Free the UC Day:
Putting Our Necks on the Line to Resist the Imperial University
“Who are the Regents? We are the Regents!” students chanted as we put our necks on the line to save the University of California from itself. On March 19th 2008 – dubbed “Free the UC Day” -- 11 Berkeley students and one community member blockaded the University of California Board of Regents meeting at UCSF Mission Bay. By using bicycle locks to attach our necks to the doors, we hoped to prevent the meeting from happening at all. All of the entrances and exits to the building were sealed except for the fire doors, which were left open to enable people to leave the building.
We sought to raise public awareness about the UC Regents’ mismanagement of the public University, and to clearly communicate to the Regents that some segments of the campus population refuse to accept unjust and unaccountable governance of our school. Our coalition’s goal is to transform the University from an elitist, corporate, militaristic, autocratic, imperialist institution into a responsible, just, diverse, sustainable, equitable, democratically-governed, people’s University that educates and works for the common welfare.
The date was auspicious… Five years prior, on March 19th 2003, President Bush launched an imperial war of aggression against Iraq, which has led to the deaths of an estimated 650,000 Iraqi civilians and 4.2 million Iraqis being turned into refugees. While investigative journalists such as Greg Palast contend the war’s aim was to control and expropriate Iraqi oil, the stated rationale was to look for weapons of mass destruction.
But we know where to find the weapons of mass destruction: at Lawrence Livermore Lab and Los Alamos Lab, under the management of the UC Board of Regents! For decades, students, faculty, and staff have attempted to persuade the Regents to stop managing the development of nuclear weapons. UC has managed the development of every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal. As UC Nuclear Free campaign coordinator Steve Stormoen said, “If this is how the Regents are going to run the University [managing nuclear weapon labs], we should not let them run it at all.” (For more info on UC’s role in the nuclear weapon labs, see the “No Nukes Hunger Strike” story on page XX.)
We had many other concerns… We asked the Regents to endorse democratization of the Regents, so in the future they would be elected by the University constituency, not appointed by the Governor. We asked the Regents to end the role of the discriminatory SAT in keeping underrepresented minorities out of our schools. We asked the Regents to freeze student fees and pay fair wages to UC employees. We asked for the Regents to Save Berkeley’s Oak Grove (since then clear-cut), to cancel the Santa Cruz Long Range Development Plan, to release 13,000 Native American remains held at Berkeley’s Phoebe Hearst Museum, to cancel Berkeley’s partnership with British Petroleum, to enact meaningful reform for ethical, decorporatized research, and to stop UC police harassment of activists.
As we sat on milk crates with our necks on the line, about 50 of our friends and supporters from four UC campuses danced, chanted, drummed, partied, and sang. They held the first ever Democratic UC Regents Meeting on the lawn in front of the building, where everyone could vote and participate in UC policy decisions. Collectively, we sought not only to obstruct the Regents’ ability to perpetuate injustice, but also to demonstrate a constructive alternative – a vision of a University by the people, for the people.
It took a few hours for the UC police to remove us. Our Kryptonite bike locks broke the Jaws of Life, and they had to unscrew the door handles to extract us. Ten of us were arrested, but the D.A. refused to press any charges. Our policy-change proposals were delivered in the form of a letter; the Regents never responded. We did not stop the meeting, but we got our message across and attracted a small media circus. Our action was part of Direct Action to Stop the War’s widespread March 19th protests throughout San Francisco.
The night before our action, during a draining yet necessary six-hour consensus decision process meeting, we all agreed to a set of nonviolence guidelines. The power of our loving, persuasive stance was on display for all to see. Even with bike locks around our necks, we made efforts to dialogue with the police officers and passersby, especially those who disagreed with our positions. When the laughing and cheerful Laura Zelko was wheeled away in her gurney (see below), her arresting officer applauded her courage and determination. Authentic, inclusive humor can be a powerful tool during moments of confrontation, and can help remind an adversary that underneath it all, we’re all human.
It is going to take a mass movement to enact reform and revolution at the UC system – our day was just one step on that path. Some of us have started working on a new, UC system-wide campaign to democratize the UC Regents (see www.ucdemocracy.org). Nonviolent direct action is only one of many ways to influence change. While it may not have accomplished our ultimate goal, Free the UC Day worked to build solidarity, clarify goals, and empower students. As one activist said afterward, “That was so inspiring! When’s the next one?”
Raw footage from the March 19th action will be available soon – check out www.FreeTheUC.net for more info.
“Oh, the Absurdity!”
A View from Lockdown by Laura Zelko
With my neck secure inside a Kryptonite bike lock, a crowd of my friends assembled to watch the spectacle as my soon-to-be arresting officer approached. My supporters obeyed orders to stand back, but had managed to hand me not five minutes ago the delicious falafel wrap on which I munched. A few moments before I had witnessed a UC police officer mistreat my determined fellow lockdowner Andy Olsen. The cop had refused to loosen handcuffs that were cutting off circulation and prompting Andy’s cries of agony, so I still had some anger coursing through my system. I smiled to let my friends know I was okay, for now.
As unseen power tools disassembled the door behind, my mind experienced a cold silence before it burst out laughing. ‘Why is my mind laughing at me?’ I thought. The only reply it would give was, ‘Oh, the absurdity!’
Once I was disconnected from my door, Officer Sheffield, a man who proved to me that he was genuinely concerned with my safety, told me how much easier it would be if I just complied. I would do no such thing, so I smiled.
“I understand what you want me to do,” I said, “and please know that it’s nothing personal.” He sighed and replied, “It’s nothing personal here either.”
At that moment, I understood the absurdity. The ridiculous nature of the games we play, cops and activists, protesters and the protested, became real-time and life-size. There I was, the pawn being moved from E3 to E4. And I was smiling, because I could almost feel the fingers grip my round, plastic little head, and I hoped that maybe E4 would be a place where I could take an opponent’s rook.
First, I began to stand up, and then dropped to my knees with an overly loud, singsong, “Oh my, my legs don’t seem to be working! What has happened to my legs?” I kept smiling, and when Officer Sheffield cuffed me loosely, like I knew he would, I let the crowd know that my hands were just fine.
When the gurney was wheeled over to me, I yelled, “Oh, the absurdity! Oh, the absurdity!” while laughing what must have been maniacally. I was wheeled, strapped down and singing, into a big, cold room where I could see a few of my comrades sitting on milk crates tied with plastic cuffs. So I sang louder, “Next time you see me, I may be smiling, oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao!”
I felt proud to be insane, to be treated as such. While this country, with help from the UC Regents, glorifies the most destructive power that can ever be put into the hands, nay, the finger, of one human, who would ever, ever want to be on the system’s side of so-called sanity?
Resources:
The Coalition to Free the UC: http://www.freetheuc.net
Democratize the UC Regents: http://www.democratizetheregents.org
(on Facebook: “Democratize the UC Regents!!” group)
The Phoenix Project for UC Democracy: http://www.ucdemocracy.org
Long Range Resistance to the Santa Cruz LRDP: http://www.lrdpresistance.org
UC Nuclear Free: http://www.ucnuclearfree.org
Tuition Relief Now: http://www.tuitionreliefnow.org
Stop BP-Berkeley: http://www.stopbp-berkeley.org
Save the Oaks (R.I.P.): http://www.saveoaks.com
NAGPRA & UCB (Campaign to release the 13,000 Native American Remains): http://nagpra-ucb.blogspot.com/
Ban the SAT: http://www.bamn.com/
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwass2000/sets/72157604165599660/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwass2000/2346736308/in/set-72157604165599660/ Caption: Students demand a democratically elected board of UC Regents. Currently the Regents are appoint by the Governor of California, often a form of political patronage which involves giving a cushy appointment to a wealthy campaign donor. The current UC Board of Regents Chairman, Richard Blum, has personally profited from the Iraq War as his wife Senator Diane Feinstein has awarded Iraq reconstruction contracts to Blum’s companies URS and Perini.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwass2000/2346680516/in/set-72157604165599660/ Caption: Andy Olsen shows off a homemade illustration of a nuclear missile, emblazoned with UC’s distinctive blue and gold.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwass2000/2345851771/in/set-72157604165599660/ Caption: UC police gather to extract and arrest Matt Marks, who attached himself to the building’s front double door in order to stop the Regents from meeting.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwass2000/2346679980/in/set-72157604165599660/ Caption: Firemen attempt to cut through Matthew Taylor’s bike lock. Taylor attempted to explain to the firemen why he’d put his neck on the line.