The NYU Occupation

Since the eruption of the Greek Anarchist riots last fall, I have been following (as best I can given the restricted nature of the material, even within our nation of free speech) the increasing acts of protest that have been slowly building across the world. One of the closest has been the New School occupation in New York, which has been occurring since last fall as well. I have decided that these transgressions should be my next topic of discussion, however at this moment I only have enough time to post an e-mail I received this morning through one of the many listserv's I am a member of. I will give my comments on this later, but for now I just want to continue to spread these sentiments... not as my beliefs, but as an emerging movement that should at least be noticed:

Exiled in NYU: A communiqué from within the NYU occupation.
At the dawn of the New School occupation last December, we wrote, “This is only the beginning.”

We weren’t joking.

We are now occupying the halls of NYU alongside their students. With our bodies and barricades, we continue to manifest ourselves as a force of interruption against the enforced passivity of the university.

This occupation arises at a time of economic turmoil. The current crisis of capital is no fluke; it is the result of the real social conditions in which we live. NYU, one of the largest property owners in New York City, is a clear perpetrator of the misery everyone now feels. It has no alibi, only vulnerabilities.

From the insurrection in Greece to the revolts of Eastern Europe, from the university occupations across England to the general uprising in Oakland, something is in air. We can’t name it, but we can all feel it. Uncompromising, our power is growing. What has started as a singular strike against the structure of NYU’s form of domination will become a strike against the general logic of domination.

When we occupy spaces and liberate their use, we appropriate for ourselves the means of our very existence. We find each other here and now, in the midst of conflict and crisis, overturning every role we’re given, annulling every attempt to reconcile.

This is how we learn. This is how we fight.

In Exile,
Students of the New School
Feb 19th, 2009