Student Occupy Universidad de Barcelona as police forcibly remove them
The ITS reports that yesterday, March 18th, students at the Universidad de Barcelona were violently evicted from a university building which they had occupied for 118 days.
Mo got this description of the event (Check the link for the video after the quote):
This morning the Mossos D'Esquadra (catalonian police) have entered the historical building in the University of Barcelona, the rectorate, to evict it violently. they have charged brutally against people that were peacefully concentrating in front of the building.
This morning, between 5:30 and 5:45 12 police vans have arrived, they have evicted the occupied rectorate by force and making use of violence.
Outside the building people have made a peaceful concentration, students, professors, workers in the university, media and citizens.
Police have charged brutally against all these people, turning the centre of Barcelona into a police state. It seems that there have been 17 people arrested and more than 100 people injured.
The assembly of the occupied rectorate has always had the will of dialogue and debate. The rectorate and political institutions have proved that this will is answered with repression and the most brutal physical violence. We are astonished, indignant and hurt. They hace entered by force in a space that was a place for resistance and critical thinking. the rector and politicians are the repressors that have applied to franquist politics.
Ramirez, Moreso, Palmada, Huguet, Saura: they are all to blame.
The rectors have decided to start repression.
There's a video link and, although I have no idea what anyone is saying, the video makes it clear just how brutal the police force was. I mean, SHIT, you're talking multiple officers swinging multiple clubs at individual protesters.
Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women
Two weeks ago, young adult women in the state of Karnataka were beaten publicly by members of the Sri Rama Sena and Dajrang Dal because they were drinking in a bar and "dressing indecently." :Gasp!:
As I posted earlier, ultraviolet has written an open letter to the Indian goverment urging them to...um...protect democracy and disable this informal gender policing that rules the night. Also developed out of this mess is as adhoc campaign called the Pink Chaddi Campaign. Chaddi is a slang term in India denoting short little underwear or boxer shorts. The Pink Chaddi Campaign is urgining feminists, egalitarians, freedom-lovers, people with mothers or sisters or aunts of grandmothers, anyone who cares about women really to send pink underwear to the head of Sri Ram Sena. More infor here and here.
But I can't just leave this post at that. I need to ask: What the fuck, patriarchy?
What exactly is it that enables men to view women as objects and women to view men as subjects in this little dreamland we seem to be living in: society? Why is it so difficult for men to give up power and allow women to live fully conscious lives? What is power anyway, and why won't anyone give it up?
Someone answer at least one of these questions.
JuicyCampus shuts down, and there is a God of morality
JuicyCampus, a site that banked on quite a few young people's misguided attempts at socialization by posting campus gossip and libel, which is really just as shitty as gossip except it isn't true, has closed down to the economic crises. There, now you can't say that nothing good ever came from the doings of the Bush administration.
Chronicle of Higher Education explains:
The most popular topics on the site on Wednesday included the kinds of things that had become typical—"Biggest slut in each sorority???," "Is Lawson a virgin?," "Gayest Frat Boys?"—with each discussion thread listing students on specific campuses who the authors said fit the labels.
Talk about a distraction from reality...
Anthony Seminerio wants to give the bad guys a spanking
Members of the NYC council are notorious for being complete idiots. Come and learn why. Corrupt Queens Councilman Anthony Seminerio, known for pocketing half a million dollars in bribes, has proposed punishing young people who graffiti by spanking them with a paddle. I have professors who can deconstruct the sexual aspect of this...um...fetish-BDSM-legislation much better than I can, so I will just skip it and say briefly that graffiti is not just some pesky criminal act done by gangs, but it reflects the anger of young people at a nauseating class disparity which occurs along racial lines. This class disparity is apparent in NYC as the differences between affluent areas and impoverished areas are vast, and are only becoming worse due to NYC's gentrification.
Sometimes I graffiti too. I add a little zest to an expolitative advertisement by pointing out its sexism or racism.
But of course Seminerio won't bother with any of that thought-stuff. He'll just be glad to paddle down a Black or Latino boy (let's not pretend this matter doesn't occur along racial or gender lines), degrade his "little" attempt at resistence, and while everyone's distracted by it he'll just be pocketing some more bribes.
You can contact your councilmen and women here.
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