I am a 3rd year Political Studies major at the Peterborough campus, and over the course of my short three years here, I can confidently say that the department has become increasingly concerned with the current political climate that is rapidly changing and negatively influencing and affecting both the students and the professors who are attempting to make sense of the modern world.
My first year was predominantly uneventful up until the focus on Gaza and the mass killings of Palestinians that shocked many of my professors. Suddenly, all of the textbooks assigned about political theory of war, genocide, conflicts, and violence - all of which were mostly written based on information from the 1980s’ Vietnam War and prior (such as WW1 and WW2)- became inaccurate for measuring and analyzing the genocide in Gaza that is still ongoing.
The majority of class discussions during my second year then focused on keeping up to date with the news, with the main spotlight being on the United States’ Presidential Election, with still heavy focus on Gaza and slight mentions of the Ukraine and Russian War. It was fascinating to see how a group of young, positive-thinking students went to prepare for the worst of the world and quickly became overwhelmed with the now concern and arguably the threat of influence in the neighbouring country down south.
With the 47th U.S. President being once again Donald Trump, many students were vocal in my classes about how women’s rights were doomed, alongside the concern of rights of LGBTQ+ peoples - which have already been increasingly getting more under threat along with women and other marginalized peoples, with emphasis on people of colour, during Trump’s first electoral term: an increase of deportation issues, criminalization increase of racialized peoples, healthcare bans for transgender peoples, bathroom bans, abortion access, and unfortunately much more.
With the increase in the removal of rights, and the overall move in the direction of authoritarianism across several different countries over the past five years, many Political
Studies students have shared how depressing it is to study and learn how the world is going ‘backwards’ and that they feel hopeless and unable to stop it from occurring.
I myself feel this way for a variety of issues, from the Global North’s countries' involvement in creating over-extracted countries along the Global South, the several thousands of Palestinian civilians who are dying every single day, with little to no outside countries involving themselves enough to put pressure on Israeli Defence Forces to put an end to the senseless killing, to the pushback on women’s rights in North America, and the downgrade of rights of LGBTQ+ people. It feels tiring to be learning about all of these issues and to learn about ways in which they can and should be solved based on precedent cases, but feeling like your voice as one young individual is not enough. That you and your empathy and drive for change will never be enough to solve these political inequities that you read so much about but never see with your own eyes.
Things became more intense when a professor of mine shared his involvement with helping Syrian families when the Israeli invasion of Syria happened, and how he was keeping track of information and helping families share images about their loved ones who were brutally killed in their homes and on the streets, to my active involvement in protests and fundraising for displaced Palestinians and queer people across the world.
It has been difficult to remain positive during such an unprecedented and depressing period of time, especially when it is right in your face on your phone, in your readings, in classes, in passing discussions, and in useless, empty debates across the internet. Furthermore, it’s not reassuring to hear from professors that this is one of the few times they are uncertain about the future’s move towards authoritarianism and sometimes plain-old fascism, especially regarding employment and housing issues, along with concerns for the environment.
It is difficult to keep up with all that is happening in the world while also taking care of myself mentally, but I still have hope that this too will pass, like all of the other threats beforehand. We just all have to remain hopeful and continue to discuss the issues while also stepping back before we burn ourselves out.
This blog was written by Darien Kenny.
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