The great student riots of 2008

In the spring of 2008 campuses all over the country exploded in political protest. Riots spread like wildfire, and creative students built barricades of tables, vending machines and arming themselves with molotovcoctails and general kitchenwear found on campus.

The first buildings they occupied, was the server and computer labs, and from there coordinated their actions. In Østfold, they painted the glass walls and brick buildings with slogans of politcal dissent, and set up watches with web cameras and sensors on the roof of the university college.

The leaders of the riots said to the press, via video interviews, that they will not give in, that the demands must be met, and that the educational system..

is going down the drain anyway, and does it matter if we paint the school fluorecent green? It should not blend into the environment, it should be a beacon, the spokesman said. They say that the local, national and international leaders cannot ignore the world wide actions of students- there’s a lot of us, said an anonomous spokesman in the student pub. And we’re supposed to run this country eventually. For how long can you ignore your successors?

The riot police were deployed, and high pressure water and mustard gas was used against the students. This caused an outcry, as this is prohibited by the Geneva convention, but the police defend the use, saying it was a neccesary measure against aggressive and rampaging students (certain parts of the Geneva Convention has been ignored by most signatories since implemented in 1925). A few rounds of rubber bullets was fired, as students tried to occupy the local newspaper. Setting fire to a number of cars, the black plumes of burning vehicles drifted over town for over a week.
Some of the college staff joined the students. As one professor said: this has been a long time coming. The government have not taken education or the students seriously, or seen what’s cooking on their own doorstep. It’s suprising who will listen, as soon as you break a few windows and hurl some cobblestones. And if someone is to protest inequalities, who else but students?

yeah, right.

Here is the alternative version of what happened in spring 2008:
The students, not arguing about much, created no ripples. Being too concerned about who had what software, what gadget, and wienging about dismal student loans, there was no detectable interest in social equality, global commitment or political insight. They kept slouching around in the corridors, moaning about lectures, and generally had their noses stuck in their own private virtual world. Nothing to report, except a stunning amount of cars, at such a small university college.