Meet Lieutenant John Pike, above. His telephone number is 530-752-3989. His email is japikeiii@ucdavis.edu. Don’t hold back—Pat Martin this pig.
When University of California at Davis students protest nonviolently on their own campus, this is what happens in Amerika.
Some accounts here and here and here.
A professor calling for Chancellor Linda Katehi’s resignation notes that cops deliberately shot pepperspray down the throats of unresisting students. One was reportedly coughing blood 45 minutes later.
Chris Hedges is right: democracy is dead in Amerika.
Watch the video, if you can stomach it:
Then ponder the Orwellian words of the campus chief, Annette M. Spiccuzza (530-752-3113): “I don’t believe any of our officers were hurt, and I hope none of the students were injured.”
And the equally Orwellian words of the Chancellor, Linda Katehi, addressing hate on campus earlier:
UC Davis has a long tradition of promoting community, particularly our Principles of Community. We are a campus known for its civility and our commitment to respect, equality and freedom of expression runs deep.
And on the incident that she herself caused by calling in the cops:
While we have appreciated the peaceful and respectful tone of the demonstrations during the week, the encampment raised serious health and safety concerns, and the resources required to supervise this encampment could not be sustained, especially in these very tight economic times when our resources must support our core academic mission.
We deeply regret that many of the protestors today chose not to work with our campus staff and police to remove the encampment as requested. We are even more saddened by the events that subsequently transpired to facilitate their removal.
Ah. “Health and safety” again. The excuse used by civic officials all over North America to smash the #Occupy movement. The same excuse used to trash Martin Luther King’s Resurrection City. Health and safety concerns—requiring the brutalization and hospitalization of peaceful students.
Katehi is quite a piece of work. Months earlier, she had authorized a Stasi-like campus spy network to keep an eye on dissidents. She’s a 1%er who was involved in a scandal at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was provost before taking up her post at Davis. About 800 underqualified students were admitted to that five-star campus after powerful people intervened on their behalf.
The blatant brutality that she and others have authorized may create its own progressive backlash: words like this, from a supporter on the scene at Davis, give one hope:
“When you protect the things you believe in with your body, it changes you for good. It radicalizes you for good.”
More bodies on the line, more exercise of what the legendary civil rights campaigner Bayard Rustin called “the total vote.” But will it be enough now that Amerika has donned its jackboots?