Heroic UC Davis youth show the Labor hierarchy that fighting not collaborating brings results

They've shot strikers don't forget

For decades, those of us in the Labor movement have been dealing with a leadership that places every obstacle in the way of any movement from below that challenges the bosses' offensive.  They have done this through inaction, blaming anti-labor laws and relying on getting friendly Democrats in to office to change them, and by blaming the members for their inactivity.  They are not incompetent, they simply have the same world view as the bosses. They are probably the only force in society that argues for obeying the law except when it comes to dealing with their own members.

They don't mobilize the tremendous potential power organized Labor has because not because we are weak, but because we have the potential to stop the US economy from functioning despite our low unionization rate.  At the time of the French General Strike in 1968 only 10% or so of the workers were organized yet 10 million went out and occupied workplaces.  From the Union hierarchy's point of view, a victory would be a dangerous thing. It would change the mood among Union members and non members alike and would threaten the relationship they have with the bosses which is based on Labor peace and the need to compete.

What pathetic figures they appear when compared to those young people who sat there as that thug cop sprayed them just like he was spraying bugs. They held steadfast and refused to get up even after being showered with chemicals.  As I watched it I felt such anger at the cop. He has the power of the state behind him.  Hitting back can cost you dearly, especially in this country as cops can kill pretty much with impunity. Had the riots that occurred in Britain happened here in the US you'd have seen a lot more dead bodies.

The heads of organized Labor should be ashamed of themselves.  When things like the killing of Oscar Grant by transit police and what happened at UC Davis occur, the Union tops should respond with strikes and job actions.  What the heroic youth have shown by their courage and determination is that you have to confront the forces of the state in a mass way and you have to defy their laws; the mood is such that organized Labor cannot be passive bystanders but must bring our power to the table and not leave the youth and unnorganzed tot he mercy of the state and its forces. We have been driven back far enough and the time is ripe.

We are eternally grateful to the youth as they expose the real nature of the state machine with their own bodies.  Their actions will and are having an affect on the consciousness of workers both Union and non-Union.  They have changed the nature of the debate and shifted the balance of class forces. The US capitalist class is on the defensive.  It's more astute members are pleading with their political representatives in their two parties to please increase their taxes and make them contribute more to society; they are concerned if they don't do this they could lose a lot more than they bargain for.

The US bourgeois have to put the  working class on rations and they have had the help of the heads of organized Labor in this venture but the youth and the Occupy Wall Street movement have changed things.  The mood is such in society that the forces of the state are trying to figure out how they can deal with the situation.  Here in California they have made some serious errors. They injured an Iraq veteran and no matter what position people take on the wars (and most are opposed) the young working class people, the economic draftees who are sent to fight them have the support of the vast majority of Americans.

Then the UC Davis blunder.  As workers we need to learn from the youth.  Two officers and a campus police chief have been suspended with pay due to the pepper spray incident captured on film.  It has increased support throughout the nation for the OWS movement and the struggle of students for the right to an education.  UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi was forced to issue a public apology through her tears. Mark Yudof UC Berkeley President another butcherer of education on behalf of the corporations was forced to criticize the police violence at Davis.

The youth have reintroduced that tactics that built the Unions and  gave impetus to the Civil Rights Movement: direct action and open defiance of their laws.  This exposes the cowardly approach of the Trade Union hierarchy that obeys the law at all costs and directs any movement below from confrontation with the bosses to getting that other Wall Street Party, the Democrats in to power. It undermines their arguments that voting for Obama is all we have and that we are not powerful enough to rely on our own strength.

John Pike

It turns out the cop using chemical weaponry on the youth is an ex marine.  They brainwash Marines at an early age to follow orders no matter what.  Comply with everything and question nothing.  When they return damaged even further they are then abandoned or sent to prison for their troubled behavior. (see the movie The Ground Truth).  This one is a right thug.  He is Lt. John Pike and he was accused by an Asian officer of making racist and anti-gay remarks.  This should come as no surprise and it cost the university $240,000.  Pike was honored by the university for disarming a man wielding scissors in 2006 but said that he didn't use pepper spray that time because he didn't want to "hurt fellow officers."

Obviously he has no problem hurting our youth who are fighting for a future for all of us.

The youth are showing us workers that you can push back and you can put the bosses' and their state forces on the defensive.  Fighting back always pays and we must return to the strategy and tactics that brought us this far, direct mass action, defiance of their laws designed to prevent us from just goals and relying only on our own strength on the job and in the political arena. This means no support for any party or candidate that supports attacks on workers or the middle class or raising taxes on workers or the middle class.  It certainly means no support for either of the two Wall Street parties but the building of a mass working people's party as an alternative.

Alongside Davis California runs I 80 that stretches across the nation, one of the nation's most important arteries.

Occupy I 80 and demand:
Fire UC Davis Chancellor  Linda Katehi
Fire Lt. Pike and the two suspended officers and any other  cop that participated in the assault.