As you all may know, last Wednesday Nov. 4th, the CIA was scheduled to hold a recruitment session in Smith Hall on campus. Along with For a Democratic University (FaDU), International Socialist Organization (ISO), and Campus Anti-war Network (CAN), DI called a picket in protest of their presence at UW. We started small but soon drew a few more people, including graduate students and professors; enough to make a visible and vocal showing. Apparently, our efforts were successful because the recruiting session never actually occurred. The CIA agent who was supposed to conduct the session never showed up to the room! Count it as a victory. Together, we made it clear to the university and to the CIA recruiters that they will not be able to use our school as a recruiting ground for U.S. Empire - not without opposition, at least.
The next day, however, we received an email from Phil Hunt, an advisor in the Student Activities Office, saying we needed to report for a meeting with him regarding an "incident." It's unfortunate that basic acts of protest and free speech draw reprisals from the authoritie at a public institution that posits itself as a beacon of free thought. We were accused of disrupting the educational mission of the university. This begs an obvious question: Since the CIA has a long history of violently suppressing democratic movements throughout the Third World, and since CIA actions have contributed to the bombing of civilians and universities in other countries, what constitutes disrupting learning: a five minute picket, or bombs exploding on top of your school's roof?
While DI is not currently involved in a longterm anti-CIA campaign, this picket was an extension of the work we did last year opposing the CIA on campus as part of the Demilitarize UW Coalition. Here is a link to the Coalition's proposal to end the INSER program and kick the CIA off campus, which we put out last year. Please take a look at it for extensive details on the brutal, murderous history of the CIA and how exactly it is connected to UW.
We also recognize that the CIA, U.S. imperialism, and labor struggles are not completely separate. CIA recruiting is very much tied to student labor and undergraduates, many of whom are so desperate for the declining number of jobs, that militarization and the job of torture seems like the only option. This is part of how the militarization of education - in an econmic crisis like this, functions. While the rich get richer, the poor and working class are funnelled either into prisons or the military, and sometimes one and then the other. This is always more true for people of color and immigrants, who are made systematically more poor, and tracked into prison and potential deportation, with a militarized job as the only way out.
For these reasons, we see the CIA on campus as not only an issue of U.S. Empire, but one of civil rights, access to education, and unemployment.
Thanks to all for your continued support. Stay tuned for future actions, events, and updates.
Democracy Insurgent
Update on CIA Protest
PICKETS 1st DAY: Welcome Students!
On Wednesday, September 30th, two pickets will be held to welcome students back to school, and back to unsafe classrooms, labs, and workplaces! The pickets are called by a new organization called International Workers and Students for Justice, made up of custodians, students, and Seattle community members. Though small now, it hopes to grow as the year goes on! The name for this group was created by custodians, who wanted to emphasize the need for workers and students to fight together, and also the fact that many custodians are immigrants, and many students facing higher tuition are international students, or 1st generation from immigrant families! Come to their first event of the year, and support students, custodians, and trades!
Picket Last Wednesday, Real Change Article
By Democracy Insurgent; d.insurg@gmail.com
Last Wednesday's picket was a success, with mix of students, custodians, and trades in support. We held the picket down on red square, with call and response chants about retaliation, Mark Emmert's new perks, and TA, student, and worker demands. We also got to see the Real Change article by Cyd Gillis on the arrests, featuring a great picture of Salvador Castillo on the cover! If you live in Seattle, we encourage you to buy a copy.
Please stay tuned for an announcement about 1st day of school picket against unsafe schools, dorms, and workplaces.
See below for a brief speech given before the picket last week:
"Hello everyone, and thank you for coming out.
We are here today to picket against retaliation against workers for organizing to fight for their rights! Last Spring, the University announced budget cuts that would increase class sizes, raise tuition, cut staff positions, cut departments, and target custodians, students of color, women, and queer folks. In May and June, literally hundreds of people in the UW community gathered to rally against these cuts. Since this time, custodians, students, and others have faced enormous retaliation from management. This retaliation has come in the form of extra work, ignoring workplace injurings, isolating workers, contracting out labor in an effort to union bust, and, as of a few weeks ago, the mobilization of the UWPD to arrest students journalists who were meeting with their friends, custodians, during their break from work. The following work day, magaers and police came together during custodians breaktime, in the gathering public space of their building, to harras and intimidate them against speaking with one another. We will not stand for this abuse, and we will not concede our rights either!
Today we draw strength from other movements here and around the country We draw strngth from In Soo Chun who sacrificed his life to bring attention to abuses in the custodial department at UW, whose death and the circumstances around it have been covered up by UW. We draw strngth from the teachers in Kent, who said "we will not conced our lives and our students lives for higher wage, nor in the threat of legal action." Those teachers decided to strike for smaller class sizes, and when the district said they would fine them 200/a day, a large portion of their small teachers' salary, 74 % of teachers decided to face retaliation and stay on strike! These teachers won a victory yesterday. We draw strength from the walkouts at UC by faculty who refse to accept abuses to themselvs, students, and workers, occupations at New School and other schools, protests in Detroit led by students and workers. We are also building a new movement that sees the struggles of students and workers as inherently tied to one another. We cannot win without one another. We now picket together in front of these administrators to say ....UW MUST RECOGNIZE/WORKERS' RIGHT TO ORGANIZE!..."
Statement from D.I. on recent arrests
About 2 weeks ago, 2 members of Democracy Insurgent (D.I). were arrested by the UW Police for meeting with the custodians at Health Sciences building during their breaktime. They were there in the capacity of journalists, interviewing workers about workplace abuses for an upcoming Zine we are collaborating on. We have reason to believe that the arrests were politically targeted because we were taken right when the breaktime ended, and the police knew exactly who we were when they arrested us. It is also an uncanny coincidence that the selective enforcement of the building policy took place right on the day that we distributed a press release publicizing the suicide of former UW custodian, In Soo Chun. In Soo Chun had self immolated himself on Red Square in Oct last year and his former co-workers were planning to organize a rally in his memory.
The first thing the police officer said when she saw us, was to call us "terrorists." It is not a coincidence that the 2 activists were women of color.
Most importantly, we see the arrests as an attempt by a desperate and guilty management to scare immigrant custodians from organizing. The next workday after the arrest, UWPD and Custodial Services managers were harassing workers who were trying to meet during their break time. It is clear to us that the arrest of our members is tied closely to the continual intimidation and harassment of immigrant custodians who are organizing against speed up and extra work.
We are having a picket tomorrow at 1:30pm on Red Square to raise awareness of the issues (see flyer below). We know that many of you may not be on campus during this time. For those of you who are, we hope you can join us. Regardless, we hope to be organizing more with you when you return from the summer break.
Picket Wednesday September 16th! Stop RETALIATION!
by Democracy Insurgent; d.insurg@gmail.com
Over the last several weeks, the University has stepped up its attacks on people working against budget cuts and for their jobs. While custodians have continued to meet with students and with eachother, management is increasingly creative, including scheduling meetings during planned rallies, putting workers on "administrative leave" in preparation for firings, isolated custodians who are strong organizers alone in far off buildings, and most recently, using police force to intimidate both students and workers!
We will not stand for this kind of abuse! Come out Wednesday September 16th for compact picket in front of Gerberding Hall, to show UW that this abuse will not stand. This will be a continuation of events from the 9th, and will be building torwards more large actions in the fall! Please join us at 1:30 PM, and let us know if you or your campus/community group wants to get involved in future actions!