School and university students emerged as one of the main forces in the protest movement, which some countries of the region witnessed during the interactions of 2019, to varying degrees, as reflected in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, through various patterns, including mass demonstrations, marches, weekly pauses, and sit-ins Open, and blocking roads, where students represented the role of unorganized "political opposition", which can be explained in light of a package of dimensions, including the internal economic, social and political context that stimulates the protest, the limited opportunities and fields of work for educated youth, and the characteristics of proper behavior. Lacey the student movements, and the presence of channels of communication directly between the «» groups of students, and to support some of the political forces opposed to their protests.

The protests, which students practiced during the interactions of 2019, were the spark that led to the expansion of informal violence in many regions within some countries of the Middle East, which extended to areas other than the walls of schools, education directorates, institutes and universities, and participated in by forces And other groups of society. Therefore, governments are keen to prevent student protests from spreading to the streets, and they are trying as much as possible to put them in a narrow context.

It is noted here that the role of students included the regions of the center and the periphery, and that there was an increase in capitals and major cities in some countries of the region, in the work of the protest, due to the large numbers of students in these schools and universities. The concentration of political interactions and decision-making and policy centers in capitals, makes students of its schools and universities more aware and a sense of the current political changes, both internally and externally, and then more ready to respond and react.

Here it is worth noting that some governments failed to employ the student movement in order to develop political support for it. However, with the expansion of the base of Iranian protests against the regime against the backdrop of high gasoline prices, the latter tried to produce pro-government protests in several provinces, depending on elements of the Basij militia, as well as foreign students studying at the expense of the system. According to one estimate, there are approximately 120,000 students of religious sciences studying in Iran's religious schools and universities.

Explanatory determinants

There are a number of explanatory factors for the increased role of students in the path of protests in the Middle East, which is reflected in the signs they carried, the tweets they made, and the statements they made to the media, the most prominent of which are:

1- The internal economic, social and political context

This represents a catalyst for protest within all the mentioned countries, as they suffer from various problems, which contributed to the exit of large sectors of public opinion in different regions. Students are members of different classes of society, and various problems impose their effects on them. And student attitudes are often closer to those of the forces that reject existing conditions, policies and systems.

In this context, the protest forces, and amongst the students at the heart, revolt against the decline in the standard of living, the deterioration of the quality of life, the financial and economic conditions, and the deterioration that affected services, especially in the sectors of electricity, water, waste, health care, educational service and social security, in a way that leads to the need to reform Sagging infrastructures. In addition to protesting against the political situation that is dominated by a limited elite, in a way that makes the student protest a declaration of rebellion against the ruling elite in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. Student protests at the beginning of the outbreak may seem economic, but they have political dimensions, as thousands of students demonstrated in Sudan to demand the provision of bread and appropriate prices for fuel at the end of December 2018, and then quickly evolved to demand the removal of Bashir's rule.

2- The limited opportunities and fields of work for educated youth

This is directly related to higher rates of higher education in these countries, and then an increase in the number of graduates who need employment opportunities, taking into account the weakness or lack of sufficient future guarantees after graduation, and equal in that of the oil states (Iraq and Iran) and non-oil countries, This reflects the gap between education outcomes and the labor market.

The escalation of economic crises - along with social problems - in these countries, parallel to the narrowing of opportunities and fields of work available to young people, with the rising costs of life and burdens of living, and all of this would increase feelings of frustration, alienation, and anxiety among students, and then increase the possibilities Their tendency to protest against the ruling regimes, rather than having to migrate abroad, as is the case with Lebanese youth.

3- Characteristics of political behavior among student movements

The latter is one of the images of youth movements, and the psychological characteristics of the youth stage impose their effects on their political perceptions and attitudes, so they are characterized mostly by imagination and idealism, rejecting reality and seeking renewal. Hence, they become more impulsive and ready to protest, in search of identity and the pursuit of self-affirmation, in addition to the lack of crystallization of the social responsibility of the student, as his social role has not yet been determined.

In this context, a prevailing trend in the literature indicates that a sector is not a few students in particular, and young people in general, within the aforementioned states, “politicized”, even if it is from outside traditional structures such as parties, movements and traditional political currents. In other words, the so-called "spree" of young people, which was a reason for calling for transformation a decade ago, still exists, and the opportunity it provided is still open.

4- The existence of direct communication channels between the students' "groups"

The gathering of large numbers of students, within the walls of schools, institutes and universities, provides a wide scope for interaction among them, which leads to the crystallization of a kind of awareness and common perception among the largest segment of students, on many issues that relate to them as a social group, or about some issues That concern concerns and problems facing their societies.

For example, Lebanese students participate in sit-ins and marches, to demand a change in curricula that have become primitive and traditional and do not meet the needs of the labor market. Some students also pretend to denounce the history books approved in the curriculum, which do not touch on important dimensions of the country's history. Because of the sharp political and sectarian division, the Lebanese do not agree on a common account or narration of the major events that marked the history of the republic after independence, which the Lebanese celebrated on the 22nd of this November's 76th anniversary.

The history books in Lebanon do not focus on some historical events that imposed major transformations in the country, similar to the civil war that broke out from 1975 to 1990, alongside the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, and then the Syrian withdrawal in 2005, on The background of the repercussions that resulted from the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a context that led to a lack of collective memory.

5- Some of the political and societal forces have supported student protests

In a way that gives it momentum due to the multiplicity of parties supporting it, as former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, President of the National List, welcomed, in a Tweet on Twitter, the demonstrations of Iraqi students on October 27, 2019, saying: “An honorable stance of school and university students to support and support them Demand demonstrations, in order to proceed with a comprehensive and complete reform », which came in the wake of the strike of the colleges and schools of Baghdad, always.

The student protests in Algeria also supported the presence of demonstrations for primary school teachers, in some time periods of 2019, as protesters demanded that the imbalances of the Basic Law be amended, which would only be to reclassify the three “stage” professors in the same grassroots levels: (primary - preparatory - Secondary), reclassifying a master professor and a trained professor, and reviewing the working hours of primary education teachers with their counterparts in middle and secondary education, in a way that prompted many to go to liberal professions or teach in private schools.

Structural constraints

All of these considerations make students more ready to adventure and protest actions against existing systems. Although students may form a strong opposition to these systems, they have no alternative to them, as this requires an organized and effective political movement broader than the student movement.

Also, the student activity may sometimes be "seasonal", as it increases during study periods, and as soon as exams and summer holidays come, their activity decreases, even if this is not suitable for generalization in all cases, as the Algerian authorities, for example, tried to advance A university holiday to weaken student participation in the protests, which did not happen, as students contributed to maintaining mobilization in those protests.

Patterns of student protests

The role of students in protest movements in some Middle Eastern countries has taken several patterns, which can be addressed as follows:

1- Mass demonstrations

School and university students were at the forefront of the protest forces, in the demonstrations that emerged from the main protest arenas, whether in the capital or major cities. For example, on July 30, 2019, Sudan witnessed the largest demonstrations in the history of the country after the killing of three high school students, as students chanted slogans demanding retribution from the killers of their colleagues, such as: “Blood in blood, we do not accept blood money,” and “Blood in blood If even a civilian, ”he carried no indication that they would not accept them without retribution, even if the military council handed power to a civilian government.

2- The marches

This is evident in the case of Lebanon, where some marches were launched from several regions, and they headed towards a number of government and service facilities to protest in front of them, and were stationed in front of the Ministry of Education headquarters. Iraqi school and university students also joined the wave of popular protests at the beginning of October 2019, and their presence was remarkable in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, which is the main center of the protests, and soon spread to other regions, the last of which was students of schools and colleges in Al Muthanna Governorate, in the south of the country.

3- Weekly stops

This also applies to the Algerian students, whose role in the protests emerged on Tuesday and Friday every week, and this increased its momentum, due to the rejection of Bouteflika's fifth term, and combating the symbols of corruption, which has already been achieved. However, there are other unfulfilled demands, including the departure of the remaining symbols of the former Bouteflika regime, refusal to hold presidential elections on time, the release of political detainees, the recovery of looted funds from abroad, and the establishment of a second republic, which students continued to raise until Friday 40, on November 22 Ongoing.

4- Open sit-ins

It represents a tactic that protesting students have followed in various cases, in a manner that has led to the almost complete disruption of studies in schools, universities and institutes in most Lebanese regions, since the protests erupted on October 17, 2019. Iraqi army units have also deployed near schools in the capital Baghdad, on 21 November 2019, to prevent students from participating in the protests, which amounted to a sit-in, which is what he called "white shirts", who are uprising for the first time in 67 years (the last student revolution against the monarchy, on November 20, 1952).

5- Blocking roads

As happened in the Bekaa Valley in southern Lebanon, in more than one town and village, where high school students joined the protesters and refused to enroll in school. This was repeated for students protesting in a number of Sudanese universities, during last April, in support of the popular movement in the country.

Opposing kernel

Perhaps the lessons of the protest movement, in the 2019 edition and 2011 edition of some countries in the region, indicate that students have become one of the social groups that create it and participate in it, and that their positions are centered in front of schools, institutes, universities and education directorates, with the increasing ceiling of their demands, which are fueled by the growing feelings of social groups Social exclusion, which will continue, during the next stage.

The concentration of political interactions and decision-making and policy centers in capitals, makes students of its schools and universities more aware and a sense of the current political changes, both internally and externally, and then more ready to respond and react.