[UPDATE] Universities to Strike to Stop War…

This just in from World Can’t Wait:

–now people from 3 different schools around the country have contacted us, wanting to know how to get the strike on their campus. The latest is U Mass- Boston.

–We have also heard that students at Fordham U. in the Bronx have heard about the strike and are debating whether to organize a walk-out, strike or something else on Feb. 15th-but they want to do something against the war.

–Last night, Columbia COLLEGE in Chicago (no relation to Columia U in NYC, also striking on the 15th) decided to strike. They are working on a declaration, which will include that their strike relates to Bush being allowed to remain in power, and should be posted on the website within an hour of this email being sent. Members of the WCW chapter there and also other students who came to hear Sunsara Taylor and Liam Madden speak that night, held a meeting late into the night, which ended in a unanimous vote in favor of calling a strike. We are hearing reports that at first calling for a strike was heavily contentious, with the majority of students opposing it mainly because they didn’t think there would be enough time to plan it, and as the meeting progressed and people talked more about the need for this to the people of the whole world, and the eyes of so many focused on what this generation is going to do, there was a turn in the discussion, and people began to change how they saw the possibility of a strike. Several students articulated that they need to do this, even if it was just the relatively small group at the meeting doing it. People immediately took initiative for talking about which parts of the campus should be leafleted by whom, etc. People made plans for going out and challenging other Chicago campuses to join the strike.

–A statement declaring the Columbia U. strike will be released Monday, in time for Noam Chomsky to mention the strike in a speech he will be giving at CU the following day, which he has agreed to do. Also at Columbia, the endorsement of the strike by one of the student groups in the coalition calling for the strike is being debated out. The questions being contended over appear to be whether this strike can be organized in a short period of time, and whether a strike will aleinate faculty and the school administration. This debate will have implications for the character and size of what happens at CU on the 15th, and we are following it closely.

–Today we received a statement from Howard Zinn in support of the strike nationwide which you can find on the website. Other developments will be posted on the site as they come in.

All WCW organizers have a part to play in popularizing and fighting for the strike to happen as powerfully, with the best possible political terms, and in as many places as possible. I want to again emphisize, this should be part of what we’re talking to people about in all we do.


1/31:
At a late-night meeting tonight at Columbia University, a body of students representing several organizations, including World Can’t Wait, voted 17-5 in favor of a strike against the war on February 15th. Many of the specifics are yet to be worked out. There should be an article about it in the Columbia Spectator, Thursday’s edition–
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/.

The question of impeachment was very contentious, and so far is not something there is unity among the strike organizers in including or referencing in the strike’s demands. Many of the students were arguing that we must do something on the level of a strike because the world is bigger than ourselves or the campus where we go to school. Some were arguing that there needs to be a tie-in to the school itself and its connections to the war for a strike to be successful. There was debate over whether to disrupt classes or not. There was debate over whether to call for it so soon. There was debate over how professors would respond to this, whether asking them to cancel class would push them away or bring them more onboard. there was debate over what the best way to involve the most people and have the most impact would be: go for a strike, or a rally that’s not during class time and would disrupt the routine of school less. Doing a strike on the 15th won out, and the meeting ended with everyone very excited, and side conversations spilled out the door, some into a neighborhood bar, where students celebrated the beginning of something badly needed in the world.

A statement will be released Monday on the strike and its demands.

Also, students from other schools have started contacting WCW youth, wanting to hook into plans for the strike. There will be a conference call Saturday night to see where things are at at the various schools that are working on this, to have political discussion over the aims of the strike, and to further plan spreading it.

People getting this email should right away start spreading word of both strikes so far being planned for the 15th, as we talk to people about the various innitiatives we’re working on for WCW. People who are interested should contact [email protected]

2 Comments

  1. “national” must really BE all over the nation!!! ALL action groups MUST do the SAME action on the SAME DAY!! Before you rush into any worthwhile project, you need to calculate the results. Considering the controlled corporate media, you must understand that any effort you make will be either ignored, played down or almost ridiculed by the monopolized media. Perhaps you can make waves LOCALLY, but that is not helpful in the case of impeachment.

    PLEASE make it count! JOIN in with all other groups, make ONE orchestrated and cohesive strike across every city and every state!! We CAN do it! But we need to cooperate. Plan carefully. We can work with all the impeachment groups TOGETHER to bring off ONE strike that can shut down not just ‘city hall’ but every state capitol, every toll bridge, every office, store, school and stop Wall Street cold. IF IF IF IF… if we simply spend a couple of months coordinating every group we can find, every alternative news group, every blogger, everyone each of us can find. It CAN be done, despite the suppression we’re facing. Make your comments far and wide, first we need a ‘meet-up place’ and this looks like a good one!?? send all the groups, activists, supporters to download a Pledge to strike and get it out on the streets for signatures. Impress upon people that it has to be taken seriously, because they WILL be called on to strike on a given date.
    ….scattered protests, no matter how well done, simply are not and cannot be effective in today’s America-under-Suppression!
    Pelosi acknowledged that “the people have mandated”… but even as the election boxes were being put away, she declared that “impeachment is off the table”. We’re back where we started: Taxation Without Representation.

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