What makes our activism precious is the experienced leadership it develops. Student groups develop leadership when they struggle. Leadership is not something people build by reading a good book about past student activists while waiting for the next upsurge. While this can be helpful, the PSN should mainly be concerned with and focus on students who want to engage the forces of reaction on campus and in society today. Yes -- today! Students want to struggle against the administration, bureaucratic and conservative departments, well-entrenched miseducators (i.e. professors, many whom pretend to be liberal), and those backward boneheads -- the young republicans. The PSN needs to connect with students who actively try to change things such as people concerned about the environment, the homeless, U.S. interventions, racism, and other issues. How should the PSN proceed? We should treat every hardworking activist with friendship and respect. We should encourage those who are organizing and fighting to hold Clinton's feet to the fire and then fan the flames and demand more. People are not molded by our society to have perfect politics, so we need to understand their imperfections -- wrong ideas, bad dynamics, etc.. The PSN respects people enough to hear them out and then struggle with them to improve themselves, their organizations, and their society. The PSN really needs to concentrate on the tasks ahead of us. Building the campus struggles is so important, and we need to promote this at our fall conference. Student organizers and groups need to understand that they are not isolated. That is what the PSN is for. At each school, we have to combine our particular camps and issues, with a general call to stop Clinton's backsliding and demand more than what he has promised. Clinton the chameleon! We need to wage an ideological struggle against those, like the College Democrats, who think Clinton and his regressions are the answer. Clinton's era may look politically correct, but it is a mask for nearly the same policies as Bush. Abortion may not be under attack, but funding is not overflowing. Clinton tells Queers "Don't ask, Don't tell" and then bombs civilians in Iraq. Students should say "Kiss! Tell! and Stop U.S. Intervention!" Bill Clinton pushing George Bush's exact same NAFTA plan with Mexico and Canada. We want an end to environmental destruction, healthcare for all working people, and more control over corporations eit-----her side of the border. When governors of Clinton's era say "Educational Cutbacks!", students should shout "Fight Back!" When they imprison political refugees and immigrants, activists will demand that they be set free! While Clinton talks about the homeless, we must fight to save their shelters. If he wants students to work for their student loans and grants, then why not give them jobs organizing to empower people to control their own lives, schools, and neighborhoods instead of governments and corporations setting the agendas? We should challenge the College Democrats to become activists and not just cheer leaders. If their group is active on campus, then they should join the PSN and discuss what they are doing to change things. We are open to all sorts of political views. If their group isn't active, then individuals should quit and start PSN chapters. Either that or they will be left behind by those who want real change. Today's choices affect tommorow The future of the PSN is this. We need to organize and fight. We need to build on our successes, no matter how small. We also need to understand our failures, which harden us, and then move on. Above all, we need to win. If we do not have successes now, we will be sorry in the future. Very sorry. Not just for ourselves, but for all those who are negatively affected by the structure of U.S. society, especially those at the bottom. Winning our struggles on the campuses can only help empower others. When we leave the campuses there are other struggles where we are wanted.