It was called the Free Speech Movement or FSM
for short. Back in 1964 the powers that be didn't like it one bit that minorities were organizing and calling for their civil rights. So the repression on political discussion, organizing and activism on the campuses began. Sound familiar? UC-Berkeley forbid such activity and came down hard on students trying to pass out leaflets on campus, raise money, distribute underground newspapers etc. Sound familiar?
Here is an excerpt from the Wiki page:
"In 1958, activist students organized SLATE, a campus political party meaning a "slate" of candidates running on the same level –a same "slate." The students created SLATE to promote the right of student groups to support off-campus issues.[8]
In the fall of 1964, student activists, some of whom had traveled with the Freedom Riders and worked to register African American voters in Mississippi in the Freedom Summer project, set up information tables on campus and were soliciting donations for causes connected to the Civil Rights Movement. According to existing rules at the time, fundraising for political parties was limited exclusively to the Democratic and Republican school clubs.
There was also a mandatory "loyalty oath" required of faculty, which had led to dismissals and ongoing controversy over academic freedom."
The boot of the administration of the university was going to come down hard as stated in the article:
"On September 14, 1964, Dean Katherine Towle announced that existing University regulations prohibiting advocacy of political causes or candidates, outside political speakers, recruitment of members, and fundraising by student organizations at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph Avenues would be "strictly enforced."
But people kept fighting for freedom and their rights. Here is the incident that kicked off what would become a huge mass arrest of protesters at a further protest action.
"On October 1, 1964, former graduate student Jack Weinberg was sitting at the CORE table. He refused to show his identification to the campus police and was arrested. There was a spontaneous movement of students to surround the police car in which he was to be transported. This was a form of civil disobedience that became a major part of the movement. The police car remained there for 32 hours, all while Weinberg was inside it. At one point, there may have been 3,000 students around the car. The car was used as a speaker's podium and a continuous public discussion was held, which continued until the charges against Weinberg were dropped."
But the administration still didn't get it. So in December:
"On December 2, between 1,500 and 4,000 students went into Sproul Hall as a last resort in order to re-open negotiations with the administration on the subject of restrictions on political speech and action on campus.[10] Among other grievances was the fact that four of their leaders were being singled out for punishment. The demonstration was orderly; students studied, watched movies, and sang folk songs. Joan Baez was there to lead in the singing, as well as lend moral support. "Freedom classes" were held by teaching assistants on one floor, and a special Channukah service took place in the main lobby."
The FSM had many major people leading it including:
" Jack Weinberg, Tom Miller, Michael Rossman, George Barton, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Michael Teal, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg and others."
But the most well known from the FSM days was Mario Savio. On that occasion of occupying Sproul Hall he gave a speech for the ages and the most well known excerpt is this:
"But we're a bunch of raw materials that don't mean to be — have any process upon us. Don't mean to be made into any product! Don't mean — Don't mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We're human beings! ... There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious — makes you so sick at heart — that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."
So here comes the arrests that the University, Governor Ed Brown of California and the local authorities thought would bring an end to the FSM:
"At midnight, Alameda County deputy district attorney Edwin Meese III telephoned Governor Edmund Brown Sr., asking for authority to proceed with a mass arrest. Shortly after 2 a.m. on December 4, 1964, police cordoned off the building, and at 3:30 a.m. began the arrest. Close to 800 students were arrested,[10] most of whom were transported about 25 miles by bus to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. They were released on their own recognizance after a few hours. About a month later, the university brought charges against the students who organized the sit-in, resulting in an even larger student protest that all but shut down the university."
Yes it's that Ed Meese of many of the later scandals during Ronnie Rayguns time. The University did back down and allow for political speech openly and not just for Democrats and Republicans:
"After much disturbance, the University officials slowly backed down. By January 3, 1965, the new acting chancellor, Martin Meyerson (who had replaced the previous resigned Edward Strong), established provisional rules for political activity on the Berkeley campus.[13] He designated the Sproul Hall steps an open discussion area during certain hours of the day and permitted information tables."
The FSM kept going and gave rise to more activism:
"For the first time, disobedience tactics of the Civil Rights Movement were brought by the Free Speech Movement to a college campus in the 1960s. Those approaches gave the students exceptional leverage to make demands of the university administrators, and build the foundation for future protests, such as those against the Vietnam War."
Also in 1965:
"In the spring of 1965, the FSM was followed by the Vietnam Day Committee,[10] a major starting point for the anti-Vietnam war movement."
A part of history that needs to keep living on:
"The Free Speech Movement had long-lasting effects at the Berkeley campus and was a pivotal moment for the civil liberties movement in the 1960s. It was seen as the beginning of the famous student activism that existed on the campus in the 1960s, and continues to a lesser degree today."
The government was scared to death of the power of the people as displayed and carried out by the FSM people. For some it got this:
"Ronald Reagan won an unexpected victory in the fall of 1966 and was elected Governor.[16] He then directed the UC Board of Regents to dismiss UC President Clark Kerr because of the perception that he had been too soft on the protesters. The FBI kept secret files on Kerr and Savio, and subjected their lives and careers to interference under COINTELPRO."
So what began as Jack Weinberg sitting at the small CORE table and maintaining his rights as a free man and not caving in became in short order a change to the country.
The point of all of this about the FSM is to show that the powers that be were scared as hell again during Occupy actions and during the Standing Rock actions. Now they saw the actions on campuses coming back and students taking power and making demands. The powers that be want you to be nothing more than compliant "raw materials" in the words of Mario Savio and do as you're told and get ready to put on the harness of conformity with the "system" and go to do labor for others and shut your mouth and don't disagree with the things government and industry wants.
But remember too what Mario said:
"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious — makes you so sick at heart — that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."
It will not be easy now and it wasn't easy then. "There's a time" Mario said. We must see that we are at that moment and civil disobedience must take place. They will let you march to your heart's content and we must but also know that when you sit down and refuse to move, when you refuse to buy, when you organize and do education about rights etc. they will come after us. But like the FSM showed us that's when you fight even harder and refuse to go along even more. They will eventually always back down in order to keep the machine going and making them money.
This was not meant to be an exhaustive examination of the Free Speech Movement or of every facet of everybody involved. It was intended to help us rally around a piece of our history that fought for our rights so we can be even stronger in going forward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement
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