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.” [Read more →]

Tags: Absurdities by yaman
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Playing off of a recent UC Berkeley marketing campaign, two students have commenced a tree-sit on campus, pictured to the left, asking: can UC change?

The answer to one variation of that question answers the second. If you can see change, UC can change.

While I doubt it will be longer than a few days before the obsessively “moderate” voices on campus begin to toss epithets at the tree-sitters for being “ineffective,” it should be asked: does anybody really think that those who took to the trees believe that their actions alone are going to change the UC?

I doubt it. Rather than paint out the obvious, other students on campus, in the ASUC, writing for the campus paper, and participating on campus in other ways, should take this opportunity to stand by the student activists in the trees and to support their message. UC won’t change as long as its greatest dreams–that the student body will itself abandon and isolate any effort to reform the UC–remain fulfilled. [Read more →]

Tags: Current Events by yaman
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The MTV version of Israel is coming to campus tonight in the form of Israel 360, a way cool presentation with cool facts about Israel!

Tila Tequila might not be there, but we’ll still be able to liven it up by showing you the friendly, funny side of Israel! [Read more →]

Tags: Journal by yaman
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Background
Throughout the spring of 2006, students from the Israel Action Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Berkeley were filmed while organizing their activities. Many individual members of each group were interviewed by the documentarians, who had said they were making a documentary for the “America at a Crossroads” series about campus activism related to Israel and Palestine. That documentary ended up with the name “Campus Battleground,” airing tonight, Monday Nov 26, on PBS for the first time.

That spring was the first that Students for Justice in Palestine had existed on campus during my time at Cal. At the end of my first year, a group of us had decided to bring the organization back to campus. There are, of course, a few things you learn along the way, intellectually, personally, politically, practically, tactically, etc, even over the course of what is now only about a year and a half, so it is safe to say that the organization, myself included, has matured in all these ways over time. Those differences only become so clear with the ability to refer back to this taped record of the past.

In writing about this documentary, I want to be clear that I am not responding out of anger in opposition to it. I am not angry at all. I want to be clear, though, that I am not wholly comfortable with the way I or the various issues raised in the documentary have been portrayed. I don’t feel that I have been slighted or manipulated, though I do feel that the political message that this documentary advances is not in line with my own political views. I will touch more on this after laying out a few of my main objections.

The Demonization of Religion
No Palestinians
Superficial Understanding of ‘Otherness’
The Jewish-Arab Battlefield

[Read more →]

Tags: Comment by yaman
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On Wednesday evening, the ASUC Senate, in a vote of 11-7-2, narrowly passed SB75, a resolution “affirming the US-Israel relationship.” Among other things, the resolution suggested that the “relationship” between the US and Israel was based on “shared ideals” including “commitments to freedom, equality, and tolerance for all people.” The resolution, void of any mention whatsoever of the occupation of Palestinian land and of the actual nature of that mystical “relationship,” further stipulated that the ASUC Senate supports a “diplomatic relationship” while it does not support any “specific policies” of Israel.

Some Senators rushed through the bill to celebrate Halloween. Scary, huh?

While the resolution was heard for about two hours, it would be a mistake to say that the issue was discussed comprehensively. It was disheartening to see many senators itching to get out of their seats so they could drop by the various Halloween parties that were happening around campus–it was even worse to see those who didn’t care to pay due attention to the issue at hand decide to vote yes rather than to abstain. One gets the impression that there is a general sense of apathy on one side of the senate chambers, a sense which, besides being irresponsible for any elected official, also seems to imply that some senators don’t recognize the gravity of their decisions. If not for them personally, then for others on campus, in the wider community, and around the world.

Out of Berkeley on Wednesday night, the imagined progressive capital of the US, the ASUC Senate passed a regressive and reckless resolution that ignored the realities of the US-Israel relationship. That relationship is not about “shared ideals,” but about the billions of dollars in aid and military supplies that go from the United States to Israel every year. Click to continue reading…

Tags: Comment by yaman
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Is it really so surprising that those who support apartheid should be afraid of the Handala, that never-dying symbol of a never-dying Palestine, and of an image of the illegal wall Israel is building in and around the West Bank?

Click on the image for more information.

Tags: Journal by yaman
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Earlier this week, I tried to register a name for a new student group with the Office of Student Life (OSL). One of the advantages of registering a group with the OSL is that it makes it relatively easy to reserve rooms for meetings, events, and other activities. I’ve done this in the past and have never run in to any problems. This time, however, the name for my group was rejected because it included the word “Berkeley,” and that this was not allowed because it might “suggest [that] the university sponsors” the group.

This was strange to me because I know that a number of student groups use the word “Berkeley” in their name. Furthermore, the OSL website itself states the following:

Registered student groups may not use the University of California, Berkeley or any abbreviations (e.g. UC) as part of their name or in conjunction with their programs. Other terms, such as ‘campus’ or ‘Berkeley campus’ may be used by a registered organization as part of its name.

[Read more →]

Tags: Journal by yaman
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