The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
October 19, 2019

Over the last couple of days, the Internet, at least the Liberian version of it, has been flooded with news about student demonstrations in Monrovia. There are various reports and punditry describing the police as “brutal” in its attempt to quell or contain the crises. It seems to be an open and shut case that the police over-reacted in its use of violence against the kids. Little, if any blame is laid at the feet of students for their part. But in the interest of fairness, we must ‘call a spade a spade’ whenever necessary; and this is such a time.

Liberia must not be looked at in isolation but compared to other places around the world. In the year 2018 alone, there were several major strikes by teachers in the United States (Arizona, Colorado, California, North Carolina, Oklahoma and West Virginia). Today, there is a major teacher strike in the City of Chicago, Illinois, making national headlines. In addition to those many strikes by teachers and their organizations against the various school boards and other stakeholders, there have been numerous other labor strikes by auto workers and others… In none of such strikes have students taken to the streets to force a confrontation with the police. Unfortunately, that was the case in Monrovia.

The Global Climate Strike, led by the 16-year-old activist, Greta Thunberg, has drawn millions of students around the world, including Australia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Germany, the UK, and even Kenya. They have been leaving their classes, mainly on Fridays, calling for action to combat climate change. None of their actions have resulted into a violent clash with the police.

I argue that as long as students don’t have legal contracts, they have no legal basis for which to demonstrate in the public space at the risk of creating a public hazard. Teachers have contracts and do rightfully have grounds to express grievances against the government and other employers; those rights do not necessarily extend to students.

A colleague counter-argued that the students do have a legal basis for the action because they do suffer the consequences of their teachers’ absences from the classrooms resulting in their loss of something of value --- their right to an education. Well, if that is the case, could the argument be made that the wives of teachers, auto workers and all others who strike against their employers have the right to demonstrate publicly because the actions of employers cause their families to lose money? Do the wives of laid-off auto workers have the right to demonstrate because their husbands are denied paychecks? If you answer no, then there goes your defense for the students.

What has been happening in Liberia (we saw the same thing happen in Harper at the WVS Tubman University) is unacceptable behavior. Students should not be allowed to take to the streets to challenge authorities whenever they feel a desire to do so. All actions have consequences. For example, we may look at police actions to restrain them as excessive, or even brutal or violent… but what is the alternative when left unattended or unabated? Don’t they, in turn, tend to create chaos and pose dangers to others in the public space?

This, in my view, creates a catch-22, a classic dilemma. Should the police allow the students to run wild because they have rights that allow them to do as they please? Or should the police, who have a responsibility to protect the public, do their due diligence and quell rowdy behavior by the students in due course? That is our conundrum. We do ourselves a disservice if we overlook the enormity of the issue facing us and blame it on our political enemies. We cannot solve the problem until we correctly define and dissect it. Students must not be used for political gamesmanship; it is one step away from creating child soldiers. It leads the society into a state of anarchy. We must either respect the police in preserving law and order or accept total anarchy. The choice should be clear.

---