Page 72 - PowerE-L05-D

Lesson 18

Student Demonstrations

A multitude of enraged students are out on the

streets, demanding political reforms. Their shouts are
lost amidst the clangor of the riots police shields bang-

ing against stones and sticks. Angry and pained faces
are distorted further by the cascade of water bombs.

Banners, pickets, bodies shoved and pulled, wailing si-

rens, running people, Molotov cocktail explosions merge
in this fiery struggle between the people and the state
“Democracy is defined as a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

“ The will of the people is the will of God”. These are maxims many students activists will

die for. When their cries fall on deaf ears and when diplomacy in sanitized forums is dead,
then the battle begins. On the streets, normally, the demonstrations are peaceful, some are

prayer rallies, but when the obstinacy of both the demonstrators and the state don’t cancel
each other out, then violence starts. Gandhi advocated a peaceful revolution. Following a

Christianlike maxim, “when somebody hits you on the right cheek, offer your left cheek”, he
was a non-violent revolutionary. In contrast, Karl Marx suggested a violent revolution when

he cried, “to all men and women, rise!. Rise to arms!”

Comprehension

1. What do you mean by “When somebody hits you on the right
cheek, offer your left cheek”?
2. In this article, what do the student demonstrations demand?

Questions

1. Talk about student demonstrations in Korea?
2. What do you support? Do you agree with Gandhi or with Marx?

Vocabulary & Expressions
Multitude: a great number of people gathered together; crowd
Reforms: to improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects;
put into a better form or condition
Amidst: surrounded by; in the middle of
Clangor: a loud, resonant sound; clang
Cascade: a succession of stages, processes, operations, or units
Maxim: an expression of a general truth or principle, esp. an aphoristic or
sententious one
Advocate: a person who speaks or writes in support or defense of a person,
cause, etc.

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