The reports are just rolling in, and boy, has it been enlightening. A few weeks ago, the University of California Police Department released a report determining that the real source of problems at Berkeley on November 9th was that police weren’t allowed enough “force options”—particular, pepper spray. Shortly thereafter, a quasi-independent review board at Davis… Continue reading November 9th and the Changing Repertoires of Activism
After a fall spent trying to make some social change, this spring I’ve withdrawn into my more comfortable habitus: reading about social change. I’ve been particularly drawn to stories about the Civil Rights movement, perhaps because I’ve been desperate to remind myself that change does in fact happen every once in a while. Most recently,… Continue reading The Long Haul
With all the time I spend reading Marx with other graduate students and talking revolution with other activists, I occasionally forget that my world is largely populated by people who don’t share my particular line of leftist politics. I’ve been reminded of the political diversity of my friends during conversations about the open letter which… Continue reading “I Don’t Actually Hate Bankers” and Other Thoughts on the Open Letter (Part 1)
Call: “Show me what democracy looks like.” Response: “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!” If you’ve been to a protest—really, almost any protest, but especially an Occupy Wall Street protest—you’ve heard this chant. No movement should be judged by its chants: “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” may not capture a lot of… Continue reading What does democracy look like, anyway?
It so happens that the very night Occupy Princeton mic checked J.P. Morgan, I myself was talking about Princeton—or, more specifically, avoiding talking about Princeton. A cohort-mate introduced me to one of her friends, and she asked me where I went to school before Berkeley. As per usual, I mumbled something about Central New Jersey.and… Continue reading Even Princeton
After the tigers of Occupy Princeton mic-checked recruiting events for Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, a few concerned alumni collaboratively drafted an Open Letter to Princeton Community to send to the Princeton Alumni Weekly and the university administration. If you are an alum and want to sign it, shoot me an e-mail (also, let me… Continue reading An Open Letter to the Princeton Community
The first time I walked into the Occupy Oakland encampment, I felt like I had set foot in utopia. I had been to Oscar Grant Plaza, in front of city hall, just a few days prior, but left the occupation’s first general assembly quickly after it devolved into an endless series of ideological pontifications: this… Continue reading The Zero Sum Movement
Let me start this blog post by saying that if I had done something actually illegal—well, more specifically, something for which I feared prosecution—I would not be posting it on this blog. Sorry to disappoint. This will make for my third activism-related post in a row, though. For those looking for different content, I suggest… Continue reading I Smashed A Bank, And I Didn’t Like It
Tomorrow, we march. I’ve been attending so many meetings, assemblies, flyer-ings, and marches in the last few weeks that it’s hard to see them as distinct events. But still I tell myself that tomorrow is critical; that in a week that saw coordinated crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations across the country, it’s a crucial time to… Continue reading On Efficacy
In fifteen minutes, I’ll be heading to Shattuck and Central to take part in the first General Assembly of Occupy Berkeley. I spent the start of this week frantically searching for plane tickets to get me to New York, hoping to stand up and be counted among the protesters of Occupy Wall Street before police… Continue reading 99% Plus One
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 