engaged activists (p52). Myers demonstrates how participation often gave a generation of students a unique sense of political agency, and the ability or at least the desire to create a… Click to show full abstract
engaged activists (p52). Myers demonstrates how participation often gave a generation of students a unique sense of political agency, and the ability or at least the desire to create a form of politics that was not bound to existing organizing cultures and practices (p106– 137). On the other hand, the book also includes testimonials of political alienation and a sense of despair by some interviewees, stemming from both the movement’s inability to achieve its aims and participants’ experiences of police violence and repression (p71–106). The breadth of different perspectives allows Myers to add to the understanding of how the movement failed to achieve its primary goals, and how this failure affected its participants in a multitude of different ways (p137–165). Participants’ differing interpretations of the movement, its tactics, and its meaning also depended on their relational position to it. Myers unearths a set of tensions and fractures that existed within a movement around political philosophy, organisational authority (between the National Union of Students and spontaneous student collectives and participants in occupations), and tactics which at surface level tend to be obscured; especially when viewed from an historic perspective by those who did not participate. The book highlights how social movements, by politically shaping and socialising their participants, create social change outside of their primary goals and lifespan. For those studying social movements Student Revolt also provides a valuable history of a significant moment in UK politics through first-hand accounts. Those working in the further and higher education sectors may find the book of particular interest, given that at the time of writing there is growing acknowledgement of the untenable nature of the current financial model that the movement revolted against. Student activists past, present and future will also find the book of interest, as well as the 2010 generation itself. Student Revolt provides a detailed, much needed and cathartic debrief of the 2010 UK student protests.
               
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