Showing posts with label DI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DI. Show all posts
Monday, March 1, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
WE TOOK OVER THE STREET!
We pulled off three rallies on the same day over only one week. Around 80 students and workers came out to protest against the budget cuts. The cops were quieter and maybe too embarrassed to interfere our action so much this time. It's great to see that the workers' demands are front and centered with other students' demands. The next goal is to reach out to more people on campus and stress the urgency of fighting against the privatization of UW.
My arm is hella sore from holding the bullhorn and i totally lost my voice. But it was worth it.
See the Daily's article on the protest.
Watch the action led by International Workers and Students for Justice against abusive manager.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Protest abuse against UW custodians!
On Tuesday, January 13th, 30-40 students and workers came out to support custodians facing abuse by management and the cops! Protests targeted the abuse of Andre Vasuqez. Basically, he is a racist jerk manager who collaborates with cops to screw over the immigrant custodians. He is WANTED by the UW community for the unjust abuse!
Check out the VIDEO of action here put on by Democracy Insurgent.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Workers and Students Unite!
Out largest rally last summer against custodial swingshift cuts from the management. Tons and tons of workers came out. We broke into the UW administration's 26 floor tower. We witnessed the fear in their eyes and it was fucking awesome.
Monday, November 2, 2009
The workplace is crazy, not the workers: In Soo Chun's suicide and memorial
A former Korean custodian, In Soo Chun, self-immolated on Red Square at UW on October 30 last year.
I was only several feet away inside a building while him pouring gasoline all over himself and lit himself alive. My co-worker walked into the office and was completely in shock. He said to me, "there was a man on fire outside." I could not believe it. We walked out and saw helicopters and firetrucks and knew it was probably true. I learned about his story a year after from his coworkers. They said In Soo Chun was a hard-working man but was facing arbitrary transfers from the manager and was eventually terminated by the custodian services two months prior to his death.
There was no explanation from the UW administration or the media except that he was perhaps a "troubled man." His death left a ton of questions for people who witnessed the traumatic event, for his coworkers, for this public institution. The workers and us planned this memorial for him--not only to remember him but also to seek answer to the questions he left for us. Right now, workers on campus are still facing the same workplace harassment and unjust labor practices he faced. We were all wondering, who is gonna be the next among us to go crazy?
Some people walked by and said we were not being respectful for politicizing his death. While i understand that processing death and trauma can be a very private matter, I also believe that it's the individualization of the process that aggravate the degrees of grief and trauma. I've experienced the pain of suicide from someone I was very intimate with. And I wish there were someone to explain to me why people would decide to take their own lives away all of a sudden. I wrapped myself in a limbo and nothing had really resolved during those years. The individual process of grieving almost pushed me to the edge of killing myself, might as well. If I didn't devote my energy into writing, into studying psychology, understanding mental illness, I would not be able to recover from that trauma then.
That's why I think, it was important for us to gather the community, together seek answers for In Soo Chun's death. We would probably never be able to find them, because suicide is such a psychologically complex behavior by its own. But the meaning of this incident for us is concrete. The community that this event brought together was concrete. Even though I did not have chance to get to know this man, I would like to honor him with the actions against injustice on this campus where he chose to die.
In Soo Chun Memorial Video
On Seattle Times
I was only several feet away inside a building while him pouring gasoline all over himself and lit himself alive. My co-worker walked into the office and was completely in shock. He said to me, "there was a man on fire outside." I could not believe it. We walked out and saw helicopters and firetrucks and knew it was probably true. I learned about his story a year after from his coworkers. They said In Soo Chun was a hard-working man but was facing arbitrary transfers from the manager and was eventually terminated by the custodian services two months prior to his death.
There was no explanation from the UW administration or the media except that he was perhaps a "troubled man." His death left a ton of questions for people who witnessed the traumatic event, for his coworkers, for this public institution. The workers and us planned this memorial for him--not only to remember him but also to seek answer to the questions he left for us. Right now, workers on campus are still facing the same workplace harassment and unjust labor practices he faced. We were all wondering, who is gonna be the next among us to go crazy?
Some people walked by and said we were not being respectful for politicizing his death. While i understand that processing death and trauma can be a very private matter, I also believe that it's the individualization of the process that aggravate the degrees of grief and trauma. I've experienced the pain of suicide from someone I was very intimate with. And I wish there were someone to explain to me why people would decide to take their own lives away all of a sudden. I wrapped myself in a limbo and nothing had really resolved during those years. The individual process of grieving almost pushed me to the edge of killing myself, might as well. If I didn't devote my energy into writing, into studying psychology, understanding mental illness, I would not be able to recover from that trauma then.
That's why I think, it was important for us to gather the community, together seek answers for In Soo Chun's death. We would probably never be able to find them, because suicide is such a psychologically complex behavior by its own. But the meaning of this incident for us is concrete. The community that this event brought together was concrete. Even though I did not have chance to get to know this man, I would like to honor him with the actions against injustice on this campus where he chose to die.
In Soo Chun Memorial Video
On Seattle Times
Thursday, August 20, 2009
周間無害牢騷。我想念我泛亞洲笑鬧又極度嚴肅的組織夥伴
也許因為一切都太美好了所以開始無謂地擔心。擔心無聊了彼此、擔心太過放縱自己的舒適度。禮拜三晚上女朋友總是在我的公寓等我開會結束。DI的會議過了晚上九點，大家都開始焦急安耐不住。禮拜六的工友會議、下禮拜的遊行集會、又或者下週末的retreat，我們有太多事情得決定了。大家在會議中都轉換成另一面的A型人格。會議一結束後原本打算飛奔回家的，但我們怎麼樣還都算是一個pan-Asian的組織--誰提議了去Ave上的韓國珍珠奶茶店，我於是誘拐按摩完剩下半點意識的女朋友出來和一群吵嚷嚷的行動主義青年喝芒果冰沙加珍珠。即便我們這群人的平均年齡大概是二十五，突然我覺得自己像回到高中的時候，十點多沒有地方去於是圍在喧嚷的茶店裡打打鬧鬧。我抱怨著上禮拜National Queer API Conference無知又壓迫的第二代紐約華裔美國男同志--那幾乎是另一個討人厭的主流酷兒社群。不是說要討論東亞人的特權嗎？中國主權！？美國華人的身分被無政治化的嚴重！而April剛拿到一個非營利組織的工作，半開玩笑地說要把我們加入她的queer advisory board。這個冬天她要去印尼，jane mee要回新加坡，我們討論著可能的印尼-台灣-新加坡、東/東南亞短程旅行。我說這樣一來lindsay就可以來台灣找我了！因為我家人一定分不出來究竟誰是我的女朋友。家人剛離開西雅圖，才短短一個禮拜，但我真想念這群朋友，嚴肅或者不正經地玩笑、管他政治正不正確。
冬天仍是充滿變數。回到家只想把她抱緊。我只是在喃喃發著牢騷想要和她有更多的時間相處。每天早上七點和她起床準備上班，我都怪罪資本主義。我說妳把我寵壞了，我從來沒感覺這麼快樂並穩定過--即使明年一開始，馬上地，我們就要面臨許多關於家人的、關於遷徙的、一切關於改變的、以及關於這個普遍恐同文化的挑戰。
冬天仍是充滿變數。回到家只想把她抱緊。我只是在喃喃發著牢騷想要和她有更多的時間相處。每天早上七點和她起床準備上班，我都怪罪資本主義。我說妳把我寵壞了，我從來沒感覺這麼快樂並穩定過--即使明年一開始，馬上地，我們就要面臨許多關於家人的、關於遷徙的、一切關於改變的、以及關於這個普遍恐同文化的挑戰。
Friday, July 17, 2009
DI's anti-war graduation: low-budget picnic and heavy-duty love
DI anti-war graduation low-budget ceremony from Wen on Vimeo.
We had blankets on the grass with homemade pasta, salsa, chips, cake and iced tea. On the other side of Gaswork park there was a hetero wedding. The bride was taking a 30 minute walk with solemn music like the world is going to end. It's a busy summer we all try as much as we can not be to stressed out by the crises around the world. A lot of real work has to be done and that's why DI is not only a bowling night- it's a 20 hour unpaid part-time job and 24/7 mind game for real! At least we all found each other and built this community together. I'm proud to be part of the group and excited about where this movement is taking us. This is more like a graduation ceremony than the one with 3000 people plus Robert Gates, Mark Emmert, and some racist haters in the crowd.
Monday, June 15, 2009
和種族岐視沙豬的戰役是場長期抗爭。
畢業了。在畢業典禮之外之內針對美國國防大臣Robert Gates的抗爭示威，大概是對我這四年之中所學的一切最恰當的結束方式。華大邀請這個要為伊拉克和阿富汗戰爭負責的戰犯來為畢業典禮演講，還給他頒榮譽博士，絕對是超過我的道德和精神可以忍耐的程度。Democracy Insurgent, World Can't Wait, Revolutionary Socialist Party和其他一些西雅圖當地的行動主義組織圍繞在典禮的外頭，喊著"CELEBRATE GRADUATION, NOT FOR WAR AND OCCUPATION"。計劃是當Gates演講時，場內的畢業生就地起立背向他抗議。無法忍受四個小時艷陽和熱得半死的愚蠢畢業黑袍的我，選擇坐在觀眾席和我的組員們舉告示抗爭。事前我們和警方協商好，這是一個和平的抗爭，警方說沒有問題，只要我們不干擾Gates的演說。Gates起立接受榮譽博士（on what? killing people of color?!），我們噓他，身旁的白人家長給我們使難看的眼色，工作人員走來要我們離開場地，我說我們已經和警方說好，這是一個非暴力的和平抗爭。Gates開始演講，我們起身，一併背向他，後排的觀眾開始罵髒話要我們離開，兩個警官走來，警告我們得坐下否則我們必須離開，我說我們已經協商好，只要不干擾演講本身，和平的抗爭是合法的。警官抓著我們其中一位中東裔的成員Khalil，再一次警告他離開，我們說，我們從不同的警方得到混淆的消息，我們有權利在場內和平抗爭。警官硬生生逮捕Khalil，我們迅速跟上。我們圍繞在警察辦公室外喊著"UW STOP RACIAL PROFILING"！當時一共有十位左右的成員同我們在場內抗爭，而警方只鎖定我們唯一的中東成員，這不是種族貌相還能是什麼？！一名中東男子和我們一塊追了過來，把巴勒斯坦的旗子圍繞在身上和我們團結抗爭。緊急連絡各台的記者轉播現況。十多分鐘後警方把Khalil釋放出來，並沒有說控告的罪是什麼。最讓我憤怒的是，觀眾群對我們的暴力。起身抗議時，兩三個成員被無理的觀眾推打。而當Khalil被逮捕時，一個白人觀眾諷刺的說"well sorry it didn't work out for you!"另一個則叫我們"go fuck your mothers"。他媽的種族歧視豬。Jane mee當著那白人男人的臉罵他"you fucking cracker"。
華盛頓大學這所自稱為自由主義的學校其實和軍方有著非常緊密的關係。整個畢業典禮幾乎像是要啟程出戰的歡送會還是什麼。我只是慶幸我終於結束了和這個學校的一切。一個民主的大規模社會運動建立在每日的行動主義。行動主義並不是一個月參加一次演講，一個季節參與一次遊行，或在同志大遊行之中裸體，革命的運動必須有基進的青年行動。而身為一個基進行動主義者其實是孤獨的，這次的抗爭更讓我明白，我無法再忍受只說不做又想要討好所有人的liberals。當危機發生時，你可以看清其實人性可以那麼醜陋。
Protest Robert Gates on YouTube
Seattle PI's coverage of the protest
華盛頓大學這所自稱為自由主義的學校其實和軍方有著非常緊密的關係。整個畢業典禮幾乎像是要啟程出戰的歡送會還是什麼。我只是慶幸我終於結束了和這個學校的一切。一個民主的大規模社會運動建立在每日的行動主義。行動主義並不是一個月參加一次演講，一個季節參與一次遊行，或在同志大遊行之中裸體，革命的運動必須有基進的青年行動。而身為一個基進行動主義者其實是孤獨的，這次的抗爭更讓我明白，我無法再忍受只說不做又想要討好所有人的liberals。當危機發生時，你可以看清其實人性可以那麼醜陋。
Protest Robert Gates on YouTube
Seattle PI's coverage of the protest
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