UC Berkeley students and allies occupied Blum Hall at the North end of UC Berkeley on the afternoon of Thursday, February 13th after a march through the campus. Students are demanding the resignation of Janet Napolitano, who has recently become the President of the University of California (UC) system. Napolitano is a member of the Democratic Party, former Governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009, an architect of the “Secure Communities” deportation campaign, and was the former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. As of this writing, the occupation is still ongoing and students remain locked inside the building. FireWorks caught up with David Lemus, one of the students helping to hold down the space outside of Blum Hall to talk about why people were occupying the campus.
[Photo: Students inside the locked down building.]
At around 9:30 PM I entered the UC Berkeley campus to see how the most recent occupation of UC Berkeley was going. Having been through the student occupation movement in 2009 (and going through several of the lovely bay area jails in the process), I was excited to see campus occupations still happening several years later. After meeting a couple of friends and asking around, someone introduced me to David Lemus, a UC Berkeley student who talked to me at length about why many students were not only angry, but willing to occupy a building on campus. According to David, there were about 11 people who were locked inside the Blum office building. Watching from inside the window, they seemed in good spirits: they were in meetings, having conversations with people on the other side of the glass, and also posting up signs for those on the outside to read. David told me that at around 11PM, several hundred people (upwards of 1,000 one participant told me), marched throughout the campus until they came to Blum Hall close to the north gate near Hearst and Euclid in Berkeley. At that time, people walked into the office and locked the doors. There appeared to be several chains on the doors to prevent police from coming inside. David told me that police were stationed in a nearby building and at one point came out and ordered people to leave but made no attempt to make arrests.
[Photo: Banners and supporters outside of the occupied hall.]
Students decided to occupy Blum Hall became it is owned by Richard Blum, (married to non-other than Diane Feinstein). Blum is also the owner of Blum Capital, who is also, surprise surprise, in charge of much of the construction projects happening around campus.
In an online manifesto, students wrote of Blum and thus why they were taking that building:
Richard Blum, the primary funder and namesake of the Blum Center, represents and acts as a driving force of privatization and reorganization of the University of California system. As an investment banker, Blum profits from the fact that the UC is no longer funded primarily through the federal government. As a central figure in pushing away from federal subsidization of education, and therefore a completely affordable or free public education, Blum and other bankers and financiers on the board of regents–including Monica Lozano–have compelled the University to take out massive bonds from private banks to compensate for this lack of funding. Public funding is legally allowed to go to only educational resources bonds, and the tuition system that allow this process to happen can be used for whatever the regents want. In many cases, this money is tied to companies that these regents own. For example, Blum owns the equity management firm Blum Capital, which has massive investments in the companies that do all of the construction at the UC.
[Photo: Aztec dancers outside of occupied Blum Hall at UC Berkeley on second day of occupation.]
Students oppose Janet Napolitano becoming President of the UC system for many reasons. David told me that many students were outraged over her being in charge of the Homeland Security Department and also leading massive deportations of migrant workers through ICE. As we stood in front of the occupied building, David told me that many of the students who took part in the march (for many this was their first political action) were first generation college students and who’s parents have been targeted by ICE or police throughout their lives, leading many to have a strong desire to fight those who are attacking their family members. On another online statement students wrote of Napolitano:
We recognize her to be a violator of human rights, and a threat to democratic public education. As head of the Department of Homeland Security – and its major division, the Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) – from 2009-2013, Napolitano terrorized, incarcerated and deported nearly 2,000,000 undocumented immigrants. Napolitano claims that she was simply enforcing the “nation’s immigration laws.” However, she played a major role in creating, expanding and implementing unethical programs such as Secure Communities and 287 (g) agreements, which continue to tear families apart, rely on rampant racial profiling and rake in billions for private prisons and security firms.
As night came, more supplies and supporters showed up.
On Friday, February 14th, students again brought food and gathered together in meetings and also watched a group of Aztec dancers. Students inside posted up banners in support as well as pictures of revolutionary anarchists and communists such as Lucy Parsons, Flores Magaon, Fanon, and Huey P. Newton. As of this writing, there have been no arrests by police as well as no attempts at dialog between university officials and those on either side of the occupied building. Those who are wanting to follow the struggle are encouraged to check out: www.facebook.com/no2napolitano and also follow things on twitter at: #No2Napolitano. Come down to the occupation with food, water, and friends. As with the student occupations on the campus and across California in 2009, we can only hope that these actions will continue, grow larger, and expand across the social terrain.
Students have also issued a set of demands which can be viewed here.