Straussians Gone Wild

wtf?

perstare et praestare

That's NYU's motto - "To persevere and to excel," or, more literally, "to withstand" ("stand through") and and "stand before." As Bob Proto once noted that the struggle to fight for social justice in New Haven constituted "the only light and truth" at Yale University, and as the members of Local 34 who rewrote "Solidarity Forever" in 1984 noted that it was "the workers who are standing up for Lux et Veritas," so a similar dynamic seems to be operating here at NYU now. On day 177 of GSOC's strike, in our 26th week, less than a week short of the six month mark, GSOC members have withstood (perstiterunt) economic blacklists, threats and intimidation, sketchy abusive hugging, infantilizing and demonizing rhetoric, freezing cold weather, Alessandro Miglio, the repeated proclamations from the university's PR flacks that we are anti-undergraduate or that we simply do not matter any more, that our strike is crushed. We have responded by growing, by gaining momentum, by building our strike, our struggle, and our union. In the process, we've stood before (praestiterunt) the neoliberal university's instrumentalist reason and begun to articulate a democratic, constituent vision of an accessible, diverse university beholden not to the corporate criminals who sit on NYU's board of trustees behind Martin Lipton, but instead to a wide spectrum of social movements struggling for a better world.

And now, I give you me getting arrested, courtesy of the GSOC website. Our mouths are open because we're shouting "Contract! Now!"

And in the book nerdiness category...

this just came in the mail today!

A song of social significance.

This is a work in progress, the latest in my ignominious attempts to rewrite popular songs to pertain to labor struggles at universities. Here, i've done something I've generally shyed away from recently, in attempting to rewrite a song i actually love, and not in a hipster "Journey Rulez" kind of way. I'm still trying to figure out the last line of the final verse. If you have suggestions, I would welcome and very much appreciate them. Anyway, without further adieu, i give you "Bastards of Young," GSOC style. Original lyrics and music by Paul Westerberg, as performed by The Replacements on the classic 1985 album Tim.

John, what a mess, tenure ladder no redress
And so on picket lines your name is sung
Dreams unfulfilled, graduates deskilled
And so we'll keep on walkin' and refuse to be forgotten

We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
the labs and the sections

We won't teach no Hume or lecture on Khartoum
Our drums we'll sound, until we win this fight
health benefit reduction, voodoo economic suction
And so we'll keep on walkin' and refuse to be forgotten

We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
the labs and the sections

John Beckman tries to frame us, NYU's Class War defames us

The ones who made this mess are the ones whom we protest
justice doesn't demand anything less
They walk down Wash. Square East and they call us a disease
But we'll win negotiation, whatever they try we'll beat 'em..

We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
We are contingent teachers, GSOC on strike
the labs and the sections

Take it! It's Yours!

The smell of shady gentrification?

Seems awfully convenient.

Hunger strikers win card check at University of Miami!

The parties agreed to conduct an impartial process to verify whether a
majority of employees are interested in collective bargaining representation by
the SEIU. At least 60 percent of the workers must vote in favor of unionizing by
August 1, 2006 for UNICCO to recognize the union. Under terms of the agreement,
a card-check verification process will be conducted by a neutral third party,
the American Arbitration Association.
***
The dispute at Miami has become a focal point for labor activists and
political leaders nationwide who want to help low-income workers at colleges,
especially at institutions that outsource work to companies. The dispute at
Miami follows major student activism on behalf of janitors at Washington University in St. Louis and helped encourage
activists at the University of Virginia, among other campuses.
At an
impromptu celebratory gathering after the agreement was released, several
janitors said they were excited to vote to join SEIU. Most make less than
$11,000 a year for a full eight hours of work each day and do not have health
insurance.
Throughout the school year, students had worked
hard to support the janitors, joining in rallies and participating in hunger
strikes. “Student support was instrumental,” said Asher. “They shared a vision
with the janitors on how to make this university a just place.”

This is so inspirational, and sucjh a huge victory. I'm at a loss for words. Congratulations to all the people who fought so hard for so long for this.

I don't have any pictures from yesterday's rally, but it was amazing, completely filling Union Square. Favorite chant, other than the perennial "Bush, escucha, estamos en la lucha!" was "No somos cero. No somos cien. Somos milliones, cuenta nos bien!" (Apologies for lack of accents.)

While paper-writing this weekend i took intermittent Buffy breaks, finishing season 2 and beginning season 3. Season 3 remains my favorite. It's epic in a way that even season 2 never was for me. It's the moment where high school assumes a mythic quality but also feels far more "lived in" than in the previous two seasons, partially because of Oz and the increasing prominence of the supporting cast (Jonathan, Amy, Schneider, Harmony, Larry, et al.) I'll freely admit that part of the reason I love the third season is the huge freaking revolt at the end, but there's such a wealth of storylines and so many incredible episodes. That said, rewatching "Becoming, Pt. 2," the season 2 finale, I found the episode far more moving than I have the last couple of times I've seen it. Not only does it set up "Anne," which is easily the show's best season premiere ever, but it's somethig of a perfect climax for the orgy of pathos that is season 2, and the buffy-joyce scenes are pretty priceless.

Thank god the folks in Washington are looking out for us little people.

Paper hell. More later.