Account of UCLA protests

Brief account of UCLA fight

Wednesday Students attempted to rush the building and stop the Regents from attacking our education. The police were caught unawares. They did not have full riot gear on like they did on Thursday. There was a struggle and several students got to the door which was surrounded by UC Police Department (UCPD). The police, startled started to tazer, high and threaten people. The students were furious and began to throw bottles as well as sticks. The police hit people but there was not passive resistance. Still their blows were almost indiscriminate (they mostly targeted Black men). The students went down the steps of Covel away from the protest lead by the “security”. There was a rally and an attempt to get students back up the steps. When students did come back there was a lecture by a teacher. The union provided food for all the students and had a tent set up. This was helpful to have the union there but there was a not a strong union presence. UPTE did not have many workers their ( at least not with shirts on ) and neither did CUE a union I was once a part of. AFSME did not go on strike and was still working. This I think contributed to the normalcy of the campus. At point it seemed like students were in different worlds. On one end students were in battles with the cops or just being brutalized. On the other students were going to class with flip flops and books in their hands.

Thursday
The Regents made a recommendation for the cuts but could not vote on the cuts because of the arrests inside and long public comments. The police came prepared. The police were in full riot gear at the head of Covel Steps. Still they had another cleverer obstacle to getting into the building. A group of students (from what I heard the majority are members of MeCHA) stood in front of the gate to “protect” us from the police. Later the police pepper sprayed one of their members to the point where she collapsed several times after trying to walk away. It was understood by the student body that the purpose of the meeting would be to shut down the regents meeting. These people who named themselves “security” stood in the way of that. 1) Because they were students of color and women it made it more difficult for students to want to push them out of the way or react to the police and 2) Because they said by being security added an element of fear. At different times of the protest they yelled out people would get arrested if they for exampled stayed at Covel instead of going to the parking lot. This claim was untrue. Some of them actually had on sandals! What kind of security could be offered? To me their ring kept people from trying to get into the meeting and as a consequence helped the Regents pass the budget cuts.

After the cuts were passed students went methodically around all the exits and blocked them. We confronted politicians like Karen Bass as she walked to her car from the meeting. She voted for the budget cuts with Schwartzenegger. Students publically shamed her and stood at her car. Groups of 20 students followed Regent Yudoff to his car where he was protected by bike cops.

Students converged on a tinted windowed van carrying two Regents Leslie Moreno and Regent Tang Schilling. The police choked a student, dragged them by their hair but backed off when students aggressively stood their ground. The police threatened to arrest people and read out the penal code declaring it an unlawful assembly. A student interrupted the police and read the number for the National Lawyers Guild and students repeated it to one another many wrote it on their arms.

But it was a ploy. While they threatened to arrest people surrounding the van they were really getting ready to usher the Regents hemmed up in the van to Sproul Hall dorm. They formed a line around them and students ran along the line shouting “Sham on you!” “ Cowards” and “ Greedy thieves” . I got into the dorm by running behind the police. I was shoved and screamed at by the cops along with another sister. I heard later the police indiscriminately sprayed a line of protestors. It was infuriating.

Phoney Friends
The police picked fights with students sometimes blocking off entrances unnecessarily. They even had a guy come in who said he is President of the African American Studies department when students were blocking the van. This guy told us (after the police choked a student and pushed on people not to mention the Regents passing the fucking budget cuts for a 32% increase) that we need to write to our representatives. Students responded, “ We did that already it didn’t work!” another student said, “ The Civil Rights Movement didn’t work until people took it to the streets not by writing their representatives”.

Another moment of inspiration. The crowd was hyped up after students from UCSB arrived. Reenergized we directed our energy towards the Regents and cops. Of course the student bureacrats did not want that to happen. To kill the mood a student got on the microphone and proposed a die-in " mourn the death of our education". People laid down. Thousands of people lay motionless we were supposed to lay there for two minutes. 10 seconds into it a voice in the crowd yells, " Don't wanna be dead. I'd rather fight instead!" And with that the crowd laying down began to arrise and chant it, " don't wanna be dead, I'd rather fight instead!" It was beautiful.

A strong sister from the BSU said we should not have heckled Karen Bass because she was an “ally”. I said what do you mean she voted for the budget cuts. Then she replied, “ she has donated money to the BSU and helped me personally.” Then I said, “she has hurt hundreds of thousands of students and she is not an ally I don’t care what her reasons are, her actions are what matters.” Another student joined in and said, “I would want to talk to her about her reasons why.” I said, “Are you trying to ‘talk’ to the Regents?” Later on the person I talked to was shoved and reduced to tears because of the police violence. Bastards!

There were tears, shouts and a fight back. The students did not go away quietly. There are many lessons we can learn from this action. 1) Our own power to threaten the education power structure is great. Even the police were scared of our fight and our potential because we always have the numbers, creativity and unpredictability. 2) The role of the unions. The Unions could have shut the university down i.e. turned off the lights to prevent the Regents from meeting, AFMSE could have gone on strike ( I mean if students are getting arrested why not workers- what costs more dues money bailing someone out or them losing their job- Unions were built through court injunctions!). The unions have incredible power as they did when they shut down the UC’s two years ago. In order to win this fight the Unions must play a central role and rank and file must break with the leadership who has not been willing to do that. It can not just be students getting arrested if anyone is getting arrested. 3) This fight will be confrontational. We saw it at UCLA. If we want to stop the Regents from meeting then actions will have to be taken to stop it. When the police realized we would not stop the vote is when they went on the offensive. I am not advocating terrorism or anything like that. But we can not just protest outside of their building while they privatize education. Through the struggle we will learn new methods of engagement. This fight is not over until we win!