March 4: Anarchists in the Student Movement

Anarchists in the US have been slow to respond to the economic crisis, missing many of the opportunities it has offered. One of the exceptions is the recent participation of anarchists in the student movement protesting budget cuts and austerity measures. This came into the national consciousness in December 2008 when students occupied a building at the New School in New York City. NYU followed suit in February, and the following fall students in California began occupying schools up and down the coast.

The most recent phase of the student movement came to a head on March 4, when protests took place all around the US. The Bay Area was perhaps the epicenter of this day of action, seeing thousands of people on the streets—but at this epicenter, the tensions and contradictions around anarchist participation in the student movement came to the fore. Here, we present an eyewitness report on March 4 actions in the Bay, and complement it with a set of discussion questions we hope will help anarchists and others in the student movement hone their strategies. We’re seeking responses to these questions—email answers to rollingthunder@crimethinc.com or post them in the comments section here.

Report from the Bay Area, March 4
Anarchists in the March 4 Protests: Discussion Questions

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Pushed by the Violence of Our Desires

A statement regarding March 4

Over the past few days, dozens of communiqués, letters, and statements have been circulating regarding issues of race, gender, and disrespect on M4. We have no intentions of addressing or disputing particular accusations or narratives regarding M4 in this statement; these things will inevitably be argued about elsewhere. Here, we attempt to discuss the language and politics that have been used in framing these issues.

As queer women of color, we feel as if we are trapped in the middle of all of this talk about identities. We have had, for some time, our own frustrations with and critiques of a number of white men with whom we have worked. At the same time, we are uncomfortable with the way in which the identities of “people of color” and “women” are being used to critique and condemn the events of M4, because we – as queer women of color – don’t agree with how these critiques and condemnations are being framed. In fact, we’re not just uncomfortable; we’re actually really angry about the way a small group of people, purporting to speak for the entire population of CUNY, has hijacked this rhetoric of talking about privilege and identity and deployed it in a fashion entirely too simplistic, generalized, and essentialist. Issues of privilege and identity are incredibly important to us and we wholeheartedly agree that they should be talked about. But as it stands now, identities like “person of color” and “woman” are being invoked in order to mask reactionary politics, and furthermore, are being employed in ways that contribute to the erasure of our identities as active participants in militant struggle.

The Dawn of the Crisis Generation

March 4th is over, but we’ve only just begun.

“Why the hell did you get on that highway?” asked the cops, our cell mates, our coworkers, our classmates. There are many responses that could be given that have been outlined by banners, occupation demands, student leaders, or budget statistics, but none of them really connect to why one would take over a highway. Obviously there are no libraries on a highway. The funding for schools isn’t going to be found on any one of those lanes of oncoming traffic. And, in fact, a lot of people who were arrested on the highway were not students or teachers. This is because the highway takeover is an action against a power structure that is much larger than this year’s budget crisis.

That morning we awakened to newspaper headlines stating the governor’s support for sanctioned student protests. We weren’t the least bit impressed by this patronizing rhetoric. Our motivations for walking up that on ramp to 880 were far deeper and broader than some piddly demand for a return of the same: An education system that has for a long time been the bedrock to our highly divided class system in the United States. The myth that change will come to this society by poor people reaching middle class status through the university makes no sense; a school degree does not impact the condition of the neighborhoods and families we come from. It should also now be clear to everyone that ritualized demonstrations that fail to break out of the normal functioning of society represent nothing more than the further consolidation of state power. What fails to concretely disrupt the system ultimately strengthens it. We know that if we “win” funding from Governor Schwarzenegger this is no victory, but a diversion of funds from one group of already-struggling people to pacify another, without changing shit. For example, plans are in the works that will take money from the health care of prisoners in order to fatten university administrators’ pockets. We refuse to accept a shallow bribe that places “our” interests in competition with the interests of our potential comrades.

March 4 Social War!

Our fellow Communards at Occupy Everything! bring you an extensive round-up of coverage about the March 4th students, faculty, and worker strikes, picket lines, walk-outs, protests, and occupations. We stand in solidarity and struggle with student occupations worldwide.

Click here to read more about the March 4 Social War…

ALL POWER TO THE PUPIL!

Occupation: A D.I.Y. Guide

DOWNLOAD IT! READ IT! USE IT!

D-FUK Says, ‘It’s on!’ to Arizona State University

From So What if all the colleges burn down:

We are a Cadre of Anarchist students who happen to attend or have attended mainstream educational institutions; State Universities, Private Universities, Community Colleges and so on. We view Academia as, an institution that reifies claims to privilege and systems of oppression. Our work around the University consists of using it as strategic location to cause ruptures, confront enemies, build alternatives, and explore ideas. At the very least it is a place with a lot of resources for us to take. We personally do not see any use in dropping out, but if you want to, go for it! We encourage diversity of tactics. We position ourselves against all forms of oppression and hierarchy. We’re kind of over this whole thing they call ‘civilization’ too.

We are not fucking concise.

To The Communards of March 4th

A sealed note to the communards of March 2010

From The Brilliant

Thanks to you the world has opened up, again—tired folks were reminded that energy is generative, not finite, and the size of your ambitions has been shown to exceed the University. There is a beginning of a twisting road, without a foreseeable end, with beautiful vistas and shadowy cul-de-sacs.

In the past the brilliant attacked capitalism at its strongest, pointing out that even the upper and middle classes – the people who were supposed to benefit from the system – even those people led lives of misery and impoverishment. The school occupations are the latest chapter of that story. And the communiques, full of toothy poetry, point out that debt is the only consistent product of a university education, that the university – the gleaming icon of personal betterment and fulfillment – is no longer good for either the “creation of a cultured and educated citizenry,” nor for the economic benefits that used to go with a degree. That the university becomes just one more way of categorizing people, defining one more type of inmate, a different control group for the experiments that are constant, ubiquitous.