“The students are the Revolution”… Well… I must confess that I never liked that slogan before. It is logical that I have certain reserve to the word “Revolution” itself but if we are talking about a change on making things, about a new hope of staying in the country and make a future in it, about a new generation with a more politically developed conscience; then the students might be the Revolution. Also, if the students (from the White Hand movement) are the revolution, this means they can’t stay forever. And I certainly don’t want them to stay forever. Isn’t it funny that I waited five years for this and now I’m wishing their end? Well, the truth is that its not my desire to see my kids painting their hands with white painting as I did because they can’t do it for the same reasons, because it would mean that the kids of this country still have to fight for the things we should take for granted and I certainly don’t want that for the future generations.
I trust the movement to only last the necessary time to achieve their goals, or to build the field that allows other generations to achieve them in a different way, in case we fail. I would rather see the movement as a platform to reach higher things than as end itself. From this movement even when you stop seeing kids with their white hands can come out interesting things for my country’s political scene.
I’m talking about political parties, or current political parties seeing their structure modify; more elaborated projects, political leaders and so on. Those can be works to see in the future by students who once belong to the movement. Like one of my friends and member of the movement told me the other day I ran with him in campus: “Politics is like a bad habit, like a bag of Tostitos… once you taste it… you can’t leave it behind”.
I think there’s something good to be expected from a generation (not just a few brilliant kids) who sees politics like something as normal and “tasty” as a Tostitos bag and not as something you have to run from it. And that’s really some Revolution for a country like this one, were ever since I have any memory, politics have been seeing as a virus you must run away from it .
That’s the only conclusion I can make out of this story. I bet the reader can make many more.
Last but no least I must clarify that since this is MY story of the White Hand (student) movement, this is pretty much the story of how the White Hand (student) movement developed inside my university: UCAB.I thought this could be taken from granted at the minute I put this as “my” story, but later I had doubts about my assumptions.
The movement has grown strong at other universities but I don’t think I have the authority or the knowledge to speak about them, because the varieties of universities in Venezuela that belong to the movement have very different inside dynamics.
Plus, in order to defend my story I must say that there’s a lot of UCAB in the way the White Hand (student) movement was conceived and I think my university it’s a key piece to understand the movement.
At the end this is my blog and I wanted to stay attached to its nature of not being absolute, just personal.