Professor of Journalism (University of Texas) on Talking Radical in a Mainstream World
(Source: occupythenetherlands.nl)
Middle Eastern Studies senior Yajaira Fraga reads a Frederick Douglass quote from her phone to May Day protestors in front of the Tower Tuesday afternoon, before the group marched to join a larger protest at the Capitol Building. May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is a global celebration of labor rights and other left-wing movements.
UT Tower Occupied by Occupy Austin. (via austin front: UT Tower Occupy Austin)
Uproot.it is an ad hoc group of student occupiers, autonomist internauts, social hacktivists, and media militants who make media together and then disseminate it through communication channels, whether that’s by taking back the commons or through sharing things on the Internet. Uproot currently has the following projects. More information can be found at http://uproot.it.
All across the country, through legislative proposals, government regulations, and political rhetoric, war is being waged upon women, their bodies, their private interests, and their right to self-determination. This is occurring without, and in spite of, the participation of the same women being affected by these actions, and whose futures, and those of their families, are being unilaterally determined.
In this modern era of limits, people in power are in a race to divide the spoils of power, and the means being used are becoming more and more shortsighted. Saturn has devoured his son, and now looks to his daughters.
Our organization is determined to see that this race to the bottom does not claim the rights and liberties of over one half of the populace. We will not suffer the burdens of those whose ambitions would be fulfilled by the destruction of the human worth of the mothers, sisters and daughters of this great nation.
Enough is enough.
While the logic of the disaffection of the majority of the electorate is impossible to understand, we cannot afford to wait and see how this all works out. This war on women must be resisted, and won, before the toxic effects of the current national conversation become irrevocable reality. We have been denied a seat at the table, but will not be denied our humanity.
Please join us in changing the dialogue and refocusing attention toward the very serious issues this nation faces, and away from the disingenuous and perversely pornographic focus upon the sexual organs of our mothers, sisters and daughters, and their relationship with their physicians and their own bodies.
The issues include:
Reproductive rights
Woman’s health issues
Crimes against women and children
Workplace equality
There is a very real and growing non-partisan concern that women are being sacrificed upon the altar of ambition, and we are determined to deny Saturn his second course.
Thank for your help and support. Your mother, and your mother’s mother, and all women everywhere would be proud.
Thursday, February 2, 6-8 pm Speakers will be discussing budget reductions for ethnic studies and the recent camping ban. Location: SZB 424 (Sanchez Building), University of Texas, http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/szb.html
2. Occupy Your College.
In nearly every other democracy on the planet, students go to college for free or almost free. Why do those countries do that? Because they know that for their society to advance, they musthave an educated population. Without that, productivity, innovation and an informed electorate is stunted and everyone suffers as a result. Here’s how we do it in the U.S.A.: make education one of our lowest priorities, graduate students who know little about the world or their own government or the economy, and then force them into crushing debt before they even have their first job. That way has really worked well for us, hasn’t it? It’s made us the world leader in … in … well, ok, we’re like 27th or 34th in everything now (except war). This has to end. Students should spend this winter doing what they are already doing on dozens of campuses — holding sit-ins, occupying the student loan office, nonviolently disrupting the university regents meetings, and pitching their tents on the administration’s lawn. Young people — we, the ’60s generation, promised to create a better world for you. We got halfway there — now you have to complete the job. Do not stop until these wars are ended, the Pentagon budget is cut in half, and the rich are forced to pay their taxes. And demand that that money go to your education. We’ll be there with you on all of this! And when we get this fixed and you graduate, instead of being $40,000 in debt, go see the friggin’ world, or tinker around in your garage a la the two Steves, or start a band. Enjoy life, discover, explore, experiment, find your way. Anything but the assistant manager at Taco Bell.
