Berkeley, California: Support Doug Gilbert

Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 04:40 AM UTC

Contributed by: Anonymous

UC Berkeley: During the events surrounding the UC Strike today, only one arrest (that we now know of) was made. Doug Gilbert was targeted specifically because of his political views. Upon leaving the rally, police on bicycles followed him down Telegraph Avenue. Inside of a local restaurant, police violently confronted two comrades, before proceeding to the back of the establishment and arresting Doug while in the restroom. Berkeley CopWatch filmed the arrest. When they asked police what this comrade was being arrested for, the pigs responded “he can tell you later.”

A student activist was seen talking to police, specifically pointing out several individuals, including Doug. Further, CopWatch was told by bystanders that the cops said something along the lines of “there's that anarchist,” immediately before the arrest was made. This exemplifies two truths of the present social order: the liberal student movement is by nature a recuperative force, and seeks to further empower the state, rather than students
& workers; and the police use fear tactics to demoralize and intimidate us. This arrest was not made to further justice; this arrest was not made because of any wrongdoing; this arrest was made purely for the sake of intimidating all of us.

Doug is charged with “Inciting to Riot” and a misdemeanor. Inciting to Riot alone carries up to a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. He has had bail set at $15,000. These charges are completely ridiculous. No violence occurred at Berkeley today. No one rioted, no one got hurt, no property was destroyed. The charges, and the bail amount, are designed solely to intimidate us.

Those interested in showing support and solidarity with Doug should come (with all their friends!) to:

Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse (Alameda County)
661 Washington St.
Oakland, CA
Department 112
Ask for Doug Gilbert's case
The time and date for Doug's arraignment is at 2:00 PM today, Thursday Nov. 19th

Berkeley, California: Support Doug Gilbert | 12 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Authored by: pika_pik on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 11:46 AM UTC

God Damn it!

Authored by: FilthandGlitter on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 12:31 PM UTC

Does anyone know where we can send letters to him or if we can send letters.

Authored by: geographr on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 03:37 PM UTC

as a student activist, I'm really outraged at this arrest, and really outraged at this article's attempts to insult the "liberal student movement" based off shady evidence. every student I've talked to about doug's arrest has been outraged and in total solidarity. so when you undermine leftist solidarity by insulting student activists, you do no favors to the ghost of bakunin; you just defend the status quo. let's quibble about the details of a perfect stateless society after we are able to keep students of color able to go to school.

Authored by: Necrotic State on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 08:49 PM UTC

Actually, I thought the comment "the liberal student movement is by nature a recuperative force, and seeks to further empower the state, rather than students & workers" was an insightful point. I think in the comment it is pretty clear who is being called out. In particular, I see a critique of the liberal and of the activist in there as well. Also, I can't speak for the author of that fine little piece, but I think it's probably fair to say that the comment itself is a critique of so-called leftist unity, not just because it is so often lacking, but also for whether it is useful at all. For myself, I don't think leftist unity is useful in general for reasons that are perhaps obvious in the pragmatism of your comment ("let's quibble about the details of a perfect stateless society after we are able to keep students of color able to go to school."). I think the limitations of that statement are the crux of the disagreement. The point of contention is that some wish to transcend and others seek to limit and control. This is a tension that cannot be resolved by so-called "leftist unity". It can only be buried by it.

Authored by: communitycntrl on Friday, November 20 2009 @ 05:38 PM UTC

yeah, i mean, the ability of students of color to go to school will ALWAYS be under attack until we get rid of capitalism and the state.

that's what liberals don't get.

Authored by: Bones on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 09:08 PM UTC

Bro, the section on the liberal student movement are based on the inherent reformist/recuperative nature of the movement, not based on "shady" evidence. It's important, though, to understand that this is not written against students, or student struggle, but against the forms these struggles often take. It's also important to note, and perhaps this should have been included in the article above, that the supposed snitch (and it's debatable whether he actually snitched on Doug) was also playing the role of the police: we do not need anymore cops, especially our own cops. There were multiple student activists that were attempting defuse and co-opt the rage of students, before and after a lot of talk of "solidarity," which is why it's interesting you bring that up. Policing the movement is not showing solidarity.

And it's interesting you accuse the authors of this article, and in turn the entire anarchist movement (an injury to one is an injury to all), of defending the status quo. If you read this again, perhaps you would like to expand upon your claim? When people critique and attack the role the university plays in the current social order, they are in no way defending or recreating the status quo. The real problem with the university is not that it's unaccessible to poor people (which is still a problem in itself), but that it exists only to pump out more specialists. It exists entirely to reproduce capitalist structures and forms of production. To quote A Communique from an Absent Future, "it's history is the history of capital."

I want to be very clear that anarchists are in NO WAY against students or workers on strike. In fact, many of the anarchists present are students, and those that aren't, are workers. The point is that the way the liberal organizers dealt with situations of students and workers expressing their rage is recuperative, to be civil.

P.S. Bakunin is a boring old fuck. Up Malatesta!

Authored by: basil on Saturday, November 21 2009 @ 03:12 AM UTC

"leftist solidarity" !!!

Authored by: JBizzle on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 04:33 PM UTC

um...anyone notice how much state repression has been occuring lately?

Authored by: Collin Sick on Thursday, November 19 2009 @ 07:14 PM UTC

50 supporters come to the arraignment this afternoon, he had his charges reduced to carrying a weapon on school property (even though he was arrested off campus). His bail was reduced to $2500 (from the previous amount of $15000), the 10% required for his release was raised by those at the court, he was expected to be released this evening. More to come.

Authored by: crudo on Friday, November 20 2009 @ 03:17 AM UTC

In the words of 2pac, "I'm out on bail."

But even though, "I beat [some] of them charges like Rocky," I got court tomorrow, and still am fighting this weapons charge, so stay up and come by the court house in Oakland at 9am, Department 107. Call 209 308 7904.

Free all my friends locked up in Oakland.

-crudo

---
where the proles where the proles where the proles at?

Authored by: Brennus on Friday, November 20 2009 @ 05:12 AM UTC

209.380.7904 is the correct number.

Authored by: tehanarchy on Friday, November 20 2009 @ 09:38 PM UTC

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