Plural: Students, Lots of Students, a Problem, a Serious Problem

For some reason, from the perspective of authoritarian governments, the gradation of the word student proceeds in exactly the same way—not only in the Western world and not only long, long ago (in 1968, for example), but also today in places beyond the reach of Erasmus (such as Iran and Chile): student kid, student, students, lots of students, a problem, a serious problem. 

It makes no difference whether the gradation comes from bearded ayatollahs, smiling experts who lend companies on Wall Street their solid academic knowledge, or generals of the Citizens’ Militia concerned with stabilising the climate of martial law. 

We need not like hippies or the naivety of popular culture from half a century ago. We should support the next generation of student kids who suddenly stop behaving and demand what is supposedly self-evident. They will, of course, be beaten severely for it, and this will not always be merely a colourful metaphor. For decency’s sake, it is time to learn a single word in Persian: dāneshjū.

May they succeed, even if they themselves do not entirely know at what. The world will not be worse—quite the contrary.  

Graphic: sacred signs and slogans in the background. Tehran, October 2022; Paris, May 1968; Warsaw, March 1968.