What happened on Saturday…

from ReallyOpenUniversity:

There are surprisingly few write ups of Saturday, the March 26th TUC [Trade Union Congress] Demo in London. Perhaps many have been feeling the way the ROU has been and is unable to work out quite what happened.

The media portrayal of events has to be expected. Sure, the police seem to have gone on a PR mission to make themselves not look like arseholes. They did a press conference with that lovely, entirely uncritical, ‘civil liberty’ group Liberty. They also embedded a Guardian journalist into the TSG (the riot cops notorious for brutality) in an ‘I’m a real boy’ piece (1). But journalists have difficulty escaping the template narrative when it snows let alone when a load of people storm around London in an attempt to confront a social relationship.

So we should not be surprised that the media did not escape the narrative already laid down for them. One day there may be something different from the opening paragraph ‘It started as a peaceful protest…’, but that day was not today. But whilst we consume these stories afterward, and reject or accept their interpretations according to our own ideologies and experiences, we should be more concerned about the following of pre-existing narratives elsewhere. We must critically examine how WE played out Saturday. Because what really happened on Saturday looked a lot like this:

• The trade union leadership organised a boring march on which they touted their lovely expensive corporate logos attached to flags and balloons

• Trotskyites sold (or at least attempted to sell) a shit load of newspapers

• The Police were arseholes (albeit tweeting arseholes who were thin on numbers and allowed a fair few acts of criminal damage/damage limitation)

• The (media defined) anarchists looked scary and smashed symbols of capitalism in a symbolic manner.

• Some ‘non-violent’ direct action types did a ‘non-violent’ direct action type thing and then got fucked by aforementioned arseholes. [Luxury store, Fortnum and Mason, was occupied by UK Uncut folks]

• Ed Miliband gave an appalling and dishonest speech where he made out the suffragettes, anti-apartheid and civil rights movement didn’t arson, bomb and shoot their way to victory but instead, probably just went on boring marches and then voted for the previous government to come back and fuck them more gently.

This is not to say that Saturday was entirely crap. We may have followed pre-existing narratives but we did it big time. The march was huge, depending on which unreliable source you believe it was probably between 400,000– 500,000 people. This is not to be downplayed – this may have just been a petition with feet, but it was a vast number of people rejecting the current Big Story that ‘these cuts are necessary’ and, likewise, ‘we’re in this together’. A massive turnout from around the country certainly suggests a level of anger and anti-apathy. What is harder to extrapolate is how angry, and how critical the crowd are. Apart from the one line sound bites from the newspapers we still do not really know what these 500,000 people think.

UK Uncut got too large a turnout for their occupation of Fortnum & Mason (who sell picnic hampers for £25,000 which we can only assume is a basket of coke in addition to skipping a shed load of tax) with huge amounts of people having to instead sit outside. Clearly UK Uncut has had some success in allowing people to step slightly outside the realm of officially permitted protest, and more seasoned protestors alongside raging youth spotted some potential here. The mass arrest may come as a shock to many UK Uncut-ers but the release of footage from legal observers showing occupiers been promised safe passage by a chief inspector may at least fuck up the cops PR plan (2).

UKUncut are now in a troublesome situation of attempting to be the bridge between what has been dismissed as the violent minority by not only the media but by the TUC leadership, and the less militant protest element who attended the official demonstration and whom their actions are surely designed to appeal to with their easy rhetoric of ‘tax the rich’ and actions of low level civil disobedience. Again, it is impossible to say how big this gulf really is, if at all, because the conversations have not been had.

As for those ‘hijacking anarchists’, the black bloc did not do too badly either! At times it was huge and actually worked like a black bloc. Moving quickly, breaking up and reforming, it [continuously] outwitted the police and hit high profile targets. It was perhaps the first properly working black bloc in British history. Almost every black bloc-er looked surprised to see so many other people had come dressed in the same costume. Meanwhile UK Uncut looked a bit like Climate Camp in new(ish) clothing.

But the tactics, graffiti and chants were predictable. Whereas at Millbank FE students looked confused when a minority of experienced activists tried to start chants of ‘no justice, no peace…’ preferring to start their own renditions of KRS-One and NWA, on Saturday all the old clichés were what followed. It was a complete nostalgia fest, with old activists greeting each other delightedly on the streets before some more running at or away from the police. The kicked in windows and the sprayed ‘Class War’ seemed more timid than the multiplicity of signs on the previous student demos. Of exceptional cringe worthy note would be shouting at families in Starbucks, and, the somewhat novel but mysterious, kicking in Ann Summers [ed: A statement has now been made by the group (3)]. Planet Organic and Sssh were, dear reader, not subjected to the same greetings.

This is not to say that the perhaps 500 strong ‘black bloc’ were the knuckle trailing thugs that the Daily Mail would like to portray. This was our version of The Royal Wedding and it was a time for celebration and reunion in the form of a ruck. Smashing up the Ritz certainly resonates across the general public in lieu of a Camilla to poke. But seriously lacking was any explanation of why this was appropriate, of why there was this rage. And without an explanatory voice, even when the casual observer FEELS empathetic towards a specific act, this can easily be overridden by the rhetoric of the dominant discourse. The black bloc were running without a soundtrack and over the top was the oppositional narrative. This makes it ‘their story’ and not ours.

The various groups seemed happy to stick to the ground on which they were comfortable each with its own narrative to follow. Whilst at times people physically mixed, each stuck more or less to their own tactics and rhetoric. This made it easy to portray these protestors as not only separate from each other, but actually in opposition to each other. One was not the other. But we were. Wearing a mask can be an insurance against losing your job, just like being in a union, and many of us opted in for both. But we did not explain ourselves, so how can anyone know? Increasing this artificial difference, each group afterward then claims to be the ones doing the real political activity but in reality these things are to no more or less political than each other. WHY, for example, is smashing the Ritz more politicised an act than marching from A to B?

What is needed is a new politics which link these different groups (and events) together as well as with those currently on the outside of resistance to the cuts. We need new tactics which link the pre-existing diversity of tactics, and then some. And alongside those tactics we need to explain ourselves to those we do more than act in solidarity with, but are, indeed, one with.

The day before the march a friend of the ROU over at Shift wrote about the imminent protest:

“Seeking to emulate previous, tired forms of politics (be that isolated direct action or trade union marches) is a certain failure, new forms of doing – those which escape our current understanding or familiarity –might be the key to gaining traction in the here and now. The old doesn’t work and so we shouldn’t be afraid to move towards new forms of politics, however uncertain their effects may be.” (full article: http://reallyopenuniversity.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/increasing-the-uncertainty-beyond-activism-as-usual/)

We had fun on Saturday and the events of the day should not be dismissed as irrelevant. However if we are to succeed in the battle against government attacks and the restructuring of social relations in the interests of capital – both in the university and elsewhere – we must move beyond the pre-existing narratives towards less certain forms of politics.

We cannot forget the present however: 149 will face court, most arrested in F&M, many young, many having never before experienced the brutal arm of the law. Green & Black Cross deserve some bigging up for all their work. Absolute solidarity with all the accused!

1:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/mar/28/march-alternative-police-video

2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgRK8TALUA8

3. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/03/476879

[See also, "A letter to UK Uncutters from the 'violent minority'"]

University of Minnesota Occupation Press Release

from UMNsolidarity:

3/28/2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Hallie (612)217-2462, umnsolidarity@gmail.com

Students and Community Supporters Occupy Social Sciences Tower at University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus – West Bank

Occupying in Solidarity with Wisconsin Students and Workers and Against University Budget Cuts

Minneapolis – On Monday, March 28th, a group of students and community members have occupied the first floor of the Social Sciences tower on the West Bank of the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Following a rally in front of Coffman Memorial Union, participants marched across the East Bank of campus and crossed the Mississippi River onto the West Bank. Students and supporters entered into the first floor of the Social Sciences tower and held an assembly to discuss possible courses of action. Using a democratic process of consensus, protesters decided to hold the space in an open and soft occupation.

Since the occupation is non-violent and open, as of press time the University has not removed the occupiers. However, the University buildings close to the public at 11 pm each night. “We have a solid group of people here who are committed to the occupation, and we are using social media to bring more students and supportive community members to the space,” said undergraduate student Andrew, who has chosen not to give his last name. “We are planning specific events for the space in order to benefit the entire community, which we will be posting on our blog, umnsolidarity.wordpress.com,” added Sara, a U of M student who was forced to take a semester off of school for lack of finances.

Students and community supporters are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, skyrocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic crisis while the rich only get richer. Inspired by the actions of students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Madison, and other campuses around the state, U of M students are standing up against injustices in their own state and their own university.

UCU Strike and Occupations

UNITED KINGDOM – In solidarity with the University and College Union (UCU) strike on March 21st, students at the University College London (UCL), Glasgow University, Goldsmiths, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of East Anglia, Edinburgh University, and the University of Kent have occupied buildings. The UCU represents lecturers, tutors, and support staff.

from ROU:

Students at Goldsmiths and UCL went into occupation in solidarity with the strike on Monday. They were joined on Tuesday by UEA, Kent, Edinburgh and UEL. In Glasgow, the Hetherington occupation (the longest anti-cuts occupation, running since 1st of Febuary) fell victim to a heavy-handed eviction by police, including 80 officers, dogs units and a helicopter. Several students were injured with one having to go to hospital for concussion. In response to this violent treatment, the occupiers joined a crowd of hundreds and marched to the main university building where they occupied the Senate. At the time of writing SOAS has also just gone into occupation.

Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill; Capitol Reoccupied

MADISON, Wisconsin – Late on Wednesday night, the Wisconsin state Senate passed the new bill tearing collective bargaining rights away from all state unions (with the exception of police and fire unions). The State Assembly is scheduled to vote on the bill tomorrow at 11am.

Thousands of protesters rushed to the state Capitol Wednesday night, forcing their way through doors, crawling through windows and jamming corridors, as word spread of hastily called votes on Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial bill limiting collective bargaining rights for public workers.

…

Shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the locked King Street entrance to the Capitol, chanting “Break down the door!” and “General strike!” (via Wisconsin State Journal)

from BurntBookmobile:

Senators in favor of stripping unions of collective bargaining rights figured out a way to split this section from the rest of the budget and pass it without the presence of the runaway Democrats who were stalling the passing of this part of the bill specifically. According to some people in Madison people are running angrily to the Capitol. Strikes seem imminent and chanting and marching in circles appear as more than obvious to everyone as not enough. News sources are saying firetrucks are driving around Milwaukee blaring their sirens as a state of emergency in solidarity with those in the Capitol. Angry screaming demonstrators have trapped the senators in the building and refuse to leave.

More updates will be posted soon.

Day of Solidarity with UPR Students

This friday, March 11th, has been announced as a day of solidarity with the student struggle at the University of Puerto Rico.

New York City:

Friday, March 11 · 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Julia de Burgos’s Mosaic
106 St, Spanish Harlem

San Francisco:

Friday, March 11, 4:30-7:00pm
24th/Mission BART Station Plaza in San Francisco

Why March 11th?

March 11, 1971 was one of the bloodiest single days in the history of the University of Puerto Rico. The main campus at Río Piedras was occupied by the Puerto Rico Police, unleashing violent confrontations that ended the lives of two police officers, including the then chief of the notorious Tactical Operations Unit, and one student.

UPR Students Refuse Moratorium on Mass Gatherings; Demonstrators Attack Chancellor

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Chancellor of the Río Piedras campus, part of the 11 campus University of Puerto Rico system, announced a moratorium on mass gatherings at Río Piedras on February 24th, due to what she believed was an illegal 24-hr strike held on the previous day.  Chancellor Ana Guadalupe, in a letter to the students, announced that under her authority, under Article 2.19, a 30 day ban on mass gatherings and demonstrations would begin. This forced moratorium on protests comes in light of a series of acts of police brutality on protesters¹, a physical confrontation between an English professor and students, and student uprisings over the past few months against the $800 tuition increase.

On Monday, March 7th, students defied these orders and held a protest. Upon hearing that the Chancellor was holding a meeting with the department of Architecture, the demonstrators moved outside of it. Once there, students chanted at the Chancellor but were stopped from entering the meeting due to campus security. Guadalupe refused to acknowledge the students outside, so the demonstrators went around the building and held up signs through the window. Discovering the window unlocked, a few students climbed into the room and disrupted the meeting.

As Guadalupe left the meeting, students attempted to confront her, but were pushed back by police and campus security. Frustrated and provoked, demonstrators continued to confront the Chancellor, leading to a back and forth struggle with the campus security. Demonstrators tried to grab the Chancellor, tugged at her hair and sprayed water at her while she was surrounded by guards. Once she reached a campus security car, demonstrators stood in front and blocked her way. She continued to refuse speaking with protesters. The car’s windows were smashed before the Chancellor could leave the scene.

—————————-

¹ Over the past few months peaceful student protests and civil disobedience actions have been repeatedly and brutally attacked by police, “the shock force”. See: the January 27th protest at the capitol [see photos: 1, 2]; the February 9th protest against the fee increase and police [see photos: 1, 2]; and the numerous acts of police brutality and repression during the student strike in December 2010 [see photos: 1].

Video:

More:

• Desde Adentro
• indymedia PR

What I Wrote to My Students, the Day After the Cops Kicked My Class Out of Wheeler Hall

This is what one professor wrote to students following the police evacuation of Wheeler Hall the other day during the protest.

Those of you who tried to come on Thursday, I apologize – the police let several of us in and we were inside the building until police came and told us the chancellor was closing the building at which point we had to leave.

A question this course should lead you to ask is: by what right does the chancellor get to close Wheeler Hall? Whose property is it?

Know that this university exists because the land was donated by the state to the university in exchange for it providing free education to the citizens of California. In terms of labor theories of value, if the labor of teachers is part of the educational mission, at what point do teachers get to decide what happens on school property? If you believe, as I do, that students labor is also part of education – helping create what is learned by all in the classroom, what right do students have to make use of the spaces that were given as sites of education? If there is disagreement or diversity of opinion, who or what should arbitrate these rights?

I later got an email from the chancellor saying there was a “health and safety issue” in Wheeler which necessitated closing it. This seems odd to me.  I also heard from a friend who was stopping by Wheeler (a volunteer medic) that police had pepper-sprayed and beaten protesters with batons while attempting to remove them from the area. (was that the health and safety issue? if so, I can think of a few ways short of closing the building that could have protected people)

I encourage you to think about the primacy of property rights in what happened at Wheeler Hall. Property rights in objects were supreme over rights  over people’s own bodies. The rights to bodily integrity of the students were not as important as the rights of the chancellor to control what happens in Wheeler Hall. Its true there may have been a concern about damage to the building – but during the first occupation a police officer smashed the hand (and nearly took off the finger) of a student who was participating in the protests (nonviolently and not causing property damage), and yet police are still allowed on campus. The costs and the harm of  batons and pepper spray are not as much concern to the university as the right of the university to control property.

Whose rights are being protected by this? (note that we were carrying on our section without a problem until this happened, it was the police who were limiting access).

Of course there is the question of students right to pursue an education without protest. As above, who should be the arbiter between those different opinions about educational priorities in situations where protesters ARE disrupting classes?

But also, what happens if you include the rights of the students and former students, and also the janitors (speaking of keeping the building in good shape) who are no longer on campus because of the policies like fee hikes and the layoffs dictated by Operational Excellence? Did they have any rights? Milton Friedman (whom we read this week) would say no. But what about the founders of the UC system and its mission?

Also, the rights of nonprotesting students to pursue an education are affected anyway, because even despite the massive fee increases the resulting funds have not gone to education: class sizes are increasing, labs are cut, teaching resources are cut, class sessions are cut ( this course has four fewer classes than usual because of the cuts), libraries are closed, construction disrupts the campus as much as protests..

I hope this is food for thought and future discussion!

UW Milwaukee Dance Party

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin – Pajama dance party tonight at 11pm in occupied UWM Theater.

(RSVP on facebook)

Roof of Wheeler Hall occupied

BERKELEY, California – 9 demonstrators chained themselves together on the ledge of Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley earlier in the afternoon demanding that the tuition hikes be repealed. One has been pulled down by UCPD and arrested, while at least six are chained together along side a few that aren’t. This follows last night’s arrest of 17 students while occupying the foyer of the same building. Fire alarms appeared to have been pulled in several buildings, and at least one class appears to be continuing on outside on the steps of Wheeler Hall.

Update:

3:30pm: supporters outside are delivering some fruit, water and a megaphone to those on the ledge.

3:50pm: three supporters were detained after trying to hang up banners from the windows by police.

4:15pm: Demands:

1. Roll back the fee hikes, both the 8 % increase of 2010 and the 32 % of 2009.
2. End police repression on campus.  Hands off student protesters!
3. Democratize the Regents.
4. Put a stop to Operational Excellence, our campus’ incarnation of structural adjustment programs.

(via ThoseWhoUseIt)

5:30pm: According to DailyCal, the administration is planning on sending in the Multicultural Center coordinator to negotiate.

6:20pm: Pepper spray is reportedly being used by riot police who have arrived on the scene in droves (~80). Apparently so has a another wave of supporters (~400).

7:00pm: Police appear to be setting up metal barricades in the back of Wheeler. Supporters are asking for more folks to come out.

8:30pm: Ledge demonstrators are unlocking themselves.

9:20pm: Demonstrators come down, join the crowd in ecstatic cheering. The one demonstrator arrested earlier on the ledge rejoins them.

Demands won:

-Demonstrators on the ledge and those sitting in last night will not be charged and those involved in the previous occupations will be offered probation from the office of student conduct [corrected].

-meeting with chancellor

March 2nd

UC Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, California – Students at UC Santa Cruz held a rally today for public education during the national day of protest. Around 250 gathered in the Quarry Plaza, where speeches were made and the issue of access to higher education for students of color was communicated. As the rally came to a close, the last speakers took the stage and chanted that we should retreat to where we feel safe, the Ethnic Resource Center (ERC), to discuss the budget cuts and how the crisis has affected students of color. As UC Santa Cruz has recently cut several of the few programs that existed where these kinds of discussions could possibly take place, and as students at the university have unsuccessfully petitioned the administration for an Ethnic Studies program for decades now, the ERC seemed an appropriately symbolic space. Students are criticizing the administration for the lack of support for communities of color, and that the ERC itself is insufficient.

Update:

7:00pm: After lengthy discussions, the sit-in at UCSC continues.

8:10pm: [Sit-in reportedly ends]

8:35pm: Sit-in continues after all. Administrator Alma Sifuentes went back on her word. Details unclear still.

8:40pm: Alma Sifuentes, Dean of Students promised students a meeting with the Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC), however she returned to inform them they would not be meeting with the EVC. Now the students are refusing to leave and have decided to stay over night. Sifuentes has promised that no judicial repercussions will come out of the sit-in [corrected]. The sit-in has moved to the Cervantes-Velasquez Conference room down the hall from the ERC.

9:30pm: See Principles and Demands. See their blog.

-The next morning the folks sitting in went to Kerr Hall to speak with administrators and ended the sit-in.

UC Berkeley

BERKELEY, California – Between 100 and 200 students are currently holding a sit-in in the foyer of the infamous Wheeler Hall. In fall of 2009, Wheeler Hall was the site of two occupations, both ending in the arrest of dozens of students. Occupiers have announced to stay past the 10pm closing time of the building.

Update:

9:50pm: Reports coming in that riot police are in front of Wheeler.

10:14pm: Reports of Alameda Police Vans outside. Arrests imminent.

10:21pm: First arrest appears to have been made.

10:30pm: Around 15 arrested so far. A crowd of around 50 stand outside chanting, moving trash cans around to obstruct the police, and banging on windows.

-17 in total arrested and taken to Berkeley jail.

(via FromThoseWhoUseIt)

CSU Monterey Bay

Sit-in at CSUMB.

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Over 50 occupy the UWM Theater on campus.

MA Interview on Wisconsin

from ModestoAnarcho:

What follows is an interview with a comrade from Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the recent events in the state’s Capitol, Madison, over a few hours away. For more information on what is happening in Wisconsin, check out the Burnt Bookmobile blog. Class war, don’t cha know? Let’s get to it.

MA: What is the situation in Madison right now?

I’ve only been in Madison during one of the days since the occupation and demonstrations started. I’ve known people who have spent many days there, who have slept in the Capitol building, and who have been going back and forth between Milwaukee and Madison regularly. People are constantly talking about the situation, so I have an idea that is generally up to date, but there is often a bit of a delay. At other times I’m hearing about things as they happen through friends, because word travels much faster than the reporting often does.

I can describe what my experience was there briefly on that day. I went on the first Saturday, the day when the Tea Party of Wisconsin had also called for protests to counter the occupation and protests taking place. About a couple thousand Tea Party protesters showed up, but they were dwarfed and drowned out by the fifty to one hundred thousand people who wandered through the streets, marched, inadvertently blocking traffic and rerouting it across the city, and took up most of the floor space inside the Capitol building. They were mostly ignored and made irrelevant, huddled into a corner of the back steps and yard on one side of the Capitol. I had expected the presence of the Tea Party to provoke and heighten tensions between the two sides, but not much happened in response.

Inside the Capitol building people had been hanging posters and signs on everything. As would be expected, there were chants and crowds of people banging on things. When hearing “This is what democracy looks like” chanted I’m usually horribly ashamed to be present, driven almost to the point of nausea, but this atmosphere sent a shiver down my spine. Despite the form of expression this took, I had the feeling that its real content was hidden, but still exposed through the collective force of the activity of these people. It expressed a feeling of being together as thousands of people who couldn’t be fucked with, even if the parameters to express this were and are mostly pathetic at this point. It demonstrated that it is our activity that defines us. Otherwise, the contradiction of a movement that is both for and against democracy cannot be explained, as it physically prevents the democratic process. Democracy mitigates and disguises force relations by reducing them to a process and mere matters of opinion. It is the neutralization of force and thus of the conflict that is necessary for the elaboration of a politics, for one to take sides and act. We don’t care what as much what people chant, but as long as they increasingly define their position they will increasingly come into an internal contradiction with democratic logic.

What was going on in these spaces had been going on for days and had therefore assumed a kind of routine or culture. So after witnessing it there wasn’t much to do except to wander, meet and talk, eat food, hang out and occupy the space of the city along with the other thousands of people there.

As for what is going on currently in Madison, I’ve heard that Saturday the 26th has been one of the largest days of the demonstrations in terms of numbers. Though I haven’t heard much about the situation on that specific day. There have been rumors and talk of eviction since this all happened, but the police Chief of Madison made an official statement that probably came as an order to be distributed from the Governor, declaring that the Capitol building was to be “cleared” for cleaning, which meant forcefully evicted if need be. A day after this announcement the police union made a statement to the media and gathered crowds saying that they stand with those occupying the Capitol and protesters, not with Scott Walker or his proposed legislation, that they would not be part of any eviction of these people, and that they would in fact be joining them in sleeping on the floors of the Capitol. This is all very weird. It no doubt allows certain illusions to persist, but it won’t last long. It had seemed like the moment when lines would be more clearly drawn was fast approaching, making clear connections between this particular event, the inherent play of forces necessary to maintain everyday life and the function of the police, as a force of dispossession. We will not be surprised when the police are forced to act in order to attempt to maintain their role as the ones who make the threats.

On Saturday, word spread in various ways that the Capitol was going to be closed Sunday by 4pm and that everyone was going to have to leave. A couple hundred decided to leave to avoid risking arrest, but many hundreds more gathered and were determined to hold the space with the possibility of being arrested. Against the prospect of having to arrest hundreds of people in the Capitol, which would have been a bad move in the eyes of many thousands who had come to the Capitol in the preceding days, the police decided that they weren’t going to arrest anyone. They encouraged people to leave voluntarily and that they would assess the situation “day by day.” This all meant that as long as people stayed that the occupation would continue. It’s still continuing now.

On Capital’s Interest in Controlling Female Reproduction

from thenothing:

(1) Ideological Battle; (2) Control of the Labor Supply; (3) Capital-as-hierarchical-gender-divide

She’s a Marxist recently broke down some of the different positions on “why all the crackdown on reproductive rights?” (full article here: Abortion Banned in Us = Capitalism’s best Interest?). She gives us two possible positions:

(1) First position: This is an ideological fight between the right and centrist social forces within the ruling class. I think this is the most common position within the left (at least that I’ve heard). It assumes that this issue is purely ideological. It assumes that the battle over abortion is at its heart dictated by ideological interests being battled out within the ruling class.

She’sa is right fucking on the money here, critiquing this position, which we’ll call “Ideolgical Battle”, for the vapid suggestion that capital doesn’t really give a fuck one way or the other about what happens to women’s reproductive rights -

I think this position assumes Capital processes (M-C-M) are fundamentally sex/gender/race blind, and thus, Capital acting in its most truest interests is ruthlessly pragmatic and not really hemmed in by ideological interest in any one religion, race, nationality, gender, etc. It wants profit and profit don’t have no gender, race or religion.

She’sa continues to argue for an alternative position,

(2) Second possible position:… different factions of capital have more than just an ideological interest in the outcome of this fight, since the issue [of reproductive rights] critically affects the make-up of the labor force in the U.S. which has an impact on capital here and abroad.

This argument, the “Control of labor pool” argument, that capital is interested in controlling women’s reproduction centrally in order to control the reproduction of labor power, control the labor pool, the reserve army, etc, is an important one. And She’s A Marxist’s intervention, that “concerns about the family, and concerns about gender are not just ideological concerns. They are directly and critically related to the labor needs of capital,” is totally essential and should be tatt’d on the asses of whatever marxists haven’t gotten that yet, but there still seems something more we can say about this.

(3) The nothing offers a third position (in hopes of more to follow): that regardless of what kind of labor pool capital wants (and it is very uncertain whether capital actually moves to produce the kind of labor pool it ‘wants’, or if its even clear what it ‘wants’), capital will constantly be pressing more restrictions and violences on womens bodies whenever it can, because the gender distinction is a constitutive presupposition of capital, and controlling women’s reproduction and perpetrating violence on womens bodies and  is the construction of woman-as-category, is the construction of the gender division. (read full article here)

Read more:

• Original post by She’s A Marxist

(via ludmila p)

Info-point Occupation Against SB590

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – As of 9 am [Feb. 28], there is an occupied info-point in the [Indiana Memorial Union] cafeteria area, near the Burger King – the same place where the Assembly happened [at Indiana University].  Drop by now, or in the next few days.  The [below] flyer is being passed out at the info-point but does not necessarily reflect a consensus. (via StopSB590)