When was the first student demonstration in the world against the Viet Nam war? (I remember it as the one in Montreal, at Concordia University (Sir George Williams University) in the 1960’s when a computer was thrown out of a window…
CLAUDE.AI: Your memory appears to be conflating two different historical events. The Sir George Williams affair in Montreal (February 1969) was indeed a major student protest, but it was primarily about anti-Black racism, not the Vietnam War. The Sir George Williams affair took place in winter 1969, when more than 200 students occupied the ninth floor of the Henry F. Hall Building to protest the university administration’s decision regarding a complaint of racism filed by six Black students from the Caribbean against biology professor Perry Anderson The Canadian EncyclopediaWikipedia.
As the police and students fought in the halls, other students threw computer punch cards out of the windows, littering the streets above with thousands of punch cards Sir George Williams affair – Wikipedia – this is likely the computer incident you remember.
Regarding the first student demonstration against the Vietnam War worldwide, the search results indicate that early protests began in the United States:
The War Resisters League organized the first U.S. protest against the Vietnam War on September 21, 1963, with a demonstration at the US Mission to the UN in New York City List of protests against the Vietnam War – Wikipedia. However, this was organized by activists, not specifically students.
The first substantial student demonstration occurred in October 1963 at the University of Wisconsin, when there were only American military advisers in Vietnam, opposing the government’s support for Ngo Dinh Diem Protests and Backlash | American Experience | Official Site | PBS. The first coordinated nationwide protests against the Vietnam War took place on December 19, 1964, with demonstrations in multiple U.S. cities List of protests against the Vietnam War – Wikipedia.
The Sir George Williams protest was significant as the largest student riot in Canadian history Sir George Williams Affair | The Canadian Encyclopedia, but it was focused on racial justice rather than Vietnam War opposition.