Fight the Power

This statement was prepared by a group of anarchists/Greens and in no way necessarily represents the opinions of anyone
else. We encourage a diversity of leaets expressing any other viewpoints.
Something historic is happening. Though it seems only slightly different from life as usual as a UVM
student, something historic is happening and will be remembered as a signicant moment. These last
couple of days has witnessed a solidarity only rarely experienced at UVM since its opening 200 years ago.
Three years to the day of the last takeover of \\^terman by students of color, the President s Ofce has
been occupied again to demand action against racism.
Why? The immediate reasons have been expressed over and over again in speakouts and classrooms.
Students of color, deeply commited to this university, have tried every administrative avenue to overcome
racism on campus, but they've only found endless redtape, manipulative lies and deadends. Like stu
dents of color before them, they have found an administration that has turned a blind eye to racism,
or has actively perpetuated racism, for example, by ring faculty because of their ethnicity or selectively
recruiting mostly Euro-American students.
At UVM and indeed at campuses across the country there are two levels of racism at work. First,
there are individual acts of racism, such as name-calling, derogatory grafti and even beatings. But
more powerful, because of its persistence, invisibility and insideousness, is institutional racism. It is
this that has driven the protestors, and others around the country, to repeatedly turn to tactics such
as occupying administrative ofces. Since the institutions are racist in themselves, working within
those racist institutions leads to endless frustrations, co-optation and burnout. The only voice that
people of color have is therefore not the voice of the administration, but their own voices together
with other students and the community generally the voice of solidarity. By taking over Waterman,
business as usual has signicantly and symbolically been blocked. Consequently, this has created a
vacuum of institutional power, and the power of solidarity and mutual aid has owered as if from
nowhere to take its place. In effect, on a very small scale, the seeds of a true participatory democracy
with its vibrant, balanced sense of cooperation, individuality and civic virtue has temporarily replaced
Ihfj unlver-qitv nf hnrpmirrnpv anH eypriilive nnwp.r_ FxQffL Ihgse^eeds. the ideals ofXreedom.
self-determination, equality, reason, and democracy can take root and grow. This action, then, isn't
merely a protest against institutional racism, but more ofa collective afrmation/or cultural diversity
and the human spirit.
The American dream has become the ideal of the wholesome American pie image of white picket fences,
white nuclear families with 2.5 kids and private suburban sprawls and malls. But since racism is truly
institutional and racism along with sexism, homophobia, poverty, ecological degradation andstatism
is truly essential to business as usual we have to question not how equitably we slice the pie, but
the vety makeup of the pie itself. Just as the feminist movement shouldn't be about helping women
climb the male corporate ladder more successfully, so too the anti-racist movement shouldn't be about
succeeding within the connes of a racist system. We have to question how the pie is cooked and in
what type of bakery. The suffering and oppression that is endemic to our society must be met head-on
with fundamental and systematic change. We must not redistribute the crumbs of the pie more fairly,
but join together to cook a whole new pie in a whole new way.
Is this possible? Do we have to accept what's been spoon-fed to us? No, no, a thousand times no!
We must continually struggle together in solidarity for a better society that's free from racism and
ail other forms of domination. We must ght racism by "ghting the power" and not believe the "hype"
that the present society is the best for which we can hope.
We believe to truly overcome institutional racism, we must:
1. Socialize property and the economy. We must bring an end to privatized wealth that is held in
the hands of huge multi-national corporations, some of which are larger than nations. Capitalism is
inherently racist. American capitalism was founded on the backs of the slave trade and Native American
genocide. Today, capitalism depends upon the cheap labor of immigrant peoples. And further, the logic
of a market economy is built upon profit that will use anythingand any culture as a means for its
owTi greedy ends. For example, once rap music became popular, it was quickly snapped up, often de-cul-
tured and used by white media execs to sell products.
Given the technology of today, there can be no excuse for private property, the market or wage slavery.
All arguments for capitalism depend upon the threat of scarcity. But our technology, integrated with
nature, can produce such a super abundance (rather than, for instance, paying farmers not to produce)
that unequal and competitive distribution of basic products makes no rational sense.
2. Decentralize and cultivate direct democracies. While we believe that the economy should be
socialized, we emphatically believe that it should not be socialized on a national level. The centralization
of power is inherently racist. Centralization on a national level stifles diversity and homogenizes or
Americanizes a truly pluralistic society. For example, the evils of a highly centralized socialism is
revealed by the USSR in its domination of its various ethnic republics. And here at home, how can we
trust the national government to wield even more power when currently its jails are disproportionately
packed with people of color? We can't. We should look to ethnic neighborhoods and the 300-plus Native
American municipalities and support them in their struggles for self-liberation while we struggle to
democraticize and liberate our municipalities and universities.
3. End all domination* Even if the economy was politicized and the polity was democraticized, racism
and other hierarchies would still survive. Racism has an independent life of its own, free from the market
and the state. To ultimately extinquish racism, we must cultivate the social Instinct and mutual aid in
all of us, coming together in the spirit of these last few days. It is only through cooperation, openness
and community that people will begin to challenge their own prejudices and close-mindedness. and nd
the support to relate to others in new, liberator}^ ways. Then, the passions of the last couple of days do
not need to be something out of the ordinary-, but can be a daily part of our lives. Therefore, we must
end racial slurs, for instance, not through authoritatively-imposed restrictions on speech, as is unfortu
nately happening on some other campuses. But, instead, we must end racism as well as all hierarchies
through the nurturance of a collective sensibility that forever encourages difference.
These are big demands: just as ending institutional racism is a huge task. But steps are being taken
here in the halls ofWaterman: challenging authority, ghting power, educating and organizing. How to
get "from here to there" can't be easily answered, but must evolve through ongoing struggle, education,
spontaneous improvisation and a continual strengthening of a new, pluralistic Left. Only together, can
all the power go to all the people, and can individuals and their cultures nally ourish.
4. Democratize the university. For the crisis confronting us today as a university community, we
implore you to consider ways to democratize ourselves here and now. The university is presently governed
authoritati^^lyby an oligarchythe Board ofTHistees and its various hidings, such as the President.
These handful of individuals are largely white, male corporate and state executives. It is no wonder why
they refuse to even negotiate with students of color or third world educators. They are the ruling class,
running a business as smoothly and protably as possible. We call for the disbanding of the Board of
Trustees and this whole oligarchic structure. Most immediately, coordinated student, faculty and staff
senates can begin to take over the power indeed, they already make some important decisions for the
university. But as the collective sense of responsibility and care that balances rights with duties expands,
as we've seen it explode in these last few days, these three senates must replace their representative
structures with a participatory and direct democracy.
University education must be more than vocational training or a mill for future corporate executives.
First and foremost, it must be a leader in cultivating a true sense of citizenship in its students and the
community at large. To overcome the ills such as racism that have been bitterly passed down to us, we
as the rst adult generation of the 21st Century must expand our education way beyond any past
standards. We must not only study the history and cultures of Europeans, we must study and come to
know civilizations around the globe. So too. we must not only study the actions of kings and queens
or presidents and senators, we must study and teach ourselves true democracy to be active participants
and dedicated citizens no longer self-seeking but willing and able to act in the name of a truly multi
cultural humanity. If we can do this today at our campus, we will serve as we already are as a
model for others from which to nd inspiration. Sit-ins. speakouts. teach-ins, hunger strikes, boycotts
and other acts of solidarity united with struggles against other oppressions are all steps toward taking
back the power. For in the end. it's not only about recruiting a few more students or hiring a few more
faculty of color, it is about institutional change tha; brings power to ^ people.
April 25, 1991