On the night I chose not to die . . .

On the night I chose not to die…

I was a woman of color. On the night I chose not to die, I fought with anger and determination, and finally fell asleep with a satisfied smile born not from my own sheltered existence, but from the momentary dissolving of the reality of privilege. That night I watched the hordes of college students exiting the bars and dispersing, walking past those of us confronting police in the streets as if it was simply none of their business. That is the privilege you describe, which has no place in this movement.

Who was left? Who made it their business? If you were there, if you dared approach the dancefloor and “battlefield” of the streets, you’d know what we “looked” like.

And yet according to your fairytale of homogeneity and privilege, on the morning after “I chose not to die,” according to you, I woke up a white man. Let me tell you… NO I DIDN’T!

It’s as though all the work I’ve done, the lifetime of daily struggle, of people acting as if I was naturally inferior and practically invisible, is a waste of my time. Because the people I also struggle for, among others, could flippantly assert that now, because I fight alongside my white brothers and sisters, I have no identity, no history, and no color of my own.

~~~

To the author of the “Open Letter to a White Student Movement,” we respond:

Read the entire statement at Occupy California.

UC Above the Law?

For many students across California, the start of this semester looked unusual. Instead of checking in with their advisers, they were checking in with their lawyers. These students are currently experiencing the backlash of protesting against the University of California’s decision to implement a 32 percent fee increase last November. Several protests included the occupation of buildings on several UC campuses and an alleged attack on the UC–Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s home. These actions led to the arrest of hundreds of University of California students. Media attention waned once bail was posted, but the students’ problems did not end when they were released from custody. Many are now facing charges from the university's Center for Student Conduct, but no one seems quite sure of how the code of conduct and the law should interact.


Read More at Campus Progress.

Unfettered by stifling bureaucracy.

An anonymous submission -- Ed.

The student-worker Movement should heed the lesson of November 20th: disruption of ‘business as usual’ at the University through direct action is instrumental to the Movement’s successful resistance to the Regents’ project of privatization of the University of California. For the experiences of Fall semester 2009 demonstrate that it is primarily through direct action—as opposed to delegating our authority to spineless, impotent politicians, whether in the Democratic Party or self-styled student leaders—that the Movement realizes its collective power. And it is only through the local exercise of this collective power—unfettered by the stifling bureaucracy of a political party or the institutions of the University—that the Movement can effectively press for and implement the fundamental change it demands at the University and even its host society.

A brief review of the November demonstrations and actions underscores the potency of direct action.

On November 18-19, students, staff, and faculty spent long days on the picket lines, chanting and marching in circles … while hordes of scabs walked right by the strikers. The Movement’s act of defiance—the workers in striking, and the students in walking out and supporting the striking workers—quickly turned into an alienating experience. Ironically, students and workers were disempowered by an action that should have been empowering. Those on the picket lines chanted, over and over again, that the University of California is ‘Our University!’ But those words rang hollow; indeed, it was as if the striking students and workers were foreigners in a hostile land—the disconnect between Us and Them could not have been stronger. ‘Whose University?’ The chant was not rhetorical—the University certainly did not belong to students or workers.

"as more people joined the march and joined the destruction of capital"

Berkeley, CA – In Sproul Plaza of UC Berkeley, hundreds gathered for a dance party that began around 10pm on Thursday, February 25. At the peak of the party (around 12am) the 250 people dancing surrounded the loudspeakers as together they moved farther into campus. As we approached Durant Hall, a building currently being renovated, people began handing out communiques. We began to see a yellow light glow from inside the second story windows of the building, and then silhouettes of dozens of occupiers emerged. They rigged a few banners across the front of the building and descended to join the party.

Read more.

A Letter to the UC Berkeley Community Concerning Ongoing Prosecutions of Student Activists

Reprinted from a Facebook post.

We're writing to let you know about some disturbing actions the Office of Student Conduct at UC Berkeley has recently taken in prosecuting approximately one hundred student activists, including ourselves. Those facing prosecutions are alleged to have participated in at least one of three non-violent actions that occurred on campus last fall, including the reclamation of Wheeler Hall on November 20th. For our participation in this event, we are being charged with violating a number of regulations from the University Code of Conduct, the most serious being 321c, Physical Abuse. This regulation reads in full:

"No person on University property or at official University functions may engage in physical abuse including but not limited to sexual assault, sex offenses, and other physical assault; threats of violence; or other conduct that threatens the health or safety of any person."

Berkeley Law Students Publish Op-Ed

A Jan. 13, 2010, Student Conduct panel upheld an “interim suspension” placed on UC Berkeley Junior Angela Miller, a student activist who is accused of violating the Code of Student Conduct for participating in a demonstration on Dec. 11, 2009. The panel’s suspension banned Ms. Miller from campus property, ordered her not to communicate with any faculty or student, and evicted her from off-campus housing.

Read More.

Berkeley Law Student Statement of Public Education, Struggle, and Silencing Dissent.

This statement was released today by Berkeley Law students. A downloadable pdf is at the bottom.

Realizing that batons, rubber bullets, and tasers cannot quell the campus community’s opposition to the Regents’ project of privatizing the University of California (“UC”), the Administration has resorted to a more subtle but equally vile method of coercion: UC is taking disciplinary action against student activists through a process that violates students’ federally guaranteed due process rights, including the right to notice of charges, the right to inspect evidence, and the right to counsel.

On January 13, 2010, a hearing panel of the Committee on Student Conduct shamefully upheld an ‘interim suspension’ placed on Angela Miller. The suspension bans Ms. Miller, a University of California, Berkeley (“UCB”) Junior, from campus property, from speaking with anyone affiliated with UCB anywhere at anytime, evicts her from her off-campus housing, and more. Not only does the suspension immediately and clearly violate Ms. Miller's expression rights, due process rights, and California landlord-tenant law, but Ms. Miller’s suspension—and the Stalinist procedure that the UCB Administration used to uphold it—also show that UCB is willing to break any law, smear any student’s reputation, and arrest any protester to silence dissent.