Riot police using tear gas, pepper spray, and physical force to control radical protesters - this was the image of chaos that captured the public's attention at the WTO Conference in Seattle in 1999. College students played a major role in those protests, which are now referred to as "The Battle of Seattle." Nationally, college students are both famous and infamous for their student activism. There are 60,000 college students in Pittsburgh, and there is no consensus about whether the "Battle of Seattle" will have a rerun on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh at the G-20 Conference on September 24-25.
"There will be some people who just want to join in on chaos," said Anna Siegel, a national board member of a student anti-genocide group that is organizing political protests for the G-20. "Others who are politically minded will want to use this as an awareness raising platform for their advocacy issue." Given the students’ reputation for rioting and destruction - notably the six-figure clean up cost for the Super Bowl victory riot in Oakland this past January - the fear that university students will turn a peaceful protest into a violent one is a serious concern.
According to Ron Benet, a spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh, the university is "prepared for the arrival of the G-20 delegates and protesters, and coordinating with all law enforcement agencies in preparation." Though the details of how the university is preparing remain a secret, it is clear that it is getting ready for what could be a volatile protest.
The G-20 conference, with its focus on global financial stability, will certainly interest a broad collection of college students. Jordan Romanus, a senior at Pitt and a member of Students for Radical Change, says his group's main focus for the protest will be, "gender and social inequality, and particularly focused on trade agreements and other economic aspects." He added that his group as a whole is against violence and that he predicts that it's going to be a peaceful protest.
One thing is for certain: the media spotlight will always focus on the most violent and radical protesters and treat the most peaceful protesters as less newsworthy. Therefore, to determine the character of this generation’s political activism, news watchers will have to pay attention to how little the protesters make the news, as well as how much.
