1 00:00:02,296 --> 00:00:04,894 Greetings Troublemakers... welcome to Trouble. 2 00:00:04,894 --> 00:00:06,638 My name is not important. 3 00:00:06,638 --> 00:00:10,167 It’s now been 50 years since the riots of 1968, 4 00:00:10,167 --> 00:00:12,971 a decentralized series of explosive protests 5 00:00:12,971 --> 00:00:15,679 that broke out across multiple countries around the world 6 00:00:15,679 --> 00:00:18,754 and which, to this day, stand as a high-water mark 7 00:00:18,754 --> 00:00:21,025 in the annals of revolutionary history. 8 00:00:21,025 --> 00:00:24,103 But no commemoration of this milestone is complete 9 00:00:24,103 --> 00:00:26,463 without acknowledging that '68 was, 10 00:00:26,463 --> 00:00:27,523 at the end of the day, 11 00:00:27,523 --> 00:00:29,088 a failed revolution. 12 00:00:29,088 --> 00:00:32,100 And just as it was a year of inspiring popular protest, 13 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:35,463 it was also a year of intense political repression. 14 00:00:35,463 --> 00:00:36,840 In the United States, 15 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:38,782 just as the civil rights and anti-war movements 16 00:00:38,782 --> 00:00:40,108 were at their peaks, 17 00:00:40,108 --> 00:00:42,844 three high-profile political assassinations occurred 18 00:00:42,844 --> 00:00:44,381 over a span of two months, 19 00:00:44,381 --> 00:00:46,618 claiming the lives of Martin Luther King Jr, 20 00:00:46,618 --> 00:00:47,798 Bobby Hutton 21 00:00:47,798 --> 00:00:49,271 and Robert Kennedy. 22 00:00:49,271 --> 00:00:51,046 These killings helped to cement the shift 23 00:00:51,046 --> 00:00:52,704 from a largely non-violent 24 00:00:52,704 --> 00:00:54,578 and reformist civil rights movement 25 00:00:54,578 --> 00:00:56,441 to the more militant and revolutionary 26 00:00:56,441 --> 00:00:57,779 Black Power movement, 27 00:00:57,779 --> 00:00:59,443 which in turn would soon fall prey 28 00:00:59,443 --> 00:01:01,111 to the FBI's ruthless program 29 00:01:01,111 --> 00:01:03,750 of covert assassination and sabotage 30 00:01:03,750 --> 00:01:05,309 known as COINTELPRO. 31 00:01:05,619 --> 00:01:06,704 In Mexico, 32 00:01:06,704 --> 00:01:08,862 calls for an international boycott managed to 33 00:01:08,862 --> 00:01:12,035 successfully block Apartheid South Africa's participation 34 00:01:12,035 --> 00:01:14,555 in the 1968 Summer Olympics, 35 00:01:14,555 --> 00:01:16,427 and a massive student uprising broke out, 36 00:01:16,427 --> 00:01:18,686 which posed an existential challenge 37 00:01:18,686 --> 00:01:22,257 to the ruling PRI government of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. 38 00:01:22,257 --> 00:01:24,643 The Mexican state's response to the students 39 00:01:24,643 --> 00:01:26,072 was swift and brutal. 40 00:01:26,072 --> 00:01:27,331 On October 2nd, 41 00:01:27,331 --> 00:01:30,293 just ten days before the Olympic Games were set to begin, 42 00:01:30,293 --> 00:01:33,943 the Mexican army opened fire on 10,000 student protestors 43 00:01:33,943 --> 00:01:36,174 in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, 44 00:01:36,174 --> 00:01:39,294 in what became known as the Tlatelolco massacre. 45 00:01:39,294 --> 00:01:41,601 Between 300-400 people were killed, 46 00:01:41,601 --> 00:01:44,973 and over 1,500 student organizers arrested 47 00:01:44,973 --> 00:01:47,973 in a wide-ranging crackdown by security forces 48 00:01:47,973 --> 00:01:50,582 that sent shock waves throughout Mexican society 49 00:01:50,582 --> 00:01:52,040 that resonate to this very day. 50 00:01:58,831 --> 00:02:01,483 But while repression ultimately cut short 51 00:02:01,483 --> 00:02:04,154 the revolutionary promise of 1968, 52 00:02:04,154 --> 00:02:06,555 it could never extinguish the desire for freedom 53 00:02:06,555 --> 00:02:08,456 that was its initial spark. 54 00:02:08,456 --> 00:02:10,289 This torch has since been taken up 55 00:02:10,289 --> 00:02:12,561 by new generations of restless youth, 56 00:02:12,561 --> 00:02:14,446 who have used their position as students 57 00:02:14,446 --> 00:02:17,886 to issue calls for a radical transformation of society. 58 00:02:17,886 --> 00:02:19,202 Over the next thirty minutes, 59 00:02:19,202 --> 00:02:22,144 we'll showcase contemporary examples of student struggles 60 00:02:22,144 --> 00:02:25,566 from Mexico, South Africa and the United States, 61 00:02:25,566 --> 00:02:28,356 and speak with current and former student organizers 62 00:02:28,356 --> 00:02:30,345 as they share their experiences of 63 00:02:30,345 --> 00:02:31,805 taking over their campuses, 64 00:02:31,805 --> 00:02:33,509 disrupting the status quo… 65 00:02:33,509 --> 00:02:35,214 and making a whole lot of trouble. 66 00:03:04,361 --> 00:03:07,370 In this country, only 4 out of 10 67 00:03:07,370 --> 00:03:09,957 from each generation can get into university. 68 00:03:09,957 --> 00:03:12,257 There haven’t been public universities created 69 00:03:12,257 --> 00:03:13,538 since the 70’s, 70 00:03:13,538 --> 00:03:16,165 when the UAM (Metropolitan Autonomous University) was created, 71 00:03:16,165 --> 00:03:18,637 and then in 2001, the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UNAM). 72 00:03:18,637 --> 00:03:20,394 None of them have the capacity to take in 73 00:03:20,394 --> 00:03:24,155 more than 5000 students a year; so it’s an elite. 74 00:03:24,155 --> 00:03:26,668 And in this country, with all the poverty, 75 00:03:26,668 --> 00:03:29,540 with all the displacement, who gets into university? 76 00:03:29,540 --> 00:03:32,631 The demand that made the student movement take off 77 00:03:32,631 --> 00:03:34,420 was the regulation of payments 78 00:03:34,420 --> 00:03:35,963 that was implemented in the UNAM. 79 00:03:35,963 --> 00:03:37,583 It intended to establish quotas 80 00:03:37,583 --> 00:03:39,088 to be able to study at the university. 81 00:03:39,088 --> 00:03:41,401 It contemplated the increase of educational services 82 00:03:41,401 --> 00:03:43,026 - for example the study of languages, 83 00:03:43,026 --> 00:03:45,222 the use of laboratories, the use of libraries - 84 00:03:45,222 --> 00:03:47,821 that for all of us who participated in that movement 85 00:03:47,821 --> 00:03:51,273 meant the beginning of the privatization of the university. 86 00:03:51,273 --> 00:03:53,013 And then once the movement exploded, 87 00:03:53,013 --> 00:03:56,729 inside the student organization that we formed, 88 00:03:56,729 --> 00:04:00,318 which was the CGH, we added another 5 demands. 89 00:04:00,318 --> 00:04:03,065 What happened in many schools was that as soon 90 00:04:03,065 --> 00:04:06,845 as the proposed amendment to the regulation came out, 91 00:04:06,845 --> 00:04:08,643 they formed assemblies. 92 00:04:08,643 --> 00:04:10,339 In many cases, or in each school, 93 00:04:10,339 --> 00:04:13,284 they saw that there’s an amendment 94 00:04:13,284 --> 00:04:16,823 to the regulation and whatnot, and they begin to plan. 95 00:04:16,823 --> 00:04:21,125 The only option we had to try to stop the increase in fees 96 00:04:21,125 --> 00:04:22,998 was to paralyze the university. 97 00:04:22,998 --> 00:04:25,748 This is where some older comrades 98 00:04:25,748 --> 00:04:28,619 from the UNAM joined the fray, 99 00:04:28,619 --> 00:04:34,983 and they brought the experience that we did not have. 100 00:04:34,983 --> 00:04:37,107 And through discussions with these comrades 101 00:04:37,107 --> 00:04:39,339 the idea of striking began to form, 102 00:04:39,339 --> 00:04:41,058 as well as the way we were going to do it; 103 00:04:41,058 --> 00:04:42,474 and a date was set. 104 00:04:42,474 --> 00:04:45,063 And that’s where I think the Zapatistas were key as well. 105 00:04:45,063 --> 00:04:47,722 The EZLN, like the commanders, 106 00:04:47,722 --> 00:04:48,748 issued a communiqué 107 00:04:48,748 --> 00:04:52,237 which announced the support of the Zapatistas, 108 00:04:52,237 --> 00:04:54,624 and called on all the people that supported them 109 00:04:54,624 --> 00:04:56,376 to also support the student movement. 110 00:04:56,376 --> 00:04:58,517 On the day that we launched the strike, 111 00:04:58,517 --> 00:05:00,973 which was the night of the 19th of April, 112 00:05:00,973 --> 00:05:03,036 more than half of the university population 113 00:05:03,036 --> 00:05:06,315 was in favour of the strike. 114 00:05:06,315 --> 00:05:07,531 And we were here, 115 00:05:07,531 --> 00:05:10,369 ready to stay in the facilities 116 00:05:10,369 --> 00:05:12,413 so that classes couldn't be held, 117 00:05:12,413 --> 00:05:13,530 and so that the strike could begin. 118 00:05:28,394 --> 00:05:30,101 On the 30th of April, during the strike, 119 00:05:30,101 --> 00:05:32,496 the university halls were overflowing 120 00:05:32,496 --> 00:05:35,629 with workshops, kids, and strikers. 121 00:05:35,629 --> 00:05:38,981 First, (the strike) went through an absolute criminalization. 122 00:05:38,981 --> 00:05:40,704 The media campaign was brutal. 123 00:05:40,704 --> 00:05:44,108 Like, it really was, and we didn’t have the resources 124 00:05:44,108 --> 00:05:47,148 that we have now like Facebook, Twitter 125 00:05:47,148 --> 00:05:49,953 - that allow you to access the masses. 126 00:05:49,953 --> 00:05:54,986 The way to share what was going was to go to the metro. 127 00:05:54,986 --> 00:05:58,070 Going with a brigade, for me, was the coolest, 128 00:05:58,070 --> 00:06:01,767 to like go to inform people why we were there, 129 00:06:01,767 --> 00:06:02,996 and most importantly, 130 00:06:02,996 --> 00:06:05,946 gauge just how much the people supported you. 131 00:06:05,946 --> 00:06:07,168 There was support, 132 00:06:07,168 --> 00:06:09,681 but that support was also mostly moral support, 133 00:06:09,681 --> 00:06:11,504 or verbally like “yes, I stand with you”. 134 00:06:11,504 --> 00:06:15,368 We also didn’t have a proposal of what they could do. 135 00:06:15,368 --> 00:06:18,184 Of how they could truly support us 136 00:06:18,184 --> 00:06:19,974 and strengthen the movement. 137 00:06:21,029 --> 00:06:23,481 I believe that the movement underwent 138 00:06:23,481 --> 00:06:25,230 a complete offensive of the state. 139 00:06:25,230 --> 00:06:28,580 Yes, they used all the resources of the Mexican state 140 00:06:28,580 --> 00:06:31,289 to attack the student movement. 141 00:06:31,289 --> 00:06:33,608 There were comrades who were even disappeared. 142 00:06:33,608 --> 00:06:37,384 And 9 months later, the UNAM as an institution 143 00:06:37,384 --> 00:06:39,056 decides to host a consultation. 144 00:06:39,056 --> 00:06:42,007 And they put in De La Fuente as Rector. 145 00:06:42,007 --> 00:06:44,445 And De La Fuente seemed like a rector 146 00:06:44,445 --> 00:06:45,942 who wanted to begin a dialogue. 147 00:06:45,942 --> 00:06:49,553 He began to organize a consultation, 148 00:06:49,553 --> 00:06:52,925 in which he included these proposals 149 00:06:52,925 --> 00:06:55,567 to be voted by the university community: 150 00:06:55,567 --> 00:06:58,277 the general payment regulations will be annulled; 151 00:06:58,277 --> 00:07:00,683 we will organize a congress; 152 00:07:00,683 --> 00:07:04,251 and we propose to end the strike. 153 00:07:04,251 --> 00:07:07,828 De La Fuente made this seem like a sensible proposal. 154 00:07:07,828 --> 00:07:10,173 'The movement started with the quotas, 155 00:07:10,173 --> 00:07:12,252 I am proposing that we are going to eliminate them. 156 00:07:12,252 --> 00:07:14,605 The movement asked for a congress. I am proposing that. 157 00:07:14,605 --> 00:07:16,587 We are going to make it happen. What else do you want?' 158 00:07:16,587 --> 00:07:20,921 And then comes the end of this mastermind move 159 00:07:20,921 --> 00:07:23,043 that the rectory and the government made 160 00:07:23,043 --> 00:07:26,615 - which was to invade, with paid thugs, 161 00:07:26,615 --> 00:07:28,809 the Number 3 Preparatory. 162 00:07:28,809 --> 00:07:30,674 There were only 5 colleagues there 163 00:07:30,674 --> 00:07:33,592 resisting and guarding the facilities, 164 00:07:33,592 --> 00:07:38,137 and this proved to be a provocation for the CGH. 165 00:07:38,137 --> 00:07:40,532 When all the comrades who were 166 00:07:40,532 --> 00:07:43,467 in the other facilities of the UNAM learned about it, 167 00:07:43,467 --> 00:07:47,684 our reaction was to go to rescue The Number 3. 168 00:07:47,684 --> 00:07:50,408 Many of us, members of the CGH, arrived. 169 00:07:50,408 --> 00:07:51,952 There was an exchange of blows, 170 00:07:51,952 --> 00:07:54,387 of throwing objects against these people 171 00:07:54,387 --> 00:07:56,855 who were there invading the school. 172 00:07:56,855 --> 00:07:59,369 The media replays these scenes of violence, 173 00:07:59,369 --> 00:08:02,253 and shows it to the population, 174 00:08:02,253 --> 00:08:04,805 and the first contingent of 175 00:08:04,805 --> 00:08:07,136 the Preventive Federal Police arrives 176 00:08:07,136 --> 00:08:08,690 - without weapons. 177 00:08:08,690 --> 00:08:12,427 They enter, they detain, and in less than 72 hours 178 00:08:12,427 --> 00:08:16,442 we're in prison accused of terrorism, 179 00:08:16,442 --> 00:08:19,235 criminal association, sabotage, property damage, 180 00:08:19,235 --> 00:08:23,926 aggravated robbery, riot, attacks on communication channels… 181 00:08:23,926 --> 00:08:27,562 so it was a very violent initial detention. 182 00:08:27,562 --> 00:08:29,187 And that was the beginning 183 00:08:29,187 --> 00:08:30,926 that opened things up to where we are now, 184 00:08:30,926 --> 00:08:33,459 in terms of violence towards women for example. 185 00:08:33,459 --> 00:08:35,809 The type of brutality, how we were attacked… 186 00:08:35,809 --> 00:08:38,280 I mean, a comrade ended up with a pelvic fracture 187 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:39,537 from a blow. 188 00:08:39,537 --> 00:08:41,804 In other words, now it is the systematic practice 189 00:08:41,804 --> 00:08:44,390 towards the bodies of women in this type of detention. 190 00:08:44,390 --> 00:08:49,800 And at that moment, De La Fuente calls us to a dialogue, 191 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:51,890 but now under his conditions. 192 00:08:51,890 --> 00:08:54,279 ‘You’re going to appoint 10 representatives. 193 00:08:54,279 --> 00:08:56,278 We are going to meet in such and such place, 194 00:08:56,278 --> 00:08:58,985 without radio, without television, without the media. 195 00:08:58,985 --> 00:09:00,561 And what we are going to negotiate 196 00:09:00,561 --> 00:09:02,142 is the end of the strike.' 197 00:09:02,142 --> 00:09:04,182 The representatives who attended this meeting 198 00:09:04,182 --> 00:09:06,131 did not accept that deal. 199 00:09:06,131 --> 00:09:10,189 There, they knew well that the most active 200 00:09:10,189 --> 00:09:13,152 movement organizers were going to be assembled, 201 00:09:13,152 --> 00:09:17,428 and what they decided to do was send a very large group 202 00:09:17,428 --> 00:09:19,303 of unarmed policemen. 203 00:09:19,303 --> 00:09:21,345 And this worked very well, 204 00:09:21,345 --> 00:09:23,234 because before the media, 205 00:09:23,234 --> 00:09:26,235 the force was used in a rational way, 206 00:09:26,235 --> 00:09:29,319 against a ‘rebellious, aimless movement’ 207 00:09:29,319 --> 00:09:32,399 - and that was accepted by the population 208 00:09:32,399 --> 00:09:35,441 in quite a drastic manner. 209 00:09:35,441 --> 00:09:37,375 Finally, on February 6, there was 210 00:09:37,375 --> 00:09:39,226 a full-scale military operation 211 00:09:39,226 --> 00:09:41,166 - with helicopters, tanks - 212 00:09:41,166 --> 00:09:44,106 that overtakes all of the university facilities. 213 00:09:44,106 --> 00:09:48,110 This did not provoke any kind of outbreak, or mobilization. 214 00:09:48,110 --> 00:09:51,998 And therefore I believe that the government of Cedillo 215 00:09:51,998 --> 00:09:56,232 and De La Fuente resolved the conflict at a very low cost. 216 00:10:01,836 --> 00:10:03,865 The 1960s are often looked back on 217 00:10:03,865 --> 00:10:07,149 as a golden age of student activism in the United States, 218 00:10:07,149 --> 00:10:09,097 with ground zero being the Berkeley campus 219 00:10:09,097 --> 00:10:11,054 of the University of California. 220 00:10:11,054 --> 00:10:13,584 As the storied home of the Free Speech movement, 221 00:10:13,584 --> 00:10:15,859 a campaign of sit-ins and mass rallies 222 00:10:15,859 --> 00:10:18,575 that by 1965 had won students the right 223 00:10:18,575 --> 00:10:21,574 to hold explicitly political events on campus, 224 00:10:21,574 --> 00:10:23,972 UC Berkeley was an important point of convergence 225 00:10:23,972 --> 00:10:26,850 for the Civil Rights, feminist, environmentalist 226 00:10:26,850 --> 00:10:29,532 and anti-war movements that eventually coalesced 227 00:10:29,532 --> 00:10:32,045 into the so-called New Left. 228 00:10:32,045 --> 00:10:34,915 As part of the larger University of California network, 229 00:10:34,915 --> 00:10:37,884 UC Berkeley is a publicly-funded institution. 230 00:10:37,884 --> 00:10:39,544 For most of its existence, 231 00:10:39,544 --> 00:10:42,304 this meant that students didn't have to pay tuition fees. 232 00:10:42,304 --> 00:10:43,724 Beginning in the late 60's, 233 00:10:43,724 --> 00:10:45,184 however, that began to change, 234 00:10:45,184 --> 00:10:46,969 as a growing popular resentment 235 00:10:46,969 --> 00:10:49,074 towards hippies and godless communists 236 00:10:49,074 --> 00:10:51,261 spurred a conservative voter backlash, 237 00:10:51,261 --> 00:10:53,177 which helped propel Ronald Reagan 238 00:10:53,177 --> 00:10:55,161 to the Governorship of California. 239 00:10:55,161 --> 00:10:56,868 And all of it began the first time 240 00:10:56,868 --> 00:10:58,488 some of you who know better, 241 00:10:58,488 --> 00:11:00,518 and are old enough to know better, 242 00:11:00,518 --> 00:11:01,969 let young people think 243 00:11:01,969 --> 00:11:03,435 that they had the right 244 00:11:03,435 --> 00:11:05,340 to choose the laws they would obey 245 00:11:05,340 --> 00:11:07,731 as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. 246 00:11:07,731 --> 00:11:09,929 One year after sending in the National Guard 247 00:11:09,929 --> 00:11:13,281 to violently crush Berkeley students in 1969, 248 00:11:13,281 --> 00:11:15,788 Reagan succeeded in imposing tuition fees 249 00:11:15,788 --> 00:11:19,133 across the nine campuses of the University of California. 250 00:11:19,133 --> 00:11:20,557 In the decades that have followed, 251 00:11:20,557 --> 00:11:23,559 tuition costs have shot up by nearly 10,000 percent. 252 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:26,151 But despite the effects that these changes have had 253 00:11:26,151 --> 00:11:28,017 on the university's demographics, 254 00:11:28,017 --> 00:11:30,128 UC Berkeley continues to occupy 255 00:11:30,128 --> 00:11:32,365 an important role in American politics 256 00:11:32,365 --> 00:11:35,090 as a primary site of student radicalism. 257 00:11:35,090 --> 00:11:38,376 Four decades after Reagan sent in the army to crush dissent, 258 00:11:38,376 --> 00:11:41,084 students at UC Berkeley participated in a series 259 00:11:41,084 --> 00:11:43,153 of statewide university occupations, 260 00:11:43,153 --> 00:11:46,124 carried out under the banner Occupy Everything. 261 00:11:46,484 --> 00:11:49,375 This is Berkeley on Telegraph. That’s how we do it. 262 00:11:51,205 --> 00:11:52,501 Some of the motivating factors 263 00:11:52,501 --> 00:11:55,586 for the student movement of 2009 to 2010 264 00:11:55,586 --> 00:11:59,036 really were unfortunately based on the budget cuts 265 00:11:59,036 --> 00:12:02,017 in the state of California to public higher education. 266 00:12:02,017 --> 00:12:03,898 Now this actually sprawled across 267 00:12:03,898 --> 00:12:06,652 all different sectors of the education community. 268 00:12:06,652 --> 00:12:10,107 So after the financial crisis in 2007-2008, 269 00:12:10,107 --> 00:12:13,016 a lot of states were forced to implement austerity programs 270 00:12:13,016 --> 00:12:15,936 cutting public spending and laying off state employees. 271 00:12:16,426 --> 00:12:18,783 Not only were student tuition fees 272 00:12:18,783 --> 00:12:21,012 suggested to be increased, but also 273 00:12:21,012 --> 00:12:23,895 there were forced faculty and staff furlough days. 274 00:12:23,895 --> 00:12:27,188 So this actually did help us ultimately in the movement 275 00:12:27,188 --> 00:12:29,619 because it affected so many different aspects 276 00:12:29,619 --> 00:12:31,547 of the campus community 277 00:12:31,547 --> 00:12:34,932 that we were able to bind together and work together. 278 00:12:35,822 --> 00:12:38,865 UC’s system in particular had a large budget deficit 279 00:12:38,865 --> 00:12:41,357 and so administrators resorted to tuition hikes 280 00:12:41,357 --> 00:12:43,250 to make up for the budget shortfall. 281 00:12:43,250 --> 00:12:45,124 But that was only half the story. 282 00:12:45,124 --> 00:12:46,757 As it was discovered later 283 00:12:46,757 --> 00:12:48,513 the UC administration had resorted to 284 00:12:48,513 --> 00:12:50,611 taking out bonds for construction projects 285 00:12:50,611 --> 00:12:51,944 to generate revenue. 286 00:12:51,944 --> 00:12:52,944 And in this instance, 287 00:12:52,944 --> 00:12:54,833 student tuition was closely tied 288 00:12:54,833 --> 00:12:57,208 to the bond ratings of the UCs. 289 00:12:57,208 --> 00:12:59,066 Increasing student tuition was a signal to 290 00:12:59,066 --> 00:13:00,703 credit rating agencies that the UC 291 00:13:00,703 --> 00:13:02,092 could pay back their bonds 292 00:13:02,092 --> 00:13:03,528 and thus secure more funding. 293 00:13:04,178 --> 00:13:05,705 This ended up being one of the pivots 294 00:13:05,705 --> 00:13:07,125 for the student movement as a whole; 295 00:13:07,125 --> 00:13:09,270 the relationship between the university 296 00:13:09,270 --> 00:13:10,616 and financial capital 297 00:13:10,616 --> 00:13:12,320 - higher education and Wall Street. 298 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,584 So the story really does begin in early May, 299 00:13:16,584 --> 00:13:21,087 where the proposed tuition fee increases were made 300 00:13:21,087 --> 00:13:24,698 by the UC regents as well as the CSU trustees. 301 00:13:24,698 --> 00:13:25,712 Over the summer, 302 00:13:25,712 --> 00:13:27,749 of course student organizing is quite difficult 303 00:13:27,749 --> 00:13:31,481 ... but there were coalitions of students, staff, 304 00:13:31,481 --> 00:13:34,805 and faculty that had been formed in late spring 305 00:13:34,805 --> 00:13:38,211 that were in fact meeting and trying to gain momentum 306 00:13:38,211 --> 00:13:40,078 to prepare for the very beginning 307 00:13:40,078 --> 00:13:43,001 of the fall semester in 2009. 308 00:13:43,691 --> 00:13:45,528 There were a series of smaller actions 309 00:13:45,528 --> 00:13:47,503 and coordination among students at UC 310 00:13:47,503 --> 00:13:49,370 and Cal State campuses 311 00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:52,176 which pretty much set the tone for the months to come: 312 00:13:52,176 --> 00:13:55,620 study-ins, sit-ins, and occupations of school spaces. 313 00:13:55,620 --> 00:13:58,344 We were influenced by the occupations 314 00:13:58,344 --> 00:14:00,049 specifically at the New School, 315 00:14:00,049 --> 00:14:02,729 where the tactic of occupation itself 316 00:14:02,729 --> 00:14:04,675 was becoming popularized. 317 00:14:04,675 --> 00:14:06,863 Occupations were seen as a viable tactic 318 00:14:06,863 --> 00:14:08,422 and was a way to bypass 319 00:14:08,422 --> 00:14:10,963 the routines of marches and rallies. 320 00:14:11,823 --> 00:14:14,296 This action is in solidarity with occupations 321 00:14:14,296 --> 00:14:16,686 that have occurred so far at UC Davis, UCLA, 322 00:14:16,686 --> 00:14:18,919 UC Santa Cruz, SF State. 323 00:14:19,749 --> 00:14:21,914 Using the tactic of occupation 324 00:14:21,914 --> 00:14:23,755 really did mark a departure 325 00:14:23,755 --> 00:14:26,152 from the typical tactics 326 00:14:26,152 --> 00:14:29,602 known and seen in the student movement. 327 00:14:30,762 --> 00:14:33,700 So the occupations were a major contrast to 328 00:14:33,700 --> 00:14:35,443 marches and rallies, which, 329 00:14:35,443 --> 00:14:37,654 you know, are pretty routine. 330 00:14:37,654 --> 00:14:39,455 Everyone gets together for a few hours, 331 00:14:39,455 --> 00:14:40,630 then they go home. 332 00:14:40,630 --> 00:14:44,104 In the occupations, people could meet each other 333 00:14:44,104 --> 00:14:46,058 and have longer conversations. 334 00:14:46,058 --> 00:14:47,970 And more importantly, there was a continuous 335 00:14:47,970 --> 00:14:49,841 and visible presence of people 336 00:14:49,841 --> 00:14:53,330 that made the student movement feel more tangible. 337 00:14:53,330 --> 00:14:55,117 Not just a series of actions, 338 00:14:55,117 --> 00:14:57,758 but also a materially enduring place. 339 00:14:58,368 --> 00:15:01,283 It took on more of a direct action approach 340 00:15:01,283 --> 00:15:03,918 at trying to take space. 341 00:15:03,918 --> 00:15:06,479 This is something that allowed us to 342 00:15:06,479 --> 00:15:10,172 try to manifest what we were actually dreaming of. 343 00:15:10,172 --> 00:15:13,548 As opposed to simply asking that 344 00:15:13,548 --> 00:15:17,362 the "authorities that be" give us what we want. 345 00:15:17,362 --> 00:15:19,795 This really gave us a huge motivation 346 00:15:19,795 --> 00:15:22,752 and showed the students that they had great power. 347 00:15:23,302 --> 00:15:26,115 We have a 32% fee increase 348 00:15:26,115 --> 00:15:28,793 that we want immediately repealed. 349 00:15:28,793 --> 00:15:30,174 But you know what? 350 00:15:30,804 --> 00:15:33,100 We want a whole lot more than that. 351 00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:36,143 We want public education that is free! 352 00:15:36,853 --> 00:15:37,874 So in mid-November 353 00:15:37,874 --> 00:15:39,782 there was a three-day strike in response to 354 00:15:39,782 --> 00:15:42,875 the UC administrators increasing the tuition by 32%. 355 00:15:43,645 --> 00:15:46,119 There was an occupation at UC Santa Cruz, 356 00:15:46,119 --> 00:15:47,824 while at UC Berkeley there was a march 357 00:15:47,824 --> 00:15:50,865 attended by well over several thousand people. 358 00:15:50,865 --> 00:15:52,635 Also walk-outs and sit-ins at various 359 00:15:52,635 --> 00:15:54,444 Cal States in the Bay Area. 360 00:15:54,444 --> 00:15:58,249 November 19th UCSC, UC Davis, and UCLA 361 00:15:58,249 --> 00:15:59,966 occupied administrative buildings. 362 00:15:59,966 --> 00:16:01,950 And on November 20th, Wheeler Hall, 363 00:16:01,950 --> 00:16:04,048 at UC Berkeley was occupied 364 00:16:04,048 --> 00:16:06,327 with clashes with police 365 00:16:06,327 --> 00:16:08,963 and other Cal States has sit-ins. 366 00:16:08,963 --> 00:16:10,297 From that point forward 367 00:16:10,297 --> 00:16:12,340 there was a series of smaller actions, 368 00:16:12,340 --> 00:16:14,611 marches to the chancellor’s house, 369 00:16:14,611 --> 00:16:17,373 sit-ins, more occupations 370 00:16:17,373 --> 00:16:20,009 happening at the UCs and other Cal States. 371 00:16:20,009 --> 00:16:21,684 During that time there was a lot of networking 372 00:16:21,684 --> 00:16:23,282 among students and militants 373 00:16:23,282 --> 00:16:26,823 and this was a period of time where a lot of the students 374 00:16:26,823 --> 00:16:28,405 from different campuses were able to 375 00:16:28,405 --> 00:16:32,991 kind of coordinate and talk about what to do next. 376 00:16:33,861 --> 00:16:35,546 The students who were participating 377 00:16:35,546 --> 00:16:38,471 in the occupation movement faced repression 378 00:16:38,471 --> 00:16:42,001 from both the state and the university. 379 00:16:42,001 --> 00:16:44,274 University administrators were caught off guard 380 00:16:44,274 --> 00:16:47,554 by the occupations and seemed kind of 381 00:16:47,554 --> 00:16:49,350 unsure as to what to do. 382 00:16:49,350 --> 00:16:50,862 But as the movement continued, 383 00:16:50,862 --> 00:16:53,694 the UC administration resorted to calling in the police 384 00:16:53,694 --> 00:16:55,977 both from on and off campus. 385 00:16:56,317 --> 00:16:58,736 Guys they’re at this door! 386 00:16:58,736 --> 00:17:01,131 This is the police department, unlock the door! 387 00:17:01,951 --> 00:17:05,070 And of course this is trying to prevent students 388 00:17:05,070 --> 00:17:08,697 from participating in any student activities. 389 00:17:08,697 --> 00:17:12,940 Definitely the anarchists focused more on trying to 390 00:17:12,940 --> 00:17:16,280 bring the issues outside of just the university campuses. 391 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:18,856 We were trying to relate this struggle now 392 00:17:18,856 --> 00:17:21,765 to problems and issues with capitalism 393 00:17:21,765 --> 00:17:25,348 and class struggle... because it is entirely related. 394 00:17:29,250 --> 00:17:30,414 In the Global North, 395 00:17:30,414 --> 00:17:32,775 the struggle against the colonial Apartheid regime 396 00:17:32,775 --> 00:17:35,416 in so-called South Africa is often presented 397 00:17:35,416 --> 00:17:37,105 as a feel-good example of the merits 398 00:17:37,105 --> 00:17:40,310 of pursuing a patient strategy of non-violence, 399 00:17:40,310 --> 00:17:42,571 and the effectiveness of international solidarity 400 00:17:42,571 --> 00:17:44,227 and boycott campaigns. 401 00:17:44,227 --> 00:17:47,078 When addressing seemingly intractable conflicts, 402 00:17:47,078 --> 00:17:49,592 such as the decades-long Palestinian resistance 403 00:17:49,592 --> 00:17:51,213 to Israeli occupation, 404 00:17:51,213 --> 00:17:53,032 Western liberals are fond of lamenting 405 00:17:53,032 --> 00:17:55,715 the lack of a so-called “Nelson Mandela figure” 406 00:17:55,715 --> 00:17:57,713 who could unite divided populations 407 00:17:57,713 --> 00:18:00,224 and galvanize world opinion behind a peaceful 408 00:18:00,224 --> 00:18:03,816 and dignified demand for national self-determination. 409 00:18:03,816 --> 00:18:06,911 Not only does this wholesome and incredibly racist narrative 410 00:18:06,911 --> 00:18:09,107 ignore the fact that Mandela himself 411 00:18:09,107 --> 00:18:12,053 was an active proponent of armed struggle, 412 00:18:12,053 --> 00:18:14,313 There are many people who feel 413 00:18:14,313 --> 00:18:16,768 that it is useless and futile 414 00:18:16,768 --> 00:18:19,979 for us to continue talking peace and non-violence 415 00:18:19,979 --> 00:18:22,433 against a government whose reply 416 00:18:22,433 --> 00:18:24,587 is only savage attacks. 417 00:18:25,107 --> 00:18:27,022 but it also hides the essential role 418 00:18:27,022 --> 00:18:28,779 that militant youth movements played 419 00:18:28,779 --> 00:18:30,715 in toppling the Apartheid regime, 420 00:18:30,715 --> 00:18:31,795 and the important role 421 00:18:31,795 --> 00:18:33,278 that struggles around education 422 00:18:33,278 --> 00:18:34,654 played in this process. 423 00:18:35,384 --> 00:18:36,923 One of the catalysing events 424 00:18:36,923 --> 00:18:38,258 that marked a turning point 425 00:18:38,258 --> 00:18:39,912 in the struggle against Apartheid 426 00:18:39,912 --> 00:18:43,610 took place on June 16th, 1976, 427 00:18:43,610 --> 00:18:45,407 when 10,000 high school students 428 00:18:45,407 --> 00:18:46,834 marched in Soweto 429 00:18:46,834 --> 00:18:50,209 to protest the forced introduction of Afrikaner language 430 00:18:50,209 --> 00:18:52,031 into their school curriculum. 431 00:18:52,031 --> 00:18:53,899 The state's response was to open fire 432 00:18:53,899 --> 00:18:55,231 on the crowd of children, 433 00:18:55,231 --> 00:18:57,864 killing at least 176, 434 00:18:57,864 --> 00:18:59,463 and wounding over a thousand. 435 00:18:59,463 --> 00:19:01,109 In the wake of this tragedy, 436 00:19:01,109 --> 00:19:02,569 many youth joined the armed wing 437 00:19:02,569 --> 00:19:05,610 of the African National Congress, or ANC, 438 00:19:05,610 --> 00:19:07,151 who eventually assumed power 439 00:19:07,151 --> 00:19:10,330 following open elections in 1994. 440 00:19:10,330 --> 00:19:13,200 Yet the rosy picture of post-Apartheid South Africa 441 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,148 also ignores the reality that 442 00:19:15,148 --> 00:19:17,702 despite more than two decades of ANC rule, 443 00:19:17,702 --> 00:19:20,047 the country still possesses the highest rates 444 00:19:20,047 --> 00:19:21,597 of inequality in the world, 445 00:19:21,597 --> 00:19:24,600 with an overwhelming majority of the nation's wealth 446 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:26,667 remaining in the hands of white settlers. 447 00:19:26,961 --> 00:19:29,991 In 2015, a struggle began to take shape 448 00:19:29,991 --> 00:19:31,889 demanding a long-overdue reckoning 449 00:19:31,889 --> 00:19:33,960 of the country's colonial legacy. 450 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,628 Beginning with a symbolic protest 451 00:19:35,628 --> 00:19:37,448 at the University of Cape Town 452 00:19:37,448 --> 00:19:40,411 against the statue of South Africa's colonial founder, 453 00:19:40,411 --> 00:19:41,746 Cecil Rhodes, 454 00:19:41,746 --> 00:19:43,959 the movement quickly spread across the country, 455 00:19:43,959 --> 00:19:45,756 and has since taken up militant calls 456 00:19:45,756 --> 00:19:47,796 for free, decolonized education. 457 00:19:54,633 --> 00:19:56,094 The university struggle 458 00:19:56,094 --> 00:19:58,539 and the university space is a microcosm 459 00:19:58,539 --> 00:20:00,090 of the struggle and the problems 460 00:20:00,090 --> 00:20:02,112 within broader society. 461 00:20:02,112 --> 00:20:05,818 And so, the struggles that we have at the university 462 00:20:05,818 --> 00:20:09,755 - whether it be economic issues around fees, 463 00:20:09,755 --> 00:20:13,942 the political issues around liberation and injustice, etc - 464 00:20:13,942 --> 00:20:17,429 that feed into the broader discussion about 465 00:20:17,429 --> 00:20:21,978 where we are as a country in South Africa post-1994. 466 00:20:21,978 --> 00:20:25,798 And I would say we currently exist in a post-Apartheid, 467 00:20:25,798 --> 00:20:27,464 apartheid South Africa 468 00:20:27,464 --> 00:20:30,909 where there is many continued injustices 469 00:20:30,909 --> 00:20:34,245 and we still are fighting for liberation and equality. 470 00:20:34,245 --> 00:20:36,798 The statue at the University of Cape Town, 471 00:20:36,798 --> 00:20:39,947 one of Africa’s top academic institutions, 472 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:42,477 has been covered up for the past few weeks. 473 00:20:42,477 --> 00:20:46,535 As both white and Black students regularly marched past 474 00:20:46,535 --> 00:20:50,155 with the hashtag #RhodesMustFall placards 475 00:20:50,155 --> 00:20:51,479 calling for its removal. 476 00:20:51,812 --> 00:20:54,080 Prior to 2015, there had been a lot of talk 477 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,101 around how young people in South Africa are apathetic, 478 00:20:58,101 --> 00:21:00,567 apolitical, they aren’t engaged citizens etc, 479 00:21:00,567 --> 00:21:01,749 all of those things. 480 00:21:01,749 --> 00:21:03,371 Because of the history that young people 481 00:21:03,371 --> 00:21:06,291 have played in South Africa, like 1976, 482 00:21:06,291 --> 00:21:08,827 and the youth movements of 1968, 483 00:21:08,827 --> 00:21:11,027 SASO and the Black Consciousness movement 484 00:21:11,027 --> 00:21:12,945 were largely spearheaded by young people. 485 00:21:12,945 --> 00:21:15,484 In a historical sense, there is this, 486 00:21:15,484 --> 00:21:18,489 I guess historic role, or obligation in some sense, 487 00:21:18,489 --> 00:21:20,679 or duty that young people have played 488 00:21:20,679 --> 00:21:22,659 in shaping the national destiny 489 00:21:22,659 --> 00:21:23,649 of South African politics. 490 00:21:23,649 --> 00:21:27,488 And so after 1994 there was a very sharp decline 491 00:21:27,488 --> 00:21:31,560 of youth participation in critiquing government policies, 492 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,991 in critiquing, you know, the neoliberal settlement, 493 00:21:33,991 --> 00:21:35,089 against colonialism, 494 00:21:35,089 --> 00:21:38,201 against undoing all those historic injustices of the past. 495 00:21:38,201 --> 00:21:39,810 So, the significance of Rhodes Must Fall 496 00:21:39,810 --> 00:21:43,375 was that it re-energized that aspect of youth involvement. 497 00:21:46,995 --> 00:21:50,634 So Rhodes Must Fall was a decolonial student movement 498 00:21:50,634 --> 00:21:53,512 that formed that the beginning of 2015 499 00:21:53,512 --> 00:21:58,669 in response to structural and institutional racism 500 00:21:58,669 --> 00:22:01,225 at the university, and in society. 501 00:22:01,225 --> 00:22:05,199 And structural and institutional patriarchy 502 00:22:05,199 --> 00:22:09,403 and just general inequality that Black students, 503 00:22:09,403 --> 00:22:12,774 workers, and staff were facing at the university. 504 00:22:12,774 --> 00:22:14,565 It’s based on three pillars, 505 00:22:14,565 --> 00:22:17,887 ideological pillars of Black Consciousness, 506 00:22:17,887 --> 00:22:21,258 Black radical feminism through intersectionality, 507 00:22:21,258 --> 00:22:23,030 and pan-Africanism. 508 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,168 In 2015 there was a campaign to remove the statue 509 00:22:27,168 --> 00:22:28,119 of Cecil John Rhodes 510 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:29,936 which was located here on campus. 511 00:22:29,936 --> 00:22:32,161 So that sparked, it was like a catalyst, 512 00:22:32,161 --> 00:22:34,977 the symbolic act of the fall of the statue. 513 00:22:34,977 --> 00:22:37,777 I think that's where one can begin to trace ideas 514 00:22:37,777 --> 00:22:39,756 of what fallism is. 515 00:22:39,756 --> 00:22:41,550 The relationship between Rhodes Must Fall 516 00:22:41,550 --> 00:22:42,728 and Fees Must Fall, 517 00:22:42,728 --> 00:22:44,792 I think one must understand Rhodes Must Fall 518 00:22:44,792 --> 00:22:46,864 as a catalytic moment 519 00:22:46,864 --> 00:22:49,616 and then Fees Must Fall as a subsequent action 520 00:22:49,616 --> 00:22:52,703 of that initial event that happened. 521 00:23:06,616 --> 00:23:08,328 Let go of her! 522 00:23:08,328 --> 00:23:09,662 Leave me alone! 523 00:23:11,922 --> 00:23:15,153 I think fallism applies broadly as an arsenal 524 00:23:15,153 --> 00:23:17,643 or a canon of protest tactics. 525 00:23:17,643 --> 00:23:22,167 In the sense of disruptions, shutdowns, occupations. 526 00:23:22,167 --> 00:23:23,949 Those were some of the defining features 527 00:23:23,949 --> 00:23:27,685 of protest movements in 2015 and early 2016 528 00:23:27,685 --> 00:23:29,397 which came to characterize fallism. 529 00:23:29,397 --> 00:23:31,418 Disrupting the space so that you can highlight 530 00:23:31,418 --> 00:23:33,689 some of the injustices which exist. 531 00:23:33,689 --> 00:23:36,588 But not only around specific occasions, 532 00:23:36,588 --> 00:23:38,318 but as a daily thing. 533 00:23:41,138 --> 00:23:42,832 Rhodes Must Fall and then Fees Must Fall 534 00:23:42,832 --> 00:23:46,307 was organized as a non-partisan student movement, 535 00:23:46,307 --> 00:23:48,434 on a flat structure, 536 00:23:48,434 --> 00:23:51,942 where there was no, you know, recognized leadership. 537 00:23:51,942 --> 00:23:54,577 Because I think one of the issues that we had had 538 00:23:54,577 --> 00:23:58,221 in previous organizations and organizing 539 00:23:58,221 --> 00:24:00,606 was that the kind of hierarchical structure 540 00:24:00,606 --> 00:24:04,712 didn’t always work and it caused a lot of factionalism 541 00:24:04,712 --> 00:24:06,498 and, you know... party politics. 542 00:24:06,498 --> 00:24:07,840 What would happen was that, 543 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,108 organization was basically set-up 544 00:24:10,108 --> 00:24:12,286 to coordinate different tasks. 545 00:24:12,286 --> 00:24:16,082 The public in particular was very curious about 546 00:24:16,082 --> 00:24:17,502 how the movement was organized 547 00:24:17,502 --> 00:24:18,791 because there was this question of 548 00:24:18,791 --> 00:24:20,380 'who do you hold accountable?' 549 00:24:20,380 --> 00:24:21,801 Initially it was a tactic, 550 00:24:21,801 --> 00:24:24,274 especially in the early days of the movement, to say: 551 00:24:24,274 --> 00:24:25,829 'we don’t have any leaders.' 552 00:24:25,829 --> 00:24:28,373 So that if you want to victimize someone in particular, 553 00:24:28,373 --> 00:24:31,324 it would be harder for the authorities to do that. 554 00:24:31,324 --> 00:24:34,128 From my thinking it was both a strategic 555 00:24:34,128 --> 00:24:36,167 and ideological decision. 556 00:24:36,167 --> 00:24:38,425 We wanted to avoid the pitfalls 557 00:24:38,425 --> 00:24:41,961 of having like one or two iconic leaders 558 00:24:41,961 --> 00:24:45,223 and then you know, everything kind of 559 00:24:45,223 --> 00:24:47,321 is hinged around them. 560 00:24:47,321 --> 00:24:49,232 So we can say we are a flat structure 561 00:24:49,232 --> 00:24:52,733 in trying to embody this ideal democratic structure 562 00:24:52,733 --> 00:24:53,929 of participation, 563 00:24:53,929 --> 00:24:56,655 where everyone's advice has got equal weight 564 00:24:56,655 --> 00:24:58,192 and people’s politics are given equal room 565 00:24:58,192 --> 00:25:00,039 to be expressed in a space. 566 00:25:01,977 --> 00:25:05,304 The idea of, you know, Mandela’s rainbowism 567 00:25:05,304 --> 00:25:09,644 and this rainbow nation mythology that exists 568 00:25:09,644 --> 00:25:11,790 where, you know, we are all 'kumbaya', 569 00:25:11,790 --> 00:25:15,811 'hold hands', 'we are one' type of thing does not exist. 570 00:25:15,811 --> 00:25:17,920 And the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 571 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,584 that existed in this country 572 00:25:19,584 --> 00:25:22,081 didn’t do anything to really solve 573 00:25:22,081 --> 00:25:24,418 the material reasons for why 574 00:25:24,418 --> 00:25:28,756 there is this inequality and deep-seated anger 575 00:25:28,756 --> 00:25:31,106 and hurt and pain caused 576 00:25:31,106 --> 00:25:33,621 by colonialism and Apartheid. 577 00:25:36,288 --> 00:25:37,876 State education systems, 578 00:25:37,876 --> 00:25:40,077 and particularly colleges and universities, 579 00:25:40,077 --> 00:25:43,156 play a vital role in the reproduction of social control. 580 00:25:43,156 --> 00:25:44,976 Not only are they the physical sites 581 00:25:44,976 --> 00:25:46,886 where millions of future workers are trained 582 00:25:46,886 --> 00:25:49,773 to participate in the capitalist economy, generally, 583 00:25:49,773 --> 00:25:51,956 but increasingly these institutions serve 584 00:25:51,956 --> 00:25:53,413 as corporate incubators, 585 00:25:53,413 --> 00:25:54,676 providing cheap labour 586 00:25:54,676 --> 00:25:57,528 and cutting edge research and development facilities 587 00:25:57,528 --> 00:26:00,937 for the IT, Nanotech, genetics, engineering, 588 00:26:00,937 --> 00:26:03,902 extraction and weapons manufacturing industries. 589 00:26:03,902 --> 00:26:04,713 As a result, 590 00:26:04,713 --> 00:26:07,149 students occupy a uniquely strategic choke point 591 00:26:07,149 --> 00:26:08,889 in the maintenance and development 592 00:26:08,889 --> 00:26:10,313 of the global economy. 593 00:26:10,313 --> 00:26:12,099 But beyond their potential utility 594 00:26:12,099 --> 00:26:14,937 as atomized cogs in the capitalist machine, 595 00:26:14,937 --> 00:26:17,697 when students come together around shared demands, 596 00:26:17,697 --> 00:26:20,048 they can also serve as a catalysing spark 597 00:26:20,048 --> 00:26:23,258 for broader movements seeking wide-ranging social change. 598 00:26:23,258 --> 00:26:25,534 Youth movements can inject a well-needed shot 599 00:26:25,534 --> 00:26:28,621 of idealism, dynamism, and militancy 600 00:26:28,621 --> 00:26:31,869 into more long-standing and complacent social movements 601 00:26:31,869 --> 00:26:33,452 that may otherwise remained focused 602 00:26:33,452 --> 00:26:35,361 on defending past gains, 603 00:26:35,361 --> 00:26:38,926 and reliant on outdated tactics and strategies. 604 00:26:38,926 --> 00:26:40,757 Before a new world can be built 605 00:26:40,757 --> 00:26:42,743 ... the old one must be torn down. 606 00:26:48,615 --> 00:26:50,951 The student movement of 2009 607 00:26:50,951 --> 00:26:53,180 was so significant to me personally. 608 00:26:53,180 --> 00:26:56,678 Prior to this movement I wasn’t really an anarchist 609 00:26:56,678 --> 00:26:58,668 or even politically active, 610 00:26:58,668 --> 00:27:00,900 so this movement really was something 611 00:27:00,900 --> 00:27:02,725 that radicalized me. 612 00:27:03,805 --> 00:27:04,759 For many students, 613 00:27:04,759 --> 00:27:07,031 the student movement was not only about 614 00:27:07,031 --> 00:27:08,461 the socio-economic conditions 615 00:27:08,461 --> 00:27:09,594 they were confronting, 616 00:27:09,594 --> 00:27:10,898 but also about the possibilities 617 00:27:10,898 --> 00:27:12,402 of a different kind of future. 618 00:27:12,402 --> 00:27:13,532 So there was a positive vision 619 00:27:13,532 --> 00:27:15,680 behind this movement as well. 620 00:27:17,111 --> 00:27:18,727 Because the students are young people, 621 00:27:18,727 --> 00:27:20,587 there's a lot of growing and growth 622 00:27:20,587 --> 00:27:21,484 that still needs to happen. 623 00:27:21,484 --> 00:27:23,761 People still are finding themselves, or whatever. 624 00:27:23,761 --> 00:27:28,368 But that becomes even more accentuated in that space. 625 00:27:28,368 --> 00:27:30,044 Which often tends to be like 626 00:27:30,044 --> 00:27:33,073 a very tense, emotionally-charged space. 627 00:27:34,593 --> 00:27:35,905 I understands that some radicals 628 00:27:35,905 --> 00:27:38,219 may view students with a bit of suspicion. 629 00:27:38,219 --> 00:27:41,152 While students occupy an ambiguous social position 630 00:27:41,152 --> 00:27:43,586 since the university maintains and reproduces 631 00:27:43,586 --> 00:27:46,297 the division of intellectual and manual work. 632 00:27:46,297 --> 00:27:47,722 I think it’s still important for radicals 633 00:27:47,722 --> 00:27:49,244 to maintain a presence on campuses 634 00:27:49,244 --> 00:27:50,308 in some kind of way. 635 00:27:50,308 --> 00:27:52,960 Whether it’s through more postering campaigns, 636 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:54,578 or tabling literature, 637 00:27:54,578 --> 00:27:56,561 or setting up events that explicitly address 638 00:27:56,561 --> 00:27:58,064 alternatives to capitalism, 639 00:27:58,064 --> 00:28:00,904 there needs to be some sort of continuous 640 00:28:00,904 --> 00:28:03,513 and visible presence on campuses 641 00:28:03,513 --> 00:28:07,563 that are able to make counter messages clear. 642 00:28:09,003 --> 00:28:11,689 In addition to having organizing spaces 643 00:28:11,689 --> 00:28:13,648 that are specifically for anarchists 644 00:28:13,648 --> 00:28:15,222 and anti-authoritarians, 645 00:28:15,222 --> 00:28:17,662 we really need to work in coalition 646 00:28:17,662 --> 00:28:21,281 with other members of the student body, 647 00:28:21,281 --> 00:28:23,748 faculty, and staff 648 00:28:23,748 --> 00:28:27,113 - ultimately to gain widespread support. 649 00:28:27,823 --> 00:28:29,346 We need to learn how to work 650 00:28:29,346 --> 00:28:31,701 and mobilize within our communities 651 00:28:31,701 --> 00:28:34,811 and how to build consistently throughout the year 652 00:28:34,811 --> 00:28:36,488 so that we’re not just protesting 653 00:28:36,488 --> 00:28:38,514 at a particular time of the year. 654 00:28:38,514 --> 00:28:40,256 But that we’re consistently working 655 00:28:40,256 --> 00:28:42,245 and building the movement. 656 00:28:43,315 --> 00:28:45,436 I think popular education was 657 00:28:45,436 --> 00:28:48,858 significantly under-emphasized in the movement space. 658 00:28:48,858 --> 00:28:50,025 Especially in the last few years 659 00:28:50,025 --> 00:28:53,764 it has lead to a significantly impoverished articulation 660 00:28:53,764 --> 00:28:55,956 of what the demands are. 661 00:28:55,956 --> 00:28:58,879 It would be nice to build character 662 00:28:58,879 --> 00:29:01,875 which can withstand some of those trappings 663 00:29:01,875 --> 00:29:03,464 and pitfalls in particular. 664 00:29:03,464 --> 00:29:06,909 Which tend to see movements disintegrating. 665 00:29:06,909 --> 00:29:08,211 I think there’s value in just 666 00:29:08,211 --> 00:29:09,792 trying to always be consistent. 667 00:29:09,792 --> 00:29:10,855 To answer what it is 668 00:29:10,855 --> 00:29:12,233 you’re committing yourself to. 669 00:29:17,553 --> 00:29:21,443 I believe that the occupations carried out 670 00:29:21,443 --> 00:29:23,707 in the student movement really expanded 671 00:29:23,707 --> 00:29:26,418 the vocabulary of what is possible 672 00:29:26,418 --> 00:29:28,459 in terms of direct action. 673 00:29:28,459 --> 00:29:30,898 And now direct action tactics are 674 00:29:30,898 --> 00:29:33,974 actually much more accepted on university campuses 675 00:29:33,974 --> 00:29:35,023 than they once were. 676 00:29:35,023 --> 00:29:38,199 And this happened as a gradual process 677 00:29:38,199 --> 00:29:40,916 but I believe that the students and faculty 678 00:29:40,916 --> 00:29:43,516 and staff really did see the value 679 00:29:43,516 --> 00:29:46,114 in taking action themselves. 680 00:29:46,114 --> 00:29:48,260 I know that there is risk involved. 681 00:29:48,260 --> 00:29:49,848 But you never gain anything 682 00:29:49,848 --> 00:29:51,716 without a little bit of sacrifice. 683 00:29:52,571 --> 00:29:54,391 The UC campuses have continued 684 00:29:54,391 --> 00:29:56,581 with the legacy of militant direct action. 685 00:29:56,581 --> 00:29:58,844 Recent confrontations with Milo and the Alt Right 686 00:29:58,844 --> 00:30:00,431 are definitely a part of this legacy. 687 00:30:01,131 --> 00:30:02,866 Some of the tactics that we used to deploy 688 00:30:02,866 --> 00:30:05,137 - some of those tactics ended up becoming signs 689 00:30:05,137 --> 00:30:06,761 and tactics for people in the movement, 690 00:30:06,761 --> 00:30:10,492 so it reached a point that you couldn’t critique. 691 00:30:11,192 --> 00:30:14,354 I think that you also have to learn when to face the state. 692 00:30:14,354 --> 00:30:15,739 And when to not. 693 00:30:15,739 --> 00:30:20,005 You have to learn that... because they broke us. 694 00:30:20,005 --> 00:30:22,137 I really think that the rupture occurred 695 00:30:22,137 --> 00:30:23,708 under the logic of the state, 696 00:30:23,708 --> 00:30:26,589 which relies on the burn-out of social movements. 697 00:30:26,589 --> 00:30:30,361 Like, the co-optation didn’t work, or worked afterwards, 698 00:30:30,361 --> 00:30:32,582 the repression didn’t either 699 00:30:32,582 --> 00:30:34,299 ... but we’re going to burn them out. 700 00:30:34,299 --> 00:30:37,221 When the state and the university 701 00:30:37,221 --> 00:30:40,830 becomes increasingly authoritarian and repressive, 702 00:30:40,830 --> 00:30:43,712 instead of looking out at what the issues are 703 00:30:43,712 --> 00:30:46,998 that are causing these things, we look inward. 704 00:30:46,998 --> 00:30:50,897 And so I would say that too much of an inward focus 705 00:30:50,897 --> 00:30:53,523 can really make the movement 706 00:30:53,523 --> 00:30:55,653 very small and very difficult. 707 00:30:56,143 --> 00:30:57,268 We need to set out a vision 708 00:30:57,268 --> 00:30:59,013 that's able to speak to 709 00:30:59,013 --> 00:31:00,835 what the society is unable to provide, 710 00:31:00,835 --> 00:31:03,157 and not just be against some issue or another. 711 00:31:03,637 --> 00:31:05,431 If, as a student, 712 00:31:05,431 --> 00:31:08,517 as a person who has university education, 713 00:31:08,517 --> 00:31:12,283 you want to make social changes - political changes - 714 00:31:12,283 --> 00:31:14,603 you have to do them concretely. 715 00:31:14,603 --> 00:31:16,467 Bring your knowledge, 716 00:31:16,467 --> 00:31:18,865 activate yourself with other people 717 00:31:18,865 --> 00:31:20,806 to generate productive projects. 718 00:31:20,806 --> 00:31:24,682 Educational projects that improve conditions for people, 719 00:31:24,682 --> 00:31:27,936 even if it’s on a very small scale. But make it real. 720 00:31:27,936 --> 00:31:29,280 Something concrete. 721 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:32,274 And not so abstract, like all this around generating 722 00:31:32,274 --> 00:31:34,463 a massive movement with huge masses 723 00:31:34,463 --> 00:31:35,941 that are going to bring down a regime. 724 00:31:36,171 --> 00:31:38,648 We need to give support to other countries 725 00:31:38,648 --> 00:31:40,278 the world is not focusing on. 726 00:31:40,278 --> 00:31:42,418 The narrative is just around what’s happening 727 00:31:42,418 --> 00:31:44,373 in the United States of America 728 00:31:44,373 --> 00:31:46,691 when there are many struggles across the world 729 00:31:46,691 --> 00:31:49,068 that we need to focus on and need to learn from. 730 00:31:49,068 --> 00:31:52,978 And so what I would encourage is that we meet 731 00:31:52,978 --> 00:31:54,939 as young people 732 00:31:54,939 --> 00:31:57,069 - as students from these student movements. 733 00:31:57,069 --> 00:32:00,762 So that we can organize together and build together. 734 00:32:00,762 --> 00:32:03,246 Because that’s the only way we are going to defeat 735 00:32:03,246 --> 00:32:06,044 a white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal, 736 00:32:06,044 --> 00:32:07,910 and ableist system. 737 00:32:10,178 --> 00:32:12,001 While students have historically served 738 00:32:12,001 --> 00:32:13,236 as active participants 739 00:32:13,236 --> 00:32:15,208 in broader struggles for social change, 740 00:32:15,208 --> 00:32:16,501 it's important to remember that 741 00:32:16,501 --> 00:32:19,092 there's nothing inherently revolutionary about them. 742 00:32:19,092 --> 00:32:22,034 University campuses can just as easily serve 743 00:32:22,034 --> 00:32:23,814 as the breeding grounds for fascism 744 00:32:23,814 --> 00:32:26,658 and other toxic forms of political reaction. 745 00:32:26,658 --> 00:32:28,798 This threat is particularly acute today, 746 00:32:28,798 --> 00:32:31,276 from campuses across the United States, 747 00:32:31,276 --> 00:32:33,422 where alt-right and white nationalist groups 748 00:32:33,422 --> 00:32:35,204 are aggressively targeting students 749 00:32:35,204 --> 00:32:37,117 for recruitment and indoctrination, 750 00:32:37,117 --> 00:32:38,375 to those in China, 751 00:32:38,375 --> 00:32:40,479 where organized student groups form 752 00:32:40,479 --> 00:32:42,354 an important bulwark of an emergent 753 00:32:42,354 --> 00:32:44,622 hyper-nationalist state ethos. 754 00:32:44,622 --> 00:32:46,927 These spaces are contested territories, 755 00:32:46,927 --> 00:32:49,731 meaning that revolutionaries need to actively engage 756 00:32:49,731 --> 00:32:53,096 and organize with their peers in order to build movements 757 00:32:53,096 --> 00:32:55,776 capable of waging effective resistance. 758 00:32:55,776 --> 00:32:57,036 So at this point, 759 00:32:57,036 --> 00:32:58,502 we’d like to remind you that Trouble is 760 00:32:58,502 --> 00:33:00,608 intended to be watched in groups, 761 00:33:00,608 --> 00:33:03,163 and to be used as a resource to promote discussion 762 00:33:03,163 --> 00:33:04,822 and collective organizing. 763 00:33:04,822 --> 00:33:06,324 Are you a student that's interested in 764 00:33:06,324 --> 00:33:09,117 carrying out revolutionary anti-capitalist organizing 765 00:33:09,117 --> 00:33:11,470 in your university or college campus, 766 00:33:11,470 --> 00:33:12,847 or even in your high school? 767 00:33:12,847 --> 00:33:14,833 Consider getting together with some comrades, 768 00:33:14,833 --> 00:33:16,935 organizing a screening of this film, 769 00:33:16,935 --> 00:33:18,195 and discussing a strategy 770 00:33:18,195 --> 00:33:19,575 for where you might get started. 771 00:33:19,575 --> 00:33:22,125 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble 772 00:33:22,125 --> 00:33:24,892 at your campus, infoshop, community center, 773 00:33:24,892 --> 00:33:26,555 or even just at home with friends? 774 00:33:26,555 --> 00:33:27,975 Become a Trouble-Maker! 775 00:33:27,975 --> 00:33:29,067 For 10 bucks a month, 776 00:33:29,067 --> 00:33:31,221 we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show, 777 00:33:31,221 --> 00:33:34,019 and a screening kit featuring additional resources 778 00:33:34,019 --> 00:33:37,110 and some questions you can use to get a discussion going. 779 00:33:37,110 --> 00:33:39,731 If you can’t afford to support us financially, 780 00:33:39,731 --> 00:33:40,703 no worries! 781 00:33:40,703 --> 00:33:43,627 You can stream and/or download all our content 782 00:33:43,627 --> 00:33:45,162 for free off our website: 783 00:33:47,429 --> 00:33:49,857 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, 784 00:33:49,857 --> 00:33:52,693 or just want to get in touch, drop us a line at: 785 00:33:54,848 --> 00:33:55,945 In case you missed it, 786 00:33:55,945 --> 00:33:58,420 we're pleased to announce the return of the Stimulator 787 00:33:58,420 --> 00:34:01,126 with his brand new show: The Fuckin' News. 788 00:34:01,126 --> 00:34:03,594 If you haven't checked out his pilot episode, 789 00:34:03,594 --> 00:34:04,902 you can find it on our website, 790 00:34:04,902 --> 00:34:06,323 along with past episodes of 791 00:34:06,323 --> 00:34:09,520 It's the End of the World as We Know it And I Feel Fine, at: 792 00:34:12,478 --> 00:34:14,353 This episode would not have been possible 793 00:34:14,353 --> 00:34:16,623 without the generous support of Jose, 794 00:34:16,623 --> 00:34:18,969 Simone, Tannie and Chloe. 795 00:34:18,969 --> 00:34:21,381 Now get out there, and make some trouble!