#FeesMustFall, the student revolt that began in October 2015, was an uprising against lack of access to, and financial exclusion from, higher education in South Africa. More broadly, it radically questioned the socio-political dispensation resulting from the 1994 social pact between big business, the ruling elite and the liberation movement.
The 2015 revolt links to national and international youth struggles of the recent past and is informed by Black Consciousness politics and social movements of the international Left. Yet, its objectives are more complex than those of earlier struggles. The student movement has challenged the hierarchical, top-down leadership system of university management and it’s ‘double speak’ of professing to act in workers’ and students’ interests yet enforce a regressive system for control and governance. University managements, while one one level amenable to change, have also co-opted students into their ranks to create co-responsibility for the highly bureaucratised university financial aid that stand in the way of their social revolution.
This book maps the contours of student discontent a year after the start of the #FeesMustFall revolt. Student voices dissect coloniality, improper compromises by the founders of democratic South Africa, feminism, worker rights and meaningful education. In-depth assessments by prominent scholars reflect on the complexities of student activism, its impact on national and university governance, and offer provocative analyses of the power of the revolt.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Power redefined – ‘what happened to governance?’
Two weeks in October – changing governance in South Africa Susan Booysen

Primary voices – ‘the roots of the revolution’
The roots of the revolution Gillian Godsell, Rekgotsofetse Chikane
The game’s the same: #MustFall moves to Euro-America Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh
#OutsourcingMustFall through the eyes of workers Omhle Ntshingila, with workers
Documenting the revolution Gillian Godsell, Refi loe Lepere, Swankie Mofoko, Ayabonga Nase

The revolt – ‘rising against the liberators’, South Africa in Africa
Standing on the shoulders of giants? Successive generations of youth sacrifi ce in South Africa David Everatt
Learning from student protest in Sub-Saharan Africa Lynn Hewlett, Gugu Mukadah, Horácio Zandamela, Koffi Kouakou
Unfinished revolutions: The North African uprisings and notes on South Africa William Gumede

Power and class redefined – ‘sit down and listen to us’
To win free education, fossilised neoliberalism must fall Patrick Bond
Bringing class back in: Against outsourcing during #FeesMustFall at Wits Vishwas Satgar
Between a rock and a hard place: University management and the #FeesMustFall campaign Patrick Fitzgerald, Oliver Seale
Financing universities: Promoting equity or reinforcing inequality Pundy Pillay

Justice, identity, force and rights – ‘we came for the refund’
Excavating the vernacular – ‘ugly feminists’, generational blues and matriarchal leadership Darlene Miller
The South African student/worker protests in light of just war theory Thad Metz

Conclusion
Conclusion: Aluta continua! Editorial collective / Susan Booysen

Susan Booysen is Professor at the Wits School of Governance. She is the author of Dominance and Decline: The ANC in the Time of Zuma (Wits University Press: 2015), The African National Congress and the Regeneration of Political Power (Wits University Press: 2011).

This solid scholarship, nuanced and diverse, is everything that the bitter on-line polemics of a few conservatives is not. The multidisciplinary scope of political scientists, sociologists, an economist and a philosopher ensures breadth in coverage. The diversity of the authors’ perspectives gives a welcome spectrum of views.
Keith Gottschalk, senior lecturer in Political Studies, University of the Western Cape