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Type
text
Identifier
CES ARC 2015/1 Carton 1 Folder 4 CES0066
Subject
Student movements Student strikes Third World Liberation Front
Place
Berkeley, Calif.
Source
Location
UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library
Transcription
ON STRIKE!
February 24, 1969.
COMMINIQUE #8
The strike at the University of California will continue. While most strikes on this campus have lasted less than a week, this strike is now entering its fifth week and also has the prospect of a prolonged struggle. The strike will last until the Third World Liberation Front demands are met.
This strike also differs from previous actions on the campus because it is being led by a coalition of Third World people, the Third World Liberation Front. The strike is centered around the TWLF demand of self-determination, and inherent in that demand is the right of the TWLF to determine the strategy and tactics used to win that demand. The white students have been playing a supportive role through the Strike Support Committee and, in recognition of the leadership of the TWLF, have not advanced a separate list of demands.
The five demands of the TWLF are non-negotiable. They represent the minimum by which the TWLF can gain self-determination in education.
Chancellor Heyns has stated to the press that he has been negotiating with students about the strike. This may be true, but he has not even been in contact with the TWLF, let alone negotiating with the leadership of the strike. Some faculty members have been talking with Chancellor Heyns on their own, and feel that true settlement of grievances is possible. However, the Administration must negotiate with the TWLF to settle the strike.
We cannot depend on the faculty to win the strike for us. There are some faculty who are putting their careers on the line in support of the strike. Several department chairmen, for instance, have refused to release to Chancellor Heyns the names of TA's on strike and of professors teaching classes off campus. The majority of the faculty, though, are interested only in their narrow academic field; they hope that they can remain neutral about the strike and do not care about the outcome so long as they can return to their normal teaching and research duties. They do not realize that their jobs are threatened as much as the strikers' by the Administration's repression; if curtailment of civil rights and liberties is successful against one group, it soon is applied to others.
Our power is not that of money or of traditional political backing. Our only power is that of numbers. People can build their power by working together in mass actions like the strike. In order to be effective, we must act together in a disciplined way. Last Thursday, the people who battled the police were acting defensively against the police at attacks and intimidation of peaceful picket lines. The TWLF affirms the people's right of self-defense when attacked. However, when the TWLF leadership issues special directives as it did on Friday, those people who violate that direction are playing the role of provocateur, consciously or unconsciously. Individual acts of terrorism cannot substitute for organized action by masses of people; however, the TWLF recognizes the right of self-defense.
In the tense atmosphere on campus provoked by the presence of police and the academic reprisals initiated by the Administration and Regents, the main issue of the strike is in danger of being forgotten. The strike which is now entering its second month is focused on the demand for self-determination, not on police brutality or the street struggle. In order to keep the strike centered on this goal, the Third World Liberation Front is holding the first session of the Third World College today. Beginning at 12 o'clock, the TWLF will hold an educational forum on the nature of the Third World College (see agenda on back for further details). We challenge the Administration to debate its positiion with us.
Today Come to the 1st meeting of the Third World College
12 noon to 6:00 P.M.
Harmon Gym
labor donated
TWLF
AGENDA
12 noon TWLF Spokesman (Afro-American Student Union) "Concept of the Third World"
12:20 pm TWLF Spokesman (United Native Americans Party) "Third World Exploitation"
12:40 pm TWLF Spokesman (Asian American Political Alliance) "The Third World Demands"
1:00 pm TWLF Spokesman (Mexican-American Student Confederation) "The Strike as a Tactic"
1:20-2:20 pm UC Administration
Third World Faculty and Administrators
Third World College
2:20 pm "Asian-American Studies"
2:40 pm "Afro-American Studies"
3:00 pm "Chicano Studies"
3:20 pm "Native-American Studies"
3:40 pm TWLF Spokesman
4:00 pm Strike Support Committee "The Role of White Students in Support of the Third World Strike"
Striking Unions
4:15 pm AFT Local 1570 Spokesman
4:30 pm AFSCME Local 1695 Spokesman
4:45 pm Announcements
4:55-5:55 pm Third World Entertainment
Third World Liberation Front
labor donated
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