Building Takeover at San Francisco State

In the city that never sleeps, there are those of us who watch the spreading occupation movement with both glee and fear. We remember NYU and NYPD treachery in crushing the NYU occupation, and our stomachs still turn when we think of how fast the New School campus became a warzone during the second occupation. We were unprepared, riding the momentum from the first occupation, for sold-out as it was, it offered a vital glimpse of our future, building barricades and defending our lines from the cops.

We don’t just watch the news, we see the militants emerging in California, Iran, Greece and around the world as not only our allies but as our comrades. We all share an interest in spreading and widening the struggle against the capitalist crisis and for free and open education.

Yet we remember the defeats we faced this spring and the blue uniforms they were wrapped in. We know we need more occupations-but how? How can we be successful, how can we avoid defeat again? How can we occupy, not just to spread a tactic but to pose the struggle in the clearest terms possible? Those who have looked at the history of May 1968 in France understand the necessity of linking working-class and student actions. But the stifling bureaucracy of labor has kept a lid on struggles. Those who recall May 1968 see the need for a General Strike, over the heads of the bureaucrats who hold us back! But how?

We must learn the lessons of the occupations which have occurred in New York. We saw the first New School occupation at least successfully negotiate amnesty, but only through the struggles of those on the streets outside who fought their way into the building to join in. Whose university? Our university – we are not only students but everyone, we are the working class and the oppressed, and our struggles must be linked.

The second New School occupation shows the need for openness and collective, mass action. Vanguardist occupations are not enough! We side with all who take initiative to struggle, but we aim to participate in order to broaden and widen these struggles. We need more occupations, yes – but we need larger, more open occupations, and we must understand that demanding nothing in conditions of retreat paves the way for defeat. Moreover, in order to leave lasting gains that can be preserved, and in turn preserve a permanent struggle, we must champion the demands that benefit the most oppressed and the most downtrodden. We must fight to end the system of class privilege which divides us.

We can do this by breaking our struggle free of its artificial limits. Those who are ready to fight must come together. The best way to do this would be to use the space opened up by a defensible and successful occupation. Unfortunately this is not yet possible. Instead we must fight to build an education movement in the broadest sense, fighting to tear down the boundaries between universities and even high schools and middle schools.

CUNY students have faced brutal tuition hikes and budget cuts. Fighters at other schools remember the brave CUNY students who were on the front lines of defending our struggles. We have every responsibility to be on every CUNY campus that explodes in struggle.

We must start to come together across school lines. We need a united front for education: students, workers, teachers, at every school. We need to build unified actions. In March, hundreds of CUNY students walked-out and rallied at BMCC, then marched to join with tens of thousands of union workers rallying at City Hall.

We need more opportunities like this. We need to build an escalating series of student rallies across the city. We must reach out across campus lines. CUNY students must march with New School and NYU students. Columbia students who forced out the Minute Men – we need you in our struggle.

We must march from campus to campus. In Pittsburgh the cops attacked students in their dorm. We could march from dorm to dorm, growing in size and militancy as we scour the city, demonstrating a show of force that would help galvanize all who see the need, but not the opportunity, to struggle.

We should have united front planning meetings for city-wide student-worker demonstrations. We can expect limited support from union bureaucrats, but we should not hesitate to reach out and ask for it–nay, demand it. We can come together to plan student actions that will provide an example not only internationally but locally as well. We must come together and meet to discuss the way forward for student struggle in New York! We need a general assembly to build demonstrations and occupations, and we need demonstrations and occupations to build a general strike!

New York Times Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/education/11arrest.html?_r=1&hp

I don’t think it does justice to the students causes. Plus it could have had more accurate facts, there were 4 campuses with occupations not 3, right? It also said dozens were arrested after the fee hikes, which I guess just over 100 students is, but it just doesn’t adequately describe the dedication of the students fighting for affordable education.

New School Student: wow. Really? If you truly think your experience at the New School compares to an Iranian’s experience at Tehran University, then you’ve really lost it and I seriously, honestly recommend you seek professional help. This is no ad hominem, but serious concern. I’m sure the New School has outrageously cheap therapists on staff to help you through what I’m sure is a really tough time. Yours in solidarity, Josh.

P.S. Good luck finding such great, cheap help in Tehran.