Conclusion: Some Final Lessons
摘要
This conclusion briefly examines the Spring 2024 pro-Palestinian encampments across Canada to highlight key lessons for on-campus organizing. It argues that: (1) students, even in seemingly quiet and conservative eras, regularly mobilize collective action to effect progressive social change; (2) campaigns are grounded in ill-defined but ubiquitous notions of democracy and human rights; (3) movements attempt to change the local environment but also use the power and influence of the institution to influence broader discussions and debates; (4) they tend to employ both non-disruptive and disruptive tactics meant to make inaction politically and practically difficult; (5) the neoliberal era has limited opportunities for once tolerated student upheavals as administrators and governments increasingly repress dissent on- and off-campus; and (6) student movements remain on the forefront of efforts to create a better, more equitable, just, and democratic world.