Student or occupier–which takes precedent? Publicity intern Adam Schwartz, who is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley, reflects on the limitations of the Occupy Cal movement.
“The days of apathy are over, folks. Once this has begun it cannot be stopped and will not be stopped!” Powerfully moving, these were the final words of Robert Reich’s memorable November 15th, 2011 address to the students at the University of California. The crowd immediately erupted into passionate applause as thousands of students cried, cheered, and chanted. One hour later, however, there were fewer than 100 students remaining at the encampment, a dedicated collective willing to put their lives on the sidelines for the benefit of the group. Every other participant had disbanded back to their respective social lives and studies, sequestering their involvement in Occupy Cal to a few Facebook statuses and text messages. I was one of those individuals who chose to return home. Are the days of apathy really over, or is this social movement just another blip on the 2011 fall semester?
The first rally I ever attended at Cal was in the spring of 2009. This “day of action” was a familiar rally cry to any UC student as tuition had increased over 60% since 2006. Since my freshman year there have been more protests against the tuition hikes than I can count, and for good reason. Public education in California is in a dangerously stifled state. I have seen my peers drop out and friends fall into abysmal black holes of unending loans. It can be nearly impossible to enroll in classes. Motivation aside, I decided as an impressionable young sophomore to attend the 2009 rally out of curiosity. What I witnessed I remember describing as “beautiful.” There was a mass of people, signs abundant and powerful speeches that echoed the words of Mario Savio’s “Bodies upon the Gears” speech. Then I heard the dutiful beep of my watch, saw it was 2 pm and left for class, as did hundreds of other students that day. I went from feeling power in the collective to experiencing self-interest in the individual drive of the classroom.
The original Occupy Cal on November 9th, 2011, called for a walkout rally urging students to put responsibility aside and fight the tuition hikes once more. Again I decided to stop by in between my classes and witness the community action. My finance professor could not have chosen a better time to let class out early. As I made my way on the main plaza I heard a massive cry begging, screaming, and demanding to “stop beating students!” When I thought I would be greeted with thousands I was surprised to see only a small contingent of about 150 people face to face, pushing and shoving against police in riot gear. I considered joining for a moment when “Beep beep!” –  time to go to class again. I got one last look and told myself I would search the internet later. In fact, little searching was necessary as the first notification on my Facebook when I returned home was a video of exactly what I saw on “The Colbert Report,” complete with sardonic analysis. The event came to me, directly into my narrow bedroom; I did not even need to check it out in person.
An unwillingness to put one’s life on hold: this is what kills the motivation behind these rallies. At Cal we are told repeatedly that we are privileged to go to the best public university in the world, that we need to take advantage of an opportunity few will ever have and that if we don’t continue our hard work we can blame no one else for falling behind. Reasons such as these leave little room for most students who, on a good day, are only mildly interested in political engagement, even when the situation at hand directly affects us. November 15th, the day Reich spoke, was a massive response to the beatings that less 1% of the undergraduate population endured (no pun intended). This day featured a teach-in where professors, teacher’s assistants and students convened out in the open in visible support of the Occupy Movement. Every class I had that day was taught outside, but the next day was a return to normal with little academic mention of the events. The teach-in was a reaction to the beatings and how the administration handled free speech; it probably would not have happened if students were never harmed on November 9th.
For most of my peers, me included, the events of this fall will be just a memory from our college days. However, for those students who were beaten or continued to sleep outside against the administration’s wishes, these events are much more. Unfortunately, no matter how much we may believe in the movement, if we continue to subjugate the message of Occupy Cal to our own personal priorities the movement will never be seen as legitimate. Fewer than 100 students have dedicated half of this semester to fighting for tuition while the rest have continued to go to class and drink with friends on weekends – and there is no shame in that. The point to glean from all of this is that no battle was won by re-tweeting or linking people to Youtube videos. Students cannot expect tuition to be combated if they allow a few dedicated individuals to fight the good fight while the rest sit comfortably in their individual lives cursing the UC Regents. Some have been beaten, others arrested, but the majority are simply caring without acting. The events became national news because of the violence against a few, which was reinforced by reactionism from the many. The days of apathy are not entirely over, but the movement will not truly begin until the bloggers, tweeters and status-updaters put their computers down and head to the front lines.
Image by D.H. Parks on Flickr Courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing
