Texans United for Families (TUFF) and Grassroots Leadership, two civil rights organizations working to end immigrant detention, spoke yesterday in Karnes City, Texas to protest the newest private prison in Texas to be built there, one hour southeast of San Antonio. The GEO Group, the private prison company that will build and operate the facility, has a track record of abuse, deaths in custody, and mismanagement at their Texas prisons and detention centers which have led to several lawsuits.
Israeli activist Gal Lugassi spoke at Monkeywrench Books (110 E North Loop Blvd) on December 7th, 2010.
Gal Lugassi is an Israeli conscientious objector, a member of the Shiministim, an activist with the Anarchist Against the Wall action group, and the Boycott! from Within group. She also volunteers at the Coalition of Women for Peace and with the Who Profits project.
Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW) is a direct action group that was established in 2003 in response to the construction of the wall Israel is building on Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank. The group works in cooperation with Palestinians in a joint popular struggle against the occupation.
The budget cuts that we are seeing are one of the many masks that hegemony wears. They are another form of the institutional racism that seeks to erase our historical memory so that we don't know our people's and other people's struggles, victories, and resistance. From the moment we enter schools, a white supremacist, patriarchal, hetero-normative, and hierarchical view of the world is normalized and reinforced. When students enroll in area studies courses or programs, it often represents the first time they have had the chance to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and to learn their stories. This knowledge gives us the strength to organize, unite, and resist, all of which endanger the hegemonic forces that seek to breed ignorance and apathy.
Budget cuts, increased fees, and increased tuition are decontextualized and separated from the legacy of discrimination that prevented poor people and people of color from having access to education. They are separated from the living, breathing human beings who will be affected and converted into dollar signs and percentages that indicate how much money the university will allegedly save. Cut back? Fuck that. We’re here to fight back.
We, students at the University of Texas have a major crisis on our hands. In the midst of university wide budget cuts,funding for ethnic studies such as Latin American Studies, Mexican American Studies, African and African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Women and Gender studies are being dramatically cut. Here is a table of the proposed cuts:
Students have been told that the way APAC determines how much and to whom is cut is by mathematically determining a program's "efficiency" - which in turn is determined by the number of students enrolled in classes, number of professors, etc. The problem is that these programs are ALREADY underfunded and advisors frequently discourage students to take electives or stray off their degree plan.
And it's not just "diversity" that's the issue here. These programs weren't created to just celebrate "diversity." They were created to provided critical narratives about minority struggles for social justice and democracy within our society that we're still fighting for. We need these programs for ALL majors to ensure a balanced education.
There will be a walk out at 10:30am and a protest at 11:00 on December 1st at the West Mall of UT campus. Students and concerned community members are encouraged to come out and have their voices heard.
Check out this video of students raising their concerns and organizing in resistance:
Check out On The Fringe's hour long special! On The Fringe is a radical talk show at KVRX 91.7fm that highlights struggles of resistance to capitalism, imperialism, and oppression here in Austin and around the world. On November 15th, we were lucky enough to have an hour to engage with organizers here in Austin. We started off by interviewing organizers at the Orun Center, a community center in East Austin that works to empower folks through art, creativity, and spirituality. Afterwards, we interviewed students at the University of Texas who are organizing against proposed budget cuts to peoples'/ethnic studies.
You can listen to the show on Tuesdays at 8:00 to 8:30pm on 91.7fm or kvrx.org. We will try to post more archives of our show here on Austin Indymedia.
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