Statement in support of the UC Mobilisation

24 November 2009

We the undersigned declare our solidarity with University of California students, workers and staff as they defend, in the face of powerful and aggressive intimidation, the fundamental principles upon which a truly inclusive and egalitarian public-sector education system depends. We affirm their determination to confront university administrators who seem willing to exploit the current financial crisis to introduce disastrous and reactionary 'reforms' (fee-increases, lay-offs, salary cuts) to the UC system. We support their readiness to take direct action in order to block these changes. We recognise that in times of crisis, only assertive collective action – walkouts, boycotts, strikes, occupations... – offers any meaningful prospect of democratic participation. We deplore the recent militarization of the UC campuses, and call on the UC administration to acknowledge rather than discourage the resolution of their students to struggle, against the imperatives of privatization, to protect the future of their university.


Signed:

• Gopal Balakrishnan, History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz
• Karyn Ball, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
• LeGrace Benson, Emerita, SUNY Empire State
• Nathan Brown, English, UC Davis
• Darcy C. Buerkle, History, Smith College
• Julie Carlson, English, UC Santa Barbara
• Anthony Carrigan, English, University of Keele
• Paula Chakravartty, Department of Communication, UMass Amherst
• Piya Chatterjee, Women’s Studies, UC Riverside
• Noam Chomsky, Linguistics, MIT
• Joshua Clover, English, UC Davis
• Elizabeth DeLoughrey, English, UCLA
• Mattanjah S. de Vries, Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC Santa Barbara
• Hent de Vries, Humanities Center, Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University
• Alexander Garcia Düttmann, Philosophy and Visual Culture, Goldsmiths University
• Aranye Fradenburg, English, UC Santa Barbara
• Manu Goswami, History, NYU
• Greg Grandin, History, NYU
• Martin Hägglund, Society of Fellows, Harvard University
• Peter Hallward, Philosophy, Middlesex University
• Werner Hamacher, Literature, Goethe University
• Harry Harootunian, History, Columbia University and Duke University
• Patricia Ingham, English, Indiana University
• Priya Jha, English, University of Redlands
• Adrian Johnston, Philosophy, University of New Mexico
• David Farrell Krell, Philosophy, DePaul University, University of Freiburg
• Ernesto Laclau, Politics, University of Essex
• Jacques Lezra, Comparative Literature and Spanish and Portuguese, NYU
• Akira Mizuta Lippit, Critical Studies, Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Cultures, USC
• Todd May, Philosophy, Clemson University
• Patricia Morton, History of Art, UC Riverside
• Fred Moten, English, Duke University
• Jack Linchuan Qiu, Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Joseph Rezek, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania
• Corey Robin, Political Science, Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center
• William I. Robinson, Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara
• Avital Ronell, Comparative Literature, Germanic Languages and Literatures, NYU
• Louis-George Schwartz, Film, Ohio University
• Susan Seizer, Communication and Culture, Indiana University
• Brenda R. Silver, English, Dartmouth College
• Christine A. Stewart, English and Film Studies, University of Alberta
• Rei Terada, Comparative Literature, UC Irvine
• Sasha Torres, Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario
• Alberto Toscano, Sociology, Goldsmiths University of London
• Elizabeth Walden, Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Bryant University
• Mirko Wischke, Philosophy, National University of Kiev
• Slavoj Zizek, Philosophy, University of Ljubljana.

http://defenduci.blogspot.com/2009/11/letter-of-solidarity.html