In Remembrance: 15 Photos of the UCSC Occupation 1 Week Ago

I'll mostly remember the stupidity of this action and its setback of actual labor issues.

Personally I'll remember all the professional activists like you who just complain that there's a right way and a wrong way to protest, rebel, or work against the fucked up system. You'll make a great politician someday. No I wont sign your petition.

M sounds a little frustrated. I love the mantra that any action, including counter productive actions, are better than no action at all. There was an action. It was a strike coordinated by Unions. There was a second action: Occupying the GSC. The occupation was a distraction and set back the goals of labor issues. It was a juvenile and futile attempt at a communist revolution that predictably fizzled out. An actual labor strike that has the backing of Unions has been shown to work. Direct occupation of tents, trees, and now the GSC, have a history of failure. An occupation that is counter productive and has the backing of a small group of communists will predictably only be supported by unrealistic group of political outcasts (who also love the fact that they are outcasts because if they weren't they might be seen as working for the man).

There are societal problems. Rebelling by tagging buildings and destroying things does not lead to a better society no matter what your propaganda says. The problems with society are not buildings or material things but thought. You are not altering thought in your favor by breaking every material thing that you deem part of society's injustice. So go ahead and pillage, break, smash, and burn while being comforted by the warm blanket of your insular group of rebels. Actual societal change will occur despite people like M, not because of them.

I don't know if my last comment went way over your head, but I'll spell it out for you slowly. People who think there is a proper way to rebel are misguided.

Also, in terms of who thought it was a productive action, letters of support came in from organizations and activist groups from all over the country. Actually letters of support came from as far as South Africa. Support even came in the form of labor unions at UCSC putting out statements to support the action.

I don't know where you're getting the whole communist revolution fantasy. People involved in the action, including students, grad students, non students, and staff come from a variety of political persuasions. The hundreds of people who came out to support the action came from an even broader base.

And no, I don't feel hurt. I just don't think people need to follow your boring activist script for change (and no, my main critique is not that its boring).

Walking around tagging and sleeping in the GSC is not a rebellion. A strike is not a rebellion. The goal of the strike is not rebellion. The majority of students, staff, faculty, and community members are opposed to your rebellion against an amorphous undefined system.

Congratulations on your letter of support from South Africa. Being supported by a group that cannot view your futile attempt at revolution is the weakest support you could have come up with. People that saw what the Occupation looked like and the propaganda it used were turned off by the spectacle.

The blogs from the activists reek of communist propaganda:
http://wewanteverything.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/communique-from-an-absent-future/
I'm sorry I looked over the participants like you who were just there for the revolution and not the Communism. Point taken and I will correct it in the future.

And Union support....What Union support? Link one statement from a Union (preferably one in Santa Cruz and not Africa). Where was support from UPTE, the Union that was pivotal for the strike on the 24th?

Your arguments fall apart with only a cursory view of the facts. I'm sorry I don't support your vaguely defined rage filled revolution against an even more vaguely defined system. The fact is that most people don't have pent up anger that they wield to lash out against the Graduate Student Commons building (I'm betting the system runs scared from your next rebellion). My script may be boring, but it is effective, grown up, and rational.

Way to go, M. Appreciate the photos.

And more, thanks to the hundreds of people from all over, from a lot of different camps questioning the institutional control not only of UCSC but of the activist-industrial complex. I think that control of our lives is far-reaching and complex, and that no single tactic or style of tactic will successfully challenge that.

I'm not down with every possible kind of tactic, but I don't feel like you need my permission to resist in the way that feels most relevant and effective to you. I think petitioning authorities is a waste a time, but I don't begrudge someone putting their energy there. I think property destruction makes questionable gains, but I'm not going to condemn it because sometimes the way in which a variety of tactics in a movement work together is difficult to discern.

In general, those who sit back and condemn others actions (usually while doing little if anything to act out their own passionate resistance) are engaging in what might be the only single tactic that truly and consistently hurts a movement for change, often creating paralysis and divisiveness.