[-empyre-] Demand Nothing, Occupy Everything? California is burning ....

[Ashley Ferro-Murray]

Good morning from Berkeley,

I wasn't participating in yesterday's discussion about viral networks/UC
protests because I was standing in the rain with close to 2,000 Berkeley
protesters while we waited outside of Wheeler Hall as friends and colleagues
occupied the building. So, please forgive me if I am returning to an already
closed conversation, but allow me to indulge in a reflection on yesterday's
successful and widespread strike activities.

At Berkeley there are four groups representing different populations of the
campus. As far as I know, there are two faculty groups, one graduate student
group and one undergraduate group. With representatives from each group
serving on all other committees, these four groups are in close
communication and have used what is being referred to here as "grassroots"
activism to successfully hold a 5,000 person walk-out in September, several
events in October and a three day strike this week. Starting from the four
groups email is used to communicate with departmental representatives who
then communicate with departments. Whether organization is departmental,
building wide, or committee based, the word hasn't stopped there.

The fact that the students involved in yesterday's building occupation were
communicating with fellow organizers and activists via email, twitter and
facebook seems significant. Of course there are debates regarding whether or
not viral networks and online activism have replaced the need for physical
protest. It is, after all, easier to sign an online petition (of which there
have been many connected to the UC Strikes) than it is steer clear of office
resources for three days, or stand in the rain for hours on end. I am sure
that we are all well aware of examples supporting both sides of that
argument. Still, twitter and facebook updates kept a good deal of protesters
mobilized yesterday. Consistent updates from the inside of Wheeler assured a
wet crowd that their support was indeed necessary, building occupiers' view
from the top floors of Wheeler Hall were shared through twitter accounts to
help students spread evenly around the building to block police movement,
and facebook updates alerted crowds immediately when arrests were taking
place and how to best continue supporting the occupation efforts.

Just like anything else it seems that they way a viral network is organized
and implemented corresponds directly to its efficacy. I think here of Zach's
proposed GRID project. The  movement from one GRID to the next produces new
GRIDs. It is the movement between networks that produces the change. It
seems that in the case of the UC protests the efficacy of the system depends
on successful movements between different networks. It is the movements
between online networks such as email lists to online petitions, between
different physical networks such as departmental meetings to banners hanging
outside of buildings, and between online and physical networks such as
buildings occupiers to their twitter followers. This is what has felt like
the viral aspect of the system.

In solidarity,
Ashley



On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Christiane Robbins <cpr at mindspring.com>wrote:

> Hi Marco, Micha, everyone
>
>
> The irony implicit in your statement re: this situation begs for further
> explication + analysis:
>
> It is only in this country that three decades of brainwashing have
> led to the obliteration of historic memory (the cancellation of May1st
> being the most notable example), and to the perception that going on
>
> strike is somehow out of fashion.
>
>
> And ... to add to the circulating narratives and links -
>
> I found it curious that the Chronicle for HE published this -
>
>
> http://chronicle.com/blogPost/California-Is-Burning/8915/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
>
>
> Chris
>
> On Nov 19, 2009, at 8:34 AM, Marco Deseriis wrote:
>
> Hi Micha,
>
> yes, thank you for sharing those precious links.
>
> At UCSD, very few students, faculty and staff that I've talked to knew
>
> about or support the strike do. Myself and a handful of other faculty,
>
> staff and students are striking, but is the very idea of a strike not
>
> viral but more based in monolothic constituencies and factory models
>
> of labor?
>
> No, I just think that after 3-4 decades of resting on dreams of unabated
> growth Americans (and Californians in particular) need to be re-educated
> and reawakened as to what it means to lose one's job, as to what it
> means to fight for it, and what it means to risk of losing your job for
> defending it. So thank you for taking on this rather humongous task ;-)
>
> To me it is not a matter of virality but of culture. People in Latin
> America, Asia, Europe and all over the world keep going on strike for
> defending their jobs, demanding higher wages, security on the workplace,
> etc. It is only in this country that three decades of brainwashing have
> led to the obliteration of historic memory (the cancellation of May1st
> being the most notable example), and to the perception that going on
> strike is somehow out of fashion.
>
> In actual fact, there exists a growing global movement to defend public
> education, and to build an entirely different model of knowledge
> sharing. You are probably familiar with this site:
>
> http://www.edu-factory.org
>
> which reports the news of 15 arrests at UCLA:
>
>
> http://www.edu-factory.org/edu15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=240:students-arrested-at-ucla&catid=34:struggles&Itemid=53
>
> and whose picture eloquently show the response of public authorities to
> this growing mobilization.
>
> Perhaps the spreading occupations are more viral? I wonder
>
> about this as I start going on strike tomorrow and join actions at
>
> UCSD...
>
>
>
> Well, it is not up to me to say that strikes and occupations are just
> two sides of the same coin.
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> C h r i s t i a n e   R o b b i n s
> **
>
> *- J E T Z T Z E I T  ** S T U D I O S -*
> *
> *
> *... the space between zero and one  ...*
> *Walter Benjamin*
> **
>
> LOS ANGELES    I    SAN FRANCISCO
>
>
> *" The present age prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to
> the original, fancy to reality, *
> *the appearance to the essence *
> *for in these days*
> * illusion** only** **is sacred, truth profane."*
> Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
> *
> *
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Ashley Ferro-Murray
MA/PhD Student
Dept. Theater, Dance & Performance Studies
University of California, Berkeley
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