I attended college in the late 1980's at Boston University in the U.S. Politically, it was quite a raucous era. However, it seemed that my generation with some few exceptions was uninterested in anything besides making money. On campus, a handful of student activists battled the administration on several fronts. There was a ban on hanging flags, posters, or messages of any kind from dormitory windows. Some felt it was an assault on free speech and defied the ban and subsequently getting ousted from the dorms. My own impression was of an institution asserting control over its image and property. Whatever the reason, most students shrugged. Another fight was regarding investments in South African companies. Apartheid would not be abolished for another four or five years. Institutions like BU seemed to be digging in their heels, rejecting any attempts for students (or investors) to have a voice in how their business was conducted. There were slogans spray painted on sidewalks, strident columns in the student newspaper, and lightly attended rallies. It seemed about as effective as spitting into the ocean. There I was, on the sidelines, watching history go by. The closest I got to doing anything was writing a few letters for Amnesty International. Oh yeah, and attend a rally to protest the cancellation of a show by the Ramones. That was the biggest student protest in the four years I attended college. Quite depressing. And then, just a year after graduating it was as if sun had finally risen. The Berlin wall had come down. The Soviet Union was crumbling. And Nelson Mandela was released from prison. Mandela's post-prison tour brought him to Boston. He spoke on June 23, 1990 at the Hatch Shell. I rode my bike several miles to get there. People were packed in the park along the Charles River. The atmosphere was celebratory, like a festival. I don't remember any of the speech, but it was inspiring all the same. The fact that he was there seemed proof that things could get better, that people could make a difference. It was the start of better times, I thought, one step at a time. View ChowdahPete's blog