I received a report today that the letter on the left has been appearing on the footsteps of fraternity houses near UC Berkeley.

Attending perhaps their first protest ever, Berkeley frat boys will be gathering around the tree near Wheeler Hall on Friday to denigrate Fresh, the protester who has been living in the tree for nearly two weeks to support the Free the UC campaign.

The notice contains a “nota bene:” first, these crusaders for a better world will be screaming “Fuck Schuck.” They claim that Fresh’s real name is Michael Schuck. Second, if they run into Zachary Running Wolf, they will call him “Running Mouth.”

Now, I’d be lying if I said I ever expected a fraternity-run protest to look any different than this. But the truly disturbing question in my opinion is this: is the UCPD either coordinating this protest, or working with the students who are putting it together? The reason I ask is that the name “Running Mouth” was reportedly coined by an officer who was arguing with Running Wolf near a tree protest. Second, it may be the case that somebody in UCPD leaked Fresh’s alleged name to the organizers. If that is true, then it is difficult to see the police as anything but a political force–except one with a right to use force.

In any case, this only confirms what I had been thinking about those who are “against” Fresh and others’ tactics: they are more willing to oppose those who are laterally close to them in a hierarchy of power, than those above them. What courage. I expect this to be nasty, as frat boys and faux liberals project their insecurities and failures onto the guy in the tree.

Tags: Absurdities //