[Peace] Defend Anti-War Student Protesters at UC Berkeley

[Tulsi Dharmarajan]

-----Original Message-----
From: Foil-l-bounces at insaf.net [mailto:Foil-l-bounces at insaf.net] On Behalf Of Ra Ravishankar
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 1:49 PM
To: FOIL

Dear friends:

On March 20, the day after the war on Iraq began, the Berkeley Stop the
War Coalition, like many other anti-war groups across the country, held a
demonstration on campus to protest the war and demonstrate our opposition
to the military policies of the Bush administration. Thousands of
students walked out of their classes at noon to join us on Sproul Plaza
in what university administrators called the largest protest in decades
at the University of California, Berkeley.

The protest was inspiring, all the more so because it was a part of an
international movement to oppose war.  During the course of the
demonstration, several hundred students peacefully marched into Sproul
Hall, the university administration building, and held a peaceful sit-in.
(We have attached a few news reports of the protest at the bottom of this
email).  The demands were simple: declare Baghdad University a sister
school to UC Berkeley as a show of opposition to war; cease monitoring
international students on campus; and stop fee hikes and wage cuts during
the course of war.  The administration refused each of these demands and
arrested 119 protesters.

All criminal charges were dropped against the protesters. And for all but
three students, student conduct charges were also dropped.

But three students now face student conduct charges that would make it
impossible for them to protest on campus and would punish them for doing
what was right.  While the university has offered community service as a
kind of plea bargain, it carries with a probationary warning that would
make it impossible for student activists to protest again on campus.

The irony of it is that today, with no weapons of mass destruction, no
proven threat of an attack from Iraq, increasing costs of the occupation,
growing numbers of civilian and military casualties and fatalities,
continued attacks on civil rights, the protesters have been proven
correct - the war on Iraq was wrong.

And, since the war started, not only have fees been raised for students
and wages and jobs been cut for employees at the University of
California, but international students are now required to register with
federal agencies as a condition of enrollment.

And still, the university is going to prosecute student protesters.

On October 14th, the university will hold formal hearings to bring
student conduct charges against the three students - some of the most
prominent activists in the coalition.

We believe that these charges are not only unfair (in that they single
out three people from over a hundred to prosecute) but are also unjust.
They are designed to intimidate students and political activists and to
chill speech.

They also represent an attempt to attack one of the most well known
anti-war student organizations in the country in order to make it easier
to attack other anti-war students organizations across the country.

We need your help.

Please take a few moments and write to the Chancellor and the Student
Judicial Affairs Office (addresses and phone information below) and tell
them that you believe that these penalties are unwarranted and unjust.
Especially at Berkeley, where there are memorials to Free Speech movement
of the 1960s all over campus (the Mario Savio steps and the Free Speech
Movement Café), these kinds of attacks on free speech and civil
disobedience are not only an attempt to roll-back the activist gains won
on this campus, but also in defiance of the university's mission to
promote free speech and debate.

We have included some talking points below that you may want to include
in your conversation or correspondence with the administration at UC
Berkeley.  Please do email us at ucbstopthewar at hotmail.com with any
correspondence that you send so that we can keep a record of the letters
that the administration receives.

Also, please sign our online petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/stopwars/petition.html

We urgently need your help.  Please lend your support to anti-war student
activists and activists who are fighting for social justice by letting
the administration know that their actions are not supported by members
of the community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Sincerely,
Berkeley Stop the War Coalition
ucbstopthewar at hotmail.com

Please contact:

Chancellor Robert Berdahl
MAIL: 200 California Hall #1500
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
TEL: (510) 642-7464
FAX: (510) 643-5499

Assistant Chancellor John Cummins
EMAIL: jcummins at uclink4.berkeley.edu
MAIL: Office of the Chancellor
200 California Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
TEL: (510) 642-7516
FAX: (510) 643-5499

Student Judicial Affairs Officer Neal Rajmaira
EMAIL: osc at uclink4.berkeley.edu
326 Sproul Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
TEL:(510) 643-9069
FAX:(510) 643-3133

TALKING POINTS
1) Students should not face charges or disciplinary actions for
participating in non-violent civil disobedience.
2) Activists should be allowed, freely, to speak and protest on campus
without harassment from the University or its officers.
3) Any attempt to charge protesters for peaceful protest represents an
attack on free speech.
4) The war and occupation of Iraq were wrong and protesters were right to
protest.
5) Student activists fought for the right to organize on this campus in
the 1960s and should be allowed to continue to organize.
6) The University of California, Berkeley should declare its opposition
to the war and occupation by naming Baghdad University a sister school.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Articles and reports from the protest:

1) War reawakens protest movement at UC Berkeley
Demonstrations held at Sproul Hall, in Berkeley park and at Oakland City
Hall

By William Brand, Angela Hill
and Mike Adamick, STAFF WRITERS
Oakland Tribune, March 21, 2003

BERKELEY -- America's attack on Iraq brought an instant and spirited
protest from students Thursday at the University of California, Berkeley.

Police arrested 119 demonstrators inside Sproul Hall at the end of the
largest protest on the campus in at least a decade. The rally, sponsored
by the Berkeley Coalition to End the War, brought out at least 1,500
spectators -- mostly students.

And unlike most protests, this one didn't end at protesting. All but 19
were UC students, Cooper said.

"There were 18 adults and one nonstudent minor."

Cooper said the Sproul Plaza crowd was the largest for a political
demonstration in years. "We had some large demonstrations in the
mid-1980s against apartheid," he said. "In the 1990s, there were some
antiwar rallies that drew 1,000. But we estimate this crowd at 1,500
today."

2) 119 Arrested in Sproul Takeover
Anti-War Sit-In Freezes Administration for Hours; Thousands Walk Out,
Join Noontime Peace Rally
http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=11389
By AMELIA HEAGERTY, ANDREA HERNANDEZ, MARTIN RICARD and NATE TABAK

Friday, March 21, 2003

One hundred seventeen protesters were arrested yesterday afternoon after
they refused to leave an anti-war sit-in in the main lobby of Sproul
Hall.

More than 30 UC police officers were present, with two to five officers
removing each protester.

Ninety-eight of those arrested were UC Berkeley students. The majority of
the demonstrators were escorted out of the lobby without incident, but
several had to be carried.

The students at the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition-organized sit-in had
three requests-the same demands they made at their earlier peace rally.

They asked UC Berkeley to declare the University of Baghdad its sister
school and not increase student fees or cut staff wages during the war.

They also demanded the university not give student records, especially
those of international students, to federal agencies.

Once the arrests began, it took police less than 90 minutes to empty
Sproul's lobby of sit-in participants.

Sproul Hall, which houses most of the university's administration, was
closed down for more than four hours yesterday. This came at a time when
admissions staff were one week away from mailing out acceptance letters.

Officials said they lost valuable time yesterday because the sit-in
brought their daily business to a halt.

The protesters who refused to stand were dragged, carried or forced to
stand with "pain holds."

Police forced protesters to comply with orders by twisting their arms
behind their backs or pressing the pressure points on their necks, said
UC police Capt. Bill Cooper.

After they were removed one by one, all 117 were cited on suspicion of
misdemeanor trespassing by the UC Police Department and released.

The demonstrators entered the building shortly after rallying on Sproul
Plaza at noon.

The arrests started three hours later, after protesters had been
addressed by both Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell and UC police Lt. Jim
West.

"We certainly recognize your right to express your opinions about the
war," Mitchell said to the crowd. "For those of you who decide you want
to be arrested, we ask that you continue to do this in a nonviolent way."

West told the Sproul occupants if they did not leave the building, they
would be subject to arrest and or campus disciplinary action.

The demonstrators filled the main lobby of Sproul, sitting cross-legged
and chanting anti-war sentiments.

"One, two, three, four, we're students, we're anti-war. Five, six, seven,
eight, stop the violence, stop the hate," they chanted as they continued
to occupy the lobby.

"This is the only way to stop (the war) and cause pre-emptive peace,"
said UC Berkeley freshman David Born.

UC Berkeley staff and administrators stood on the sidelines but said they
could not accommodate the students' demands.

"There's no way that any of us here can meet any of those demands,"
Mitchell said. "Those are different decision-making bodies."

A large group of students watched from just outside the door, spilling
onto the steps of Sproul Hall and chanting along with those inside.

They pounded on the windows and chanted frantically in support of the
sit-in participants.

"This was our first time doing this," said UC Berkeley senior Chris
Goslow. "We've never participated in a cause before since we've been here
(at UC Berkeley). Now we're activists."

UC Berkeley graduate student Snehal Shingavi, an organizer of the sit-in,
led the crowd in chants and blasted sentiments on a loudspeaker.

As the students were taken from the lobby one by one, those remaining
continued to rally, chanting loudly.

When police used pain holds and other techniques to remove individuals
from the scene, protesters screamed "Shame! Shame!" at the police angrily
and chanted, "The whole world is watching."

Although police reported no injuries, Shingavi said some protesters
sustained injuries to their eyes, arms and heads.

"People were going limp so police had to drag them," said UC Berkeley
junior Azadeh Amani, who was arrested in the protest. "People were
banging their heads on the stairs."

Many protesters returned to continue protesting on the steps of Sproul.

Other campus activities were affected by the commencement of the war.

Many teachers canceled classes, and many students walked out at noon in
protest.


3) Coverage from Indymedia:
story and pictures
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/03/1586753.php

pictures
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/03/1586647.php

audio clip
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/03/1586672.php


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