Bringing back unions

Periodically, politicians float the idea of repealing the ban on student unions, promulgated by dictator Ziaul Haq in 1984. The last to do so, in fact in his inaugural speech as prime minister, was Yousuf Raza Gilani – but his proposal fell by the wayside. At a recent seminar in Karachi, the International Youth and Workers Movement once again presented all the reasons why there is a need to lift the ban. Zia had used the pretext of violence to outlaw student unions although his real aim was to stifle dissent from those who are politically active. The violence excuse doesn’t hold much weight since the student groups of political parties are all active on campus and have never shied away from violence. Many of our most seasoned politicians got their start in student unions and groups like the National Students Federation in the 1960s and the People’s Student Federation in the 1970s and 1980s, and were at the forefront of the protests against military rule. Restoring student unions would be the ideal way to nurture the next generation of politicians and show them that brute force alone does not a politician make.

In a way, the enforced withering of student unions is a reflection of how workers unions in the country as a whole have been decimated. Unions were opportunistically weakened by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and then ideologically destroyed by every government that followed. As we have followed the neoliberal path, the idea of strikes, collective bargaining and restricting the power of capital have come to be seen as quaint. Government unions still retain more power than those in the private sector but even they have been ineffectual in stemming the privatisation tide. And, as we saw in the killings of striking PIA workers in Karachi earlier this year, the state will not refrain from using violence to get its way. The official narrative now portrays workers as little more than leeches who use political connections to get cushy jobs. The reality of labour and the plight it faces has been erased. Bringing back student unions would be one small way to show that citizens still have a right to organise and demand change. Student unions have been present for every worthy battle fought in the country’s history. To keep a check on tyranny in all its forms, unions need to be strengthened again.