1. Introduction

It comes with great sadness that I begin this article by mourning the death of my schoolmate. William Mayange, who went to Our Lady of Mercy Ringa Boys High School, was a third-year student at Maseno University at the time of his demise. He lost his life during the anti-government Azimio la Umoja One Kenya demonstrations on 20th March 2023. He was shot in the neck when protesters invaded the Maseno police line.^[1] The tragic news of his death has sent shockwaves throughout the country. As the investigation into this tragic event continues, the memory of William Mayange will be a reminder of what he died for.

However, this does not come as a surprise to most Africans, University students have been killed before. On 18th April 2001, Addis Ababa University (AAU) students organized a peaceful protest, and Ethiopian Special Forces police opened fire, leaving at least 41 persons dead and 250 injured.^[2] In 1997, Solomon Muruli was the fourth student leader to be killed by the police in Nairobi.^[3] It was suspected that the student leaders would be strong opposition leaders during President Daniel Arap Moi’s era.^[4] In 2021, confrontations between South African university students and police over tuition fees at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg led to at least one student dead and two badly hurt.^[5]

In his song Chieng Opodho (which loosely translates to the Sun is setting), Coster Ojwang^[6] says, “Life is a mystery and it can be a misery in equal measure, many times we waste our precious time complaining about things we could have had, the once we could have loved and the things we could have been and we lose focus on that which gives us purpose”. This paper seeks to understand the purpose of these students’ death. Should African University Students demonstrate? Did the above-mentioned souls die for the greater good?  Who is the enemy?

2. The history and impact of university students’ demonstrations

In the timeless words of Desmond Tutu,^[7] “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”. University students have in the past chosen sides. Their demonstrations have been a significant part of Africa’s legal and political history. Protests, often student-led, have been a response to various grievances such as rising costs of tuition, inadequate facilities, and discrimination or social injustices. After gaining independence, university students in countries including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, and Angola mobilized for change. They advocated for the decolonization, transformation, and Africanization of politics and education.^[8]

In late-colonial and newly independent Africa, university education was viewed as a tool for the development of political and social elites.^[9] In the 1960s to 1970s, according to experts of student activism, students (and their families) saw education as a method to improve their economic and social situations, as well as a chance to gain political and intellectual status, making universities crucial to processes of social stratification.^[10] During this time, there was not a single decolonization project in Africa. Students’ challenges to state authority looked very different in different countries.

This section will mention major demonstrations in Africa and how they affected African countries. For a continent connected by a history of corruption, fighting and foreign subjugation, it is difficult to cover all crucial moments of university demonstrations in one article. These are just a few highlights.

2.1‘Shama will not dance’: the University of Khartoum politics, 1964–69^[11]

“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful… This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.” Agnes De Mille.^[12] The first recorded instance of inter-student violence in Africa was at the University of Khartoum.^[13] This incident is widely known as the ‘Ajako incident’ of 1968. The event was a culmination of a dispute between the Democratic Front and the Islamic Movement over a folkloric dance recital organized by the Democratic Front as a prelude to the upcoming student union election.^[14] The Islamic Movement opposed the recital, and it eventually led to a riot in which a student was killed.

During the decolonization of Sudan, these two factions with their opposing views on whether the country should adopt a secular and socialist approach or adhere to traditional Islamic customs and values began a countrywide controversy.^[15] The controversy escalated when women publicly expressed their femininity, and tensions reached a breaking point when the Adjako women’s dance was performed in front of a mixed-gender crowd on campus.^[16] This incident marked the beginning of a period of political and social turmoil at the University of Khartoum.^[17] It is important to note that to date, the official state religion of Sudan is Islam.

2.2 Lumumba in the afterlife: the reincarnation of Congo’s original sin 

“A dead Lumumba has become infinitely more powerful than a live Lumumba.” Jawaharlal Nehru.^[18] Patrice Lumumba, who was the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) first lawfully elected prime minister, was assassinated 61 years ago. Two interconnected assassination plots by the American and Belgian governments, which employed Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad to carry out the act, culminated in this heinous crime.^[19]

Lumumba’s assassination in Congo is rightfully seen as the nation’s original sin.^[20] It occurred less than seven months after the country gained independence. It was a crushing blow to millions of Congolese people’s dreams of freedom and material success as well as a hindrance to Lumumba’s ideals of national unity, economic independence, and pan-African solidarity.^[21]

Even before his death, students threatened to transform Congo into a “second Algeria,” if the demands in a petition they wrote regarding salary equality between blacks and whites were not met.^[22] The students immediately tapped into Belgian concerns by making references to a bloody anti-colonial uprising elsewhere on the continent. Although it was the tensest incident to occur at Lovanium during the dramatic few years leading up to Congo’s freedom, it was also a relatively rare occurrence.^[23] Many students still appeared ready to debate “irrational” leaders like Lumumba by repeating the “wise advice” they had learned from their Belgian teachers.^[24]

 In Congolese society, the deceased Lumumba would continue to be divisive, but not on college campuses, where, in contrast to the General Commissioners’ Council’s actions in 1960 and 1961, his heroism gradually became accepted.^[25] In Kikwit, students at Saint-François Xavier, another Jesuit school, reacted in a radically different manner, adding a black patch to their uniforms as a sign of mourning.^[26] His passing caused informed young Congolese to reconsider what decolonization really meant.^[27] They shifted their ideologies to the left. A generation that opposed President Mobutu Sese Seko’s authoritarian authority was shaped by this in terms of beliefs and behaviours.^[28]

2.3 “Guza serikali uone”; General Service Unit (GSU) v Kenyan university students

When Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice president and subsequently the opposition leader, was denied permission to deliver a lecture at the University of Nairobi in 1969, there was a violent confrontation between students and the authorities.^[29] Due to what they perceived as a violation of their scholastic freedom, students demonstrated by skipping class. In order to put an end to the boycott, the General Service Unit (GSU), which is a paramilitary division of the Kenya Police Service, was sent to the school right away.^[30] This led to violent clashes. This incident was among the first to draw attention to the fact that demands made by university students to the establishment included the freedoms of assembly, expression, and association—essential components of a healthy democracy.^[31]

Students also demonstrated in October 1979 over the exclusion of Kenyan politician Oginga Odinga and all other KPU candidates from the then-forthcoming parliamentary elections in December 1979.^[32] Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s reinstatement as a university literature lecturer was another demand made by the students.^[33] Ngugi was detained by the Kenyatta administration two years prior, and despite being released in December 1978 along with other detainees, he was not permitted to return to his position at the University of Nairobi.^[34] Because he planned a community theatre in his home village of Kamirithu in Limuru, the Moi administration once more imprisoned him.^[35]

Less than two weeks after the start of the new academic year, President Moi reacted by closing the university and ordering that the “Christmas vacation,” which was supposed to last nine weeks, be brought foward. Six students were dismissed at the conclusion of the break due to their participation in the protest. Additionally, the Student Organization of the Nairobi University (SONU), which was the forerunner of the NOSU, was disbanded in 1979.^[36]

2.4 #FeeMustFall #RhodesMustFall #EverythingMustFall: Education is not a privilege, colonialism is the cousin of slavery

“They fear you because you are young. They fear you because you are the future. How fearful they must be that they shoot you children. How powerful you must be that they fear you so much. You are powerful because you are the generation that will be free. The violence, the beatings, the torture, the killings; all this is the birth pain of our free nation. Please God, may I live to see it.”David Manqele-Sarafina! (1992).^[37]

In South Africa, it is not only leftist or progressive activities that require intellectuals and students to apply idealistic ideals to politics. Instead, from the standpoint of right-wing or reactionary principles, intellectuals and students may criticize the status quo and argue for a more pure society.^[38]

In October 2015, Wits University saw the emergence of Fees Must Fall.^[39] It was foreshadowed by the Rhodes Must Fall movement, which sought to decolonize the University of Cape Town (UCT) through the removal of a monument of Cecil Rhodes, an imperialist from the 20th century.^[40] Fees Must Fall and Rhodes Must Fall shared more than just a name: to the student demonstrators, exorbitant fees, like colonial statues, symbolised black exclusion in a democratic South Africa in all its manifestations. Thus, the two campaigns have come to be known as the “Must Fall” organization, which is pushing the “Fallism” agenda.^[41]

The then President, Zuma declared on December 16 that the government would fund higher education beginning in 2018. After changing the definition of “poor and working-class students,” he declared, “the government will now offer fully funded free higher education and training for poor and working-class South African undergraduate students, beginning in 2018 with students enrolled in our public universities’ first years of study.^[42]

With the removal of the large statue of Cecil Rhodes from the University of Cape Town a month after the campaign began, the first of these battles ended quickly in victory. The most recent battle ended in disappointment due to Oxford University’s resistance to taking down the statue of Rhodes at Oriel College, where it still stands.^[43]

3. The distinctiveness of student activism

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead.^[44]

In response to shifting political, social, and economic conditions, African university students have historically engaged in political action. Their protests have occasionally had a significant impact on the national scene. While using highly spatialized tactics, student activism has received little to no attention.^[45] This paper argues that student activism deserves attention since it cannot be understood via the prisms of “new” social movements or “old” school, labour-based political action.^[46] Students constitute a distinct group, sharing traits of both and evolving through time.^[47]

Students in Africa have frequently considered themselves as a vanguard, standing up for the rights of farmers and workers.^[48] African students are not, however, categorically positioned as subaltern actors.^[49] Marxistically speaking, they do not make up a social class and already enjoy or will soon acquire material privilege. While capable of inspiring their governments to perform valiant acts of resistance, they can only bring about democratic change in concert with organized labor.^[50]

Even though students are a unique population, student activism and its affiliation with other types of activism evolve over time and geography.^[51] Changes in the political and economic climate affect students’ concerns as well as their prospects.^[52] A relational approach to the spatiality of resistance is supported by students’ equivocal position, which challenges conceptualizations of power and resistance.^[53]

4. The role of African student movements in the political and social evolution of Africa

Between 1935 and 1975, the African people learned to live under foreign authority while fighting against the excesses of colonial occupation, taking part in World War II, battling for their nation’s independence, and creating nation-states with modern economies and cultures.^[54] Therefore, the task of the African student movements was to find the best form of organization, not only to defend the material and moral interests of their members, as any union must, but also and above all to fight against the general situation of depersonalization and deculture, to support, uphold, and make known the African peoples’ struggle for emancipation, as well as to expose and denounce all forms of domination imposed on the peoples by the colonialists.^[55]

Young people in African universities required student newspapers that would publish at reasonably regular intervals to carry out these objectives, and these emerged especially after 1954.^[56] They included L’étudiant d’Afrique noire (that of FEANF), Dakar-étudiant (the publication of the Union Générale des Etudiants d’Afrique de l’Ouest, UGEAO), and others.^[57]

With each passing year, the student press gained more influence and developed into a potent tool for political education, student activism, and news dissemination about the struggles of the African peoples and other current revolutionary movements.^[58]

The student movement also helped to resolve disputes between leaders, people, and interests by bridging organizational differences.^[59] It resulted in the formation of a wide front that brought together movements of students, youth, women, labor unions, and political parties. Placing the struggles’ shortcomings and temporary setbacks in their socio-historical framework helped put them in proper perspective.^[60] By demonstrating that they were not alone, insignificant, or helpless in the face of the repression they were experiencing, the student movements inspired militants and leaders who were ready, willing, and able to resist and battle.^[61]

This is clearly supported by the declarations, general policy resolutions, and other policy documents created by student movement congresses and boards of administration, as well as by the opening and closing addresses and other significant reports prepared for such meetings.^[62] These texts examined the experiences of oppressed peoples and kept African militants updated about global events.^[63] They also made it possible for student groups to express their solidarity with African militants, and their “active solidarity” with Asia, the Americas, and Europe’s working class and youth. The movements matured over time, the analyses became more nuanced, and the slogans became more understandable.^[64] Still, the challenges and complexities of the fight demanded a higher level of clarity of thought, greater realism, and greater serenity.

The African student movements took place during a period of national upheaval when the circumstances in the world in general and in Africa in particular still favored the formation of a wide and united front against foreign dominance. Resolutions and declarations were the primary forms of expression during that time, frequently coming from the colonial cities themselves.

 Typical examples of these movements include the 1959-founded National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) and the Tanganyika African Welfare Society, both started by Makerere College students in Uganda.^[65] The Association Générale des Étudiants de Dakar (AGED), founded in 1950, which later changed its name to the Union Générale des Étudiants d’Afrique Occidentale (UGEAO) in 1956; the Association Générale des Étudiants Français en Afrique Noire (AGEFAN), founded in response to the establishment of UGEAO in Dakar; the Association Musulmane des Etudiants d’ Afrique Noire (AMEAN) and the Association. The Maghreb’s Comité de la Voix de l’Étudiant Zaytounien (CVEZ), which later became the Voix de l’Étudiant Musulman de Tunisie, was established in Tunisia in 1949. The list goes on and on.

5. Echo from the past; Modern-day African student movement^[66]

The modern-day African student movement is characterized by its use of social media and technology to mobilize and organize students across the continent.^[67] Through platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, students can share information, organize protests and campaigns, and raise awareness about issues affecting them.^[68] Social media has also enabled students to connect with each other across borders, sharing experiences, ideas, and building solidarity.^[69]

One of the main issues driving the modern-day African student movement is the high cost of education. Many students in Africa struggle to access quality education due to financial constraints.^[70] The movement has been calling for more affordable and accessible education, with some students demanding free education for all. In South Africa, for example, the #FeesMustFall movement began in 2015, calling for the government to scrap university tuition fees. The movement gained widespread support and led to significant changes in the country’s education system.^[71]

The absence of representation and inclusion in African universities is fueling the contemporary student movement. Scholars are advocating for inclusivity in higher education, specifically for the inclusion of women, people of color, and other marginalized groups in academic staff and leadership roles. Black students underrepresentation in South African universities has led to protests and calls for affirmative action measures to solve the problem.

The African student movement of today has been vocal about the need for improved accountability and representation in politics. They’re urging their governments to confront problems like violations of human rights, corruption, and democratic governance. Zimbabwe’s #ThisFlag movement, for instance, was established in 2016 specifically to address corruption and uphold democratic values. Under the leadership of a Zimbabwean pastor, the movement became immensely popular and prompted a series of protests and campaigns for reform.

Finally, the modern-day African student movement has been calling for greater social justice and equality. Students are advocating for the rights of marginalized groups such as LGBTQ+ individuals, women, and people with disabilities. In Nigeria, for example, the #EndSARS movement began in 2020, calling for an end to police brutality and for greater social justice in the country. The movement gained widespread support and led to significant changes in the Nigerian government’s approach to law enforcement.

To sum it up, the modern-day African student movement is an important force for social and political change on the continent. Through social media and technology, students are mobilizing and organizing across borders to demand more affordable and accessible education, greater diversity and inclusion in academia, greater political representation and accountability, and greater social justice and equality. The movement represents a new generation of African leaders who are committed to creating a more just and equitable continent for all.

6. The enemy within; The role of African governments in killing student activism

African governments have been using force to disperse student movements and protests, leading to injuries and deaths among protesters. The police and military are often employed for this purpose, and protesters have been arrested without due process, impeding their organizing and mobilizing efforts. This has discouraged many from standing up for their rights, causing further setbacks for the movement.

African governments stifle student movements and protests using censorship and media control. They restrict access to information and silence the media to hush the voices of protesters and limit their reach. Some have even terminated social media sites to inhibit protesters from mobilizing. This happened in Sudan in 2019,^[72] Mali and Zimbabwe in 2016.^[73][74]

African governments have also successfully oppressed student movements by restricting information flow through media censorship.^[75] This silences the voices of protesters whilst limiting their reach. In extreme cases, these governments shut down, if not targeted social media platforms, to prevent mobilization of protests.

Additionally, African governments have exploited educational institutions to quell student movements and suppress protests. State-owned universities in many countries have given the government the power to decide what is taught and who can teach it. Unfortunately, this power has been frequently abused to silence critical students and stifle dissent. The government in most African countries have suspended, or expelled students who have participated in protests. This further restricts their capability to mobilize and act.

The impact of this suppression has been significant. By stifling dissent and limiting the ability of young people to speak out against their governments,  African governments have prevented important social and political issues from being addressed. This has perpetuated the cycle of poverty and corruption in many countries and has hindered the region’s ability to develop and thrive. Moreover, the suppression of student movements and protests has resulted in a loss of trust between young people and their governments, further eroding the legitimacy of these governments.

The machinations of African governments to quash student movements and protests have been insidiously effective, combining violent force, censorship, manipulation of media channels, and strict control of educational institutions. These oppressive tactics have generated grave consequences, depriving young citizens of an active role in confronting nobly oppressive social and political conditions, multiplying poverty and corruption, and severing trust between the youth and the ruling regimes. The prospects of a democratic and transparent future for Africa lie with its leaders intentionally amplifying and promoting the voices of youth champions of positive progress. 

7. Not all heroes wear caps

It comes with great coincidence that at the time of writing this article, the University of Nairobi students, under the leadership of Joshua Okayo, threatened to have a peaceful demonstration after weeks of missing water in school. The borehole, which was the major water supplier of all campus premises broke down.  This disrupted the constant flow of water in washrooms among other key outlets at the University.

Okayo and his team wrote an email to the school informing them of a possible demonstration if the water was not fixed. The next day the school assigned a water browser to replenish overhead tanks at the hostels. The school also worked to directly connect the County water inlet to the overhead tanks. However small, we cannot overlook the efforts of such individuals. In future, they will call for what I would want to call intellectual demonstrations and university students, either on the streets or on social media, will change the country and to a larger extent, the continent.

8. Conclusion

In conclusion, may William Bangi Mayange’s soul rest in peace and his legacy live forever. He and all the other university students who die while demonstrating do not just die for the school, they die for the country and the continent. They die while trying to save Africa in a language that the African government knows best. As already demonstrated, demonstration work. I have a dream, that in the near future it will not be Julius Malema or Raila Odinga calling for demontrations to fix the gorvenment. It will be brave individuals like Joshua Okayo fighting for corruption, and all the evil historically attached to our beautiful continent.

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^[1] Aljazeera News, ‘Student Killed, 200 People Arrested in Kenya Protests – Police’ (www.aljazeera.com22 March 2023) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/21/refile-update-1-one-student-killed-200-people-arrested-in-kenya-protests-police> accessed 22 March 2023.

^[2] David Rowan, ‘Ethiopia: Students Killed in Brutal Police Attack’ (World Socialist Web Site27 April 2001) <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/04/ethi-a27.html> accessed 22 March 2023.

^[3] James C McKinley Jr, ‘Student’s Death Widens Protests in Kenya’ The New York Times (27 February 1997) <https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/27/world/student-s-death-widens-protests-in-kenya.html> accessed 22 March 2023.

^[4] Ibid

^[5] Courthouse News, ‘South African University Students Clash with Police, 1 Dead’ (10 March 2021) <https://www.courthousenews.com/south-african-university-students-clash-with-police-1-dead/> accessed 22 March 2023.

^[6] Coster Ojwang is a Kenyan artist practicing and living in Nairobi. He studied art at The Mwangaza Art School in kisumu in 2013. He graduated from the school in 2015 and immediately moved to Nairobi.

^[7] Desmond Mpilo Tutu OMSG CH GCStJ was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist.

^[8] Hodgkinson D and Melchiorre L, ‘Africa’s Student Movements: History Sheds Light on Modern Activism’ (The Conversation18 February 2019) <https://theconversation.com/africas-student-movements-history-sheds-light-on-modern-activism-111003> accessed 25 March 2023

^[9] Hodgkinson D and Melchiorre L, “Introduction: Student Activism in an Era of Decolonization” (2019) 89 Africa 1

^[10] Beckett P, ‘An African Dilemma: University Students, Development and Politics in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. By Joel D. Barkan. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1975. Pp. Xvii, 259, Tables, Figs, Appendices. £8.75.’ (1979) 49 Africa 87

^[11] Rebecca Glade, ‘“Shama Will Not Dance”: University of Khartoum Politics, 1964–69’ (2019) 89 Africa <https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B00518BA4D475318B38013962A77FC92/S0001972018000931a.pdf/shama-will-not-dance-university-of-khartoum-politics-196469.pdf> accessed 29 March 2023.

^[12] Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer.

^[13] Ibid n, 11

^[14] Ibid

^[15] Dan Hodgkinson and Luke Melchiorre, ‘Africa’s Student Movements: History Sheds Light on Modern Activism’ (The Conversation18 February 2019) <https://theconversation.com/africas-student-movements-history-sheds-light-on-modern-activism-111003> accessed 25 March 2023.

^[16] Ibid

^[17] Ibid

^[18] Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, statesman and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century.

^[19] Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, ‘Patrice Lumumba: The Most Important Assassination of the 20th Century | Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja’ (the Guardian31 May 2017) <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination>.

^[20] Ibid

^[21] Ibid

^[22] Adam Bromke and Kim Richard Nossal, ‘Tensions in Canada’s Foreign Policy’ (1983) 62 Foreign Affairs 335.

^[23] Ibid

^[24] Ibid

^[25] Pedro Monaville, ‘The Political Life of the Dead Lumumba: Cold War Histories and the Congolese Student Left’ (2019) 89 Africa.

^[26] Ibid

^[27] Ibid

^[28] Ibid

^[29] Byakika K, ‘Students in the Struggle for Kenyan Democracy’ (The Republic1 December 2021) <https://republic.com.ng/december-21-january-22/student-activism-kenya/> accessed 30 March 202

^[30] Ibid

^[31] Ibid

^[32] Maurice N Amutabi, ‘Crisis and Student Protest in Universities in Kenya: Examining the Role of Students in National Leadership and the Democratization Process’ (2002) 45 African Studies Review 157.

^[33] Ibid

^[34] Ibid

^[35] Ibid

^[36] Ibid

^[37] David Manqele is an actor known for his role as the preacher in Sarafina! (1992).

^[38] Reuters Staff, ‘One Person Killed as Police, Students Clash at South Africa’s Wits University’ Reuters (10 March 2021) <https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-safrica-education-protests-idUSKBN2B219Z>.

^[39] Ibid

^[40] Anne Heffernan, ‘Fees Must Fall: Student Revolt, Decolonisation, and Governance in South Africa / as by Fire: The End of the South African University’ (2018) 70 South African Historical Journal 434.

^[41] Ibid

^[42] Ibid

^[43] Ibid

^[44] Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s.

^[45] Ibid, n 40

^[46] Leo Zeilig and Nicola Ansell, ‘Spaces and Scales of African Student Activism: Senegalese and Zimbabwean University Students at the Intersection of Campus, Nation and Globe’ (2008) 40 Antipode 31.

^[47] Ibid

^[48] Ibid

^[49] Cefkin J L (1975) Rhodesian university students in national politics. In W J Hanna and J L Hanna (eds) University Students and African Politics (pp 141– 158). New York : Africana Publishing Company

^[50] Ibid

^[51] Ibid

^[52] Ibid

^[53] Ibid

^[54] Hakim Adi, ‘African Student Movements the Role of African Student Movements in the Political and Social Evolution of Africa from 1900 to 1975. The General History of Africa: Studies and Documents, Volume 12. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1994. Pp. 210. No Price Given, Paperback (ISBN 92-3-102804-9).’ (1995) 36 The Journal of African History 523.

^[55] PenseeCourtemanche, ‘The Role of African Student Movements in the Political and Social Evolution of Africa from 1900 to 1975/Alfâ Ibrâhîm Sow/African Student Movements and the Question of the African Revolution’ (webAfriqa1 July 2015) <https://www.webafriqa.net/library/history/the-role-of-african-student-movements-in-the-political-and-social-evolution-of-africa-from-1900-to-1975-alfa-ibrahim-sow-african-student-movements-and-the-question-of-the-african-revolution/> accessed 6 April 2023.

^[56] Ibid

^[57] Ibid

^[58] Ibid

^[59] Hakim Adi, ‘African Student Movements the Role of African Student Movements in the Political and Social Evolution of Africa from 1900 to 1975. The General History of Africa: Studies and Documents, Volume 12. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1994. Pp. 210. No Price Given, Paperback (ISBN 92-3-102804-9).’ (1995) 36 The Journal of African History 523.

^[60] Ibid

^[61] Ibid

^[62] Ibid

^[63] Ibid

^[64] PenseeCourtemanche, ‘The Role of African Student Movements in the Political and Social Evolution of Africa from 1900 to 1975/Alfâ Ibrâhîm Sow/African Student Movements and the Question of the African Revolution’ (webAfriqa1 July 2015) <https://www.webafriqa.net/library/history/the-role-of-african-student-movements-in-the-political-and-social-evolution-of-africa-from-1900-to-1975-alfa-ibrahim-sow-african-student-movements-and-the-question-of-the-african-revolution/> accessed 6 April 2023.

^[65] Ibid

^[66] Joshua Malidzo Nyawa, ‘Echo from the Past ; Reawakening Student Activism and Student Movements in Kenya’ [2020] www.academia.edu <https://www.academia.edu/34788485/Echo_From_The_Past_Reawakening_Student_Activism_And_Student_Movements_In_Kenya> accessed 10 April 2023.

^[67] Oxlund, B., 2016. # EverythingMustFall: The use of social media and violent protests in the current wave of student riots in South Africa. Anthropology Now, 8(2), pp.1-13.

^[68] Ibid

^[69] Ibid

^[70] Ibid

^[71] Ibid

^[72] AfricaNews, ‘Sudan Blocks Internet Access to Prevent Mobilisation for Protests’ (Africanews2019) <https://www.africanews.com/2019/01/03/sudan-blocks-internet-access-to-prevent-mobilisation-for-protests//> accessed 10 April 2023.

^[73] Cris Chinaka, ‘Zimbabwe’s Social Media Revolt yet to Take Root in Rural Areas’ Reuters (12 August 2016) <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-politics-socialmedia-idUSKCN10N1G0> accessed 10 April 2023.

^[74] Lily Kuo, ‘Mali Is the Latest African Country to Impose a Social Media Blackout’ (Quartz19 August 2016) <https://qz.com/africa/762082/mali-is-the-latest-african-country-to-impose-a-social-media-blackout> accessed 10 April 2023.

^[75] Ibid