Solidarity from Humboldt State University

HSU Statement of Solidarity

We the students of HSU stand in solidarity with the students at UCLA, UCSC, SFSU, CSUF, UC Berkeley, NYU and New School who have organized and taken actions in protest of the budget cuts. Compelled by our own collective consciousness, We have come together to take direct action against injustice, inequality and rampant racism, sexism, classism and all other forms of discrimination. We will not wait for approval. We do not ask to be legitimized by the same authority that has long governed what and how we learn, where and how we work, and thus, who and how we are. We do not seek outside representation. We demand the right to stand up, speak out, and be heard. The needs we express are ones which all people deserve. However, we will not yield, we will not kneel, and we will not beg.

This so-called economic crisis is in fact a form of mass theft. How is it that we could have so much taken away while the government funds two illegitimate wars that the American people do not want, and rewards corporate mismanagement of money (bloated CEO salaries) with bailouts? It would only take 15% of the military spending budget to fund free education kindergarten through graduate school for every American! In the midst of unemployment, foreclosures, and cuts to social services we are witnessing the largest transfer of wealth to a ruling elite in human history. The vampirism of capitalism has sustained this plutocracy at the expense of the working class. We refuse to limit our organizing to student issues, when we know that it is the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy as a whole that we must struggle against if we are to see any real, lasting change.

We demand transparency in the allocation of taxpayer money. We demand a reprioritization of the budget from incarceration to education. We demand that social services come first, before extravagant payouts to representatives who misrepresent our interests. We demand the right to self-governance and self-determination. We say HELL NO to the furloughs! HELL NO to faculty being underpaid for priceless work! HELL NO to the dwindling of campus resources! We say HELL NO to the wars! HELL NO to the criminalization of people of color and the poor! Hell no to the oppression of LGBTQI!

We know that another world is possible, because we’ve seen what amazing feats a determined community can accomplish. We salute the heroic rebels of Greece, Oaxaca, Chiapas, across the CSUs and UCs, NYU, New School, and all who participated in the student strikes and occupations across America during the Vietnam War – including here at HSU in 1970.

With the realization that we are not alone in our struggle, we are humbled. We
call on everyone to unite, to strike, and to take the power back.

In solidarity,
Pissed Off Student Collective of HSU