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Sproul Savio speech on car memorial
Here are my pictures from the Free Speech movement 40th anniversary event of the climaxing moment in 1964 when the administration ordered math graduate student Jack Weinberg to be arrested at noon on Sproul plaza, and several thousand regular students surrounded the car and listened to cool speeches by Mario Savio and others.
A couple thousand people attended this event. First, the new chancellor, the ASUC president, Julia Vinograd and Michael Rossman spoke. Jackie Weinman?, a Compton teacher who was part of the FSM gave a great speech. Howard Dean spoke before Toni Serra, Civil Rights attorney, and drew the largest part of the crowd
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According to the SF Chronicle of 10/9/04, http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/09/BAG9T96KVV1.DTL, Jackie Goldberg, a veteran of FSM and now a Democratic Asssemblyperson from Los Angeles, spoke at the FSM commemoration.
Bob Avakian is the son of a former Judge of Alameda County Superior Court and did attend UC Berkeley, where he encountered the arrogance of the administration against all protest and political discussion of any kind. While I am not a supporter of his political group, he was part of the same anti-Vietnam War generation as I am, although a little older than I, which puts him in the leadership contingent, the people who broke the barriers.
Those barriers included the fact that all universities, including UC Berkeley, were majority MALE and WHITE, and overwhelmingly RICH and CONSERVATIVE.
The Free Speech Movement was part of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The leaders of FSM had spent the summers of 1963 and 1964 doing voter registration of blacks in the segregated South, where blacks could not register at all or it was virtually impossible due to phony tests and taxes. They saw firsthand the power of the state to enforce segregation locally and to defend the civil rights movement to save face, as with the use of federal troops to end segregation at cetain schools and in the second Selma to Birmingham march. They also saw the poverty of the workingclass of the South, both black and white.
They returned to the Bay Area in 1964 to carry on the struggle for integration right here in the racist North, picketing the many auto showrooms that existed on Van Ness in San Francisco to demand that blacks be hired to be salespersons (we won) and at the Sheraton Palace Hotel to demand that blacks be hired at better positions that maid and janitor (we won).
We lost on the ballot with Prop 14 in 1964, which concerned fair housing, that is no discrimination in renting or selling homes to non-whites (meaning blacks at the time).
As to various communist organizations, the two largest at the time were the Communist Party (pro-Stalin) and the Socialist Workers Party (pro-Trotsky). They were small, and the anti-Communism in this society was very great. The second war of anti-Communism (the first being the war in Korea 1950-53), the Vietnam War became a major issue in August 1964, as a result of the phony incident at the Gulf of Tonkin that was a pretext for Democrat Pres. Johnson to escalate the war.
Because of the draft, which all male students were subject to when they stopped being fulltime students and until age 26, the anti-Vietnam War movement was based primarily on the campuses, and when the draft ended in 1973, so did most of the protests.
The anti-Vietnam War generation (1964-1973) was the exception to the rule, the rule being that the college student population is conservative because they are usually upper middle class and have a vested interest in this bankrupt social order, which is based on exploiting the workingclass.
It is outrageous that any Democratic politician spoke at this rally as the Democratic Party was complicit in attacking FSM. After all, it was Democratic Governor Pat Brown (father of Democratic Governor and now mayor of Oakland, Jerry Brown) who opposed the Free Speech Movement.
See http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/FSM_RAB-chronology.html
"December 3: At 3:05 AM, Chancellor Strong urges students to leave Sproul Hall; at 3:45 AM, Governor Edmund G. Brown announces that he has dispatched police (about 635 of them) to arrest the students. The arrest of about 814 students continues for twelve hours, during which time graduate students picket University buildings in protest of police action. Simultaneously, faculty members meet to consider the crisis, to protest the regents' policy of November 20 and the governor's summoning police, and to establish an Academic Senate Committee to which students could appeal regarding the penalties imposed by the administration for political action. Faculty members raise bail for the arrested students. During the day a strike is called and many classes are cancelled."
Also see:
http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/FSM_faculty_chrono.html
as follows:
"3 Dec. Governor Brown sends police to clear out or arrest demonstrators; Chancellor Strong urges students to leave Sproul; students remain: police begin arrest and removal of students. Graduate students in large numbers begin picketing of University buildings in protest of police action. Faculty members spontaneously arrange meeting to consider crisis, pass resolutions calling for dropping of pending disciplinary action against students, for the establishment of an Academic Senate committee to which students could appeal penalties imposed for political activity, and for the Regents to change their policy of 20 Nov. so that student off-campus political activities shall not be subject to University discipline. Faculty members raise $8500 bail for students; many meet with Judge Crittenden in effort to help in setting and posting bail, then in returning students from prison farm."
The socialist view is in the excerpts from Hal Draper's book, Berkeley: The New Student Revolt, with introduction by Mario Savio, at http://www.fsm-a.org/draper/draper_contents.html
The police THREW the students DOWN THE STAIRS and beat them when they were arrested. KPFA, 94.1 FM, which was established in 1949 by pacifists who opposed all wars including World War 2 (in which the US did not spend most of its time fighting fascism, but rather spent most of its time conquering real estate in the Pacific Ocean), has the screams of the students during the arrests on tape, and has played these tapes.
IT IS BECAUSE OF THE VICTORY OF FSM, and ALL THE MOVEMENTS OF WHICH IT WAS A PART THAT:
1. All public universities in this country are now a majority WOMEN;
2. All public universities in this country have a significant non-white population, although not yet in proportion to the general population, because we have not had a labor movement in this country in 54 years.
As we who remember dry our tears in reliving the terrible stress of that era, we ask that everyone reading this BUILD A LABOR MOVEMENT.
Walk that picket line at the San Francisco scab hotels. If you want free speech, you must have a labor movement. Our movements of the 1960s were based on the relative economic prosperity achieved by the labor movement of the 1930s and 1940s, that made it possible for some sectors of the workingclass to attend college, and to promote the many causes of that day. Our parents and grandparents were veterans of those labor movements and the fight against fascism during World War 2. We were the First Generation After the Holocaust, the children of the World War 2 veterans and anti-fascist resistance workers, both pacifist and military, who did our best to carry on and make a better world.
As Joe Hill, the labor organizer said, "Don't mourn for me! Organize!"
Get out there and join that picket line. Bring food to the San Francisco hotel strikers. Join the Million Worker March on Washington on October 17. See: http://www.millionworkermarch.org/
SOLIDIATY FOREVER!
Bob Avakian is the son of a former Judge of Alameda County Superior Court and did attend UC Berkeley, where he encountered the arrogance of the administration against all protest and political discussion of any kind. While I am not a supporter of his political group, he was part of the same anti-Vietnam War generation as I am, although a little older than I, which puts him in the leadership contingent, the people who broke the barriers.
Those barriers included the fact that all universities, including UC Berkeley, were majority MALE and WHITE, and overwhelmingly RICH and CONSERVATIVE.
The Free Speech Movement was part of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The leaders of FSM had spent the summers of 1963 and 1964 doing voter registration of blacks in the segregated South, where blacks could not register at all or it was virtually impossible due to phony tests and taxes. They saw firsthand the power of the state to enforce segregation locally and to defend the civil rights movement to save face, as with the use of federal troops to end segregation at cetain schools and in the second Selma to Birmingham march. They also saw the poverty of the workingclass of the South, both black and white.
They returned to the Bay Area in 1964 to carry on the struggle for integration right here in the racist North, picketing the many auto showrooms that existed on Van Ness in San Francisco to demand that blacks be hired to be salespersons (we won) and at the Sheraton Palace Hotel to demand that blacks be hired at better positions that maid and janitor (we won).
We lost on the ballot with Prop 14 in 1964, which concerned fair housing, that is no discrimination in renting or selling homes to non-whites (meaning blacks at the time).
As to various communist organizations, the two largest at the time were the Communist Party (pro-Stalin) and the Socialist Workers Party (pro-Trotsky). They were small, and the anti-Communism in this society was very great. The second war of anti-Communism (the first being the war in Korea 1950-53), the Vietnam War became a major issue in August 1964, as a result of the phony incident at the Gulf of Tonkin that was a pretext for Democrat Pres. Johnson to escalate the war.
Because of the draft, which all male students were subject to when they stopped being fulltime students and until age 26, the anti-Vietnam War movement was based primarily on the campuses, and when the draft ended in 1973, so did most of the protests.
The anti-Vietnam War generation (1964-1973) was the exception to the rule, the rule being that the college student population is conservative because they are usually upper middle class and have a vested interest in this bankrupt social order, which is based on exploiting the workingclass.
It is outrageous that any Democratic politician spoke at this rally as the Democratic Party was complicit in attacking FSM. After all, it was Democratic Governor Pat Brown (father of Democratic Governor and now mayor of Oakland, Jerry Brown) who opposed the Free Speech Movement.
See http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/FSM_RAB-chronology.html
"December 3: At 3:05 AM, Chancellor Strong urges students to leave Sproul Hall; at 3:45 AM, Governor Edmund G. Brown announces that he has dispatched police (about 635 of them) to arrest the students. The arrest of about 814 students continues for twelve hours, during which time graduate students picket University buildings in protest of police action. Simultaneously, faculty members meet to consider the crisis, to protest the regents' policy of November 20 and the governor's summoning police, and to establish an Academic Senate Committee to which students could appeal regarding the penalties imposed by the administration for political action. Faculty members raise bail for the arrested students. During the day a strike is called and many classes are cancelled."
Also see:
http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/FSM_faculty_chrono.html
as follows:
"3 Dec. Governor Brown sends police to clear out or arrest demonstrators; Chancellor Strong urges students to leave Sproul; students remain: police begin arrest and removal of students. Graduate students in large numbers begin picketing of University buildings in protest of police action. Faculty members spontaneously arrange meeting to consider crisis, pass resolutions calling for dropping of pending disciplinary action against students, for the establishment of an Academic Senate committee to which students could appeal penalties imposed for political activity, and for the Regents to change their policy of 20 Nov. so that student off-campus political activities shall not be subject to University discipline. Faculty members raise $8500 bail for students; many meet with Judge Crittenden in effort to help in setting and posting bail, then in returning students from prison farm."
The socialist view is in the excerpts from Hal Draper's book, Berkeley: The New Student Revolt, with introduction by Mario Savio, at http://www.fsm-a.org/draper/draper_contents.html
The police THREW the students DOWN THE STAIRS and beat them when they were arrested. KPFA, 94.1 FM, which was established in 1949 by pacifists who opposed all wars including World War 2 (in which the US did not spend most of its time fighting fascism, but rather spent most of its time conquering real estate in the Pacific Ocean), has the screams of the students during the arrests on tape, and has played these tapes.
IT IS BECAUSE OF THE VICTORY OF FSM, and ALL THE MOVEMENTS OF WHICH IT WAS A PART THAT:
1. All public universities in this country are now a majority WOMEN;
2. All public universities in this country have a significant non-white population, although not yet in proportion to the general population, because we have not had a labor movement in this country in 54 years.
As we who remember dry our tears in reliving the terrible stress of that era, we ask that everyone reading this BUILD A LABOR MOVEMENT.
Walk that picket line at the San Francisco scab hotels. If you want free speech, you must have a labor movement. Our movements of the 1960s were based on the relative economic prosperity achieved by the labor movement of the 1930s and 1940s, that made it possible for some sectors of the workingclass to attend college, and to promote the many causes of that day. Our parents and grandparents were veterans of those labor movements and the fight against fascism during World War 2. We were the First Generation After the Holocaust, the children of the World War 2 veterans and anti-fascist resistance workers, both pacifist and military, who did our best to carry on and make a better world.
As Joe Hill, the labor organizer said, "Don't mourn for me! Organize!"
Get out there and join that picket line. Bring food to the San Francisco hotel strikers. Join the Million Worker March on Washington on October 17. See: http://www.millionworkermarch.org/
SOLIDIATY FOREVER!
For more information:
http://www.millionworkermarch.org/
Thanks for writing that. it is important to remember those details.
Jack Heyman of the ILWU, and Alexander Cockburn were reminding us about the democrats the day before in a much smaller little soapbox event at Bancroft and Sproul. He described how Jerry Brown had dispatched police who exited buses already in riot gear and started opening fire with wooden rounds and metal shot last year at a peaceful morning picket at the docks, and they even shot him and other dockworkers as they were at work or entering work. Jerry Brown also sits over a lot of city institutions that resemble the mafia, like the whole operation where poor people's cars get given to A&B Towing when get stolen and are recovered, or during street sweeping etc. and they are held for over $500 ransom, and the Tow owner lives in a huge mansion in the hills and kicks down lots of payoffs.
Anyway, I think it is a testament to human forgiveness and charity how people can so easily forget being disrespected and mistreated by politicians in the past, and always just focus on the current promises during election time. Howard Dean does give a good speech, and how else can you explain the tears of joy of his supporters. There are so few cases of democrats successfully getting much for people unless they are totally backed up by huge popular support and noise. You have to believe that they intend to do good things, or maybe did at one time, but really with pretty much anything good the gov't has done in the past 50 years, it is always people themselves getting it done.
Jack Heyman of the ILWU, and Alexander Cockburn were reminding us about the democrats the day before in a much smaller little soapbox event at Bancroft and Sproul. He described how Jerry Brown had dispatched police who exited buses already in riot gear and started opening fire with wooden rounds and metal shot last year at a peaceful morning picket at the docks, and they even shot him and other dockworkers as they were at work or entering work. Jerry Brown also sits over a lot of city institutions that resemble the mafia, like the whole operation where poor people's cars get given to A&B Towing when get stolen and are recovered, or during street sweeping etc. and they are held for over $500 ransom, and the Tow owner lives in a huge mansion in the hills and kicks down lots of payoffs.
Anyway, I think it is a testament to human forgiveness and charity how people can so easily forget being disrespected and mistreated by politicians in the past, and always just focus on the current promises during election time. Howard Dean does give a good speech, and how else can you explain the tears of joy of his supporters. There are so few cases of democrats successfully getting much for people unless they are totally backed up by huge popular support and noise. You have to believe that they intend to do good things, or maybe did at one time, but really with pretty much anything good the gov't has done in the past 50 years, it is always people themselves getting it done.
"his fame doesn't seem populist, like leftist speakers who became popular due to their skills and because people keep inviting them back."
well I dunno where to go with this except: Chomsky and Zinn (as assumptive examples of "populist...leftist speakers") didn't accidentally end up where they are, which with this election distraction that's coming up and the strategy they have assumed is a pretty goddamn awful spot, they have endorsed a candidate substantively to the right of Bush on the war and civil liberties, without even making a single demand of the Kerry camp.
that said I am not uncritical of Avakian or his organization, the Revolutionary Communist Party, however much of the substance of what they talk about I agree with: That there is no way to reform the system of capitalism, that a party of a new type leading a class based mass struggle is the best strategy to defeat the current ruling class, and that a terminal crisis in capitalism maybe near so we need to get our shit together and stop investing our hopes in war supporting Democrats or other reformist distractions.
It does look like the event was well attended and maybe even fun, I wonder if Howard (Dean that is) will be ready to lob a paving stone at National Guard tanks in the memorial reenactment of the People's Park struggle in a couple years
well I dunno where to go with this except: Chomsky and Zinn (as assumptive examples of "populist...leftist speakers") didn't accidentally end up where they are, which with this election distraction that's coming up and the strategy they have assumed is a pretty goddamn awful spot, they have endorsed a candidate substantively to the right of Bush on the war and civil liberties, without even making a single demand of the Kerry camp.
that said I am not uncritical of Avakian or his organization, the Revolutionary Communist Party, however much of the substance of what they talk about I agree with: That there is no way to reform the system of capitalism, that a party of a new type leading a class based mass struggle is the best strategy to defeat the current ruling class, and that a terminal crisis in capitalism maybe near so we need to get our shit together and stop investing our hopes in war supporting Democrats or other reformist distractions.
It does look like the event was well attended and maybe even fun, I wonder if Howard (Dean that is) will be ready to lob a paving stone at National Guard tanks in the memorial reenactment of the People's Park struggle in a couple years
Hi,
I'm the web master for FSM-A site and we've begun putting up photos of the events - rally is up, many more to come.
If you go to http://www.fsm-a.org you'll see links to the photo pages (and also, to the articles about how the FBI hounded Mario for years!)
I was arrested back then and the events were a great way to (hopefully) inspire student activism and also to see old friends.
Susan
I'm the web master for FSM-A site and we've begun putting up photos of the events - rally is up, many more to come.
If you go to http://www.fsm-a.org you'll see links to the photo pages (and also, to the articles about how the FBI hounded Mario for years!)
I was arrested back then and the events were a great way to (hopefully) inspire student activism and also to see old friends.
Susan
For more information:
http://www.fsm-a.org
WHEN THE FSM *ORGANIZERS* -- WHO WERE *NOT* NECESSARILY ALL OF THE SPEAKERS -- TROTTED OUT A *PHONY* 'PROGRESSIVE' STAR SPEAKER, HOWARD DEAN TO SPEAK ATOP THAT POLICE CAR RE-ENACTMENT SCENE ON SPROUL PLAZA, ANYONE *TRULY* PROGRESSIVE/LEFTIST SHOULD HAVE REALIZED THAT THE FSM COMMEMORATION ORGANIZERS ARE HARDLY -- NOT BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION -- "RADICAL" OR EVEN "LEFTIST", LET ALONE TRULY "PROGRESSIVE", ANYMORE -- IF SOME OF THEM EVER WERE.
THE FACT THAT MOST OF THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE CROWD ABRUPTLY LEFT RIGHT AFTER HOWARD DEAN SPOKE, SHOWS THE SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO THE STUDENTS OF THE MAIN FSM SPEAKERS: MOST OF THE STUDENTS NEVER HEARD OF THEM.
ONCE, MANY OF THE FSM'ers LET THEMSELVES BE USED BY THE S.F. CHRONICLE WHEN THEY WROTE A LETTER CRITICIZING PEOPLE (INCLUDING ANIT-ZIONIST JEWS) WHO PROTESTED BENJAMIN NETANYAHU A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WHEN A CONSERVATIVE JEWISH GROUP INVITED HIM TO SPEAK IN BERKELEY.
BUT NOT ONE *SINGLE* WORD OF THE FSM LETTER, CRITCIZING THE PROTESTERS, CRITICIZED WHAT ISRAEL WAS DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS -- AND HAD THEY DONE SO THEN, THE CHRONICLE WOULD NOT HAVE PRINTED THEIR INSIPID LETTER.
AND THE MORE I HEAR HER, THE MORE I REALIZE THAT LYNNE HOLLANDER SAVIO MUST HAVE BEEN HOME TAKING CARE OF THE KITCHEN AND LATER THE KIDS WHEN MARIO WAS OUT PROTESTING, BECAUSE HER POLITICS ARE *NOTHING* MORE THAN MILQUETOAST MAINSTREAM DEMOCRAT!
_LYNNE HOLLANDER SAVIO_ WAS THE PERSON WHO INVITED ("YES, WHY *NOT* BLOOD FOR OIL!") *WAR*MONGER CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS -- AND NOW (HUNGRY FOR MORE MONEY AND CORPORATE TV FAME THAN MOST LEFTISTS EVER GET) FINALLY TURNED ANABASHEDLY RIGHT-WINGER -- AS THE HONORED KEYNOTE "MARIO SAVIO LECTURER" (!!!) TWO YEARS.
EVEN WHEN POINTEDLY ASKED LONG BEFOREHAND, THEN, BY ALEXANDER COCKBURN ABOUT THE APPROPRIATENESS OF HER CHOICE, NO LIGHT BULB WENT OFF IN HER POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS VACANT HEAD!
MANY OF THE FSM'ers HAVE TURNED INTO A SORRY LOT OF MILQUETOAST PHONY LEFTISTS.
WHILE KERRYCRAT MOLLY IVINS WAS NONETHELESS A MUCH BETTER CHOICE FOR "MARIO SAVIO MEMORIAL SPEAKER" THAN HITCHENS, THE FSM MEMORIAL ORGANIZERS SHOULD JUST HOLD NEXT YEAR'S MEMORIAL IN THE 'STARLIGHT' WAYNE NEWTON ROOM AT CEASAR'S PALACE IN LAS VEGAS!!
(THAT'S WHERE SORRY-ASS HAS-BEENS APPROPRIATELY END UP.)
I SAY, LET MOST OF THOSE FSM'ers SIT ON THEIR LAURELS -- AND NOT GET UP AGAIN!!
THE FACT THAT MOST OF THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE CROWD ABRUPTLY LEFT RIGHT AFTER HOWARD DEAN SPOKE, SHOWS THE SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE TO THE STUDENTS OF THE MAIN FSM SPEAKERS: MOST OF THE STUDENTS NEVER HEARD OF THEM.
ONCE, MANY OF THE FSM'ers LET THEMSELVES BE USED BY THE S.F. CHRONICLE WHEN THEY WROTE A LETTER CRITICIZING PEOPLE (INCLUDING ANIT-ZIONIST JEWS) WHO PROTESTED BENJAMIN NETANYAHU A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WHEN A CONSERVATIVE JEWISH GROUP INVITED HIM TO SPEAK IN BERKELEY.
BUT NOT ONE *SINGLE* WORD OF THE FSM LETTER, CRITCIZING THE PROTESTERS, CRITICIZED WHAT ISRAEL WAS DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS -- AND HAD THEY DONE SO THEN, THE CHRONICLE WOULD NOT HAVE PRINTED THEIR INSIPID LETTER.
AND THE MORE I HEAR HER, THE MORE I REALIZE THAT LYNNE HOLLANDER SAVIO MUST HAVE BEEN HOME TAKING CARE OF THE KITCHEN AND LATER THE KIDS WHEN MARIO WAS OUT PROTESTING, BECAUSE HER POLITICS ARE *NOTHING* MORE THAN MILQUETOAST MAINSTREAM DEMOCRAT!
_LYNNE HOLLANDER SAVIO_ WAS THE PERSON WHO INVITED ("YES, WHY *NOT* BLOOD FOR OIL!") *WAR*MONGER CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS -- AND NOW (HUNGRY FOR MORE MONEY AND CORPORATE TV FAME THAN MOST LEFTISTS EVER GET) FINALLY TURNED ANABASHEDLY RIGHT-WINGER -- AS THE HONORED KEYNOTE "MARIO SAVIO LECTURER" (!!!) TWO YEARS.
EVEN WHEN POINTEDLY ASKED LONG BEFOREHAND, THEN, BY ALEXANDER COCKBURN ABOUT THE APPROPRIATENESS OF HER CHOICE, NO LIGHT BULB WENT OFF IN HER POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS VACANT HEAD!
MANY OF THE FSM'ers HAVE TURNED INTO A SORRY LOT OF MILQUETOAST PHONY LEFTISTS.
WHILE KERRYCRAT MOLLY IVINS WAS NONETHELESS A MUCH BETTER CHOICE FOR "MARIO SAVIO MEMORIAL SPEAKER" THAN HITCHENS, THE FSM MEMORIAL ORGANIZERS SHOULD JUST HOLD NEXT YEAR'S MEMORIAL IN THE 'STARLIGHT' WAYNE NEWTON ROOM AT CEASAR'S PALACE IN LAS VEGAS!!
(THAT'S WHERE SORRY-ASS HAS-BEENS APPROPRIATELY END UP.)
I SAY, LET MOST OF THOSE FSM'ers SIT ON THEIR LAURELS -- AND NOT GET UP AGAIN!!
Hitchens Protester Speaks: Joseph Anderson
by Joseph Anderson Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002 at 4:09 AM:
full article: http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/11/1544878.php
summary: The selection of Christopher Hitchens was inappropriate to a memorial lecture honoring the spirit, philosophy, and memory of the life-long ANTI-WAR philosopher and activist Mario Savio.
=======================================================
In Betrayal Of Savio's Memory, Hitchens Set To Speak at the Mario Savio Memorial Lecture
by FSM Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 at 5:39 PM:
full article: http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/11/1544360.php
summary: "An organization that pretends to represent the ideals of Mario Savio has invited the warmonger Christopher Hitchens to speak at the UC Berkeley campus on Thursday, November 21st. The event is free and is at 7:30 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom of the UC Berkeley Student Union. Its time for protesters to show up and defend Savio's memory!"
by Joseph Anderson Saturday, Nov. 23, 2002 at 4:09 AM:
full article: http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/11/1544878.php
summary: The selection of Christopher Hitchens was inappropriate to a memorial lecture honoring the spirit, philosophy, and memory of the life-long ANTI-WAR philosopher and activist Mario Savio.
=======================================================
In Betrayal Of Savio's Memory, Hitchens Set To Speak at the Mario Savio Memorial Lecture
by FSM Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2002 at 5:39 PM:
full article: http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/11/1544360.php
summary: "An organization that pretends to represent the ideals of Mario Savio has invited the warmonger Christopher Hitchens to speak at the UC Berkeley campus on Thursday, November 21st. The event is free and is at 7:30 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom of the UC Berkeley Student Union. Its time for protesters to show up and defend Savio's memory!"
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/18/ED182052.DTL
Monday, December 18, 2000
NETANYAHU'S SPEECH
Editor -- In response to comments by former members of the Free Speech Movement (Letters, Dec 12) who criticized Berkeley protesters as violating "the free speech rights" of Benjamin Netanyahu: The former Israeli prime minister is a ubiquitous figure on American TV whose state's policies deny the free speech of those it oppresses. He has more "free speech" than all the protesters combined.
These Free Speech Movement supporters who once shut down an entire university have become staid and have forgotten a few things about the imbalance between power and dissent. The Berkeley protest actually struck a blow for free speech.
Only the peaceful disruption (in the tradition of sit-ins) brought U.S. media attention to Israel's oppression of Palestinians. This increased free speech for voices of dissent.
Mario Savio, the late charismatic Free Speech Movement leader, championed free speech rights of those without state power to speak truth to power -- not the free speech rights that power inherently has.
Joseph Anderson
Berkeley
[The Chronicle printed all of the FSM signers letter, but cut my version (meeting all of their technical requirements) sent to them -- with only a 3 word count difference. There was the Chronicle's version of "free speech".]
==========================================================
THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET
December 16, 2000
Editor:
Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean sadly demeans herself, churning nonsense about protesters violating the “free speech” rights of ‘poor, besieged’ Benjamin Netanyahu – as well as falsely claiming that the protesters object to “controversial figures.” (We object to mass human rights violators.)
As we said in the ‘90’s, “Puh-lease!” Netanyahu has more “free speech” than all the protesters combined.
In case it has escaped the Mayor’s notice, Netanyahu – an omnipresent figure on American TV, with plenty of U.S. financial and media support – gets to speak all the time. You could hardly avoid hearing him.
For those who felt so traumatized about missing Netanyahu’s PR speech, you can catch him almost any week, on any American TV set near you.
And yet, in the U.S.major media, the dissent of even large nonviolent protests is only featured when protesters engage in bold civic actions that “make news.” Netanyahu’s cancellation made the protest “news.”
Netanyahu would have never allowed any dissidents in the auditorium the free speech to morally challenge his involvement in Israel’s internationally condemned mass human rights violations. In fact, Netanyahu led a state whose very policies deny the free speech of those it oppresses.
But Dean is not alone in defending the freedom of a mass human rights violator to carry on without inconvenient interruptions.
I guess, over the years, the FSM signers of the December 7th letter to the Daily Planet have become staid and forgotten a few things about the lopsidedness of power and dissent. In such lopsidedness, the protest against Netanyahu actually constituted a strike for free speech.
Only the peaceful disruption (in the tradition of sit-ins) brought some national attention to the moral issue of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. This increased free speech to voices typically censored by the American media.
Mario Savio, an incisive and charismatic leader of the FSM, championed the free speech rights of those without institutional or state power to speak truth to power. Savio didn’t champion the free speech rights of power: power by its very nature already has this right.
Savio also proclaimed that we must throw our bodies on the gears of state power when it becomes heinously oppressive – and in a way, that’s what the protesters did.
We know what Netanyahu stands for: he stands for oppression. No business-as-usual for him here.
There is no true “free speech” without the opportunity to critically challenge power; and meaningfully none, when the major media is politically controlled and dissent is barred access.
Then, there is only power’s propaganda. By unthinkingly criticizing the protesters as attacking “free speech,” Mayor Dean and the FSM letter writers subvert the very foundation of “free speech”: speaking truth to power.
Joseph Anderson,
Berkeley
(See that and other letters criticizing Netanyahu at
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?storyID=2681)
[One of the FSM icons told me that after he read my letter, he regretted signing the FSM letter criticizing the protesters against Neyanyahu. Other FMS'ers who *didn't* sign the letter said that they didn't know what had gotten into the heads of those who did.]
==========================================================
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/18/ED137237.DTL
Netanyahu Protest Did Not Dishonor The Free-Speech Movement
Barbara Lubin
[anti-Zionist Jewish-American]
Middle East Children's Alliance
[who have had more than their share of physical/death threats
and whose premises are frequently vandalized by Zionist Jews]
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/18/ED182052.DTL
Monday, December 18, 2000
NETANYAHU'S SPEECH
Editor -- In response to comments by former members of the Free Speech Movement (Letters, Dec 12) who criticized Berkeley protesters as violating "the free speech rights" of Benjamin Netanyahu: The former Israeli prime minister is a ubiquitous figure on American TV whose state's policies deny the free speech of those it oppresses. He has more "free speech" than all the protesters combined.
These Free Speech Movement supporters who once shut down an entire university have become staid and have forgotten a few things about the imbalance between power and dissent. The Berkeley protest actually struck a blow for free speech.
Only the peaceful disruption (in the tradition of sit-ins) brought U.S. media attention to Israel's oppression of Palestinians. This increased free speech for voices of dissent.
Mario Savio, the late charismatic Free Speech Movement leader, championed free speech rights of those without state power to speak truth to power -- not the free speech rights that power inherently has.
Joseph Anderson
Berkeley
[The Chronicle printed all of the FSM signers letter, but cut my version (meeting all of their technical requirements) sent to them -- with only a 3 word count difference. There was the Chronicle's version of "free speech".]
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THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET
December 16, 2000
Editor:
Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean sadly demeans herself, churning nonsense about protesters violating the “free speech” rights of ‘poor, besieged’ Benjamin Netanyahu – as well as falsely claiming that the protesters object to “controversial figures.” (We object to mass human rights violators.)
As we said in the ‘90’s, “Puh-lease!” Netanyahu has more “free speech” than all the protesters combined.
In case it has escaped the Mayor’s notice, Netanyahu – an omnipresent figure on American TV, with plenty of U.S. financial and media support – gets to speak all the time. You could hardly avoid hearing him.
For those who felt so traumatized about missing Netanyahu’s PR speech, you can catch him almost any week, on any American TV set near you.
And yet, in the U.S.major media, the dissent of even large nonviolent protests is only featured when protesters engage in bold civic actions that “make news.” Netanyahu’s cancellation made the protest “news.”
Netanyahu would have never allowed any dissidents in the auditorium the free speech to morally challenge his involvement in Israel’s internationally condemned mass human rights violations. In fact, Netanyahu led a state whose very policies deny the free speech of those it oppresses.
But Dean is not alone in defending the freedom of a mass human rights violator to carry on without inconvenient interruptions.
I guess, over the years, the FSM signers of the December 7th letter to the Daily Planet have become staid and forgotten a few things about the lopsidedness of power and dissent. In such lopsidedness, the protest against Netanyahu actually constituted a strike for free speech.
Only the peaceful disruption (in the tradition of sit-ins) brought some national attention to the moral issue of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. This increased free speech to voices typically censored by the American media.
Mario Savio, an incisive and charismatic leader of the FSM, championed the free speech rights of those without institutional or state power to speak truth to power. Savio didn’t champion the free speech rights of power: power by its very nature already has this right.
Savio also proclaimed that we must throw our bodies on the gears of state power when it becomes heinously oppressive – and in a way, that’s what the protesters did.
We know what Netanyahu stands for: he stands for oppression. No business-as-usual for him here.
There is no true “free speech” without the opportunity to critically challenge power; and meaningfully none, when the major media is politically controlled and dissent is barred access.
Then, there is only power’s propaganda. By unthinkingly criticizing the protesters as attacking “free speech,” Mayor Dean and the FSM letter writers subvert the very foundation of “free speech”: speaking truth to power.
Joseph Anderson,
Berkeley
(See that and other letters criticizing Netanyahu at
http://www.berkeleydaily.org/article.cfm?storyID=2681)
[One of the FSM icons told me that after he read my letter, he regretted signing the FSM letter criticizing the protesters against Neyanyahu. Other FMS'ers who *didn't* sign the letter said that they didn't know what had gotten into the heads of those who did.]
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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/18/ED137237.DTL
Netanyahu Protest Did Not Dishonor The Free-Speech Movement
Barbara Lubin
[anti-Zionist Jewish-American]
Middle East Children's Alliance
[who have had more than their share of physical/death threats
and whose premises are frequently vandalized by Zionist Jews]
FSM: No Cause to Celebrate
by F. S. Wednesday, Oct. 06, 2004
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1698077.php
by F. S. Wednesday, Oct. 06, 2004
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1698077.php
I am outraged about the poor choice of speakers for the Free Speech movement memorial speakers, including Molly Ivins.
Molly Ivins has disgraced herself by appearing with a bunch of neo-cons at a right wing event in Sacramento, sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Over 400 demonstrators opposed the appearance of Rudolf Giuliani and Bill O'Reilly at the "Perspectives" event in Sacramento several weeks ago.
Where was Ivins? On the other side of the picket line! She's the "house liberal" of the Neo-Cons and other reactionaries. She is not a "progressive" voice in any sense and is a horrible hypocrite.She must be exposed for her coddling up to the neo-cons and Sacramento business elite. Ivin has apparently no shame, honor of political principles, but is purely an opportunist.
Let's see... Christopher Hitchens two years ago, Molly Ivins this year. Will we have Henry Kissinger the keynote speaker at the memorial event next year? Personally, I'm boycotting the FSM memorial event and encourage others to do so.
Molly Ivins has disgraced herself by appearing with a bunch of neo-cons at a right wing event in Sacramento, sponsored by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Over 400 demonstrators opposed the appearance of Rudolf Giuliani and Bill O'Reilly at the "Perspectives" event in Sacramento several weeks ago.
Where was Ivins? On the other side of the picket line! She's the "house liberal" of the Neo-Cons and other reactionaries. She is not a "progressive" voice in any sense and is a horrible hypocrite.She must be exposed for her coddling up to the neo-cons and Sacramento business elite. Ivin has apparently no shame, honor of political principles, but is purely an opportunist.
Let's see... Christopher Hitchens two years ago, Molly Ivins this year. Will we have Henry Kissinger the keynote speaker at the memorial event next year? Personally, I'm boycotting the FSM memorial event and encourage others to do so.
I am outraged about the poor choice of speakers for the Free Speech movement memorial speakers
so don't go...................
so don't go...................
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