Editor,
Student unrest is no stranger to nations, from India and Albania to Belgium, Serbia, Spain, Portugal and Italy. While such political upheavals may prove fleeting in one country, they may shake the very foundations of political authority. The common thread is often the erosion of institutional credibility, when public institutions become playthings of political vagaries.
To dismiss these protests as mere revolt against the government is to mistake the shadow for the substance. They represent a generational reckoning—a trial by fire for institutions entrusted with public faith. The disproportionate use of State force against students may add fuel to the flames, transforming limited agitation into anti-government movements and, ultimately, civil disorder.
These upheavals must also be viewed against sluggish economic growth, rising unemployment and mounting fiscal constraints. Where corporate tax cuts fail to yield commensurate investment, employment and public revenue, disillusionment deepens. When economic anxiety converges with institutional distrust, the Governments must remember: to mistake the silence of the young for consent is to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Shahin Yusuf
Guwahati
Assam
