Reflections on a transformative era in global politics

We must embrace resistance through a transformative student-centred lens.

February 04, 2025
Photo by: Hannah Liddle

We find ourselves amid a defining year in North America, a time when profound themes such as immigration, genocide, global conflict, and heightened political polarization demand urgent reflection and action. This prompts a critical question:  

How can our institutions function as venues for meaningful reflection and dialogue for today’s intricate issues and uncomfortable truths? 

I refrain from proposing oversimplified solutions; instead, I will highlight the disjunction when institutions fail to engage with and consider students’ perspectives directly impacted by these issues. As a leader in higher education, I have witnessed the profound impact of this disconnect firsthand. Institutions are no longer demarcated by their physical boundaries; their influence extends beyond spatial limits. In my discussions with students, the institution is no longer seen as a place for meaningful engagement on global issues but as a site of resistance.  

In his recent publicly available lecture on race and freedom, Homi Bhabha questions why society and its institutions are unprepared in response to social justice issues expanding across decades. For instance, we are familiar with the patterns of ethnonationalism, censorship and how minorities are often blamed for societal distrust. Yet, despite understanding structural and systemic issues, institutions remain unprepared – both in how we respond and in our ability to take social responsibility. I have become increasingly concerned about the “unpreparedness” and even more about the safety of colleagues and students, whose active resistance (such as speaking out publicly and protesting) is often met with disciplinary measures. These challenges require us to reflect on the social and political climates of our campuses and to do this; we must witness the resistance through a transformative student-centred lens.  

Students as active agents of resistance  

I have worked with students, helping them advocate for change. Their resistance to institutions in the form of protests and encampments is a visceral response to both the local and global silence and inaction. Indeed, ideas, no matter how productive or ambivalent, cannot be sanitized, co-opted or watered down to fit palatable, neoliberal frameworks; instead, these ideas explode in the hands of students – creating intellectual tension, disrupting conventional thinking and provoking uncomfortable reflection on the systems that perpetuate inequality, violence and exploitation.  

This active resistance must be viewed as an opportunity for campuses to become fertile grounds for critical thinking and societal change. This means rejecting the urge to contain, sanitize, or depoliticize ideas for comfort or stability. Instead, we must allow our students to wield ideas as tools of resistance – tools that challenge the structures that seek to silence them. 

Indeed, the issues mentioned above, long-simmering beneath the surface, now stand exposed, revealing uncomfortable truths about the interplay of barbarism and civilization – tightened immigration, genocide, global conflict, and heightened political polarization – forces that, despite their seeming opposition, continue to co-exist and influence one another in unsettling ways. This is not simply a return of past grievances; instead, we are witnessing these issues undergo radical transformations, shaping our understanding of history and the present in which it appears. The global stage is replete with tension and contradiction: nations grapple with complex humanitarian crises; political factions adopt increasingly polarized stances, sometimes at the expense of democratic ideals; economic systems oscillate between neoliberal extremes and reform. These contradictions are not incidental but are deeply embedded in the structures of power, identity and culture that continue to shape our world. 

Activating truth to power 

For scholars, educators and practitioners, this moment is both a crisis and an opportunity. As we navigate global fissures, we must recognize that our work does not occur in a vacuum. We are continually exposed to the shifting landscape of geopolitics, social movements and ideological battles. Some of us, particularly those engaged in international education, critical pedagogy and social justice, take on invisible labour – advocating for voices forced into marginalization, challenging entrenched power structures, and striving to bring truth to power

However, it is not enough to challenge external systems of oppression without also addressing the internal dynamics that perpetuate exclusion, inequity and stagnation. Our institutions – whether universities, think tanks, or policy organizations – must be spaces where diverse voices are heard and actively supported. This is where the role of students, often at the forefront of advocacy, becomes crucial. Their voices, informed by lived experiences and a keen understanding of global injustices, offer invaluable insights to guide us in our scholarship and practice. We must be willing to question deeply held assumptions and engage in difficult conversations about power, unpreparedness and silence, and the future we are creating.  

Now knowledge, not new knowledge 

Societal recognition of the temporal disjunction of barbarism and civilization depends on students’ activated knowledge. Now knowledge, not new knowledge, confronts this desire for idealism and reconstructs barbarism anew. However, now knowledge is under increasing strain as political polarization intensifies and attacks on academic freedom and critical thinking proliferate across various societies. The erosion of democratic norms, fueled by populist rhetoric and institutionalized inequality, threatens the very foundation of emancipatory potential. 

While I don’t have a comprehensive list of actions to suggest, nor do I want to oversimplify the task, witnessing and listening are crucial. This can be done in the following ways: 

  • Embrace disruption: View student resistance and disruptive ideas as opportunities for institutional growth rather than threats to stability. 
  • Facilitate student engagement: Create platforms for students to voice concerns safely without risk and engage in meaningful dialogue on global issues.  
  • Integrate global issues into services: Ensure student services foster critical inquiry, challenge power structures and address systemic inequalities. 
  • Reflect on institutional practices: Assess and confront your institutions’ role in perpetuating societal issues, ensuring they don’t simply observe but actively address them. 

Above all, we need to reframe student resistance as not only a response to national and global issues but as the outcome of unresponsiveness and the politics of unpreparedness. 

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