REBEL

At one point or another all of us feel like giving

up. Some could say it is from depression, but I

would say the depression comes from frustration.

Sometimes I just feel completely unable to change

my current situation, and on top of that stress I un-

derstand that there is a whole apparatus in my

way. Police, Bosses, Banks, Military, Politicians

and of course people who shout me down.

Simple problems become mathematic word prob-

lems. If I don’t work I can’t pay rent. If I don’t

pay rent then the cops will come with guns and re-

move me. I will go to a jail and now have a

record, a record that can make sure that I can’t get

a job in the future, which will put me in the situa-

tion again.

Then of course there is work. I work for a wage.

$8.00 an hour when rent is 900 dollars a month,

112 hours of non taxed work could get me a place

to sleep. It’s weird though, I’ll buy a bag of flour

and it’ll cost four dollars, but the workers who

bagged or processed the flour didn’t get a dollar

for that bag, they still got paid their wage. You can

work at Starbucks or Jamba Juice and make 30

drinks in an hour, each costs at least three dollars,

but you still get the $8.50.

$1.50 for a bottle of water, $6.00 for a sandwich,

buying lunch just cost me an hour of labor at

work.

I could always hope that enough people get fed up

and take it to the streets and begin to takeover

space in such ways that not even the bravest po-

lice force could begin to put down the strike. One

thing I’ve learned is that all hope is to my disad-

vantage. Why would I merely wish for something

to have a certain outcome when I can make an

outcome?

Now, back to the concept of taking space, self in-

terest is the only reason anyone would ever decide

that it is the time or place to actually take back

space and defend it. I do wish to see this. What is

most miraculous is that the reason that it would be

impossible for police to put down such a human

strike is because within such a refusal people

transform. I know, I know, they don’t really trans-

form, but something changes. I don’t know if I’m

to the point where I could explain what changes,

but I do hope to find out.

These pages are really just my thoughts. I can’t

claim to represent anyone but myself, but maybe

you will find something amongst these sentences

that is useful. No text can be all bad, sometimes

we can relate and sometimes we can’t, and that’s

alright.

-RebelSalt Of The Earth, 1950’s film about a Mexican-Amer-

ican miners strike. The feds attempted to ban it. 1

Student Strikes

“We are the crisis”, well not really. The crisis is more so the collapsing of capital

because of the sheer arrogance of rigid American indvidualism and bad loans, but

what the hell, you can be the crisis too. Santa Cruz student occupation of a hall.

It seems that the students and some workers in

California and other places are beginning to chal-

lenge authority. We have seen school building oc-

cupations and various forms of student strikes.

The economic crisis is continuing despite media

reports that stock numbers and house sales are up.

Locally, in Berkeley and Santa Cruz there were

quite energetic and mass strikes against a 32% fee

hike on college tuitions. Being low income, this

fee hike affects me and many of my friends.

One of the reasons to stay in California is the af-

fordability of education, which many times can be

supplemented with the insane price to live here.

This trade off is also counteracted by overcrowded

class rooms, deteriorating desks and books and of

course budget cuts. Many students, regardless of

how low your income is, aren’t eligible for food

stamps and don’t qualify for lower income apart-

ment complexes, even if their income does meet

the requirements.

It is of no surprise that Community College, State

College and University students are pissed off.

Many classes are being cut and with the way that

college transfer systems work, this can keep you

at a Junior College for another whole year. It is an

absolute falsehood and lie that many college stu-

dents are upper-middle class brats whining about

education.

It is damn near impossible to find any sort of work

in this country without a college degree. Sure, 30

years ago a high school graduate could walk into a

mill of some sort and get work and start a career,

but nowadays this just isn’t the case. 10 years ago

an Associate’s Degree, that can be attained from

any Junior College for only two years of school-

ing, could land you a solid job with benefits, but

now people with Bachelor’s degree granted from

4 year colleges end up working service jobs.

On top of all of this people are just generally

pissed. The difference is that those participating in

the strikes don’t just cry about their situation or let

the frustration destroy their personal relationships,

they seek power the only way it is possible to seek

it, by taking it.

Strikes used to be common place in this country,

they were one of the tools used by workers to at-

tain vital demands. It seems as if some sort of so-

cial amnesia has taken place, where people have

forgotten that they are simply cogs that make ma-

chinery move and that any disruption of the mech-

anisms in the machinery causes production to halt,

this is worst case scenario for employers. Workers

can make these things happen by striking, or by

sabotage. Another form is to have a work slow-

down, where few things get done, intentionally.

Police and students/supporters clash at UC

berkeley. Occupiers are inside of buildings. 2

The new wave of student strikes is bringing the

tactic of occupation back. By disrupting the flows

of colleges they constitute themselves as a power

and therefore demand recognition. The media’s

job in all of this is to, of course, discredit the

strikes, to talk about how they leave trash in the

buildings they occupy and how much it costs to

clean up the trash. The price is usually highly ex-

aggerated and inflated because they want people

to think “Oh my, the students strike against budget

cuts but they make the college use vital money to

clean up.” They give you only the information that

you would need to come to the conclusion that

they want you to come to.

Of course, from my point of view, the strikes must

go farther. It is not enough to merely seek negotia-

tion or demands from the state. Humans must

make their strike impact every facet of life, the

strikes must become generalized and more open.

Capitalism is the enemy, it must be attacked. It is

my belief that people can live in ways that do not

require them to use one another as stepping stools

to boost themselves up social ladders. Of course

doubts can be had, and they should be, but if

every doubtful situation was met with inaction I

am quite sure our lives would become much more

boring than they are now.

Student strikers have hung banners that read “De-

mand the impossible!” I am obliged to agree. If

seemingly impossible demands were never made

then how could progress be made? Is it just that

people are too afraid to really want something?

Have people accepted the old, not to mention

ridiculous, adage that “Your freedom ends where

mine begins”? Which assumes that freedom, of

course, has a beginning and an end.

It will be interesting to see which direction organ-

izers and the participants in the strikes head. This

could be a formula for very confrontational situa-

tions that have the possibility to spread and res-

onate. It also has the likelihood of becoming

simple protests that lack ability to spread and to

become exhausted by liberals and bureaucrats, in

which case it is not hard to imagine those who

fancy themselves revolutionaries throwing their

hands up and becoming frustrated at the failure of

something they put so much faith into.

The next few years will be telling in regards to the

personal integrity among students and workers. It

has two outcomes, one is continued submissive-

ness to anyone who claims authority, and the other

is revolutionary activity that seeks its own free-

dom and ends.

Students and others occupy Wheeler Hall at UC

Berkeley. 3

www.occupyca.wordpress.com

www.7daywknd.blogspot.com

www.occupycentralvalley.blogspot.com

www.indybay.org

Recent News from www.7daywknd.blogspot.com

Jan. 15—Indigenous Native American activists and

their supporters gathered at the Central Valley Miwok

Tribe’s sole piece of property, a foreclosed house in

Stockton, CA to prevent sheriffs from evicting the

tribe.

Jan. 19—In Nsukka, Nigeria, at least two students and

a policeman were shot and 22 vehicles were burned

when hundreds of university students took to the

streets to protest fee hikes. Rioting students looted

stores and stormed the Chancellor and Vice Chancel-

lor’s residences.

Jan. 20—Four students tried to occupy the vacant Hi-

bernia Bank building in downtown SF in conjunction

with a demonstration against the foreclosure crisis and

the treatment of the homeless. The students released a

communique intending to bridge the gap between stu-

dent protests and other struggles around precarious-

ness. They hung a banner reading “You take our

homes, we take your banks” before tripping an alarm

and getting arrested. They were released the next day;

all charges were dropped.

Jan. 20-21—Meeting at UCSF, the UC Regents tried

to claim ownership of the March 4th strike by suggest-

ing that they stand “with the students” in demanding

more money from the state treasury. At the very same

meeting, they approved $3 million in pay raises for 38

upper-echelon UC executives.

Jan. 24—Tenants in Warsaw, Poland occupied a hous-

ing office in response to city plans to gentrify their

neighborhood.

Jan. 20-21—Meeting at UCSF, the UC Regents tried

to claim ownership of the March 4th strike by suggest-

ing that they stand “with the students” in demanding

more money from the state treasury. At the very same

meeting, they approved $3 million in pay raises for 38

upper-echelon UC executives.

Jan. 24—Tenants in Warsaw, Poland occupied a hous-

ing office in response to city plans to gentrify their

neighborhood.

Jan. 28—Parents in Lanarkshire, Scotland occupied

an elementary school slated to be closed, the latest in a

series of school occupations that have taken place over

the past year.

Jan. 30—Police in Fresno evicted an encampment

housing roughly 100 homeless individuals. Police told

them they would be evicted from any new camps as

well, but most of them, having nowhere to go, set up

again in a vacant lot a block away.

Jan. 31—Police in SF attacked a benefit party, which

was raising money for fines and legal fees associated

with student protests and occupations. Under an al-

leged “noise complaint,” 11 people were arrested.

Many were beaten up both in the streets and later in

their cells. All but one were released within 24 hours.

The last, a person of color, was charged with multiple

felonies. Sound equipment and computers were also

seized and destroyed by the police.

Feb. 2—In Holland, students occupied the main build-

ing of the University of Utrecht, against an administra-

tive decision to stop publishing the paper version of

the school newspaper. This is to be the first in a na-

tional wave of actions, fighting budget cuts in educa-

tion.

Feb. 5-7—Students held a study-in at UC Davis, keep-

ing the Shields Library open over the weekend (it had

been closed due to budget cuts). Before the event,

however, and in response to the planned study-in, the

chancellor announced that he would preemptively

open the library. Stu-dents responded “the library will

be open all weekend, because we opened it!”

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