CAITLIN JOHNSTONE, APR 28, 2024, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/gen-z-just-might-save-the-world?r=cqey&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true— Kids are taking over university campuses around the world for the noblest possible reason anyone could do such a thing in 2024. There are so many reasons to feel pessimistic, but Gen Z’s fierce opposition to the Gaza genocide is a massive reason to have hope for the future. I talk all the […]
Gen Z Just Might Save The World
Month: Apr 2024
Lessons on Taking the School – Crimethinc + videos + Zine
from thefreeonline on 28th Aprl 2034 by Crimethinc
We are now offering a zine version of the reportback from the successful building occupation in solidarity with Gaza that took place at Cal Poly Humboldt
Click on the image to print a zine version of this article. https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2024/04/23/lessons-on-taking-the-school_print_black_and_white.pdf
Report from within the Cal Poly Humboldt Building Occupation
The Occupation of Siemens Hall
On April 22, 2024, inspired by the resilience of the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University and other demonstrations around the country, students at Cal Poly Humboldt campus in Arcata, California occupied a building in solidarity with Palestinians, precipitating a showdown with police from throughout the region. In the following report, participants in the occupation describe what took place and what they learned.
This represented a significant escalation in the current wave of student demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine. As the local organization Humboldt for Palestine announced, “this was not a protest organized by Humboldt for Palestine, but an organic CPH student organizing movement.”
After an hours-long standoff, local media reported that the police were forced to withdraw:
10:50 pm: All law enforcement have left from in front of the building and appear to be leaving the campus. Scanner traffic appears to confirm that law enforcement has left the scene. One officer said that law enforcement is being “disbanded.” Students are currently pouring in and out of the occupied building.
Cal Poly Humboldt remains shut down through at least tomorrow, according to the administration.
You can read more about the recent history of building occupations as a tactic in student organizing here.
Report from within the Cal Poly Humboldt Occupation
On Monday, April 22, a group of 45 students, alumni, and community members occupied Siemens Hall on the Cal Poly Humboldt Campus in the far northern coast of California in solidarity with those facing genocide in Gaza.
Within an hour, campus police attempted to negotiate with the occupiers, who stood strong and refused to exit the building. Soon after, police from every department in the county showed up—including a helicopter, K-9 units, and off-duty police. Students responded by swarming them.
The cops’ initial plan to carry out a mass arrest was thwarted by a series of clashes both inside and outside the building.
The occupiers beat back police advances, despite facing brutality unlike anything we have seen over the last decade of struggle in Humboldt County.
It is important to note that the police used both batons and shields as weapons to brutalize protesters; in the hands of police, any tool is a weapon.
Police arrested two people and dragged them out of the building by their hair; they inflicted multiple cranial lacerations on another person, necessitating a trip to the hospital and several staples. Many more people were left with head injuries and at least one with a concussion.
During the clashes, police drove a university truck into the crowd, pushing protestors toward the riot line.
Yet despite this brutality, it became increasingly apparent that the police were completely unprepared to face down the ferocity and intelligence of the student occupiers.
The police were physically repelled from Siemens Hall and massive barricades were erected out of objects from within the building including chairs, desks, trash cans, and doors that had been removed from their hinges.
The police surrounded the occupied building, and a large crowd of students, faculty, and other community members surrounded them, chanting “De-escalate by leaving!” and “People power! We are stronger!” among other chants.
After a six-hour standoff, the police packed up and went home. Hundreds of students rushed into the building and joyously embraced occupiers. The police-imposed division collapsed and we achieved the upper hand. The university has declared a three day lock down. For us, this is only the beginning.
Footage showing police withdrawing from Cal Poly Humboldt campus on the night of April 22, 2024..
This communiqué comes from within the occupation. We would like to pass on a number of lessons that we have learned.
1. Out of the quads, into the buildings.
It’s clear that in order for this crisis to develop further, student occupations should take buildings whenever possible.
The first action of the police was to instruct the occupiers to move to the quad. In saying this, they showed that we can wield the most power by occupying the spaces where classes are held and administrators have offices. In addition, buildings on campus are filled with everything you might need to construct barricades and protect an occupation.
2. If you build it, they will come.
It only took a small number of students to occupy Siemens Hall. Don’t be afraid to hold your ground. This movement is strong.
Seemingly out of nowhere, hundreds if not thousands will come to support you. Importantly, outside crowds were able to impede the police by dividing their attention. The cops found themselves kettled and completely unsure of where to turn. Someone set up a barbecue—free hotdogs fueled the crowd.
3. The pro-Palestinian movement must be a movement against the police.
At every step, police will not hesitate to brutalize those who call for an end to genocide in Palestine.
In Gaza, Palestinians face the Israeli military; in the United States, we face the police. We must recognize that these forces are one and the same: they are all foot soldiers of empire.
4. Listen! organizer.
We need not wait for the permission of professional activists to set the terms of struggle.
Student occupiers acted decisively to take the building without the backing of any established organizations. Collectively, we found we had the skills, experience, and creativity needed to carry out our action. While student organizations often recommend starting with a list of achievable demands and entering into endless negotiations with administrators, our occupation held one demand for six hours: that the police leave campus.
5. Be prepared.
Our town is somewhat sleepy. We underestimated the scale of police repression we would face.
Four years after the George Floyd Uprising, we should heed its lessons. It is best to come to all demonstrations with goggles, gas masks, laser pointers, and shields.
You never know what a casual sleepover might become.
Get the zine version of the reportback
Please print and distribute!
Further Resources
- ‹ Previous: Ocupaciones de edificios universitarios, 2008-2010 y en la actualidad
- We, Too, Remember Aleksei Sutuga: Next ›
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Day One: University of Texas Austin Students Take the Lawn
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pro-Palestine protest at Cal Poly Humboldt (KRCR)
Campus Building Occupations, 2008-2010 and Today
“It Is an Honor to Be Suspended for Palestine”
Dispatches from the Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University
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Bernie Sanders DESTROYS Netanyahu’s ‘antisemitism’ lies
“Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over US Universities,” Netanyahu claimed, after ordering DYNAMITING of Gaza Universities
from thefreeonline on 28th April 2024 info- Agencies/Home News
It is “not anti-Semitic” to criticize the Israeli government’s policies, the US senator has insisted
US Senator Bernie Sanders has hit back at remarks made by the prime minister of Israel, that pro-Palestinian protests at US universities were being overrun by antisemitism on a scale comparable to the rise of Nazism in Germany.
“No, Mr Netanyahu, it is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that, in a little over six months, your extremist government has killed over 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,000,” Sanders said, stressing that 70% of these were women and children.
US police arrested more than 80 protesters on Wednesday in a crackdown on the pro-Palestine demonstrations taking place at dozens of universities across the country. Students have been demanding that Washington cease all funding for the Israeli military and “stop giving them any more money to continue this genocide,” referring to the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.
In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont – who is Jewish – accused Netanyahu of insulting “the intelligence of the American people” by using antisemitism to distract attention from the policies of his “extremist and racist government” in the military offensive in Gaza.
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