Tag Archives: university of california

April 30, 2012, 10:39 am

U. of California Administration Disgraces Freedom of Assembly (Again)

A gang of dangerous youth obstructing the efficient functioning of the educational apparatus (Flickr Commons)

The ghost of Clark Kerr moans and rattles its chains, reminding us how the University of California, in its majesty, acquired a reputation for disrespect of democratic citizenship almost half a century ago, when it tried to turn the Berkeley campus into a politics-free zone. Now, courtesy of Maryan Monalisa Gharavi at The New Inquiry, comes the following travel alert from the University’s Office of the President, sent to all campuses to alert anyone traveling to cities where big May Day demonstrations are expected May 1 (my boldface, their brass):

Advice: Confirm business appointments for May 1st. Allow additional time for ground transportation near protest sites. Avoid all…

November 20, 2011, 3:25 pm

Sympathy for Eichmann?

By Marc Bousquet

With “Why I Feel Bad For the Pepper-Spraying Policeman, Lt. John Pike,” Atlantic magazine senior editor Alexis Madrigal provides a useful discussion of the criminalization of protest and related militarization of police response. Madrigal is quite right that we’re missing the point if we pretend that Pike is an “independent bad actor” and “vilify” him as an individual without analyzing the flawed system of protest policing in which Pike operates. However, Madrigal makes a serious blunder in framing the piece.

Madrigal’s intention for the frame was to offer a provocative meditation on the way that the management of disorder dehumanizes police officers as well as the police—the sort of thing any reasonably well-read grad student should be able to churn out (cf Foucault, Fanon, etc):

I am sure that he is a man like me, and he didn’t become a cop to shoot history majors with pepper…

September 23, 2011, 11:51 am

Protests on Both Coasts

By Marc Bousquet

Dressed as their favorite books, protesters march before occupying Tolman Hall.

“Protest season began with a bang at UC Berkeley as hundreds of chanting, fist-pumping students angry about tuition hikes charged into Tolman Hall during a raucous protest and building occupation Thursday,” reports Nanette Asimov for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Wall Street occupiers end their first week with a vow to remain over the long term, disrupted an art auction in support of locked-out Sotheby’s workers, and were featured in a Stephen Colbert segment Thursday night. Stanley Aronowitz will speak to the protesters Friday at 5p.m. (EST). Previous speakers have included Michael Moore and Roseanne Barr.

Book Bloc March Sparks Occupation
Last night’s occupation developed spontaneously out of a march led …