this is an invasion
20th July 2010, 23:42
This is a write up that appeared on the Modesto Anarcho blog (www.modestoanarcho.org) last month after Sarah Palin spoke at CSU Stanislaus.
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We live in a society that is primarily divided by class. This was made very apparent on June 25th when Sarah Palin spoke at CSUS. The audience was composed of those who can afford to drop 500 dollars to hear some bullshit (the ruling class). The organization responsible for getting Palin to speak is private, although it consists of members of the CSUS administration. Palin recieves around 100,000 dollars per speaking event, and for this particular event, the money came directly from the university. This is a ridiculous misuse of money during any state of the economy, and given the crisis we are currently facing, it really makes you question the motives and sanity of the administration.
The protest that was organized by students of CSUS, teachers, and community members was met by a heavy police force, security guards, and fencing that was reminiscent of G20 summit security. All of this, of course, was paid for by the school and state. The composition of the protest itself was extremely interesting. Of course, there were the typical sign-waving liberals present, with slogans that were apologetic to anti-worker ideas (“Whos country? Our country”). And of course the scum bags in Socialist Organizer were there, too, despite the fact that they seem to be pushed more and more to irrelevance. However, most of the people there were just regular, broke-as-fuck students/teachers/workers. These people did not bring their politics. They didn’t give a shit about the Democrats, and I only heard one instance of someone talking about reforming the administration. No, the only thing these people brought was venom for the system. Pure rage at the fact that a bunch of rich assholes were wasting their money to hear some stupid douche bag talk. It’s interesting to note that while people were open to yelling “Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay – Sarah Palin Go Away,” they were just as open, if not more-so, to yell “Eat the Rich!” I don’t think this says anything about the intelligence of working people; it really just shows how alien these conflicts are to people in the Central Valley. That a group of 20 regular people were super down to yell “fuck you” and “eat a fucking knife, you scum” at rich people as they parked their fancy SUV’s speaks volumes about the nature of this protest.
The Central Valley is not, however, a bastion of militant workers. There were people present that have an interest in the continuation of a society stratified by class, and there were people there who, regardless of their intentions, helped strengthen the state. The first group of people was the Tea Party Patriots, an extremely silly, but extremely reactionary, group of people whos entire political agenda consists of knee-jerk reactions and a Red-Scare-like obsession with communists. It was extremely enraging to see obviously broke people screaming, rather uncreatively, “Palin Yes!” alongside people who had probably never had to really worry about putting food on the table or not having medical insurance. In fact, the Tea Party is composed primarily of people who don’t actually have to worry about having their jobs “taken” by illegal immigrants (although jobs aren’t taken by “illegals” – they are given away by the bosses who are only looking to turn a profit, not that the sloganeering of the Tea Party and the Right that jobs are being taken is even true on a large scale) or those who almost viciously oppose single-payer healthcare because they have no idea what it’s like to have a family but have no way of insuring their health. These people showed up to counter-protest those that were pissed off at having to see their tax dollars wasted on Sarah Palin. Ironic that people who hate taxes so much would support such a thing. The only thing they accomplished was coming off as total dickheads. The second group of people mentioned are the sort of people who want to direct any resemblence of a movement for their own interests or because they feel they know what’s best. These people, like Socialist Organizer and union reps, only strengthen capital and the state by trying to head off any attempt at effectively resisting. Socialist Organizer were the first to try to tell people to get out of the street when people tried to block cars from entering the campus. Even if these people have good intentions, they are enemies of working people.
What needs to be taken into account here is that this is just another example of how the interests of the administration are in direct conflict with the students and working people. Even if there were a more liberal administration, events like this would still happen at the expence of working people, although they might try to dress it up a little nicer. The education system directly mirrors the sort of society we live in. There are those at the top who are going to make a shit ton of money off of us at the bottom. School administrators, workplace bosses, whatever you want to call them, they are the same people.
We should also look at the police, and what they were doing, which is… their jobs. The notion that police are out on the streets fighting crime and keeping us safe is a farce. The fact of the matter is, crime still happens and is growing, despite the increasing prison population in America. The true role of the police is to protect the social relations that keep us working people as slaves. How much tax dollars were spent on the increased police presence at CSUS on the 25th? Why were there Highway Patrolmen present? Why were people who are justifiably angry subject to intimidation and the threat of arrest for stepping foot on the campus (the same campus, need I remind you, that is paid for almost entirely by working class tax dollars)? The idea that cops are our friends, especially at events like the 25th is a lie.
This protest was a beautiful example of working people acting in their collective class interest. It’s really simple: when something that happens, no matter what it is, that effects our material conditions in a negative way, then there needs to be an immediate response. How much sense would it have made to organize a day of action several weeks down the road, as have happened with the state-wide education crisis? Instead of waiting, people took to the streets when the shit went down.
One last final note, so that our “comrades” in Socialist Organizer and in the unions can’t try to pin anything on us. When people got in the streets and tried to obstruct the flow of traffic and police trying to put up fences, they were at first told by people like Socialist Organizer to stay off the streets. They may try to say that they were only looking out for other people, and that we hooligans are only trying to get people arrested. Neither of this is true. We recognize two things here. First, that if people are truly interested in disrupting things, then standing on the corner yelling boring chants and waving signs isn’t going to accomplish shit. The ruling class does not listen to us when it’s not in their interests to do so. It is time we start acting in our interests. Second, we see the people that come out to these protests as intelligent and mature humans. None of us need the paternalistic behavior of movement cops.
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Here's a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjZUkONA4WM
-----
We live in a society that is primarily divided by class. This was made very apparent on June 25th when Sarah Palin spoke at CSUS. The audience was composed of those who can afford to drop 500 dollars to hear some bullshit (the ruling class). The organization responsible for getting Palin to speak is private, although it consists of members of the CSUS administration. Palin recieves around 100,000 dollars per speaking event, and for this particular event, the money came directly from the university. This is a ridiculous misuse of money during any state of the economy, and given the crisis we are currently facing, it really makes you question the motives and sanity of the administration.
The protest that was organized by students of CSUS, teachers, and community members was met by a heavy police force, security guards, and fencing that was reminiscent of G20 summit security. All of this, of course, was paid for by the school and state. The composition of the protest itself was extremely interesting. Of course, there were the typical sign-waving liberals present, with slogans that were apologetic to anti-worker ideas (“Whos country? Our country”). And of course the scum bags in Socialist Organizer were there, too, despite the fact that they seem to be pushed more and more to irrelevance. However, most of the people there were just regular, broke-as-fuck students/teachers/workers. These people did not bring their politics. They didn’t give a shit about the Democrats, and I only heard one instance of someone talking about reforming the administration. No, the only thing these people brought was venom for the system. Pure rage at the fact that a bunch of rich assholes were wasting their money to hear some stupid douche bag talk. It’s interesting to note that while people were open to yelling “Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay – Sarah Palin Go Away,” they were just as open, if not more-so, to yell “Eat the Rich!” I don’t think this says anything about the intelligence of working people; it really just shows how alien these conflicts are to people in the Central Valley. That a group of 20 regular people were super down to yell “fuck you” and “eat a fucking knife, you scum” at rich people as they parked their fancy SUV’s speaks volumes about the nature of this protest.
The Central Valley is not, however, a bastion of militant workers. There were people present that have an interest in the continuation of a society stratified by class, and there were people there who, regardless of their intentions, helped strengthen the state. The first group of people was the Tea Party Patriots, an extremely silly, but extremely reactionary, group of people whos entire political agenda consists of knee-jerk reactions and a Red-Scare-like obsession with communists. It was extremely enraging to see obviously broke people screaming, rather uncreatively, “Palin Yes!” alongside people who had probably never had to really worry about putting food on the table or not having medical insurance. In fact, the Tea Party is composed primarily of people who don’t actually have to worry about having their jobs “taken” by illegal immigrants (although jobs aren’t taken by “illegals” – they are given away by the bosses who are only looking to turn a profit, not that the sloganeering of the Tea Party and the Right that jobs are being taken is even true on a large scale) or those who almost viciously oppose single-payer healthcare because they have no idea what it’s like to have a family but have no way of insuring their health. These people showed up to counter-protest those that were pissed off at having to see their tax dollars wasted on Sarah Palin. Ironic that people who hate taxes so much would support such a thing. The only thing they accomplished was coming off as total dickheads. The second group of people mentioned are the sort of people who want to direct any resemblence of a movement for their own interests or because they feel they know what’s best. These people, like Socialist Organizer and union reps, only strengthen capital and the state by trying to head off any attempt at effectively resisting. Socialist Organizer were the first to try to tell people to get out of the street when people tried to block cars from entering the campus. Even if these people have good intentions, they are enemies of working people.
What needs to be taken into account here is that this is just another example of how the interests of the administration are in direct conflict with the students and working people. Even if there were a more liberal administration, events like this would still happen at the expence of working people, although they might try to dress it up a little nicer. The education system directly mirrors the sort of society we live in. There are those at the top who are going to make a shit ton of money off of us at the bottom. School administrators, workplace bosses, whatever you want to call them, they are the same people.
We should also look at the police, and what they were doing, which is… their jobs. The notion that police are out on the streets fighting crime and keeping us safe is a farce. The fact of the matter is, crime still happens and is growing, despite the increasing prison population in America. The true role of the police is to protect the social relations that keep us working people as slaves. How much tax dollars were spent on the increased police presence at CSUS on the 25th? Why were there Highway Patrolmen present? Why were people who are justifiably angry subject to intimidation and the threat of arrest for stepping foot on the campus (the same campus, need I remind you, that is paid for almost entirely by working class tax dollars)? The idea that cops are our friends, especially at events like the 25th is a lie.
This protest was a beautiful example of working people acting in their collective class interest. It’s really simple: when something that happens, no matter what it is, that effects our material conditions in a negative way, then there needs to be an immediate response. How much sense would it have made to organize a day of action several weeks down the road, as have happened with the state-wide education crisis? Instead of waiting, people took to the streets when the shit went down.
One last final note, so that our “comrades” in Socialist Organizer and in the unions can’t try to pin anything on us. When people got in the streets and tried to obstruct the flow of traffic and police trying to put up fences, they were at first told by people like Socialist Organizer to stay off the streets. They may try to say that they were only looking out for other people, and that we hooligans are only trying to get people arrested. Neither of this is true. We recognize two things here. First, that if people are truly interested in disrupting things, then standing on the corner yelling boring chants and waving signs isn’t going to accomplish shit. The ruling class does not listen to us when it’s not in their interests to do so. It is time we start acting in our interests. Second, we see the people that come out to these protests as intelligent and mature humans. None of us need the paternalistic behavior of movement cops.
-----
Here's a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjZUkONA4WM