We stand in solidarity with Ricardo Dominguez as we sit outside your interrogation
To SVC Burke and all involved in continuing the investigations against Ricardo Dominguez and the bang.lab,
As a member of the bang.lab and of the Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), I want to make clear my solidarity for Ricardo Dominguez and to denounce your investigations against him.
It is egregious, and probably criminal, that you are seeking criminal charges against him for the very thing you hired him to do and gave him tenure for.
It is a violation of academic freedom for you to have supported his virtual sit-ins against outside actors such as the government of France and then to react negatively to his virtual sit-in against the UC administration.
As a member of the bang.lab and EDT, I am every bit as guilty as Ricardo Dominguez is of organizing the virtual sit-in. I am the system administrator. I copied the files in place. I helped announce the action, and I, among the thousands of others, joined the action online.
It is clear to me, as it is to our thousands of international supporters, that this investigation is intended to silence dissent against the continuing privatization of the university following the neoliberal agenda, including tuition increases, furloughs, pay cuts and firings.
The fact that you have endless funds to persecute us, and send police after us, like the 3 police I am looking at right now outside of Grant Kester’s office this morning, demonstrates perfectly that there is no budget crisis, only a crisis of priorities.
You cannot stop us. If you succeed in removing Ricardo’s tenure, you can be assured that virtual sit-ins against your administration will spring up all over the world. Electronic Civil Disobedience is decentralized at its core. Penalties against Ricardo will only make the situation worse for you. The thousands of people who joined the action are each capable of and likely to start their own virtual sit-in.
Lecturer in Visual Arts and Critical Gender Studies at UCSD,
micha cárdenas
Thoughts on the Short Lived Occupation of the UCSD Chancellor’s office
While yesterday was beautiful, inspiring and invigorating in many ways, it seemed like it ended very problematically. I’m just going to copy here some of the discussion I’ve been having with people online about it…
Right now I think that our demands for Monday need to be 1. meet bsu demands 2. meet mach 4th strike demands 3. close the lit bldg. We have 2 act in solidarity to win!
Here’s a thread between me (azdel) and some friends on Facebook:
Azdel Slade
I feel totally betrayed, there was no collective process, no decision made, just mob fear, the cops couldn’t get us out, but the activists did, the plan is to come back Mon morn, I hope ppl come…
Yesterday at 9:19pm
Marcela Fuentes
What would you have liked to see happening, what kind of process or result?
Yesterday at 10:43pm ·
Azdel Slade
at the end, someone just came in and made an announcement and everybody left, there was no collective discussion of “what do we all want to do? who wants to stay? who wants to leave? how can we make this space our own space and a model of the kind of world/school/education we’re creating?” there was just an announcement “they think you should go now and come back monday” and a unity clap preventing discussion, and then everyone walked out. i want someone to have acknowledged the people who were trying to say “wait, lets discuss this, i want to hold this space and not give it up”, someone to have asked me what i wanted to do and acted in solidarity instead of just bailing asap…
Yesterday at 10:54pm ·
Autumn Hays
We talked at noon about what to do, and we decided we needed to keep our forces strong for March 4th.
5 hours ago ·
Azdel Slade
Who did? Where? I totally disagree with that decision, but no one asked me or any of my friends our opinions or informed us of that decision that was made.
3 hours ago ·
Autumn Hays
I think it’s important to understand that we are in this together. Sorry you didn’t feel the same way and that this hurt you. I don’t think they were trying to ignore you.
“We” was just a large group of the protest including many of the leaders of different groups in the middle of the crowd inside the office. They seemed to have a lot of reasons and be open to talk from anyone, sorry you didn’t get to talk. But lets be strong and be ready for next time.
Love you!
3 hours ago ·
Azdel Slade
Its not just me either, there were a lot of people in the room who were confused and tried to raise questions and concerns, but the small group of organizers near the door made the decision on their own without taking the time to actually ask all the people who had decided to stay and get arrested what they wanted to do. I saw multiple people try to say “who’s they?”, “wait? can we all make a decision together” and they all got overrun by the “unity clap” (ironically) and ignored. I think you may have lost the support of a lot of your most dedicated supporters in that moment. There has to be a collective process in the future if any serious action, beyond a daytime picnic in the chancellor’s office funded by donations, is going to happen.
3 hours ago ·
Autumn Hays
agreed. I understand. It’s not mine. I don’t own it. I was just there. I didn’t even say how I felt about it or was in on the process. But I didn’t have anything to say, unlike you.
I’m not happy your voice didn’t get heard. But it was confusing and tense times.
It’s good you had something to say.
and like I said, I don’t think anyone meant to cut you out. and i do agree that all must be involved. The only reason i’m saying something is i honestly believe though this is an important issue, and it should be addressed, I hope you don’t lose your faith over it.
all I mean is it’s not a time to fall apart..
Not that your voice/ideas should be hushed.
They is complicated as i think this was all just crowd behavior and hard to understand. But I don’t think anyone was trying to cut you off and I am sad you have been.
but please don’t lose your faith in this. This is not a time to divide.
55 minutes ago ·
Autumn Hays
and do remember we were all confused and tired. I think that was all it was.
and I heard them walking around the whole time we were there asking people, I am so sad you and others got skipped.
just know I don’t think it was personal or an attempt to control your ideas.
44 minutes ago ·
Azdel Slade
hey, well thanks, thats good to know. but i’m not just talking about myself, it seemed like lots of people i was talking to were seriously preparing to stay the night, to get arrested, calling their friends/family to walk the dog, people were talking to lawyers so they’d be ready, etc, so there were a lot of people who were not consulted. there just needs to be more effort to have an open, transparent process where everyone is involved and doesn’t feel, like i heard multiple people saying, that they’re being given orders. and yeah, it was definitely stress, we just need to learn to hold our space and take care of each other, all of us!
6 minutes ago ·
Autumn Hays
agreed. 
And here are some earlier tweets during the situation…
everyone left, the administration produced timetable and a plan, we’re going to analyze it and come back
Yesterday at 9:16pm
people are discussing not resisting arrest to minimize police violence
Yesterday at 5:17pm
police have said that anyone here past 5 will be arrested, ppl r not moving, plz come support!
ucla cuancellors complex is now occupied in solidarity w ucsd
Yesterday at 2:49pm
we need as many ppl as possible here by 5pm when the cops come to evict us, to be witnesses and to help us control the doors!
Yesterday at 2:12pm
rally @ 2:30 outside the occupation @ chancellprs office
Yesterday at 2:10pm
we need a megaphone in here
Yesterday at 12:58pm
the occupiers demand that ucsd be shut down because of the racial state of emergency
Yesterday at 12:18pm
Occupy Everything! Today in LA at 2pm, and DAC tomorrow
If you’re in LA this weekend, I’m doing two events that you may want to attend! Today at 2pm I’m helping facilitate a class/workshop/discussion at The Public School about the occupations and strikes against the budget cuts. The class is free and open, join us! Then tomorrow, I’m speaking on the Sex and Sexuality panel at Digital Arts and Culture 2009: After Media about Becoming Dragon, my 365 hour durational performance in Second Life.
If you’re in LA today, check these events out… (so sorry for the short notice!)
http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/1856
The UC strikes and beyond
proposed by sparkle
Part 1
Reading and analysis and strategy discussion. This session took place on 12/05/06.
Part 2 – Occupy Everything! [scheduling]
A continuation of the UC Strikes and Beyond discussion. There seems to be a lot of energy for these discussions, so lets keep them going! We just scratched the surface of a discussion on what we might do collectively, so lets start there next time. Perhaps we should do this twice more and continue the trajectory of half theory discussion and half organizing discussion… Communiques and texts continue to pour out daily as situations unfold, such as the Irvine occupation of the library where the administration changed their policies in response to only an announcement of an occupation: http://studentactivism.net/2009/12/04/uc-irvine-library/ Some of the issues brought up today that we should follow up on: future workshops at tent cities, the public school going on strike, critiques of the occupation strategy and other possible actions, exiting the university, the end of liberal humanism…We still have yet to get very far with a discussion of how to branch out of the UC system.
-azdelSlade
class tags: insurrection // occupation // praxis // strike // wildcat
Dates:
December 5, 2009 at 12:00pm
December 12, 2009 at 2:00pm
Location:
The Public School, 951 Chung King Road
Teacher:
Marc Herbst, Cara Baldwin, Micha Cardenas, Ken Ehrlich
/////
also, this sounds awesome and i’ll be attending this:
Artist Curated Projects presents
THREE WOMEN
Performances by
DAWN KASPER TAISHA PAGGETT NANCY POPP
DECEMBER 12th, 4-8 pm
@ the home of Eric Kim
2200 BRIER AVENUE, SILVER LAKE CA 90039
UCLA Occupied
just putting my last few tweets here…
- rt @apophantic “We ask nothing. We demand nothing.” Tres Deleuzean http://bit.ly/3hOF01 [statement by ucla occupiers]
-
rt @apophantic Police gassing protesters at UCLA outside Regents meeting
-
Occupation begins at UCLA, Campbell Hall, http://bit.ly/43ZGYl
A more radical proposal: Demand Nothing, Occupy Everything
Who’s down to join in something more interesting in the next 3 days?
http://theimaginarycommittee.wordpress.com/
A call to those who can hear it:
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.
University students and workers in California must organize immediately to occupy, blockade and strike on all campuses November 17-19.
Read the call>>
UCSD STRIKE POSTER
