[Editorial Note: The Partisan spoke
with activists of the Revolutionary Student Union – Georgia State
University, a revolutionary student organization, which has faced State
repression for hosting a militant rally on March 8 in celebration of
International Working Women’s Day. The activists detailed the repression
they face, history of repression in the university, and its ties to
gentrification, Zionism, and organized fascists. The activists stressed
the student struggle is not separated from class struggle in the society
as a whole, as “the University is not legally separate from the State,”
and the need to fight opportunist forms of “resistance” that don’t
challenge the class enemy.]
Can you tell us a little about the protest? How did it start and what happened?
Our demonstration was intended to mark the
annual celebration of International Working Women’s Day, a historically
significant red holiday for progressives and revolutionaries worldwide.
We spent many days working in preparation: materially, we crafted a
large banner, wheat-pasted posters, made picket signs, produced
portraits of renowned women revolutionaries, wrote and practiced our
speeches; logistically, we scouted for the best locations, reached out
to mass contacts and local supporters for their help, and drafted plans
for potential reaction from enemy forces.
Initially, the plan was to occupy a
one-way street that had already been closed off by a construction crew
for weeks, have a local punk band play a loud set, deliver our speeches
and lead in chants, and promote the urgent need to organize – all while
passing out literature, of course. However, despite what construction
workers told us and the best information we could find online, the road
had reopened less than two days before the action, forcing a change in
tactics. A few activists decided in haste to relocate the electric
scooters that had littered the nearby sidewalks to the entryway of the
now accessible crosswalk, stubbornly keeping to the original idea of
taking the street.
By noon the next day, two activists were
dashing to escape the police. There were plans to occupy a recently
closed street which had been reopened the night before, but before any
actual rallying took place, the police arrived on the scene. According
to multiple witness testimonies, the activists were walking away from
the scene when an officer behind them began describing one of their
appearances on a radio, and another officer loudly said “Hey!” before
the two ran. Unfortunately, an officer intercepted the activists’ path
and drew their taser, commanding the two to get on the ground. From then
until the following morning, the two activists were evidently helpless,
stuck inside a jail infamous for its inhumane, violent, and hazardous
conditions. From the accounts of our comrades who were at the scene as
the students were being arrested, uninvolved students had been told that
the reason for the activists’ arrests was because they planned to shoot
up the school.
According to students, police had called
the arrestees “suspicious for having backpacks,” and had stated that
they were willing to open fire and shoot into Langdale Hall if needed.
One of our comrades had asked several of the officers involved for their
badge numbers, so as to procure body cam footage eventually. In
response, she was met with condescension and pettiness. One cop gave his
badge number without issue, but most of them ignored her. One cop said
the badge number very quickly and quietly and then swiftly left on a
motorcycle with another cop as she was telling him that she didn’t get
the number. We have recorded footage of this. Even after this, a dozen
or so students and local community members tried to continue the event
against every wish of the university administration. Anthony Davis, the
Dean of Students, made a special appearance – not to address the
distressing arrests, but to request that the university property be
undressed.
In the interaction that ensued, Mr. Davis
flawlessly exposed the contradiction in the way the university presents
itself. He explained: “So, the university doesn’t have a stance on any
issues. The university- what you all, as students, can have whatever
stance you want, right, and our job is to support you and make sure you
understand-” A voice interjected, “Don’t you think that GILEE is an
implicit stance for killing Palestinians? I kinda feel like it is.” Mr.
Davis quickly replied, “I have no comment on that. Like I said, the
university does not take any stance on social issues.” It suffices to
say that the university takes stances on social issues when it arrests
its own students for rebelling against patriarchal domination and
imperialist aggression. It doubly suffices to say that the university
takes stances on social issues when it houses a program like the Georgia
International Law Enforcement Exchange to send law enforcement of all
commands to train with and exchange technology with their Zionist
counterparts in Occupied Palestine, bringing back toys like Cop City and
Operation Shield, chiefly at the expense of the working and nationally
oppressed peoples not only of Atlanta but of the whole world.
What is Georgia State University’s public response to the repression?
Georgia State University has been anything
but public about the incident. In its various promotional materials,
the university has a habit to pride itself on having been built by
student protest. In reality, it relies on its very own police department
to stamp out any and all real student resistance. We say real because
we acknowledge that there exists a kind of “resistance” that is
compatible enough for the university to allow. This kind of “resistance”
is generally widespread among the student activism circles and
organizations on campus because it gives its participants the ability to
claim the easiest of victories without having to seriously struggle
against the enemy, essentially the means for a massive ego-boost.
Despite the good intentions of many organizers whose work may fall into
this category, this compatible “resistance” only serves the university’s
interests to appear benevolent, to disarm and dissuade the students of
conscience from politicizing, mobilizing, and organizing the masses. It
must be corrected and opposed accordingly with real resistance, distinct
because it is attacked by the enemy.
Can you tell us a little about Georgia State University’s history against working-class and progressive student organizing?
Given that we are a relatively young
chapter that was effectively constituted over these past two semesters,
none of our members were present for any of GSU’s historical involvement
in repressing working-class and progressive student organizing.
However, from our research and our connections with local organizers who
were active during their time as GSU students, we have assembled a
rough picture of certain events:
White nationalists and
neo-nazis have had a history of organizing on campus and holding
school-sponsored events where hundreds of students would show up. In
2016, students who were being mentored by an older confederate invited
Milo Yiannopoulos – a gay, alt-right, pro-Trump political commentator–to
speak on campus at GSU. They would invite far right commentators in
order to grow and consolidate their movement on campus, which included
actions like disrupting and intimidating black students at events that
were hosted to address issues faced by students of color. In 2015 they
disrupted the “Symposium on Race, Urban Culture and Campus Diversity,”
hosted by the Greatest MINDS, an organization which aimed to “promote
scholarship, excellence, leadership and high achievement among the
African American and minority student populations and groups […] on
campus.”
Since Yiannopoulos is criticized within
the alt-right for seeming to not truly believe racial supremacy, these
extreme neo-nazi students would go to his events and pass out materials
to represent the “core” of the alt-right to further radicalize the
people who attended. They would also put up posters and stickers with
neo-nazi propaganda and dog whistles everywhere on campus. When
anti-fascist student organizations would spread awareness and
information about these neo-nazi organizers, the neo-nazis actually
responded by calling GSUPD on them, which resulted in the arrest of one
anti-fascist student. Though the student involved could not be charged
with any crime, the university responded by pursuing disciplinary action
against them. The neo-nazi student organizer who called GSUPD on the
anti-fascist activists, Spencer Madison, was noted to be very friendly
with the police, and the police were also reportedly very friendly with
him. Reportedly, they would engage in conversation and often go on
walks. The main head of the neo-nazi movement on campus was a student
named Patrick Sharp, and a close associate of his was named Christian
Meehan, who was a part of the Greatest MINDS disruption. According to
witnesses, Meehan had jeered and commented “that the reason Black
history is not discussed in history courses, etc. is because [of] the
lack of contribution to greater world history made by Africans.” Meehan
was also the Director of Communications for GSU College Republicans in
2015. GSU never pursued any action against these neo-nazi students and,
obviously, these students have never faced any police repression either.
