#protest movements

[u-mspcoll]

Next week! Voices of Dissent: Protests Against Richard Nixon

Flyer announcing protest of a Republican Party fundraising dinner. (Subject Vertical Files, Joseph A. Labadie Collection)

Join us on the 6th floor of Hatcher next Thursday, 17 October between 4-6p for our next Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester! 

This event will commemorate the 50th anniversary of a pivotal moment in American politics: President Richard Nixon's resignation. Artifacts and narratives from the Joseph A. Labadie Collection illuminate an era that sparked a powerful and enduring anti-war movement and fueled widespread activism. Light refreshments will be served. 

While you’re here, pick up a Third Thursday Passport and collect a stamp from each of the three Third Thursday Open Houses — the Clark Library, International Studies, and the Special Collections Research Center — to win a prize!

[capitalism-is-parasitism]

Protesters today have an opportunity

They can claim more victories if they take better advantage of what I call, in my recent book, ‘the new science of social change’ – the latest scientific evidence on what protest tactics tend to produce the best results. In terms of positive outcomes such as building public support for a cause, pressuring officeholders to implement favourable policies, or spurring desired institutional reforms, some approaches have been shown to work better than others.

[pastdaily]

View From Tunisia - View From The Bowling Alley - March 18, 1958

Become a Subscriber via Patreon: Become a Patron! https://pastdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/life-and-the-world-march-18-1958.mp3 – NBC Radio News – Life and The World – March 18, 1958 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection – News on this day in 1958 was something of a mixed bag, at least from mainstream media’s point of view. Word from North Africa had trouble brewing in newly independent…

[thoughtportal]

join a union

the power of collection action

[sayruq]

[kropotkindersurprise]

Mario Savio giving a speech at Berkeley in 1964 during an occupation of the university.

I mistakenly labeled this as an occupation and speech against the Vietnam war. It was in fact an occupation by the Free Speech Movement, who objected to attacks on free speech and academic freedom during the cold war, when "radical" student groups were banned and faculty had to swear an anti-Communist loyalty oath or be fired. Students objected to universities being used as a source of knowledge and innovation for the military industrial complex but not being allowed to speak their minds that, which does have a lot of parallels with the current occupations.

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it -- that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!!

[can-we-be-kind]

I genuinely wonder if this is going to start something

Will more people start killing CEOs?

Are there more people willing to potentially give up their freedom for the ‘greater good’?

How many people are in the position to actually access a weapon and be within proximity to a billionaire?

Will there actually be a revolution?

Are people too scared to actually start something?

Are the people who want to, too young, too weak, too ill, ect. to actually be able to do something?

Are you able to actively do something?

Are you able to go outside right now and kill a CEO?

Are the charities working? Are the protests working? Are the movements working?

Is it really getting better?

Maybe if you don’t like something, you should do something.

I dunno man, maybe 1700s France was onto something

[violottie]

🇵🇸 dont forget to keep talking about the genocide and violence by "israel" that is still happening in Gaza and Palestine just as much as you are talking about the protests and divestment camps on american university campuses 🇵🇸

[ghost-37]

Black people have culturally subsidized this country since our arrival

[romanisweird]

Hell yeah brother!

Because of recent news I drew this

It is very much inspired by this!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Mathias at HuffPost:

A coalition of 185 social justice and religious groups published an open letter Monday expressing support for the campus protest encampments sweeping the country in opposition to Israel’s siege of Gaza, and calling on university administrators to end the brutal crackdowns of the student-led demonstrations. “We commend the students who are exercising their right to protest peacefully despite an overwhelming atmosphere of pressure, intimidation and retaliation, to raise awareness about Israel’s assault on Gaza — with U.S. weapons and funding,” the letter states. “These students have come forth with clear demands that their universities divest from corporations profiting from Israeli occupation, and demanding safe environments for Palestinians across their campuses. ” Groups that signed the letter include Gen-Z for Change, Working Families Party, IfNotNow Movement, Young Democrats of America Black Caucus, Movement for Black Lives, Sunrise Movement, MPower Change, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestine Legal, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Some 900 students have been arrested during anti-war encampments and demonstrations at American universities in the last 10 days, per a tally from Al Jazeera — a tumultuous period that mirrors volatile demonstrations against the Vietnam War in 1968, when police arrested at least 700 students. The open letter Monday represents one of the largest shows of support among progressive groups for the burgeoning student protests, and makes clear the divide between establishment Democratic figures and social justice groups when it comes to U.S. support for Israel. President Joe Biden has refused so far to condition the sale of weapons to Israel. “Our communities have been horrified to see the militarized and violent response to students protesting an ongoing genocide funded and supported by our government, and our coalition of organizations join millions of our members across the country in standing in solidarity with the students’ efforts in support of the people of Gaza,” Yasmine Taeb, one of the main organizers of the letter, told HuffPost. Taeb is a human rights lawyer and political director at MPower Change, a Muslim social justice group.

“Instead of attacking young people mobilizing for Palestinian human rights, President Biden needs to listen to the majority of Americans who have been calling on him to stop funding and supporting the atrocities committed against the people of Gaza,” Taeb said.

[...] Israel has killed over 33,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, when the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched an attack in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed. In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s siege of Gaza — which has displaced 85% of the population and put the occupied territory on the cusp of famine — left Palestinians at risk of experiencing a genocide. Last week, health officials in Gaza said medics had discovered mass graves at hospitals raided by Israeli troops. “We join [the students] in calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and an end to the U.S. government’s and institutions’ role in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” Monday’s letter states. “As we stand in solidarity with the students protesting in encampments across the country, we reaffirm our commitment to amplifying their voices, condemn the university administration officials’ violent response to their activism, and demand that universities remove the presence of police and other militarized forces from their campuses,” it continues.

[...] Meanwhile, Republican Party officials and right-wing media figures have accused the demonstrations of antisemitism, falsely equating criticism of Israel with bigotry towards Jews. Although there have been scattered reports of actual antisemitic incidents at or near the encampments, many were not perpetrated by students but by interlopers. Many of the student protesters across the country are Jewish. Far-right agitators, including Christian nationalist activists, have also targeted the encampments, with MAGA pastor Sean Feucht leading hundreds of Christian and Jewish Zionists on a march around the Columbia campus on Thursday. The rally ended with pro-Israel demonstrators yelling through the gate at pro-Palestinian Columbia students. “Go back to Gaza!” they screamed.

More than 185 groups, including IfNotNow, Jewish Voice For Peace, MPower Change, and Working Families Party, signed a letter in support of the campus protests against Israel Apartheid State's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

[workersolidarity]

🇯🇵🇵🇸 🚨

LARGE PRO-PALESTINE PROTEST IN TOKYO CALLS FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE

📹 Scenes from large-scale Pro-Palestine demonstrations in Tokyo, Japan, calling for the Liberation of Palestine and rejecting the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[pastdaily]

Protest In 1968: The Young Rebels - Past Daily After Hours Reference Room

Coffee works too: https://pastdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/the-young-rebels-1968.mp3 NBC Radio – Second Sunday: The Young Rebels – 1968 – In case you forgot or weren’t around at the time, 1968 was a tumultuous year in our history. It was the year just about everything fell apart. From the war in Vietnam, to assassinations of much-loved leaders, to an entire country going out on strike.…

[chronicallycouchbound]

PSA: Please don’t ask participants to do grounding/mindful/somatic/etc practices at your events

Grounding exercises should not be an activity in large group settings, especially unsolicited and without warning, especially if you’re not aware of every single person in the space’s mental health conditions, physical health conditions, and personal relationship to their body.

Practices such as mindfulness, grounding, somatic exercises, breathing techniques, body scans, etc. are very helpful therapeutic tools to help manage stress. They can (and do!) help plenty of people– when taught safely and used effectively!

HOWEVER for people with conditions that cause psychosis and/or dissociative conditions such as depersonalization/derealization, these techniques are contraindicated and can make their symptoms significantly worse. They should only be used with guidance from their mental health team and adapted to their needs. For people with conditions like anxiety and PTSD, being aware of breathing can trigger a trauma response or anxiety attacks.

And for people with conditions that cause chronic pain or other uncomfortable bodily sensations, becoming re-centered with their bodies can cause more awareness of the pain they are in, which a level of (ideally functional) dissociation is actually helpful. For people in wheelchairs and powerchairs, touching the ground beneath their feet isn’t always an option. For people with cardiac and pulmonary conditions, deep breathing can be impossible or can trigger asthma attacks. For disabled people in general, doing body scans can be impossible due to paralysis or limb differences. They can bring awareness to things the person wasn’t aware were wrong to begin with (which is helpful in certain spaces, but not a great ice breaker at a retreat!)

And for trans people, binders and other garments can restrict breathing, and taking repeated deep breaths while binding can cause rib damage (which is why you shouldn't bind at night, while coughing from sickness, while exercising, etc). Becoming centered in a body that makes you dysphoric can be deeply distressing, again, a level of functional dissociation helps.

This also goes for plenty of other people in marginalized bodies, such as people of color, people who use substances, queer people, and more. Becoming grounded in your own marginalized body can be a heavy weight to carry, and needs appropriate and individualized care to be a beneficial experience.

As an alternative, I suggest doing a round of gratitudes instead, it allows for people to choose their level of vulnerability in spaces, while not being generally contraindicated for many people. Doing fun (and appropriate to the setting) icebreakers are great. Ask what brings someone to the space. Check-ins about basic needs such as if people need to use the restroom, eat, drink water, are rested, etc. can be more appropriate body check-ins for folks to do.

I don’t recommend doing these exercises even with a warning beforehand. If I'm in the room while someone is leading a breathing exercise, even if I try to ignore it, I (and most people) would automatically become aware of my breathing. The same goes for any other techniques. These techniques can cause real, life-threatening levels of harm for some people, and can even just be deeply uncomfortable or distressing for others. Dissociation is not inherently evil or bad or harmful. It is the way the body and mind naturally respond to adverse experiences (note: it can also cause distress and at higher levels, can be disordered) it is best to allow people to exist as they are in communal spaces. Let people show up as they are.

Most spaces are not equipped or appropriate to respond to emergencies, difficult feelings, and all the varied responses that can come from folks doing mindfulness in group settings.

I personally do some things before large gatherings and events to feel centered on the activity I’ll be doing, and afterward, I decompress. Encourage participants to lean on their natural supports and offer suggestions for it! Be creative in your caring!

This also doesn’t mean to discourage these practices! If you see someone doing deep breathing, check in with them, offer a space for them to decompress, care for them! Worksheets or posters on techniques like square breathing and 5 senses check-ins are great for a quiet room or spaces where participants can decide if they want/are able to engage with those tools. It should be a fully consensual opt-in, rather than being forced to opt-out. Having to leave a room when a group leader says “We’re going to start a mindful breathing meditation, please feel free to leave if you have psychosis, chronic pain, or are trans” is obviously othering and outs people.

Sincerely, someone who has psychotic symptoms, dissociation, chronic pain, is trans and whose body is marginalized in many ways and is really tired from trying to explain this at every event I go to