Pakistan students fight to unionize

PAKISTAN, December 18—Thousands of students marched with red flags on the streets in fifty-one cities across the country demanding to form student unions.  Progressive Labor Party is striving to bring more people close to our communist politics. A worker-student alliance is a building block of a pro-communist idea.
Progressive unions banned
General Zia ul Haq banned the right to unionize in 1984. Before that, union activities were managed by the state to spread unrest and a war-like situation among the different student’s organizations in mid 80s. This was to show that students were creating unrest in the campuses therefore it was imperative to ban their politics. Religious and pro-capitalist student organizations were used to attack the members of progressive student organizations. At that time, these religious student organizations used to spread fundamentalism in the campuses to produce the support for the U.S. in Afghanistan, which was difficult for them in the presence of the strong progressive student’s organizations. This ban was just for progressive students organizations because rightists were functioning in the campuses and also using all the resources of universities for their own activities.
Anti-progressive, anti-communist
More than 12 student organizations decided to hold rallies, including the Progressive Students Collective and Student Action Committee.Their demands include the restoration of students unions, raising awareness about the persisting educational crisis in Pakistan and against the harassment at the campuses, tuition fee hike, lack of hostel and laboratory facilities, and religious fundamentalism in the campuses. Overall, students are demanding a conducive educational environment, which cannot be a possibility under a system that is based on exploitation and inequality. Capitalism can never provide that.
Anti-progressives are not happy. Among many allegations leveled against the fighting students was that they were “driven by foreign powers” and were “being misused for someone’s vested interests.”  Eyebrows were also raised over how people from all walks of life turned the country red—red clothing, holding red posters, raising full-throated slogans against the system, and waving red flags.
Red Scare is still prevailing in Pakistan; after the march, all the TV channels (mouthpieces of bosses) are talking to curb these reds.
Student-worker solidarity
In these marches, we saw a unity between workers and students, which is threatening to the bosses.  A united working class can that rise up against unemployment, exploitation, and terrorism, and can organize to build a revolutionary communist movement to destroy the capitalist system.
It is up to PLP to recruit workers and students to a communist outlook and a lifetime of communist organizing. These student struggles to unionize can be schools for communist politics. Read CHALLENGE as part that schooling.