The New School In Exile

Student Protester's Opinion on Faculty Senate Statement
Posted by Fourierist on Friday, December 18, 2009 (19:28:43) (332 reads)

“The show is over. The curtain has fallen on trains filled with reservists, as they pull out amid the joyous cries of enthusiastic maidens. . . . Into the disillusioned atmosphere of pale daylight there rings a different chorus; the hoarse croaks of the hawks and hyenas of the battlefield. . . . profits are springing, like weeds, from the fields of the dead.” —Rosa

It’s gratifying that the Faculty Senate managed to call Kerrey’s police repression of the April occupation “misguided”—although “violent” and “despotic” would have been better terms. At least they implicitly rebutted the letter the Board attached to the so-called “April 10 Report,” where they called Kerrey’s paramilitary attack “responsible” and warned that any further civil disobedience would be met with the same level of ferocity.

The Faculty Senate has a mania, however, for issuing pronouncements that aren’t backed up by action. Kerrey openly violated the spirit of the “Minimum Requirements” agreement meant to limit his tyrannical power, and bypassed the Advisory Committee on Speech Activities and Expression that is supposed to be consulted in such situations. What are they going to do about it?

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Bob Kerrey, Jesse Helms and artistic censorship
Posted by kara on Friday, December 18, 2009 (19:49:33) (240 reads)

A diligent researcher sent us the following, and we thought the NSIE community would find it of interest. This is a story of Bob Kerrey over twenty years ago, and his attempts to censor freedom of expression and attack artistic expression while a Senator.

The controversy surrounded a piece of art known as the "Piss Christ" and a letter from Jesse Helms, Bob Kerrey and others, appealing to the Senate in 1989 to stopping funding controversial artists, which lead to a long controversy resulting in severe decreases in the public support for arts in US in the following years. This had been a highly public controversy and a fairly famous public affair. The interesting thing for New Schoolers is that, among the Senators who signed Jesse Helms letter was Bob Kerry. This means that the current president of the New School was effectively collaborating with a right wing fundamentalists and bigot in order to censor the artistic expression in his political past.

To learn more about the controversy, check out Richard Bolton's Culture Wars: Documents from the Recent Controversies in the Arts, New York: New Press. 1992.

Hat tip to k for this info.

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US Santa Cruz Occupied - New York Student In Solidarity
Posted by alvinjohnson on Friday, November 20, 2009 (05:07:22) (312 reads)

Students have now occuied two buildings on the UCSC campus -New York students protest in solidarity.

NYPD reaction to New York student solidarity actions just posted!

UCSC expands occupations

California is Occupied

UCSC Students Occupy Administration Building and Issue Demands

Demands:

1. Repeal the 32% fee increase
2. Stop all current construction on campus
3. UC funds and budget are made transparent
4. Verbal and written commitment to Master Plan
5. Total amnesty to all people occupying buildings and involved in student protest concerning budget cuts including: Doug G., and Brian Glasscock and Olivia Egan Rudolph
6. Keep all resource centers open: engaging education, women's resource center, and all other diversity centers
7. Keep the campus child-care center open
8. Repeal cuts to the Community Studies Field Program
9. Re-funding the CMMU field studies coordinator positions
10. Get verbal and written agreement from admins to shut-down campus for one day for the purpose of educating students on the budget cuts
11. Said support for AB656
12. Said commitment to work-study for all who are eligible
13. Making UC Santa Cruz a safe campus for all undocumented (AB540) students and workers
14. Keeping LALS professors Guillermo Delgado & Susan Jonas
15. Repeal all furloughs to all campus employees, renege the 15% cut in labor time for custodians
16. Stop the gutting of funding for fellowships and TAships and the re-instatement of TAs who lost their jobs due the budget cuts from this quarter
17. Re-prioritizing funding so that essential student services i.e. the library get adequate funding to ensure regular library hours
18. Censure Mark Yudof
19. Un-arming UC police of all weapons including tasers
20. NO SCPD police allowed on campus
21. An apology from the regents and the state
22. Creating a free and permanent organizing space on campus for student activists and organizers (first options: Kresge Town Hall)
23. Due process for students:
a. trial by peers
b. constitutional rights for students tried under the UC judicial system
24. Making rent affordable for Family Student Housing, ensuring that the price does not exceed that of operating costs

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Students at UC Santa Cruz Escalate Demands, Call for Days of Action
Posted by alvinjohnson on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (00:08:39) (309 reads)

In case people have not heard, or are not following it closely, things ratched up another notch today at UC Santa Cruz, where a two-day series of actions began to protest rising tuition costs and decreasing access to education in California. We want to let them UCSC students know the New School In Exile is in support of their struggle!

You can read more about it at Indymedia here. Here's the lead blurb right now...

Quote:

The imaginary committee writes, "University students and workers in California must organize immediately to occupy, blockade and strike on all campuses November 17-19. We call for a wave of occupations and blockades to bring the university to a halt. The proposed fee hikes of 32 percent, to be ratified November 17-19, are only the latest indication that the California university system is bankrupt. We cannot allow it to continue through the end of the term.

"Too many workers have already lost their jobs. The jobs for which our educations supposedly prepare us have already disappeared. We have given our ‘representatives’ enough time to work out peaceful solutions to these problems, and we see no indication that they have made any progress.

"We are not interested in any more tedious conferences or assemblies, which draw out hundreds of people, but only for an endless conversation. We are not interested in more ’symbolic protests’, whether walkouts or strikes, insofar as they are pre-announced to end after one or a few days. More meetings and protests will only waste our energies, while the administration continues to implement its plans without hindrance."

Also, check out the Imaginary Committee blog for the latest on the planned actions and occupations.

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Complaints fall on deaf ears
Posted by doll0limbo on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (00:00:06) (295 reads)

A New School student sent us this message recently, only further highlighting the ongoing problems with the New School that urgently need to be addressed. People seem to forget that the occupations over December 2008 and April 2009 were grounded in quite material problems at the New School, such as this one here.

(p.s. Were looking for the Board of Trustees too Wink

I found this website looking to find the members of the New School's Board of Trustees. I am having issues with my instructors and this is a recurring problem. My online class, the instructor is MIA. An in person class I take, the instructor constantly self promotes herself but, will turn around and say she is overwhelmed with her schedule and leaves the students to fend for themselves.

I emailed Bob Kerrey and hopefully I got him and I put a notifier on to let me know when the message was read and deleted. He read it in 3 minutes, responded, delegated it to Tim Marshall and deleted it within that time. My letter and attachments were too in depth for even the fastest reader to get through it! Tim Marshall opened it and deleted in 10 minutes later.

I am going to escalate this as far as I can because I am a matriculated student and this tuition is costing me out the wazoo! I am open to any of your suggestions as to what I should do next.

Thanks!

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Another student occupation in Vienna
Posted by alvinjohnson on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (23:58:23) (900 reads)

More student occupations sprouting up in Europe this week!

This latest update is from Vienna, Austria...

Quote:

just to inform you, we are right now blocking the biggest lecture hall at
the university in vienna, austria, to protest against the cut backs on the
budget for education and for free access to university for everyone! keep
on fighting for free education for everyone!!!

greetings form austria!

http://derstandard.at/

English translation of pages available here...

Über 1000 Studierende protestieren gegen Bildungsabbau - Vizerektor setzt auf Verhandlungen mit den Studierenden: Audimax wird zumindest bis Freitag Mittag nicht geräumt.

(Over 1000 students protest against education cuts - Vice Rector set to negotiate with the students: lecture hall will not be cleared until at least Friday afternoon)

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What We Want flyer
Posted by alvinjohnson on Wednesday, October 07, 2009 (00:09:32) (409 reads)

Check out the new missive What We Want here.

What We Want: A Proposed Beginning

Over and over—sometimes in accusatory tones—the radical movement at the New School has been asked to explain itself: why are we protesting? After eight years of soft fascism and bloody war, then an unprecedented economic disaster following on Wall Street shenanigans—all aided and abetted by the president of the New School—one has to wonder about the motivations of the questioners. Isn’t the more reasonable question why isn’t everyone protesting?

In addition, many of us have been wary of presenting any demands, as this concedes power to the enemy, providing him with an opportunity to recuperate and sterilize the movement, reducing it to meaningless negotiations over paltry reforms.

We’re willing to recognize that these questions can be posed in good faith, however, and that we do have a responsibility to account for our actions. It also seems that in present conditions the only way for the movement to go forward is to provide tangible points of struggle, and open up a wider discussion among students, faculty, and staff, about our problems and needs...

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New School Releases April 10 Occupation Report
Posted by alvinjohnson on Monday, October 05, 2009 (23:57:30) (443 reads)

The New School today released the findings from the Ad-Hoc Committee of Review, which was tasked with conducting an investigation into the April 10, 2009 occupation of the GF building at 65 5th Ave.

The full report can be downloaded here as a pdf.

Here is the take home message from the Board of Trustees letter announcing the release of this report, which although it is not surprising, is sad. The claim which seems to be implicit in this statement is that it is ok for Kerrey to act unilaterally as he sees fit, but if students do the same, they must be crushed with force. But there are also some hard questions for the admins embedded in here, so read closely everyone, we've got a long road ahead of us at the New School...

Quote:

We believe that the unauthorized occupancy of the building was an intentional trespass, a violation of law and an infringement of the rights of other members of the university community. We condemn such behavior as incompatible with the values of our university. The report also provides the basis for our concluding that under difficult circumstances President Kerrey acted responsibly.

We strongly support the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations to create a special committee to examine and revise the “Guidelines on Demonstrations in University Facilities" and the "Student Code of Conduct" for student protest and related activities, and the Chair of the Board and President Kerrey will work together to move this recommendation forward. We expect these Guidelines to state unequivocally that the unauthorized occupation of any building or any space that impinges on the rights of others constitutes a serious violation.

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Political Dissent, Speech Acts and the New School Milieu
Posted by alvinjohnson on Monday, October 05, 2009 (01:53:19) (467 reads)

Political Dissent, Speech Acts and the New School Milieu:
An Open Letter to the New School

10.2.09

As many people at the New School are likely now aware, student protests at a Milano public forum on Homeland Security, where Tom Ridge was the featured guest, have sparked considerable controversy around issues of freedom of speech and political protest. This is a controversy deeply entwined with not only the history and legacy of the New School, but also with the current campus climate and administration of the school. Some of the questions that have emerged so far include:

~ Were students justified in protesting the appearance of Tom Ridge at the New School?
~ Were the specific tactics used to disrupt the Tom Ridge event appropriate?
~ What standards does the community use to judge what is "appropriate" or "inappropriate" actions?
~ Are all forms of protest equally legitimate and protected?
~ What is the relationship between the protection of free speech on campus and the creation of a safe space for academic discussion and debate?
~ Should the university only invite individuals to speak whose values or politics we agree with?
~ What exactly are the core values and the mission of the New School today, and how do they relate to our historical legacy as an institution?
~ Does the university community have an affirmative obligation to condemn actions which pose a potential threat to free speech at the New School?
~ Can issues of political dissent be separated from the political critique being offered by those acts?

These are all very important questions which the university is now grappling with, but which I believe we as a community are not adequately discussing. With that being said, I believe the academic community at the New School has an obligation to engage with these issues in a constructive and timely manner—one which does justice to our political views and positions as individual members—as well as our philosophical obligation as the embodiment or living spirit that defines the New School. We must demonstrate the value of theory and practice in a unified manner in and out of the classroom.

In an attempt to do just that, I offer the following reflections to the New School community. First, by addressing the underlying political issues as I understand them and as I see them relating to the specific issue of Tom Ridge speaking at the New School. Second, by framing the issues of political dissent and free speech in both a very grounded New School context, as well as a larger philosophical context. And finally, by trying to suggest the interconnections between the first and seconds parts, and their immediate ramifications for our school.

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Rethinking Dissent: Learning From the Mistakes of the ‘60s
Posted by alvinjohnson on Thursday, October 01, 2009 (18:47:27) (492 reads)

by Neil Gordon
(originally published in the New School Free Press, April 27 2009. Reprinted here by permission of the author.)

The 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention was a seminal moment in the history of the American Left, but we tend to forget the actual party politics behind the protest. Eugene McCarthy had galvanized anti-War Americans against the Democratic establishment that had so committed us to Vietnam and represented, to many, real opportunity for change. But Humphrey won the nomination and Nixon the election. SDS would be destroyed the following year by the tiny radical minority of Weatherman, whose intransigent politics proceeded to turn, perhaps permanently, the ideals of the 60s counterculture into the stuff of which right wing parodies are made. The war in Vietnam continued for five more years. And the question of how we fight for political change remains unanswered to this day.

Lately it feels to me that we’re at the 1968 of New School history. The comparisons are fun to play with. Tim Marshall as Gene McCarthy? The deans would be the activists who had cut their hair and put on suits to get, as they said in the day, “Clean for Gene.” SDS? Faculty and Student Senate. And then there’s Weatherman.

Okay – let’s not go too far with that joke. My support for the right to dissent is radical and unconditional. But somehow, I no longer recognize ourselves in debate about the New School Crisis.

The problems we know and have been grappling with -- centralization of the university, corporatization of American education, lack of space – are real. But where in the manifestos and pamphlets is our Lang program for inmates at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility? Where is our Institute for Urban Education, our students’ work in Cambodian orphanages, or New Orleans? Is there any mention of the classes we offer throughout our university by full- and part-time faculty – whether economists, scientists, artists, or writers – which approach our disciplines by way of activist, politically astute, anti-sexist and anti-racist analyses?

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Open Letter on the Tom Ridge Protests
Posted by alvinjohnson on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (13:02:51) (421 reads)

This latest student letter is part of recent development in the unfolding Tom Ridge incident at the New School. We'll post more updates and details as they emerge, but it seems this issue will continue to grow.

To the New School Community:

Last week student activists peacefully disrupted an event designed to promote the newly published book and future political aspirations of former PA governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. A key player in the Bush Administration, Ridge actively supported and executed policies of "extraordinary rendition" (torture), domestic spying, the harassment of Arab-Americans, environmental and anti-war activists, and the aggressive military action against Iraq. In his capacity as Secretary of "Homeland Security", Ridge was in a key position to tie the Bush Administration's flouting of domestic and international law to the imperative to protect American soil. He was therefore central in making the case to the American people and the global community, which has been proven since to be duplicitous. The climate of fear engendered in these years (embodied in the color-coded terror alert levels recently revealed by his own admission to be manipulated by Ridge for political purposes) was used as a smokescreen to obscure the commission of these illegal acts at home and abroad. As anyone familiar with the myriad acts of misprision committed in these years knows all too well, to call Ridge and his cohorts criminal is scarcely an exaggeration. However, the Obama Administration has been clear about its unwillingness to prosecute these crimes, and the perpetrators walk freely and are received with warmth and respect.

This is hardly an argument I expected to be making at The New School in 2009. I was certainly surprised that Ridge was invited to begin with, but given Bob Kerrey's long-standing complicity in the political spectacle of Washington DC, it should not have shocked me when, chucking, he patted the arm of Ridge and bragged: "We've been friends for years." This much could have been expected. However, the controversy surrounding the decision to confront Ridge with his crimes has taken me quite by surprise. The overwhelmingly negative response suggests that this school is no longer in touch with its rich heritage of anti-fascism. Could I have been deceived by clever marketing to think that this is an institution unlike others? It certainly costs more than many others; is that what sets us apart? Has The New School become the proverbial Starbucks cleverly re-named and fashioned to resemble an indie coffee house? Before entertaining such unpleasant thoughts, let us first for allow the possibility that those who have responded so negatively to this direct action have done so due to several misconceptions which I will now address.

The Administration's condemnation of these students, issued unilaterally and without a proper examination of the facts, on a medium to which the students do not have access, is buttressed on the issue of "Free Speech".

It has been argued that the student demonstrators should have vented their grievances during the event's question and answer session, and would have been allowed to do so. This claim is inaccurate. Prior to any disruption, Bob Kerrey stated that the question and answer session was to be limited to Milano students, who occupied two rows of reserved seats in the front of the event, clad in matching business attire. The claim that this was a discussion open to the entire New School community is false, and is flatly contradicted by Bob Kerrey's own words to this effect at the event itself. Bush Administration devotees will remember this strategy from the past decade of public appearances by top Bush officials: questioners are carefully selected in order to ensure the discussion remains within acceptable parameters. There surely was "free speech" at this event, but only in the sense that fenced off parking lots blocks away from political conventions are "free speech zones".

Along this same convoluted line of argument, it has been claimed that the demonstration was a violation of the free speech rights of Ridge, Kerrey, and those seeking to participate in the event. This claim is inaccurate. The event was terminated by Bob Kerrey when a non-Milano student took advantage of the confusion and stepped up to the microphone. This student was granted the floor by a befuddled Kerrey, and respectfully posed a question which Tom Ridge began to answer. The student asked Tom Ridge if his decision to execute over 200 people as governor of Pennsylvania was a factor in his appointment to the Bush Administration. Polemical, surely, but a valid question nonetheless. As Ridge began to answer, Kerrey prevented the question from being answered and declared the event over. By this time student demonstrators had settled down and the crowd respectfully awaited Ridge's answer. What's more, this sequence further invalidates the claim that proper channels were in place for non-Milano students to engage Ridge in anything resembling an "open discussion".

Tom Ridge's book and the talk he delivered on Thursday highlight policy imperatives rooted in his experience as a central figure of the Bush Administration. The Obama Administration is bad enough! The last thing the world needs is these rouge and lawless individuals regaining a seat at the table. And a seat at the table is exactly what Bob Kerrey offered Tom Ridge. Legitimating his criminal actions, Kerrey strove to limit the discussion to certain parameters within which the discussion of Ridge's crimes and totalitarian vision for American "security" was disallowed. This was the free speech violation. The student reaction was a celebration of free speech.

In writing all of this I can only claim to speak for myself. However, I can say that the anger and disgust at Ridge's invitation amongst politically aware students has only been amplified by the treatment this act has received in campus discussion. It is my hope that those so eager to condemn consider the perspective espoused above, and other accounts by concerned students, and come away with a different view of this event. Otherwise, I may be at the wrong school.

Jarrod Shanahan
MA Student
Department of Philosophy
NSSR

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Open Letter to the Movement from CT Students Against the War
Posted by alvinjohnson on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (01:59:03) (407 reads)

Keep Jeff Bartos Free! Solidarity! Support the IVAW! Defend Free Speech!

As many have heard, CT Students Against the War member, CT Iraq Veterans Against the War treasurer and former Army Sgt. Jeff Bartos was arrested last week at G20 protests while attending to the medical needs of a reporter that had been teargassed by police. After hearing of this arrest, the antiwar movement managed to flood the Allegheny County Jail with enough phone calls to engineer his release. Jeff will return to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to plead 'not guilty' to charges of disorderly conduct and failure to disperse.

Several CT-SAW members will be accompanying Jeff back down to Pittsburgh for his court date. Until then, however, we need to make sure we put enough pressure on the Pittsburgh court system that they will have no other choice but to hear our demands. CT-SAW is calling for a 36hr call-in campaign to the city offices below to demand all charges against Jeff and all other G20 protesters be dropped. In addition, we are encouraging all supporters of civil liberties in the Pittsburgh area to rally in front of the court house Wednesday morning before and during Jeff's 8am hearing. We also encourage all to attend the national united marches on October 17, demanding an end to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and occupations.

The police brutality used last week against protesters, bystanders, students, reporters, medics and veterans is unacceptable. We call for everyone to join in solidarity for those prosecuted for standing against the G20 and its policies. Connecticut students stand side by side with all the victims of the G20, from those who have been terrorized by their economic policies to those who have been attacked by their police protectors.

In solidarity,
CT Students Against the War

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Sit-ins planned for NYC insurance criminals offices Tuesday!
Posted by tribalscribal on Monday, September 28, 2009 (14:25:34) (375 reads)

We all know the American health care system is broken and that our nation deserves
much better. Despite a national debate on health care - real reform is in jeopardy.

The insurance companies are spending millions to confuse and scare the public to
keep us from ending their grip on our health and our money. With tea bagger town
hall protestors and the right-wing noise machine on one side and elected officials
from both parties putting insurance industry profits ahead of the necessity of the
people, the defenders of the status quo are winning. We can't let that happen. It's
time to take the fight to the real villain in the health care debate. It's time for
a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience to turn the tide.

On September 29th in New York City, the Mobilization for Health Care for All is
launching a campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices
to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care and puts insurance
company bureaucrats between doctors and patients. We want the real "public option":
improved Medicare for All, a national single payer plan that cuts out the profit and
puts patients first.

The private health insurance companies are the real death panels in America. They
make billions in profit and millions for their CEOs while millions of Americans have
no health insurance and over 45,000 die every year because they can't get the care
they need. That's more than 120 people dying every day.

So beginning on September 29th in New York City, and continuing in Chicago on
October 8th and in cities across the country on October 15th, over 100 people will
put our bodies on the line to challenge the real death panels. We will enter the
offices of the major insurance companies and demand that they cover the care they
are denying to their members. We won't leave until they do - or we're arrested.
Visit www.MobilizeforHealthCare.org and sign up.

Just like the lunch counter sit-ins in the civil rights movement did for
segregation, our sit-ins can make it impossible for the United States to ignore how
outrageous the status quo of private insurance is. We want to save the lives of some
of the people who are being denied critical care today but we know we can save
countless lives in the years to come by putting a spotlight on just why our system
is broken and how urgently we need fundamental change -- a national health program
funded by a single payer.

It only takes a small group of people to do a sit-in in your community, but our
actions can inspire every American who has been abused by the insurance companies
and believes it's time for real reform to stand up and fight for it. If you are a
patient who has been denied care, sign up and let us know. If a friend, neighbor or
relative has been denied care urge them to contact us. This campaign of nonviolent
civil disobedience will continue until the insurance companies no longer stand
between the American people and the health care that is our right.

Already, patients in need of care, nurses, doctors, and people just like you are
signing up to be one of the 100 ordinary but courageous people who will launch this
battle to end private health insurance abuse and win health care for all. Join us!
We can't wait any longer - every day more people die because of the insurance
company death panels. Now is the time to do whatever it takes to win this fight once
and for all.

Sign up to sit in and join the battle today at www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org.

Peace,

Katherine Robbins
Healthcare-NOW!

Kevin Zeese
Prosperity Agenda

Kai Newkirk
Center for the Working Poor

The Mobilization for Health Care for All is a nonviolent campaign initiated by
Healthcare-NOW!, Prosperity Agenda, and the Center for the Working Poor.

ProsperityAgenda.US is a project of Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics

Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics
2842 N. Calvert St.
Baltimore, MD 21218

http://www.prosperityagenda.us
http://freshaircleanpolitics.net

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New School Anarchists shut down Homeland Security Event
Posted by alvinjohnson on Friday, September 25, 2009 (05:07:08) (542 reads)

This just in from the New School wire...

The New School was founded by anti-fascist scholars and we like to think on this day we did some justice to their legacy.

Today we shut down the Securing New York and the Nation: The Creation of the Department of Homeland Security event at the New School in solidarity with prisoners of the Green Scare, the victims of the War on Terror, prisoners everywhere, undocumented immigrants, and the anti-capitalists currently acting against the G20 in Pittsburgh. Tom Ridge was the first Secretary of Bush's Department of Homeland Security, formed in the jingoistic days following 9/11. As Department Secretary, Ridge was responsible for and complicit in the torture of detainees, the entrapment and harsh imprisonment of eco-activists such as Daniel Mcgowan and Eric Mcdavid, brutal raids on immigrant communities, the political manipulation of terror alerts, and countless other abuses. The youth of this nation have had the misfortune of growing up under 8 years of the Bush Administration, and we will not tolerate the presence of one of its central henchman in our community.

To be honest, this invitation was no surprise, as Kerrey and Ridge are both politicians with close ties to both the intelligence community and the military-industrial complex. Ridge and Kerrey both actively argued in favor of the war in Iraq. Ridge and Kerrey are both complicit in the harassment of fellow activists, Ridge for the Green Scare, and Kerrey for his involvement in the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board which aims to harass college activists. Early this year, Kerrey admitted to asking NYPD to follow New School activists opposed to his administration, and on April 10th Kerrey asked the NYPD to lock-up 19 of our classmates for protesting his administration. They received Misdemeanor and Felony charges that are still not settled. We will never forget or forgive the actions of either of these scumbags, and want to hold them accountable. There is no discourse that will lessen our rage.

At 9:00 AM, cellphones began to ring and continued to ring for 5 minutes. As the crowd grew frustrated, Kerrey was forced to stop his anecdote about the good old days of the Bush Administration. As tension grew, we began to announce ourselves as opponents to the event, calling out Bob and Tom as the fascists they are, reminding them of our imprisoned friends, their complicity in torture and war, and refusing to leave. After a few minutes of this Kerrey asked for civility, and in a desperate bid to regain control asked for a question from a student. The question for Ridge was: "Do you feel that your willingness to sentence to death more than 200 prisoners during your term as Pennsylvania governor bore any relation to President Bush's decision to name you secretary of Homeland Security?"

Despite the calming protesters and Ridges attempt to answer the question, it was enough for Kerrey to conclude that the talk could not continue. A large section of the audience applauded, and the neo-conservatives invaders of the New School skulked out in anger (and back to the sewers from which they came). Not a single one of Ridge's books were sold. The entire meeting lasted about 25 minutes, but if Kerrey did not pull it so early we had plenty more planned. And we still do.

-Students for Destruction of State
New School Cadre

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G-20 Resistance Demands Free and Emancipating Education for All
Posted by alvinjohnson on Friday, September 25, 2009 (04:58:13) (453 reads)

Another update from the student G20 front!

STUDENTS AND YOUTH G-20 RESISTANCE DEMANDS 'FREE AND EMANCIPATING EDUCATION FOR ALL'

Local and regional young people are converging this week in Pittsburgh to oppose the G-20 summit and demand accessible education as a human right.

In addition to participating as a student and youth contingent in marches and actions organized by Bail Out the People, Bash Back!, Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project, Three Rivers Climate Convergence, and the Thomas Merton Center, a coalition of student and youth groups have created their own messaging and demands for facing down the G-20 leaders. In solidarity with young people around the world, they are demanding key revolutionary changes for society.

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