Nex Benedict, a gender non-conforming youth, was bullied and knocked down in their school restroom hitting the back of their head on the floor. They died the next day. Demonstrations against bullying and in support of LGBTQ+ youth followed. Nex’s mother said the bullying became worse after anti-Trans legislation was passed in Oklahoma showing the known relationship between those two events.
On Nov. 21, 2021, a student shot dozens of their peers in an Oxford, Mich., High School, killing four. Two years later the surviving students demand the resignation of the board members who didn’t do anything for their safety.
Students in Pine Ridge, S.D., changed their school’s name to Maȟpíya Lúta, after the Oglala Lakota leader who defeated a contingent of the U.S. Army in 1866.
Takes up: students at 300 schools in 42 states and D.C. participated in a national walkout against gun violence on April 5; at Boston University’s commencement ceremony on May 21 students booed the CEO and president of Warner Brothers, whose one year salary exceeds the sum of raises demanded by his 11,000 writers who are now on strike; and after days of protesting, grad students in Delhi, India, succeeded in blocking a 200% tuition hike at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Students from 47 schools in Iowa walk out of class on March 1 to protest “Don’t Say Gay” bills; state legislatures are rolling back child labor laws; Scottish youth protest cuts to a youth assistance and engagement program.
Takes up: graduate researchers and academic student employees’ strike of the University of California’s campuses won a contract on Dec. 23, 2022; Students at Benito Juarez Community Academy in Chicago walked out of class on Dec. 19, 2022, to protest gun violence; and DACA recipients and other young in Phoenix, Arizona, made 60,000 phone calls and knocked on 4,000 doors to pass ballot measure 308.
U. of Florida students protest choice of reactionary Ben Sasse as university president; Virginia high school students protests anti-Trans plan; Greek students protest police sent onto campuses by the government.
A high school protest in Denton, Texas; a demonstration in Lindblom Academy in Chicago; a protest in Oklahoma against dress codes; a students’ occupation at Marquette University, and the creation of a woman-friendly, LGBTQ+ inclusive skate crew in Chicago.
High schoolers refuse to live in fear of being gunned down at school; Fridays 4 Future “dies in” to shame carbon-happy Wall St. financiers; teenager highlights Palestinian human rights at Tel Aviv Pride.
Takes up: student workers at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, who struck on March 3 to protest the elimination of a farm residency program; graduate students at Indiana University went on strike April 13 for better wages, benefits, and to stop fee hikes, and for recognition of their union; and on April 25, about 20 students at Tufts U. held a protest against General Dynamics recruiting on campus.
Students at West Virginia University, Harvard and Stanford, among others, held protests and rallies against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition, college students picketed the office of Illinois Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley on March 4 to protest an $8,000 campaign contribution from weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
Youth in Action on militant demonstrations against the military in Myanmar; students walked out of class at Chicago high school over racism; and the marking of the ninth anniversary of the gruesome murders in Paris of three Kurdish women activists.
Young immigration activists confront Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to demand she uphold campaign promises; protests against racially biased enforcement of the student dress code in Richardson, Texas; and the demonstration marking the two-year anniversary of the uprising led by students in Chile.
Youth in several Afghan cities resist Taliban; young Colombians become “First Liners” in resistance actions; high school students march in Los Gatos, Calif., and Ninnekah, Okla., to protest schools’ negligence regarding sexual abuse and harassment.
On June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, thousands of Chinese students protested a government plan to merge private colleges with vocational schools; rural youth in eSwatini demonstrated on June 19 for the right of the people to vote for their own prime minister; and several high school graduates spoke out at graduation for an end to anti-Asian racism, the right to give your speech, not the principal’s, and for pride at being the first in your family to graduate.
Young climate activists prepare for the next UN climate change conference, COP26; the French Senate’s reactionary vote to dissolve the National Union of Students of France; youth protest a Japanese plan to dump more than 1 million tons of irradiated water from the Fukushima reactor site into the ocean; and more than 60,000 schoolchildren in Japan signed a “Stop Extreme School Rules” petition.
Young people in Tunisian streets call for jobs and relief from rising food prices; Kavi Vu and friends challenge rampant disinformation on Vietnamese language Facebook pages; 1,000 students at Columbia University withhold tuition, demanding 10% reduction in tuition, a reduction in campus police, and fossil fuel divestment.
Massive youth demonstrations oppose military rule in Thailand and dictatorship of their schools; students at Bogazici University in Istanbul march to oppose Prof. Melih Bulu’s elevation to rector by Turkey’s President Erdoğan; and rural Pakistani youth pedal 100 miles in protest of a rise in the price of flour.
Youth and others in several places in Nigeria protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who rape, extort, and otherwise abuse youth; residential advisors at several big name universities are striking over COVID-19 related issues; and students at Hong Kong Polytechnic University creatively used hundreds of padlocks hanging on a bridge to spell: “Save the 12,” referring to 12 Hong Kong youth abducted from a boat who are now being held in mainland China.
Starbucks barista fired for demanding that police also wear masks in the store; California State University in Los Angeles students rally in support of hiring organizer Melina Abdullah as Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies; Dallas, Ga., high school student suspended and threatened by classmates for taking a picture of a crowded school hallway and posting it on social media.
Girls fight dress codes in Israel; mostly young high school women speak out and plan mass demonstrations against police abuse that arose after the murder of George Floyd.
Dominican-American youth protest in New York City; Emma Theofelus, 23, Namibia’s youngest cabinet member; and Sudanese dancers, DJs, and musicians performing in public after a popular women’s and youth movement toppled the regime of al-Bashir and its “morality police.”
Youth in action column on the Valentine’s Day’s Fridays 4 Future and Climate Strike protests, and the student group Teens Take Charge’s actions against segregation in New York schools.
The students’ strike at Syracuse University; the attacks of pro-Iran militias against demonstrations in Nasiriya, Iran, and the U.S. Youth Climate Strike.
Youth in Action column on protests by Papuan students in Jakarta; an appeal by youth to “Save DACA in the Supreme Court now!” during the Sept. 12 presidential debate in Houston, and the national student strike for the climate on Sept. 20 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Moroccan medical students boycott their exams; boys in a New Zealand rugby team’s solidarity for the team’s one girl; and a high school senior makes a documentary film about the protest against a U.S. Navy base on Okinawa.
Students protest in Brazil; students protest in Spain; and a sit-in at Princeton University’s Title IX administration against the way the university adjudicates reports of sexual assault.
School students in Oakland, Calif. support striking teachers; Belgian environment minister resigns after attacking Strike 4 Climate Action; high school students walk out in Vancouver, Canada, protesting tar sands; medical students’ direct action at Gandaki Medical College in Pokhara, Nepal, against tuition theft.
Peking University Marxist Society students protest to support their detained club president; student workers at Grinnell College vote to be represented by a union; and a movement against climate change started by three Australian high school girls has spread to students in Japan, the UK, U.S. and Belgium.
Yale Law School students sit in to protest the rush to confirm Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court; three Australian eighth-graders boycott school over plan to open coal mines on indigenous land overlooking the Great Barrier Reef; and California high school students attend school board meetings en masse to demand the right of 16-18 year olds to vote in school board elections.
University of North Carolina students and workers bring down statue of generic Confederate soldier; Swedish pro-asylum student Elin Errson prevents deportation of Afghan refugee; Iraqi youth and women protest unemployment, electricity shortages and lack of clean water.
Youth in action column on a student demonstration in Delhi, India; a student rally against the alt-Right at Michigan State University, and revolt in Nicaragua headed by students.
Nearly 1,000 college-age youth jammed the street in front of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) in Delhi when official questions to exams were found on social media on Feb. 28.
Youth in action in Bayonne High School in New Jersey, Independence, Mo., Venice High School in Calif., Vernon Township High School in New Jersey and in Charlotte, N.C.
March-April 2017 Youth in Action column, including reports on youth activities in Minneapolis, New York City, Kerala (India) and Tehran.
Student journalists at the University of Kentucky targeted for publicizing a professor’s sexual misconduct towards a student; protests against racism at Cornell University; Maryland middle school students’ creative protest against sexist dress codes; Fees Must Fall Movement in South Africa continues shutting down Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
International look at youth activism including the Fees Must Fall movement in South Africa; students at Boston College rallying against an anti-gay atmosphere; the CDC leaving out Transgender students in a survey on suicide; and Native American youth protesting polluted water in the Klamath Strait Drain in Oregon.
A look at youth activism including factory workers protest the murder of child laborer Sagar Barman; women’s skateboard team Las Brujas finds creative ways to fight male domination in the sport of skateboarding; Helena High School students supporting Kaitlyn Juvik in her right to choose not to wear a bra; and activists who protested two years ago in Hong Kong for freer elections are sentenced and vow to continue the struggle.
A roundup of youth activism worldwide including hunger striking students at Tufts Univ., students at Rio Grand High School protesting standardized tests, students in Puerto Rico marching against the government cutting education, and more.
