CSUN Chicana/o Studies Furlough day and teach in

This past Wednesday at the big N, we took a department wide furlough day/walkout/teach-in. We are multi disciplinary so are our actions.

I didn’t call for a furlough day because then none of my students would have gone to campus, unless they had other classes, and they would have missed the march and teach in.

The weird thing about it all was that very few of the students knew what to do at a rally or march. Most had never been to a march. They grew up in an era of grotesque lies, conservativism, fear mongering and resistance to dehumanization but had never participated or seen what people did in the streets.

I met with my later class and asked “what will it take to get you angry and into the streets?” none could answer. I hope they come back with something on Wednesday.

5 thoughts on “CSUN Chicana/o Studies Furlough day and teach in

  1. IMO the new conservatism is not about looking at T&A or violence, its about thought control and making people afraid of saying the wrong thing or joining ‘losing’ causes.

  2. I’m not surprised they didn’t know what to do. Hell, when I was that age I didn’t know what to do either, not just in part from what you mentioned, but because that fire wasn’t lit in me at the time. We all know things are fucked up, but back then I could give a rats ass. Personally, I never saw merit in reactionary events like marches and protest. I was extremely apathic, still am to an extent. The key here is disconnect. How can someone be mad at something when they don’t see the connections. Media and society create that disconnection, that’s why teachers and community leaders gotta break it down to them and show them, x+y= you getting assed out of an education.

  3. The normal mode of existence is alienation and disengagement. That’s why marches seem like weird shit from another planet.

    What bad thing would make some kid march?

    Nothing could, because marching isn’t seen as a response.

    The purpose of a march is to demonstrate numbers – it has a democratic function. What if these kids don’t have a functional understanding of democracy?

    The way democracy is taught, it’s all about voting. Worse, it’s all about “voting in secret” or voting privately.

    The way it’s taught, it’s about popularity contests and elections. “Vote for me please.” Voting for someone to be the king, temporarily, but the king has no power except to suppress everyone else.

    Marches and mass demonstrations don’t fit into this alienated model of democracy.

    To understand the march, you first need to have mass demonstrations. Gatherings. People voting with their presence, getting together to request change, and networking with each other.

    The march is supposed to represent dedication and discipline. It might demonstrate the ability to march in file, to be organized for action. It’s also a way to reconfigure space, so that people can join the march and cause it to grow — though this generally doesn’t happen unless a lot of people have marching experience.

    There’s supposed to be a big student strike on the 4th of March. Maybe as events lead up to this big event, organizers will have some small marches in the community to practice.

  4. @UT – 70% of Americans, including Republicans, agreed with you.

    But, consider telling your boss that you hold differing political viewpoints, and you intend to organize outside the workplace among those who agree with you.

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