Until School’s Out 4 Eva,

occupyLA

Here is a list of some of the blogs from this weeks occupations which took place across the UK. The students have put up their demands and each occupation can be followed at length. And here is a decent BBC overview of the occupations. Two websites by some of the campaign organizers: Education Activist Network and NCAFC.

Meanwhile in Italy, student protests literally exploded all over the country to block the approval of the new infamous Gelmini reform, which aims at privatizing the university and turning it into a profit-making machine. Thousands and thousands of students have held demonstrations all over the peninsula and occupied university buildings and even the famous leaning Tower of Pisa!

Before Hurricane Katrina, there were 87 members of the custodial staff at UNO. There are currently only 31 due to a combination of layoffs and positions that were never filled as people left or retired.

Students said they’re tired of the dirt, and they’re doing something about it.

“It means when we have trash in between classrooms, dust, even roaches, it becomes noticeable (and) very distracting,” said UNO Student Government President John Mineo. “To be honest, I don’t want to go to a classroom like that and sit down.”

Since 2009, UNO has lost $16 million in state support and 150 positions. The move has sparked protests schools across the state, like one at UNO in September, when what was supposed to be a peaceful rally turned violent.

Last week, hundreds of students from around the state rallied on the state capitol, and earlier this week at Louisiana State University, some questioned where the funding for higher education was going by throwing fake money with a picture of Gov. Bobby Jindal on it.

However, Thursday night was the first time that students literally cleaned up the mess they said state leaders have left behind by not prioritizing education.

About 50 students showed up at Thursday’s clean up at Milneberg Hall. They said they chose the building because it’s used for freshmen orientation, and they said dirty classrooms are an embarrassing way to introduce new students to the school.

Louisiana public colleges and universities have had about $300 million in budget cuts since 2008.

Only time will tell whether politicians will listen to the anger of this state’s students and stop budget cuts, or whether they will listen to wealthy campaign contributors who want us to pay for the budget crisis created by the Wall Street recession and tax cuts for the rich. We say HELL NO!
WE MUST NOT ALLOW POLITICIANS THAT CHOICE: WE MUST RISE UP!

Coverage: Hundreds rally at state Capitol to protest education cuts
Hundreds rally against La. higher education cuts
Higher Ed students send message to Governor Jindal
Hundreds rally against higher education cuts
Students Gather to Protest In Baton Rouge
Hundreds rally against La. higher education cuts
Steps of State Capitol full for protest
Protesters feel impact of cuts already

Meanwhile in London….

50,000 students marched against cuts to universities and increased tuition today, smashing into and occupying the conservative party offices. Seems like they are telling their leaders: stop the cuts or we will be ungovernable! Good show ole chaps!

Update:National Day of Mourning declared for windows of Millbank Tower

Education Protest in London Turns Violent
Student fees protest: ‘This is just the beginning’
Students in London storm Conservative Party headquarters during rally to protest tuition hikes
London Student Fee Protest Turns Violent
Videos of Student Protests in London
More Video
BBC coverage

These actions are a blatant and pathetic attempt by Gov. Jindal to intimidate students who are standing up to this fiscal attack on our future. Why does Louisiana have it’s own version of the KGB banging on people’s doors to harass and intimidate them for political protest? Is Jindal really so terrified of students organizing against budget cuts that are ruining our universities that he’ll employ the same tactics used by authoritarian regimes?

The La. State Police’s over-reaction to a permitted, public rally borders on the absurd. Is it possible that Chief Tom “Hyperbole” Harrington has been telling more tall tales? It sure seems to stink of his typical exaggeration and lying….

(This absurd article about the “threat” of asking how much a bond costs shows how ridiculous this is. And don’t miss the cop’s hilarious quote: “We received information they’ve actually made phone calls that said, ‘What type of bond is set if a police officer is struck?’ Those are silly things.” Did they tap people’s phones? And, “silly things“? uh… WTF is this guy even talking about?)

Mid-Year Cuts Announced: Jindal announced $34.7 million in new cuts recently. Here is a brief Media Round-Up:
Health care and higher education are focus of budget cuts outlined by Gov. Bobby Jindal
Deep cuts could set LSU back decades: A guest column by James Carville and Henson Moore
Gov. Bobby Jindal outlines $107 million in state budget cuts
College student puts Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on the spot over budget cuts: Stephanie Grace
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration making cuts without making changes: John Maginnis
LSU Board signs off on $21.2 million mid-year budget cut
LSU budget cuts not as deep at research centers
UNO Driftwood coverage

JINDAL IS STILL NOT LISTENING.

Up to 2,000 students broke away from the march, many calling It ‘futile’, and participated in the occupation of the Department of Finance and the sit-down protest staged outside. article continued…

This video shows that police brutality isn’t confined to the administrative hallways of UNO, but that kids everywhere are facing down the cops to defend education. This attack is evidence of that, as cops brutally drove people away from the occupied Finance Ministry building.

Then they came for the UNO Five,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t arrested.

Then they came for the instructors,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an instructor.

Then they came for the faculty,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a faculty member.

Then they came for a few majors,
and I didn’t speak up because it wasn’t my major.

Then they came for whole departments,
and I didn’t speak up because it wasn’t my department.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

-adapted from a Poem about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power.

STAND UP FOR EACH OTHER:
-Demand to know why administrators are allowing students to be arrested and charged with felonies for a simple protest.
-Demand an end to outrageous administrative salaries like Joe Lombardi’s $650,000 a year while at the same classes are cut.
-Demand an end to budget cuts to higher education before your major is the next one to go.
-Demand more from the UNO administration in standing up against these cuts. Demand they come to Baton Rouge with students to protest at the Capitol. Demand they fund buses to get there. Demand they call a campus-wide strike to protest the cuts.
-Demand your professors speak out for students.
-Demand fellow students speak out for professors.
-Demand we all speak out for the staff, who haven’t received their annual raise in the last 2 years, and who have faced increased workloads as administrators cut back on the number of janitors.
Don’t let our state government destroy our future as a city and as a state by destroying UNO. More education today means a better future tomorrow.

The N.O. City Council sent a resolution to the state government asking to stop the cuts to UNO! Joe King, and some of us, spoke to the council about UNO (video). Joe King and other administrators at UNO are only focused on maintaining research programs, and on the few majors that are considered “programs of distinction.”  They are focused on these because they are what makes UNO the most money.

But we are focused on saving all academic programs, because we want a better, more educated society to live in in the future.  The idea that you can run a university like a business is not a model for success:  Without strong, varied undergrad programs, you won’t have the academics necessary to sustain the strong Urban Research programs Dr. King and Councilwoman Clarkson were talking about in the video!

Why is our administration so incompetent and unwilling to help stop the cuts?  At NSU, ULL, LSU, etc… administrators are helping students and faculty organize against the cuts.  We wish that were the case at UNO!  Instead, we get administrators content with allowing education programs to whither and expanding the money-making programs, above all mostly concerned about saving their own jobs and not necessarily UNO.  This idea is a dangerous, short term solution to budget problems, and will only hurt the university in the long-term.

It looks like it’s going to be up to UNO students alone, pushing through the red tape, the empty promises, and the lack of support by administrators for organizing at UNO.  But we can do it!  Come to Baton Rouge on Nov. 10th for a massive protest to save higher education across the state from cuts, and to demand control of our university by those who use it, so that these cuts can never happen again, and to stop the corporatization of our universities!

Get involved, get active, and fight back!

What follows is intended to promote discussion and debate about tactics among all who wish to defeat the UNO budget cuts.  The author is not advocating violence or illegality.

I believe in supporting those with whom I have a common struggle.  This is an open letter to those who advocate fighting the budget cuts but criticize the student actions on September 1st, the day of the walkout.  Most of the critiques I’m responding to aren’t from a particular person or organization, but just complants I and other people I’ve talked with have heard around town and in the university community.  They were critiques that deserved a response.

Critique 1: The march was made up of “white middle-class male anarchists” or “outside agitators”

These slurs have been thrown around to discredit the students and members of the community who marched into the administration building on September first.

The reality (shown by photos and videos) is that a diverse group of people from different political, social, and economic backgrounds participated in a march that was violently halted by campus police.  There certainly were white male anarchists in the crowd, but to credit them with the entire action is silencing and denying agency to the feminist women, the queer liberationists, and the people of color who participated in the march.  Some of the marchers were anarchists, some socialists, some without a political identity, and some were liberals or conservatives.  All we had in common is that we were fed up with inaction.

The phrase “white middle-class male anarchist” is used to conflate those identities into one, to define anarchist principles as inherently white, middle- or upper-class, and male.  This ignores and silences the histories of (among others) working class anarchist movements, anarcha-feminism, and APOC*.

I will not use this space to defend or define anarchist principles.  I recommend people seek out for themselves the works of Ashanti Alson, Emma Goldman, Dorothy Day, Leo Tolstoy, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky**, and other influential anarchist thinkers, to educate themselves about anarchist theory if its presence in this movement concerns or excites them.

As for the claim there were “outside agitators,” it is true that as well as students marching into the building, members of the New Orleans community, UNO alumni, professors from UNO and Loyola, women’s studies graduates from other regional universities and many other valued “outside agitators” physically expressed solidarity with our struggle that day.  I can only thank them.

“Outside agitator”, is a phrase often used in the south, sometimes applied to labor organizers, more often used to defame white students who challenged their privilege and fought alongside people of color during the civil rights movement.  Outside agitators have a proud tradition in the south, and I would only hope to have people in the movement worthy of the title.

Critique 2: “People were tricked into going into the administration building”

Short of blindfolding people, hypnotizing or drugging them, I am not sure how anyone could trick anyone else into marching into a building.  Nobody said there was a permit.  No one had any reason to believe the administration would grant a permit to march into the building.  It did seem that our large numbers would prevent police retaliation; campus police initially stepped aside, allowing us to walk into the administration building. No-one expected the unprovoked violence the police then used against us.  Blaming victims of police violence FOR police violence– blaming the abused for the abuse– only promotes the abusive culture of the current society and repressive environment of fear that has settled over our campus.

Critique 3: “This is bad press for the movement”

On this, I take the stance that any publicity is good publicity.  Even if a particular action doesn’t itself garner approval—although responses from the larger New Orleans community were overwhelmingly positive, even on the usually reactionary NOLA.com—an action succeeds if it gets the issue (budget cuts) onto people’s minds.  The dramatic nature of an occupation or a march through the administration building reflects the seriousness of the situation and the depth of the crisis.  We need to keep UNO’s crisis in the community’s gaze, or we’ll be crushed to death quietly and invisibly.

As far as September 1st’s effects on more mainstream organizers, I feel it not only doesn’t damage them but to the contrary provides them additional leverage.  This was the relationship between militancy and pacifism in the civil rights movement:  a more disruptive action makes those in power nervous and backs them into a corner where they will more likely listen to the more mainstream, less disruptive counterpart.  A good work on this history is, “The Deacons for Defense”, by local author and anti-racist activist Lance Hill.

Critique 4: “Why target the administration? They are not responsible for the cuts.”

Former Chancellor Tim Ryan’s response to the cuts was to increase admission standards.  An e-mail he sent to the student body expressing this plan carried a tone of glee at making the university a more elitist institution.  He said, “We are in the process of restructuring the University so that it is a leaner, more efficient, and more focused institution,” and, “There are many directions a university can take when it encounters adversity, but in my estimation the only viable option is to pursue the path of excellence.”  He painted a pretty picture, but what those words meant were admission standards more exclusionary to students who faced economic and social disadvantage in their primary education.

Tim Ryan’s firing was bad news in that it consolidated John Lomabardi’s power over UNO, but Tim Ryan was at odds with the idea that the university is for all people.  That meant his administration deserved and needed to be demonstrated against.

Towards Solidarity

In conclusion, it is out of respect, care, and solidarity that I write this letter.  I would like to engage in critical debate instead of infighting.  This is my olive branch extended towards those who disagree with the tactics of September 1st.  Please respond with constructive criticism, solidarity and questions.  We all do want to defeat the budget cuts.  We are all in this together.

*APOC refers to Anarchist People Of Color.  The First APOC conference was in 2003 in Detroit, Michigan. The movement has held yearly conferences, spawning collectives, publications, actions, and other kinds of revolt.

**All the authors I mention offer some sort of introduction to anarchist thought. They represent various backgrounds and approaches to the subject, rooting their anarchist beliefs variously in Feminism, Black Power, Sexual Liberation, Ecology, Catholicism, Pacifism, Anti-colonialism and other traditions.

LSU Jazz Funeral:WAFB, Chronicle of Higher Ed., The Advocate (#2) (photos), U. of S. California, Tiger Weekly, ABC 26, WBRZ, WGMB, WVLA, Nola.com, USA Today, KPLC
UNO Block Party & Oct. 7th: LSU Reveille, ABC 26, Times-Picayune, Clancy DuBos, Banners Cover New Orleans, Nola.com
ULL Rally: KLFY, KLFY #2, WVLA, KATC, KADN, The Advertiser (#2), photos
Nicholls State: Fox8, WWL