Thursday, May 03, 2007

Weapons of Crass Destruction

'CRASS' as defined by the on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary :
Pronunciation: 'kras'
Function: adjective
a: having or indicating such grossness of mind as precludes delicacy and discrimination
b : being beneath one's dignity
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I think anyone living in Ghana would have been shocked by the headlines in Monday's (April 30th) papers. As the Daily Graphic graphically stated , the Legon Campus had been 'shit-bombed'! Without getting into the details of what was smeared where - after all the headlines speak for themselves - suffice to say that this was really the last form of terror attack I would have anticipated.

Trouble had been brewing for some time now as the students have been protesting about a residential policy on campus. It seems as if rooms are only available for the first year students, after which individuals had to find accommodation of their own. Not an easy task in a city of four million, and where rent is usually paid one or two years in advance depending on how lucky or unlucky you are. The students had been protesting for sometime now with several demonstrations, including a visit to the 'Castle' ( seat of the President).

The reports in the papers mention several student-led committes actively seeking to have the policy revoked. The names themselves are interesting - Crisis Committee, The Progressive Movement for Change (PMC), Mass Resistance Committee (MRC), and the Militant African Youth Against Neocolonialism (MAYAN). I guess the MAYANs are really seriously named, having issued death threats to lecturers and 'mayhem' if the policy was not revoked - that was front page news earlier last week.

It's a sad situation really. On one hand while I can support and empathise with the students, on the other, I must say they lost my support with their 'bombings'. Pity they couldn't have choosen another tactic as a protest.

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