Category Archives: Activism

Azadi (HUM415)

You who don’t want these voices to come together, I want to remind you of what Babasaheb said – political democracy is not enough. Well, we will establish social democracy. That is why we speak of the constitution repeatedly. Lenin said, ‘Democracy is indispensable to socialism’. We speak of democracy, freedom of expression, equality and socialism so that a time may come when the son of a peon and the son of a president can study together.

http://thewire.in/2016/03/04/english-translation-kanhaiya-kumars-electrifying-speech-at-jnu-23820/

Gravy Train vs. Freedom Train (HUM415)

Here’s a little peek into American politics. At present a huge amount of attention is being paid to the mythical “Black Vote,” which is often discussed as if it were some kind of object, a prize to be gifted to the deserving candidate.

As you can see in this exchange between Dr. Cornel West and Bakari Sellers, however, there is no monolithic African American position on who will make the best Democratic nominee. Like the fabled African American community– increasingly an “imagined community,” to borrow a phrase from Benedict Anderson– the “Black Vote” is in reality plural and contradictory.

Continue reading →

Get a job!

Student Organizing Intern at San Francisco State University
Hours: 10-15 hours/week
APPLICATION DEADLINE:  Open until filled  
 
California Faculty Association Tim Sampson Memorial Student Internship Program
 
The Purpose of the Student Organizing Internship Program is to:
 
1)      Build the leadership capacity and organizing skills of CSU students as future leaders.
2)      Develop an ongoing partnership with the student and faculty community around issues relevant to the CSU.
3)      Increase student awareness about student learning conditions and faculty working conditions and the impact to the quality of education
4)      Promote student awareness, empowerment and engagement of social justice and labor issues
 
Required Qualifications
1. Ability to make at least a one year commitment
2. Ability to manage time and complete projects in a timely manner
3. Ability to adapt to shifting expectations and priorities
4. Self starter and self motivated
5. Willing to learn new skills to perform job duties
6. Good record-keeping skills
7. Willing to travel occasionally throughout California
 

Continue reading →

Viva Papas Fritas!

From the Washington Post:

Here’s one inventive way to deal with the student debt problem. Late last week, Chilean police arrived at Santiago’s Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral and removed a white bin of gray ash — allegedly all that remained of $500 million worth of student debt notes.

The case of the destroyed student debt traces back to a hastily shot home video, a half-smoked cigarette, and a disheveled artist named Papas Fritas. In the video, which went viral last week in Chile, Papas Fritas confessed he had recently stolen the documents from the for-profit Universidad del Mar. Then he set them ablaze in a defiant, brazen act of art.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/19/chilean-artist-steals-and-destroys-500-million-worth-of-student-debt-papers/

Mandela Uncut

I know you’re busy, but you might make the time to read this comment piece by Seamus Milne on the self-serving revisionist adoration of Mandela. Those who’ve read Ferey’s Zulu might be particularly interested:

Airbrushed out of the Mandela media story has been the man who launched a three-decade-long armed struggle after non-violent avenues had been closed; who declared in his 1964 speech from the dock that the only social system he was tied to was socialism; who was reported by the ANC-allied South African Communist party this week to have been a member of its central committee at the time of his arrest; and whose main international supporters for 30 years were the Soviet Union and Cuba.

It has barely been mentioned in the past few days, but Mandela supported the ANC’s armed campaign of sabotage, bombings and attacks on police and military targets throughout his time in prison. Veterans of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the ANC’s armed wing, emphasise that the military campaign was always subordinate to the political struggle and that civilians were never targeted (though there were civilian casualties).

“Mandela has been sanitised by hypocrites and apologists”

Stir it up

Three articles, the first two about SFSU and the last about Mandela, the ANC, and the unfinished work of emancipatory politics in South Africa.

Item One:

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/event-honoring-edward-said-prompts-zionist-smear-campaign-against-san

Item Two:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24600284/s-f-state-student-who-shouted-at-obama

Item Three:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/if-nelson-mandela-really-had-won

Remix

from German Nerdcore:

yes_we_scan

Shepard Fairey’s response (via the LA Times):

“I originally supported Obama vigorously because his proclaimed policy positions aligned with my beliefs. I have never been an unconditional Obama supporter or cheerleader, so I’m pleased to see people subvert my Obama images as a way to critique him and demonstrate the wide gap between some of his promises and actions. Subversion of well known symbols and images for social commentary has long been a technique in my repertoire, so I’m glad to see it in the work of others. I have even subverted my own Obama image in support of Occupy. There are no sacred cows, and I agree that Obama needs to be called out on an NSA program that over-reaches to the extreme and shouldn’t be secret. We live in a remix culture and remix is a valuable form of communication when the re-configuration makes a strong statement.”