WEBVTT 00:00:02.296 --> 00:00:04.894 Greetings Troublemakers... welcome to Trouble. 00:00:04.894 --> 00:00:06.638 My name is not important. 00:00:06.638 --> 00:00:10.167 It’s now been 50 years since the riots of 1968, 00:00:10.167 --> 00:00:12.971 a decentralized series of explosive protests 00:00:12.971 --> 00:00:15.679 that broke out across multiple countries around the world 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.754 and which, to this day, stand as a high-water mark 00:00:18.754 --> 00:00:21.025 in the annals of revolutionary history. 00:00:21.025 --> 00:00:24.103 But no commemoration of this milestone is complete 00:00:24.103 --> 00:00:26.463 without acknowledging that '68 was, 00:00:26.463 --> 00:00:27.523 at the end of the day, 00:00:27.523 --> 00:00:29.088 a failed revolution. 00:00:29.088 --> 00:00:32.100 And just as it was a year of inspiring popular protest, 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:35.463 it was also a year of intense political repression. 00:00:35.463 --> 00:00:36.840 In the United States, 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:38.782 just as the civil rights and anti-war movements 00:00:38.782 --> 00:00:40.108 were at their peaks, 00:00:40.108 --> 00:00:42.844 three high-profile political assassinations occurred 00:00:42.844 --> 00:00:44.381 over a span of two months, 00:00:44.381 --> 00:00:46.618 claiming the lives of Martin Luther King Jr, 00:00:46.618 --> 00:00:47.798 Bobby Hutton 00:00:47.798 --> 00:00:49.271 and Robert Kennedy. 00:00:49.271 --> 00:00:51.046 These killings helped to cement the shift 00:00:51.046 --> 00:00:52.704 from a largely non-violent 00:00:52.704 --> 00:00:54.578 and reformist civil rights movement 00:00:54.578 --> 00:00:56.441 to the more militant and revolutionary 00:00:56.441 --> 00:00:57.779 Black Power movement, 00:00:57.779 --> 00:00:59.443 which in turn would soon fall prey 00:00:59.443 --> 00:01:01.111 to the FBI's ruthless program 00:01:01.111 --> 00:01:03.750 of covert assassination and sabotage 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:05.309 known as COINTELPRO. 00:01:05.619 --> 00:01:06.704 In Mexico, 00:01:06.704 --> 00:01:08.862 calls for an international boycott managed to 00:01:08.862 --> 00:01:12.035 successfully block Apartheid South Africa's participation 00:01:12.035 --> 00:01:14.555 in the 1968 Summer Olympics, 00:01:14.555 --> 00:01:16.427 and a massive student uprising broke out, 00:01:16.427 --> 00:01:18.686 which posed an existential challenge 00:01:18.686 --> 00:01:22.257 to the ruling PRI government of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz. 00:01:22.257 --> 00:01:24.643 The Mexican state's response to the students 00:01:24.643 --> 00:01:26.072 was swift and brutal. 00:01:26.072 --> 00:01:27.331 On October 2nd, 00:01:27.331 --> 00:01:30.293 just ten days before the Olympic Games were set to begin, 00:01:30.293 --> 00:01:33.943 the Mexican army opened fire on 10,000 student protestors 00:01:33.943 --> 00:01:36.174 in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, 00:01:36.174 --> 00:01:39.294 in what became known as the Tlatelolco massacre. 00:01:39.294 --> 00:01:41.601 Between 300-400 people were killed, 00:01:41.601 --> 00:01:44.973 and over 1,500 student organizers arrested 00:01:44.973 --> 00:01:47.973 in a wide-ranging crackdown by security forces 00:01:47.973 --> 00:01:50.582 that sent shock waves throughout Mexican society 00:01:50.582 --> 00:01:52.040 that resonate to this very day. 00:01:58.831 --> 00:02:01.483 But while repression ultimately cut short 00:02:01.483 --> 00:02:04.154 the revolutionary promise of 1968, 00:02:04.154 --> 00:02:06.555 it could never extinguish the desire for freedom 00:02:06.555 --> 00:02:08.456 that was its initial spark. 00:02:08.456 --> 00:02:10.289 This torch has since been taken up 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:12.561 by new generations of restless youth, 00:02:12.561 --> 00:02:14.446 who have used their position as students 00:02:14.446 --> 00:02:17.886 to issue calls for a radical transformation of society. 00:02:17.886 --> 00:02:19.202 Over the next thirty minutes, 00:02:19.202 --> 00:02:22.144 we'll showcase contemporary examples of student struggles 00:02:22.144 --> 00:02:25.566 from Mexico, South Africa and the United States, 00:02:25.566 --> 00:02:28.356 and speak with current and former student organizers 00:02:28.356 --> 00:02:30.345 as they share their experiences of 00:02:30.345 --> 00:02:31.805 taking over their campuses, 00:02:31.805 --> 00:02:33.509 disrupting the status quo… 00:02:33.509 --> 00:02:35.214 and making a whole lot of trouble. 00:03:04.361 --> 00:03:07.370 In this country, only 4 out of 10 00:03:07.370 --> 00:03:09.957 from each generation can get into university. 00:03:09.957 --> 00:03:12.257 There haven’t been public universities created 00:03:12.257 --> 00:03:13.538 since the 70’s, 00:03:13.538 --> 00:03:16.165 when the UAM (Metropolitan Autonomous University) was created, 00:03:16.165 --> 00:03:18.637 and then in 2001, the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UNAM). 00:03:18.637 --> 00:03:20.394 None of them have the capacity to take in 00:03:20.394 --> 00:03:24.155 more than 5000 students a year; so it’s an elite. 00:03:24.155 --> 00:03:26.668 And in this country, with all the poverty, 00:03:26.668 --> 00:03:29.540 with all the displacement, who gets into university? 00:03:29.540 --> 00:03:32.631 The demand that made the student movement take off 00:03:32.631 --> 00:03:34.420 was the regulation of payments 00:03:34.420 --> 00:03:35.963 that was implemented in the UNAM. 00:03:35.963 --> 00:03:37.583 It intended to establish quotas 00:03:37.583 --> 00:03:39.088 to be able to study at the university. 00:03:39.088 --> 00:03:41.401 It contemplated the increase of educational services 00:03:41.401 --> 00:03:43.026 - for example the study of languages, 00:03:43.026 --> 00:03:45.222 the use of laboratories, the use of libraries - 00:03:45.222 --> 00:03:47.821 that for all of us who participated in that movement 00:03:47.821 --> 00:03:51.273 meant the beginning of the privatization of the university. 00:03:51.273 --> 00:03:53.013 And then once the movement exploded, 00:03:53.013 --> 00:03:56.729 inside the student organization that we formed, 00:03:56.729 --> 00:04:00.318 which was the CGH, we added another 5 demands. 00:04:00.318 --> 00:04:03.065 What happened in many schools was that as soon 00:04:03.065 --> 00:04:06.845 as the proposed amendment to the regulation came out, 00:04:06.845 --> 00:04:08.643 they formed assemblies. 00:04:08.643 --> 00:04:10.339 In many cases, or in each school, 00:04:10.339 --> 00:04:13.284 they saw that there’s an amendment 00:04:13.284 --> 00:04:16.823 to the regulation and whatnot, and they begin to plan. 00:04:16.823 --> 00:04:21.125 The only option we had to try to stop the increase in fees 00:04:21.125 --> 00:04:22.998 was to paralyze the university. 00:04:22.998 --> 00:04:25.748 This is where some older comrades 00:04:25.748 --> 00:04:28.619 from the UNAM joined the fray, 00:04:28.619 --> 00:04:34.983 and they brought the experience that we did not have. 00:04:34.983 --> 00:04:37.107 And through discussions with these comrades 00:04:37.107 --> 00:04:39.339 the idea of striking began to form, 00:04:39.339 --> 00:04:41.058 as well as the way we were going to do it; 00:04:41.058 --> 00:04:42.474 and a date was set. 00:04:42.474 --> 00:04:45.063 And that’s where I think the Zapatistas were key as well. 00:04:45.063 --> 00:04:47.722 The EZLN, like the commanders, 00:04:47.722 --> 00:04:48.748 issued a communiqué 00:04:48.748 --> 00:04:52.237 which announced the support of the Zapatistas, 00:04:52.237 --> 00:04:54.624 and called on all the people that supported them 00:04:54.624 --> 00:04:56.376 to also support the student movement. 00:04:56.376 --> 00:04:58.517 On the day that we launched the strike, 00:04:58.517 --> 00:05:00.973 which was the night of the 19th of April, 00:05:00.973 --> 00:05:03.036 more than half of the university population 00:05:03.036 --> 00:05:06.315 was in favour of the strike. 00:05:06.315 --> 00:05:07.531 And we were here, 00:05:07.531 --> 00:05:10.369 ready to stay in the facilities 00:05:10.369 --> 00:05:12.413 so that classes couldn't be held, 00:05:12.413 --> 00:05:13.530 and so that the strike could begin. 00:05:28.394 --> 00:05:30.101 On the 30th of April, during the strike, 00:05:30.101 --> 00:05:32.496 the university halls were overflowing 00:05:32.496 --> 00:05:35.629 with workshops, kids, and strikers. 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:38.981 First, (the strike) went through an absolute criminalization. 00:05:38.981 --> 00:05:40.704 The media campaign was brutal. 00:05:40.704 --> 00:05:44.108 Like, it really was, and we didn’t have the resources 00:05:44.108 --> 00:05:47.148 that we have now like Facebook, Twitter 00:05:47.148 --> 00:05:49.953 - that allow you to access the masses. 00:05:49.953 --> 00:05:54.986 The way to share what was going was to go to the metro. 00:05:54.986 --> 00:05:58.070 Going with a brigade, for me, was the coolest, 00:05:58.070 --> 00:06:01.767 to like go to inform people why we were there, 00:06:01.767 --> 00:06:02.996 and most importantly, 00:06:02.996 --> 00:06:05.946 gauge just how much the people supported you. 00:06:05.946 --> 00:06:07.168 There was support, 00:06:07.168 --> 00:06:09.681 but that support was also mostly moral support, 00:06:09.681 --> 00:06:11.504 or verbally like “yes, I stand with you”. 00:06:11.504 --> 00:06:15.368 We also didn’t have a proposal of what they could do. 00:06:15.368 --> 00:06:18.184 Of how they could truly support us 00:06:18.184 --> 00:06:19.974 and strengthen the movement. 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:23.481 I believe that the movement underwent 00:06:23.481 --> 00:06:25.230 a complete offensive of the state. 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:28.580 Yes, they used all the resources of the Mexican state 00:06:28.580 --> 00:06:31.289 to attack the student movement. 00:06:31.289 --> 00:06:33.608 There were comrades who were even disappeared. 00:06:33.608 --> 00:06:37.384 And 9 months later, the UNAM as an institution 00:06:37.384 --> 00:06:39.056 decides to host a consultation. 00:06:39.056 --> 00:06:42.007 And they put in De La Fuente as Rector. 00:06:42.007 --> 00:06:44.445 And De La Fuente seemed like a rector 00:06:44.445 --> 00:06:45.942 who wanted to begin a dialogue. 00:06:45.942 --> 00:06:49.553 He began to organize a consultation, 00:06:49.553 --> 00:06:52.925 in which he included these proposals 00:06:52.925 --> 00:06:55.567 to be voted by the university community: 00:06:55.567 --> 00:06:58.277 the general payment regulations will be annulled; 00:06:58.277 --> 00:07:00.683 we will organize a congress; 00:07:00.683 --> 00:07:04.251 and we propose to end the strike. 00:07:04.251 --> 00:07:07.828 De La Fuente made this seem like a sensible proposal. 00:07:07.828 --> 00:07:10.173 'The movement started with the quotas, 00:07:10.173 --> 00:07:12.252 I am proposing that we are going to eliminate them. 00:07:12.252 --> 00:07:14.605 The movement asked for a congress. I am proposing that. 00:07:14.605 --> 00:07:16.587 We are going to make it happen. What else do you want?' 00:07:16.587 --> 00:07:20.921 And then comes the end of this mastermind move 00:07:20.921 --> 00:07:23.043 that the rectory and the government made 00:07:23.043 --> 00:07:26.615 - which was to invade, with paid thugs, 00:07:26.615 --> 00:07:28.809 the Number 3 Preparatory. 00:07:28.809 --> 00:07:30.674 There were only 5 colleagues there 00:07:30.674 --> 00:07:33.592 resisting and guarding the facilities, 00:07:33.592 --> 00:07:38.137 and this proved to be a provocation for the CGH. 00:07:38.137 --> 00:07:40.532 When all the comrades who were 00:07:40.532 --> 00:07:43.467 in the other facilities of the UNAM learned about it, 00:07:43.467 --> 00:07:47.684 our reaction was to go to rescue The Number 3. 00:07:47.684 --> 00:07:50.408 Many of us, members of the CGH, arrived. 00:07:50.408 --> 00:07:51.952 There was an exchange of blows, 00:07:51.952 --> 00:07:54.387 of throwing objects against these people 00:07:54.387 --> 00:07:56.855 who were there invading the school. 00:07:56.855 --> 00:07:59.369 The media replays these scenes of violence, 00:07:59.369 --> 00:08:02.253 and shows it to the population, 00:08:02.253 --> 00:08:04.805 and the first contingent of 00:08:04.805 --> 00:08:07.136 the Preventive Federal Police arrives 00:08:07.136 --> 00:08:08.690 - without weapons. 00:08:08.690 --> 00:08:12.427 They enter, they detain, and in less than 72 hours 00:08:12.427 --> 00:08:16.442 we're in prison accused of terrorism, 00:08:16.442 --> 00:08:19.235 criminal association, sabotage, property damage, 00:08:19.235 --> 00:08:23.926 aggravated robbery, riot, attacks on communication channels… 00:08:23.926 --> 00:08:27.562 so it was a very violent initial detention. 00:08:27.562 --> 00:08:29.187 And that was the beginning 00:08:29.187 --> 00:08:30.926 that opened things up to where we are now, 00:08:30.926 --> 00:08:33.459 in terms of violence towards women for example. 00:08:33.459 --> 00:08:35.809 The type of brutality, how we were attacked… 00:08:35.809 --> 00:08:38.280 I mean, a comrade ended up with a pelvic fracture 00:08:38.280 --> 00:08:39.537 from a blow. 00:08:39.537 --> 00:08:41.804 In other words, now it is the systematic practice 00:08:41.804 --> 00:08:44.390 towards the bodies of women in this type of detention. 00:08:44.390 --> 00:08:49.800 And at that moment, De La Fuente calls us to a dialogue, 00:08:49.800 --> 00:08:51.890 but now under his conditions. 00:08:51.890 --> 00:08:54.279 ‘You’re going to appoint 10 representatives. 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:56.278 We are going to meet in such and such place, 00:08:56.278 --> 00:08:58.985 without radio, without television, without the media. 00:08:58.985 --> 00:09:00.561 And what we are going to negotiate 00:09:00.561 --> 00:09:02.142 is the end of the strike.' 00:09:02.142 --> 00:09:04.182 The representatives who attended this meeting 00:09:04.182 --> 00:09:06.131 did not accept that deal. 00:09:06.131 --> 00:09:10.189 There, they knew well that the most active 00:09:10.189 --> 00:09:13.152 movement organizers were going to be assembled, 00:09:13.152 --> 00:09:17.428 and what they decided to do was send a very large group 00:09:17.428 --> 00:09:19.303 of unarmed policemen. 00:09:19.303 --> 00:09:21.345 And this worked very well, 00:09:21.345 --> 00:09:23.234 because before the media, 00:09:23.234 --> 00:09:26.235 the force was used in a rational way, 00:09:26.235 --> 00:09:29.319 against a ‘rebellious, aimless movement’ 00:09:29.319 --> 00:09:32.399 - and that was accepted by the population 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.441 in quite a drastic manner. 00:09:35.441 --> 00:09:37.375 Finally, on February 6, there was 00:09:37.375 --> 00:09:39.226 a full-scale military operation 00:09:39.226 --> 00:09:41.166 - with helicopters, tanks - 00:09:41.166 --> 00:09:44.106 that overtakes all of the university facilities. 00:09:44.106 --> 00:09:48.110 This did not provoke any kind of outbreak, or mobilization. 00:09:48.110 --> 00:09:51.998 And therefore I believe that the government of Cedillo 00:09:51.998 --> 00:09:56.232 and De La Fuente resolved the conflict at a very low cost. 00:10:01.836 --> 00:10:03.865 The 1960s are often looked back on 00:10:03.865 --> 00:10:07.149 as a golden age of student activism in the United States, 00:10:07.149 --> 00:10:09.097 with ground zero being the Berkeley campus 00:10:09.097 --> 00:10:11.054 of the University of California. 00:10:11.054 --> 00:10:13.584 As the storied home of the Free Speech movement, 00:10:13.584 --> 00:10:15.859 a campaign of sit-ins and mass rallies 00:10:15.859 --> 00:10:18.575 that by 1965 had won students the right 00:10:18.575 --> 00:10:21.574 to hold explicitly political events on campus, 00:10:21.574 --> 00:10:23.972 UC Berkeley was an important point of convergence 00:10:23.972 --> 00:10:26.850 for the Civil Rights, feminist, environmentalist 00:10:26.850 --> 00:10:29.532 and anti-war movements that eventually coalesced 00:10:29.532 --> 00:10:32.045 into the so-called New Left. 00:10:32.045 --> 00:10:34.915 As part of the larger University of California network, 00:10:34.915 --> 00:10:37.884 UC Berkeley is a publicly-funded institution. 00:10:37.884 --> 00:10:39.544 For most of its existence, 00:10:39.544 --> 00:10:42.304 this meant that students didn't have to pay tuition fees. 00:10:42.304 --> 00:10:43.724 Beginning in the late 60's, 00:10:43.724 --> 00:10:45.184 however, that began to change, 00:10:45.184 --> 00:10:46.969 as a growing popular resentment 00:10:46.969 --> 00:10:49.074 towards hippies and godless communists 00:10:49.074 --> 00:10:51.261 spurred a conservative voter backlash, 00:10:51.261 --> 00:10:53.177 which helped propel Ronald Reagan 00:10:53.177 --> 00:10:55.161 to the Governorship of California. 00:10:55.161 --> 00:10:56.868 And all of it began the first time 00:10:56.868 --> 00:10:58.488 some of you who know better, 00:10:58.488 --> 00:11:00.518 and are old enough to know better, 00:11:00.518 --> 00:11:01.969 let young people think 00:11:01.969 --> 00:11:03.435 that they had the right 00:11:03.435 --> 00:11:05.340 to choose the laws they would obey 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:07.731 as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest. 00:11:07.731 --> 00:11:09.929 One year after sending in the National Guard 00:11:09.929 --> 00:11:13.281 to violently crush Berkeley students in 1969, 00:11:13.281 --> 00:11:15.788 Reagan succeeded in imposing tuition fees 00:11:15.788 --> 00:11:19.133 across the nine campuses of the University of California. 00:11:19.133 --> 00:11:20.557 In the decades that have followed, 00:11:20.557 --> 00:11:23.559 tuition costs have shot up by nearly 10,000 percent. 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.151 But despite the effects that these changes have had 00:11:26.151 --> 00:11:28.017 on the university's demographics, 00:11:28.017 --> 00:11:30.128 UC Berkeley continues to occupy 00:11:30.128 --> 00:11:32.365 an important role in American politics 00:11:32.365 --> 00:11:35.090 as a primary site of student radicalism. 00:11:35.090 --> 00:11:38.376 Four decades after Reagan sent in the army to crush dissent, 00:11:38.376 --> 00:11:41.084 students at UC Berkeley participated in a series 00:11:41.084 --> 00:11:43.153 of statewide university occupations, 00:11:43.153 --> 00:11:46.124 carried out under the banner Occupy Everything. 00:11:46.484 --> 00:11:49.375 This is Berkeley on Telegraph. That’s how we do it. 00:11:51.205 --> 00:11:52.501 Some of the motivating factors 00:11:52.501 --> 00:11:55.586 for the student movement of 2009 to 2010 00:11:55.586 --> 00:11:59.036 really were unfortunately based on the budget cuts 00:11:59.036 --> 00:12:02.017 in the state of California to public higher education. 00:12:02.017 --> 00:12:03.898 Now this actually sprawled across 00:12:03.898 --> 00:12:06.652 all different sectors of the education community. 00:12:06.652 --> 00:12:10.107 So after the financial crisis in 2007-2008, 00:12:10.107 --> 00:12:13.016 a lot of states were forced to implement austerity programs 00:12:13.016 --> 00:12:15.936 cutting public spending and laying off state employees. 00:12:16.426 --> 00:12:18.783 Not only were student tuition fees 00:12:18.783 --> 00:12:21.012 suggested to be increased, but also 00:12:21.012 --> 00:12:23.895 there were forced faculty and staff furlough days. 00:12:23.895 --> 00:12:27.188 So this actually did help us ultimately in the movement 00:12:27.188 --> 00:12:29.619 because it affected so many different aspects 00:12:29.619 --> 00:12:31.547 of the campus community 00:12:31.547 --> 00:12:34.932 that we were able to bind together and work together. 00:12:35.822 --> 00:12:38.865 UC’s system in particular had a large budget deficit 00:12:38.865 --> 00:12:41.357 and so administrators resorted to tuition hikes 00:12:41.357 --> 00:12:43.250 to make up for the budget shortfall. 00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:45.124 But that was only half the story. 00:12:45.124 --> 00:12:46.757 As it was discovered later 00:12:46.757 --> 00:12:48.513 the UC administration had resorted to 00:12:48.513 --> 00:12:50.611 taking out bonds for construction projects 00:12:50.611 --> 00:12:51.944 to generate revenue. 00:12:51.944 --> 00:12:52.944 And in this instance, 00:12:52.944 --> 00:12:54.833 student tuition was closely tied 00:12:54.833 --> 00:12:57.208 to the bond ratings of the UCs. 00:12:57.208 --> 00:12:59.066 Increasing student tuition was a signal to 00:12:59.066 --> 00:13:00.703 credit rating agencies that the UC 00:13:00.703 --> 00:13:02.092 could pay back their bonds 00:13:02.092 --> 00:13:03.528 and thus secure more funding. 00:13:04.178 --> 00:13:05.705 This ended up being one of the pivots 00:13:05.705 --> 00:13:07.125 for the student movement as a whole; 00:13:07.125 --> 00:13:09.270 the relationship between the university 00:13:09.270 --> 00:13:10.616 and financial capital 00:13:10.616 --> 00:13:12.320 - higher education and Wall Street. 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:16.584 So the story really does begin in early May, 00:13:16.584 --> 00:13:21.087 where the proposed tuition fee increases were made 00:13:21.087 --> 00:13:24.698 by the UC regents as well as the CSU trustees. 00:13:24.698 --> 00:13:25.712 Over the summer, 00:13:25.712 --> 00:13:27.749 of course student organizing is quite difficult 00:13:27.749 --> 00:13:31.481 ... but there were coalitions of students, staff, 00:13:31.481 --> 00:13:34.805 and faculty that had been formed in late spring 00:13:34.805 --> 00:13:38.211 that were in fact meeting and trying to gain momentum 00:13:38.211 --> 00:13:40.078 to prepare for the very beginning 00:13:40.078 --> 00:13:43.001 of the fall semester in 2009. 00:13:43.691 --> 00:13:45.528 There were a series of smaller actions 00:13:45.528 --> 00:13:47.503 and coordination among students at UC 00:13:47.503 --> 00:13:49.370 and Cal State campuses 00:13:49.370 --> 00:13:52.176 which pretty much set the tone for the months to come: 00:13:52.176 --> 00:13:55.620 study-ins, sit-ins, and occupations of school spaces. 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:58.344 We were influenced by the occupations 00:13:58.344 --> 00:14:00.049 specifically at the New School, 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:02.729 where the tactic of occupation itself 00:14:02.729 --> 00:14:04.675 was becoming popularized. 00:14:04.675 --> 00:14:06.863 Occupations were seen as a viable tactic 00:14:06.863 --> 00:14:08.422 and was a way to bypass 00:14:08.422 --> 00:14:10.963 the routines of marches and rallies. 00:14:11.823 --> 00:14:14.296 This action is in solidarity with occupations 00:14:14.296 --> 00:14:16.686 that have occurred so far at UC Davis, UCLA, 00:14:16.686 --> 00:14:18.919 UC Santa Cruz, SF State. 00:14:19.749 --> 00:14:21.914 Using the tactic of occupation 00:14:21.914 --> 00:14:23.755 really did mark a departure 00:14:23.755 --> 00:14:26.152 from the typical tactics 00:14:26.152 --> 00:14:29.602 known and seen in the student movement. 00:14:30.762 --> 00:14:33.700 So the occupations were a major contrast to 00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:35.443 marches and rallies, which, 00:14:35.443 --> 00:14:37.654 you know, are pretty routine. 00:14:37.654 --> 00:14:39.455 Everyone gets together for a few hours, 00:14:39.455 --> 00:14:40.630 then they go home. 00:14:40.630 --> 00:14:44.104 In the occupations, people could meet each other 00:14:44.104 --> 00:14:46.058 and have longer conversations. 00:14:46.058 --> 00:14:47.970 And more importantly, there was a continuous 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:49.841 and visible presence of people 00:14:49.841 --> 00:14:53.330 that made the student movement feel more tangible. 00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.117 Not just a series of actions, 00:14:55.117 --> 00:14:57.758 but also a materially enduring place. 00:14:58.368 --> 00:15:01.283 It took on more of a direct action approach 00:15:01.283 --> 00:15:03.918 at trying to take space. 00:15:03.918 --> 00:15:06.479 This is something that allowed us to 00:15:06.479 --> 00:15:10.172 try to manifest what we were actually dreaming of. 00:15:10.172 --> 00:15:13.548 As opposed to simply asking that 00:15:13.548 --> 00:15:17.362 the "authorities that be" give us what we want. 00:15:17.362 --> 00:15:19.795 This really gave us a huge motivation 00:15:19.795 --> 00:15:22.752 and showed the students that they had great power. 00:15:23.302 --> 00:15:26.115 We have a 32% fee increase 00:15:26.115 --> 00:15:28.793 that we want immediately repealed. 00:15:28.793 --> 00:15:30.174 But you know what? 00:15:30.804 --> 00:15:33.100 We want a whole lot more than that. 00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:36.143 We want public education that is free! 00:15:36.853 --> 00:15:37.874 So in mid-November 00:15:37.874 --> 00:15:39.782 there was a three-day strike in response to 00:15:39.782 --> 00:15:42.875 the UC administrators increasing the tuition by 32%. 00:15:43.645 --> 00:15:46.119 There was an occupation at UC Santa Cruz, 00:15:46.119 --> 00:15:47.824 while at UC Berkeley there was a march 00:15:47.824 --> 00:15:50.865 attended by well over several thousand people. 00:15:50.865 --> 00:15:52.635 Also walk-outs and sit-ins at various 00:15:52.635 --> 00:15:54.444 Cal States in the Bay Area. 00:15:54.444 --> 00:15:58.249 November 19th UCSC, UC Davis, and UCLA 00:15:58.249 --> 00:15:59.966 occupied administrative buildings. 00:15:59.966 --> 00:16:01.950 And on November 20th, Wheeler Hall, 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:04.048 at UC Berkeley was occupied 00:16:04.048 --> 00:16:06.327 with clashes with police 00:16:06.327 --> 00:16:08.963 and other Cal States has sit-ins. 00:16:08.963 --> 00:16:10.297 From that point forward 00:16:10.297 --> 00:16:12.340 there was a series of smaller actions, 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:14.611 marches to the chancellor’s house, 00:16:14.611 --> 00:16:17.373 sit-ins, more occupations 00:16:17.373 --> 00:16:20.009 happening at the UCs and other Cal States. 00:16:20.009 --> 00:16:21.684 During that time there was a lot of networking 00:16:21.684 --> 00:16:23.282 among students and militants 00:16:23.282 --> 00:16:26.823 and this was a period of time where a lot of the students 00:16:26.823 --> 00:16:28.405 from different campuses were able to 00:16:28.405 --> 00:16:32.991 kind of coordinate and talk about what to do next. 00:16:33.861 --> 00:16:35.546 The students who were participating 00:16:35.546 --> 00:16:38.471 in the occupation movement faced repression 00:16:38.471 --> 00:16:42.001 from both the state and the university. 00:16:42.001 --> 00:16:44.274 University administrators were caught off guard 00:16:44.274 --> 00:16:47.554 by the occupations and seemed kind of 00:16:47.554 --> 00:16:49.350 unsure as to what to do. 00:16:49.350 --> 00:16:50.862 But as the movement continued, 00:16:50.862 --> 00:16:53.694 the UC administration resorted to calling in the police 00:16:53.694 --> 00:16:55.977 both from on and off campus. 00:16:56.317 --> 00:16:58.736 Guys they’re at this door! 00:16:58.736 --> 00:17:01.131 This is the police department, unlock the door! 00:17:01.951 --> 00:17:05.070 And of course this is trying to prevent students 00:17:05.070 --> 00:17:08.697 from participating in any student activities. 00:17:08.697 --> 00:17:12.940 Definitely the anarchists focused more on trying to 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:16.280 bring the issues outside of just the university campuses. 00:17:16.280 --> 00:17:18.856 We were trying to relate this struggle now 00:17:18.856 --> 00:17:21.765 to problems and issues with capitalism 00:17:21.765 --> 00:17:25.348 and class struggle... because it is entirely related. 00:17:29.250 --> 00:17:30.414 In the Global North, 00:17:30.414 --> 00:17:32.775 the struggle against the colonial Apartheid regime 00:17:32.775 --> 00:17:35.416 in so-called South Africa is often presented 00:17:35.416 --> 00:17:37.105 as a feel-good example of the merits 00:17:37.105 --> 00:17:40.310 of pursuing a patient strategy of non-violence, 00:17:40.310 --> 00:17:42.571 and the effectiveness of international solidarity 00:17:42.571 --> 00:17:44.227 and boycott campaigns. 00:17:44.227 --> 00:17:47.078 When addressing seemingly intractable conflicts, 00:17:47.078 --> 00:17:49.592 such as the decades-long Palestinian resistance 00:17:49.592 --> 00:17:51.213 to Israeli occupation, 00:17:51.213 --> 00:17:53.032 Western liberals are fond of lamenting 00:17:53.032 --> 00:17:55.715 the lack of a so-called “Nelson Mandela figure” 00:17:55.715 --> 00:17:57.713 who could unite divided populations 00:17:57.713 --> 00:18:00.224 and galvanize world opinion behind a peaceful 00:18:00.224 --> 00:18:03.816 and dignified demand for national self-determination. 00:18:03.816 --> 00:18:06.911 Not only does this wholesome and incredibly racist narrative 00:18:06.911 --> 00:18:09.107 ignore the fact that Mandela himself 00:18:09.107 --> 00:18:12.053 was an active proponent of armed struggle, 00:18:12.053 --> 00:18:14.313 There are many people who feel 00:18:14.313 --> 00:18:16.768 that it is useless and futile 00:18:16.768 --> 00:18:19.979 for us to continue talking peace and non-violence 00:18:19.979 --> 00:18:22.433 against a government whose reply 00:18:22.433 --> 00:18:24.587 is only savage attacks. 00:18:25.107 --> 00:18:27.022 but it also hides the essential role 00:18:27.022 --> 00:18:28.779 that militant youth movements played 00:18:28.779 --> 00:18:30.715 in toppling the Apartheid regime, 00:18:30.715 --> 00:18:31.795 and the important role 00:18:31.795 --> 00:18:33.278 that struggles around education 00:18:33.278 --> 00:18:34.654 played in this process. 00:18:35.384 --> 00:18:36.923 One of the catalysing events 00:18:36.923 --> 00:18:38.258 that marked a turning point 00:18:38.258 --> 00:18:39.912 in the struggle against Apartheid 00:18:39.912 --> 00:18:43.610 took place on June 16th, 1976, 00:18:43.610 --> 00:18:45.407 when 10,000 high school students 00:18:45.407 --> 00:18:46.834 marched in Soweto 00:18:46.834 --> 00:18:50.209 to protest the forced introduction of Afrikaner language 00:18:50.209 --> 00:18:52.031 into their school curriculum. 00:18:52.031 --> 00:18:53.899 The state's response was to open fire 00:18:53.899 --> 00:18:55.231 on the crowd of children, 00:18:55.231 --> 00:18:57.864 killing at least 176, 00:18:57.864 --> 00:18:59.463 and wounding over a thousand. 00:18:59.463 --> 00:19:01.109 In the wake of this tragedy, 00:19:01.109 --> 00:19:02.569 many youth joined the armed wing 00:19:02.569 --> 00:19:05.610 of the African National Congress, or ANC, 00:19:05.610 --> 00:19:07.151 who eventually assumed power 00:19:07.151 --> 00:19:10.330 following open elections in 1994. 00:19:10.330 --> 00:19:13.200 Yet the rosy picture of post-Apartheid South Africa 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:15.148 also ignores the reality that 00:19:15.148 --> 00:19:17.702 despite more than two decades of ANC rule, 00:19:17.702 --> 00:19:20.047 the country still possesses the highest rates 00:19:20.047 --> 00:19:21.597 of inequality in the world, 00:19:21.597 --> 00:19:24.600 with an overwhelming majority of the nation's wealth 00:19:24.600 --> 00:19:26.667 remaining in the hands of white settlers. 00:19:26.961 --> 00:19:29.991 In 2015, a struggle began to take shape 00:19:29.991 --> 00:19:31.889 demanding a long-overdue reckoning 00:19:31.889 --> 00:19:33.960 of the country's colonial legacy. 00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:35.628 Beginning with a symbolic protest 00:19:35.628 --> 00:19:37.448 at the University of Cape Town 00:19:37.448 --> 00:19:40.411 against the statue of South Africa's colonial founder, 00:19:40.411 --> 00:19:41.746 Cecil Rhodes, 00:19:41.746 --> 00:19:43.959 the movement quickly spread across the country, 00:19:43.959 --> 00:19:45.756 and has since taken up militant calls 00:19:45.756 --> 00:19:47.796 for free, decolonized education. 00:19:54.633 --> 00:19:56.094 The university struggle 00:19:56.094 --> 00:19:58.539 and the university space is a microcosm 00:19:58.539 --> 00:20:00.090 of the struggle and the problems 00:20:00.090 --> 00:20:02.112 within broader society. 00:20:02.112 --> 00:20:05.818 And so, the struggles that we have at the university 00:20:05.818 --> 00:20:09.755 - whether it be economic issues around fees, 00:20:09.755 --> 00:20:13.942 the political issues around liberation and injustice, etc - 00:20:13.942 --> 00:20:17.429 that feed into the broader discussion about 00:20:17.429 --> 00:20:21.978 where we are as a country in South Africa post-1994. 00:20:21.978 --> 00:20:25.798 And I would say we currently exist in a post-Apartheid, 00:20:25.798 --> 00:20:27.464 apartheid South Africa 00:20:27.464 --> 00:20:30.909 where there is many continued injustices 00:20:30.909 --> 00:20:34.245 and we still are fighting for liberation and equality. 00:20:34.245 --> 00:20:36.798 The statue at the University of Cape Town, 00:20:36.798 --> 00:20:39.947 one of Africa’s top academic institutions, 00:20:39.947 --> 00:20:42.477 has been covered up for the past few weeks. 00:20:42.477 --> 00:20:46.535 As both white and Black students regularly marched past 00:20:46.535 --> 00:20:50.155 with the hashtag #RhodesMustFall placards 00:20:50.155 --> 00:20:51.479 calling for its removal. 00:20:51.812 --> 00:20:54.080 Prior to 2015, there had been a lot of talk 00:20:54.080 --> 00:20:58.101 around how young people in South Africa are apathetic, 00:20:58.101 --> 00:21:00.567 apolitical, they aren’t engaged citizens etc, 00:21:00.567 --> 00:21:01.749 all of those things. 00:21:01.749 --> 00:21:03.371 Because of the history that young people 00:21:03.371 --> 00:21:06.291 have played in South Africa, like 1976, 00:21:06.291 --> 00:21:08.827 and the youth movements of 1968, 00:21:08.827 --> 00:21:11.027 SASO and the Black Consciousness movement 00:21:11.027 --> 00:21:12.945 were largely spearheaded by young people. 00:21:12.945 --> 00:21:15.484 In a historical sense, there is this, 00:21:15.484 --> 00:21:18.489 I guess historic role, or obligation in some sense, 00:21:18.489 --> 00:21:20.679 or duty that young people have played 00:21:20.679 --> 00:21:22.659 in shaping the national destiny 00:21:22.659 --> 00:21:23.649 of South African politics. 00:21:23.649 --> 00:21:27.488 And so after 1994 there was a very sharp decline 00:21:27.488 --> 00:21:31.560 of youth participation in critiquing government policies, 00:21:31.560 --> 00:21:33.991 in critiquing, you know, the neoliberal settlement, 00:21:33.991 --> 00:21:35.089 against colonialism, 00:21:35.089 --> 00:21:38.201 against undoing all those historic injustices of the past. 00:21:38.201 --> 00:21:39.810 So, the significance of Rhodes Must Fall 00:21:39.810 --> 00:21:43.375 was that it re-energized that aspect of youth involvement. 00:21:46.995 --> 00:21:50.634 So Rhodes Must Fall was a decolonial student movement 00:21:50.634 --> 00:21:53.512 that formed that the beginning of 2015 00:21:53.512 --> 00:21:58.669 in response to structural and institutional racism 00:21:58.669 --> 00:22:01.225 at the university, and in society. 00:22:01.225 --> 00:22:05.199 And structural and institutional patriarchy 00:22:05.199 --> 00:22:09.403 and just general inequality that Black students, 00:22:09.403 --> 00:22:12.774 workers, and staff were facing at the university. 00:22:12.774 --> 00:22:14.565 It’s based on three pillars, 00:22:14.565 --> 00:22:17.887 ideological pillars of Black Consciousness, 00:22:17.887 --> 00:22:21.258 Black radical feminism through intersectionality, 00:22:21.258 --> 00:22:23.030 and pan-Africanism. 00:22:24.040 --> 00:22:27.168 In 2015 there was a campaign to remove the statue 00:22:27.168 --> 00:22:28.119 of Cecil John Rhodes 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:29.936 which was located here on campus. 00:22:29.936 --> 00:22:32.161 So that sparked, it was like a catalyst, 00:22:32.161 --> 00:22:34.977 the symbolic act of the fall of the statue. 00:22:34.977 --> 00:22:37.777 I think that's where one can begin to trace ideas 00:22:37.777 --> 00:22:39.756 of what fallism is. 00:22:39.756 --> 00:22:41.550 The relationship between Rhodes Must Fall 00:22:41.550 --> 00:22:42.728 and Fees Must Fall, 00:22:42.728 --> 00:22:44.792 I think one must understand Rhodes Must Fall 00:22:44.792 --> 00:22:46.864 as a catalytic moment 00:22:46.864 --> 00:22:49.616 and then Fees Must Fall as a subsequent action 00:22:49.616 --> 00:22:52.703 of that initial event that happened. 00:23:06.616 --> 00:23:08.328 Let go of her! 00:23:08.328 --> 00:23:09.662 Leave me alone! 00:23:11.922 --> 00:23:15.153 I think fallism applies broadly as an arsenal 00:23:15.153 --> 00:23:17.643 or a canon of protest tactics. 00:23:17.643 --> 00:23:22.167 In the sense of disruptions, shutdowns, occupations. 00:23:22.167 --> 00:23:23.949 Those were some of the defining features 00:23:23.949 --> 00:23:27.685 of protest movements in 2015 and early 2016 00:23:27.685 --> 00:23:29.397 which came to characterize fallism. 00:23:29.397 --> 00:23:31.418 Disrupting the space so that you can highlight 00:23:31.418 --> 00:23:33.689 some of the injustices which exist. 00:23:33.689 --> 00:23:36.588 But not only around specific occasions, 00:23:36.588 --> 00:23:38.318 but as a daily thing. 00:23:41.138 --> 00:23:42.832 Rhodes Must Fall and then Fees Must Fall 00:23:42.832 --> 00:23:46.307 was organized as a non-partisan student movement, 00:23:46.307 --> 00:23:48.434 on a flat structure, 00:23:48.434 --> 00:23:51.942 where there was no, you know, recognized leadership. 00:23:51.942 --> 00:23:54.577 Because I think one of the issues that we had had 00:23:54.577 --> 00:23:58.221 in previous organizations and organizing 00:23:58.221 --> 00:24:00.606 was that the kind of hierarchical structure 00:24:00.606 --> 00:24:04.712 didn’t always work and it caused a lot of factionalism 00:24:04.712 --> 00:24:06.498 and, you know... party politics. 00:24:06.498 --> 00:24:07.840 What would happen was that, 00:24:07.840 --> 00:24:10.108 organization was basically set-up 00:24:10.108 --> 00:24:12.286 to coordinate different tasks. 00:24:12.286 --> 00:24:16.082 The public in particular was very curious about 00:24:16.082 --> 00:24:17.502 how the movement was organized 00:24:17.502 --> 00:24:18.791 because there was this question of 00:24:18.791 --> 00:24:20.380 'who do you hold accountable?' 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:21.801 Initially it was a tactic, 00:24:21.801 --> 00:24:24.274 especially in the early days of the movement, to say: 00:24:24.274 --> 00:24:25.829 'we don’t have any leaders.' 00:24:25.829 --> 00:24:28.373 So that if you want to victimize someone in particular, 00:24:28.373 --> 00:24:31.324 it would be harder for the authorities to do that. 00:24:31.324 --> 00:24:34.128 From my thinking it was both a strategic 00:24:34.128 --> 00:24:36.167 and ideological decision. 00:24:36.167 --> 00:24:38.425 We wanted to avoid the pitfalls 00:24:38.425 --> 00:24:41.961 of having like one or two iconic leaders 00:24:41.961 --> 00:24:45.223 and then you know, everything kind of 00:24:45.223 --> 00:24:47.321 is hinged around them. 00:24:47.321 --> 00:24:49.232 So we can say we are a flat structure 00:24:49.232 --> 00:24:52.733 in trying to embody this ideal democratic structure 00:24:52.733 --> 00:24:53.929 of participation, 00:24:53.929 --> 00:24:56.655 where everyone's advice has got equal weight 00:24:56.655 --> 00:24:58.192 and people’s politics are given equal room 00:24:58.192 --> 00:25:00.039 to be expressed in a space. 00:25:01.977 --> 00:25:05.304 The idea of, you know, Mandela’s rainbowism 00:25:05.304 --> 00:25:09.644 and this rainbow nation mythology that exists 00:25:09.644 --> 00:25:11.790 where, you know, we are all 'kumbaya', 00:25:11.790 --> 00:25:15.811 'hold hands', 'we are one' type of thing does not exist. 00:25:15.811 --> 00:25:17.920 And the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:19.584 that existed in this country 00:25:19.584 --> 00:25:22.081 didn’t do anything to really solve 00:25:22.081 --> 00:25:24.418 the material reasons for why 00:25:24.418 --> 00:25:28.756 there is this inequality and deep-seated anger 00:25:28.756 --> 00:25:31.106 and hurt and pain caused 00:25:31.106 --> 00:25:33.621 by colonialism and Apartheid. 00:25:36.288 --> 00:25:37.876 State education systems, 00:25:37.876 --> 00:25:40.077 and particularly colleges and universities, 00:25:40.077 --> 00:25:43.156 play a vital role in the reproduction of social control. 00:25:43.156 --> 00:25:44.976 Not only are they the physical sites 00:25:44.976 --> 00:25:46.886 where millions of future workers are trained 00:25:46.886 --> 00:25:49.773 to participate in the capitalist economy, generally, 00:25:49.773 --> 00:25:51.956 but increasingly these institutions serve 00:25:51.956 --> 00:25:53.413 as corporate incubators, 00:25:53.413 --> 00:25:54.676 providing cheap labour 00:25:54.676 --> 00:25:57.528 and cutting edge research and development facilities 00:25:57.528 --> 00:26:00.937 for the IT, Nanotech, genetics, engineering, 00:26:00.937 --> 00:26:03.902 extraction and weapons manufacturing industries. 00:26:03.902 --> 00:26:04.713 As a result, 00:26:04.713 --> 00:26:07.149 students occupy a uniquely strategic choke point 00:26:07.149 --> 00:26:08.889 in the maintenance and development 00:26:08.889 --> 00:26:10.313 of the global economy. 00:26:10.313 --> 00:26:12.099 But beyond their potential utility 00:26:12.099 --> 00:26:14.937 as atomized cogs in the capitalist machine, 00:26:14.937 --> 00:26:17.697 when students come together around shared demands, 00:26:17.697 --> 00:26:20.048 they can also serve as a catalysing spark 00:26:20.048 --> 00:26:23.258 for broader movements seeking wide-ranging social change. 00:26:23.258 --> 00:26:25.534 Youth movements can inject a well-needed shot 00:26:25.534 --> 00:26:28.621 of idealism, dynamism, and militancy 00:26:28.621 --> 00:26:31.869 into more long-standing and complacent social movements 00:26:31.869 --> 00:26:33.452 that may otherwise remained focused 00:26:33.452 --> 00:26:35.361 on defending past gains, 00:26:35.361 --> 00:26:38.926 and reliant on outdated tactics and strategies. 00:26:38.926 --> 00:26:40.757 Before a new world can be built 00:26:40.757 --> 00:26:42.743 ... the old one must be torn down. 00:26:48.615 --> 00:26:50.951 The student movement of 2009 00:26:50.951 --> 00:26:53.180 was so significant to me personally. 00:26:53.180 --> 00:26:56.678 Prior to this movement I wasn’t really an anarchist 00:26:56.678 --> 00:26:58.668 or even politically active, 00:26:58.668 --> 00:27:00.900 so this movement really was something 00:27:00.900 --> 00:27:02.725 that radicalized me. 00:27:03.805 --> 00:27:04.759 For many students, 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:07.031 the student movement was not only about 00:27:07.031 --> 00:27:08.461 the socio-economic conditions 00:27:08.461 --> 00:27:09.594 they were confronting, 00:27:09.594 --> 00:27:10.898 but also about the possibilities 00:27:10.898 --> 00:27:12.402 of a different kind of future. 00:27:12.402 --> 00:27:13.532 So there was a positive vision 00:27:13.532 --> 00:27:15.680 behind this movement as well. 00:27:17.111 --> 00:27:18.727 Because the students are young people, 00:27:18.727 --> 00:27:20.587 there's a lot of growing and growth 00:27:20.587 --> 00:27:21.484 that still needs to happen. 00:27:21.484 --> 00:27:23.761 People still are finding themselves, or whatever. 00:27:23.761 --> 00:27:28.368 But that becomes even more accentuated in that space. 00:27:28.368 --> 00:27:30.044 Which often tends to be like 00:27:30.044 --> 00:27:33.073 a very tense, emotionally-charged space. 00:27:34.593 --> 00:27:35.905 I understands that some radicals 00:27:35.905 --> 00:27:38.219 may view students with a bit of suspicion. 00:27:38.219 --> 00:27:41.152 While students occupy an ambiguous social position 00:27:41.152 --> 00:27:43.586 since the university maintains and reproduces 00:27:43.586 --> 00:27:46.297 the division of intellectual and manual work. 00:27:46.297 --> 00:27:47.722 I think it’s still important for radicals 00:27:47.722 --> 00:27:49.244 to maintain a presence on campuses 00:27:49.244 --> 00:27:50.308 in some kind of way. 00:27:50.308 --> 00:27:52.960 Whether it’s through more postering campaigns, 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.578 or tabling literature, 00:27:54.578 --> 00:27:56.561 or setting up events that explicitly address 00:27:56.561 --> 00:27:58.064 alternatives to capitalism, 00:27:58.064 --> 00:28:00.904 there needs to be some sort of continuous 00:28:00.904 --> 00:28:03.513 and visible presence on campuses 00:28:03.513 --> 00:28:07.563 that are able to make counter messages clear. 00:28:09.003 --> 00:28:11.689 In addition to having organizing spaces 00:28:11.689 --> 00:28:13.648 that are specifically for anarchists 00:28:13.648 --> 00:28:15.222 and anti-authoritarians, 00:28:15.222 --> 00:28:17.662 we really need to work in coalition 00:28:17.662 --> 00:28:21.281 with other members of the student body, 00:28:21.281 --> 00:28:23.748 faculty, and staff 00:28:23.748 --> 00:28:27.113 - ultimately to gain widespread support. 00:28:27.823 --> 00:28:29.346 We need to learn how to work 00:28:29.346 --> 00:28:31.701 and mobilize within our communities 00:28:31.701 --> 00:28:34.811 and how to build consistently throughout the year 00:28:34.811 --> 00:28:36.488 so that we’re not just protesting 00:28:36.488 --> 00:28:38.514 at a particular time of the year. 00:28:38.514 --> 00:28:40.256 But that we’re consistently working 00:28:40.256 --> 00:28:42.245 and building the movement. 00:28:43.315 --> 00:28:45.436 I think popular education was 00:28:45.436 --> 00:28:48.858 significantly under-emphasized in the movement space. 00:28:48.858 --> 00:28:50.025 Especially in the last few years 00:28:50.025 --> 00:28:53.764 it has lead to a significantly impoverished articulation 00:28:53.764 --> 00:28:55.956 of what the demands are. 00:28:55.956 --> 00:28:58.879 It would be nice to build character 00:28:58.879 --> 00:29:01.875 which can withstand some of those trappings 00:29:01.875 --> 00:29:03.464 and pitfalls in particular. 00:29:03.464 --> 00:29:06.909 Which tend to see movements disintegrating. 00:29:06.909 --> 00:29:08.211 I think there’s value in just 00:29:08.211 --> 00:29:09.792 trying to always be consistent. 00:29:09.792 --> 00:29:10.855 To answer what it is 00:29:10.855 --> 00:29:12.233 you’re committing yourself to. 00:29:17.553 --> 00:29:21.443 I believe that the occupations carried out 00:29:21.443 --> 00:29:23.707 in the student movement really expanded 00:29:23.707 --> 00:29:26.418 the vocabulary of what is possible 00:29:26.418 --> 00:29:28.459 in terms of direct action. 00:29:28.459 --> 00:29:30.898 And now direct action tactics are 00:29:30.898 --> 00:29:33.974 actually much more accepted on university campuses 00:29:33.974 --> 00:29:35.023 than they once were. 00:29:35.023 --> 00:29:38.199 And this happened as a gradual process 00:29:38.199 --> 00:29:40.916 but I believe that the students and faculty 00:29:40.916 --> 00:29:43.516 and staff really did see the value 00:29:43.516 --> 00:29:46.114 in taking action themselves. 00:29:46.114 --> 00:29:48.260 I know that there is risk involved. 00:29:48.260 --> 00:29:49.848 But you never gain anything 00:29:49.848 --> 00:29:51.716 without a little bit of sacrifice. 00:29:52.571 --> 00:29:54.391 The UC campuses have continued 00:29:54.391 --> 00:29:56.581 with the legacy of militant direct action. 00:29:56.581 --> 00:29:58.844 Recent confrontations with Milo and the Alt Right 00:29:58.844 --> 00:30:00.431 are definitely a part of this legacy. 00:30:01.131 --> 00:30:02.866 Some of the tactics that we used to deploy 00:30:02.866 --> 00:30:05.137 - some of those tactics ended up becoming signs 00:30:05.137 --> 00:30:06.761 and tactics for people in the movement, 00:30:06.761 --> 00:30:10.492 so it reached a point that you couldn’t critique. 00:30:11.192 --> 00:30:14.354 I think that you also have to learn when to face the state. 00:30:14.354 --> 00:30:15.739 And when to not. 00:30:15.739 --> 00:30:20.005 You have to learn that... because they broke us. 00:30:20.005 --> 00:30:22.137 I really think that the rupture occurred 00:30:22.137 --> 00:30:23.708 under the logic of the state, 00:30:23.708 --> 00:30:26.589 which relies on the burn-out of social movements. 00:30:26.589 --> 00:30:30.361 Like, the co-optation didn’t work, or worked afterwards, 00:30:30.361 --> 00:30:32.582 the repression didn’t either 00:30:32.582 --> 00:30:34.299 ... but we’re going to burn them out. 00:30:34.299 --> 00:30:37.221 When the state and the university 00:30:37.221 --> 00:30:40.830 becomes increasingly authoritarian and repressive, 00:30:40.830 --> 00:30:43.712 instead of looking out at what the issues are 00:30:43.712 --> 00:30:46.998 that are causing these things, we look inward. 00:30:46.998 --> 00:30:50.897 And so I would say that too much of an inward focus 00:30:50.897 --> 00:30:53.523 can really make the movement 00:30:53.523 --> 00:30:55.653 very small and very difficult. 00:30:56.143 --> 00:30:57.268 We need to set out a vision 00:30:57.268 --> 00:30:59.013 that's able to speak to 00:30:59.013 --> 00:31:00.835 what the society is unable to provide, 00:31:00.835 --> 00:31:03.157 and not just be against some issue or another. 00:31:03.637 --> 00:31:05.431 If, as a student, 00:31:05.431 --> 00:31:08.517 as a person who has university education, 00:31:08.517 --> 00:31:12.283 you want to make social changes - political changes - 00:31:12.283 --> 00:31:14.603 you have to do them concretely. 00:31:14.603 --> 00:31:16.467 Bring your knowledge, 00:31:16.467 --> 00:31:18.865 activate yourself with other people 00:31:18.865 --> 00:31:20.806 to generate productive projects. 00:31:20.806 --> 00:31:24.682 Educational projects that improve conditions for people, 00:31:24.682 --> 00:31:27.936 even if it’s on a very small scale. But make it real. 00:31:27.936 --> 00:31:29.280 Something concrete. 00:31:29.280 --> 00:31:32.274 And not so abstract, like all this around generating 00:31:32.274 --> 00:31:34.463 a massive movement with huge masses 00:31:34.463 --> 00:31:35.941 that are going to bring down a regime. 00:31:36.171 --> 00:31:38.648 We need to give support to other countries 00:31:38.648 --> 00:31:40.278 the world is not focusing on. 00:31:40.278 --> 00:31:42.418 The narrative is just around what’s happening 00:31:42.418 --> 00:31:44.373 in the United States of America 00:31:44.373 --> 00:31:46.691 when there are many struggles across the world 00:31:46.691 --> 00:31:49.068 that we need to focus on and need to learn from. 00:31:49.068 --> 00:31:52.978 And so what I would encourage is that we meet 00:31:52.978 --> 00:31:54.939 as young people 00:31:54.939 --> 00:31:57.069 - as students from these student movements. 00:31:57.069 --> 00:32:00.762 So that we can organize together and build together. 00:32:00.762 --> 00:32:03.246 Because that’s the only way we are going to defeat 00:32:03.246 --> 00:32:06.044 a white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal, 00:32:06.044 --> 00:32:07.910 and ableist system. 00:32:10.178 --> 00:32:12.001 While students have historically served 00:32:12.001 --> 00:32:13.236 as active participants 00:32:13.236 --> 00:32:15.208 in broader struggles for social change, 00:32:15.208 --> 00:32:16.501 it's important to remember that 00:32:16.501 --> 00:32:19.092 there's nothing inherently revolutionary about them. 00:32:19.092 --> 00:32:22.034 University campuses can just as easily serve 00:32:22.034 --> 00:32:23.814 as the breeding grounds for fascism 00:32:23.814 --> 00:32:26.658 and other toxic forms of political reaction. 00:32:26.658 --> 00:32:28.798 This threat is particularly acute today, 00:32:28.798 --> 00:32:31.276 from campuses across the United States, 00:32:31.276 --> 00:32:33.422 where alt-right and white nationalist groups 00:32:33.422 --> 00:32:35.204 are aggressively targeting students 00:32:35.204 --> 00:32:37.117 for recruitment and indoctrination, 00:32:37.117 --> 00:32:38.375 to those in China, 00:32:38.375 --> 00:32:40.479 where organized student groups form 00:32:40.479 --> 00:32:42.354 an important bulwark of an emergent 00:32:42.354 --> 00:32:44.622 hyper-nationalist state ethos. 00:32:44.622 --> 00:32:46.927 These spaces are contested territories, 00:32:46.927 --> 00:32:49.731 meaning that revolutionaries need to actively engage 00:32:49.731 --> 00:32:53.096 and organize with their peers in order to build movements 00:32:53.096 --> 00:32:55.776 capable of waging effective resistance. 00:32:55.776 --> 00:32:57.036 So at this point, 00:32:57.036 --> 00:32:58.502 we’d like to remind you that Trouble is 00:32:58.502 --> 00:33:00.608 intended to be watched in groups, 00:33:00.608 --> 00:33:03.163 and to be used as a resource to promote discussion 00:33:03.163 --> 00:33:04.822 and collective organizing. 00:33:04.822 --> 00:33:06.324 Are you a student that's interested in 00:33:06.324 --> 00:33:09.117 carrying out revolutionary anti-capitalist organizing 00:33:09.117 --> 00:33:11.470 in your university or college campus, 00:33:11.470 --> 00:33:12.847 or even in your high school? 00:33:12.847 --> 00:33:14.833 Consider getting together with some comrades, 00:33:14.833 --> 00:33:16.935 organizing a screening of this film, 00:33:16.935 --> 00:33:18.195 and discussing a strategy 00:33:18.195 --> 00:33:19.575 for where you might get started. 00:33:19.575 --> 00:33:22.125 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble 00:33:22.125 --> 00:33:24.892 at your campus, infoshop, community center, 00:33:24.892 --> 00:33:26.555 or even just at home with friends? 00:33:26.555 --> 00:33:27.975 Become a Trouble-Maker! 00:33:27.975 --> 00:33:29.067 For 10 bucks a month, 00:33:29.067 --> 00:33:31.221 we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show, 00:33:31.221 --> 00:33:34.019 and a screening kit featuring additional resources 00:33:34.019 --> 00:33:37.110 and some questions you can use to get a discussion going. 00:33:37.110 --> 00:33:39.731 If you can’t afford to support us financially, 00:33:39.731 --> 00:33:40.703 no worries! 00:33:40.703 --> 00:33:43.627 You can stream and/or download all our content 00:33:43.627 --> 00:33:45.162 for free off our website: 00:33:47.429 --> 00:33:49.857 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, 00:33:49.857 --> 00:33:52.693 or just want to get in touch, drop us a line at: 00:33:54.848 --> 00:33:55.945 In case you missed it, 00:33:55.945 --> 00:33:58.420 we're pleased to announce the return of the Stimulator 00:33:58.420 --> 00:34:01.126 with his brand new show: The Fuckin' News. 00:34:01.126 --> 00:34:03.594 If you haven't checked out his pilot episode, 00:34:03.594 --> 00:34:04.902 you can find it on our website, 00:34:04.902 --> 00:34:06.323 along with past episodes of 00:34:06.323 --> 00:34:09.520 It's the End of the World as We Know it And I Feel Fine, at: 00:34:12.478 --> 00:34:14.353 This episode would not have been possible 00:34:14.353 --> 00:34:16.623 without the generous support of Jose, 00:34:16.623 --> 00:34:18.969 Simone, Tannie and Chloe. 00:34:18.969 --> 00:34:21.381 Now get out there, and make some trouble!