To Finish Reading: Towards a Socialist Art of Government: Michel Foucault’s ‘The Mesh of Power’” – https://viewpointmag.com/2012/09/12/the-mesh-of-power/

I think if their intention was simply to gain “sympathy” for a cause then clearly their actions were not well orchestrated. However, not being present, I suspect the organizers’ intentions were otherwise directed. I can’t speak for the organizers, nor can I necessarily come to a robust defense of an action I’m not intimately familiar with, yet it seems evident that their action was in solidarity with people in Palestine, not with privileged students at a university. Further, when taking action, the goal is rarely to resonate with the whole of the student body, the faculty, or even the workers on campus–typical for this kind of nuanced rhetoric often pummeled under the heavy jackboots of hegemonic propaganda. Although such popularity would be ideal, it’s scarce in practice; it’s better to act then to sit idle waiting for a perfect moment that never comes. These sorts of actions have a different coterie in mind: this form inspires hope for those of us cast in the shadow of social apathy. In other words, it brings (renewed) attention to a plight and a struggle that desperately needs it–perhaps not from yourself, but certainly from many socially conscious folks.

Secondarily, I find it–at the very least–peripherally unfortunate that these students were unable to receive the study aid they needed. Having completed a number of courses in chemistry, I can empathize with the desperate need for extracurricular assistance. With that said, I’m a little surprised the tutoring couldn’t occur elsewhere. Although a proper room with a whiteboard is certainly preferable, couldn’t some makeshift accommodations be prepared at the last minute? I might otherwise also go into some length about the lack of resources for students in general and its connections with austerity and oppression worldwide (thus demanding global solidarity for a variety of struggles). Alas, this is not a popular line of reasoning because it requires a certain degree of an analysis of oppression and may get a little abstract. Suffice it to say that there is a great deal of thought and theory surrounding the relationship of students to struggle, and the student struggle to other struggles.

Fight Back against Police Brutality

Students and activists are holding A demonstration to call for an end to
police brutality and harassment of students and visitors.

Meet on SF State campus at Malcolm X plaza
at 2pm today, Friday May 17.

36 hours after being violently evicted from their home by the San
Francisco Police Department, former SFC residents were beaten, harassed,
and arrested again by Police. On Thursday, May 16th, a few members of the
collective were visiting friends at a SF State dorm. SFSU police first
began harassing individuals while they where outside of the dorm and
proceeded to follow them back to their friend’s room. Within minutes,
campus PD and SFPD invaded, beat, and arrested many of those
inside. Six former residents of the squatted home and social center known
as the SFCommune were arrested. During the altercation, one person was
repeatedly struck in the ribs by a police baton while he was face down and
another person was tazed. Three individuals
were hospitalized for injuries by police. Some of those arrested are
currently facing charges of: battery, trespassing, conspiracy and,
lynching. It is still unclear when they will be released.

The SFCommune located at 200 Broad st. was a vacant building transformed
into a squatted social center. activists, who cleaned the dilapidated
building, making it habitable for the first time in years and
planted a blooming community garden, maintained an active community
kitchen, and offered emergency shelter to those in the city who needed it.
Welcomed by the community for their efforts in cleaning the neglected
space, during its 13 month existence, they were met by riot police with
lethal weapons Wednesday morning; 28 residents were forcibly removed and
briefly detained, while three were arrested.

Heres some Links

https://www.goldengatexpress.org/2013/05/16/arrest-at-sf-state/

Plenty of small businesses – including, sadly, co-ops – treat their employees as miserably as corporations. The fetishization of small business serves capitalism.