Inside college activism

On March 4, while representatives of the K-12 schools, community colleges, CSU and UC systems gathered in Sacramento to act out Dr. Seuss and sing “This Little Light of Mine,” students at their respective campuses walked out of classes, occupied buildings and even shut down the Interstate 880/Interstate 980 freeways in Oakland. This is the difference between the two poles of the greater student movement. Those that see the education crisis as capable of reform ask for concessions, so that legislators might privilege them with increased budgets. The students moving from their campuses into buildings and onto the city streets see education as one interconnected piece of the perpetual crises called capitalism. After the Fall: Communiqués From Occupied California collects the online statements of the campus occupations, grounding them in post-World War II U.S. government policy and the growing history of international worker and student occupations. Available for shipping costs at http://littleblackcart.com.