NEW YORK CITY, November 8 — Thirty people gathered in the frigid cold morning to protest the disciplinary hearing for Taffy and Khalil, two students suspended for rallying against the closing of the Morales/Shakur Center at City College of the City University of New York (CUNY). After the students refused to be bought out by the administration, their hearing was postponed to 9 a.m. Friday, November 15. A rally will be held in front of the City College North Academic Center.
This struggle began October 21, when students and faculty demonstrated against the City College administration for shutting down the student center with no notice. In fact, the shutdown was aimed at the growing fightbacks that began earlier this semester. These protests targeted the CUNY presence of racist General David Petraeus and the Reserve Officer Training Corps [see CHALLENGE 11/13].
Our fight is anti-racist because Petraeus represents the U.S. bosses’ imperialist war on workers in the Middle East and South Asia. City College sits in Harlem, one of the most oppressed communities in the country. It’s also a place where Petraeus and ROTC hope to recruit more black officers for their war machine. Unity with Harlem’s workers would strengthen our anti-racist fight.
Taffy and Khalil are now barred from setting foot on campus, but they are neither silenced nor intimidated. Taffy thanked the cops and administration for their help in growing the movement. He was referring to the collective anger that results when one of our students is attacked. Instead of scaring us, the attack has emboldened us.
What Fascism Looks Like
Militancy was evident both inside and outside the hearing. Although fifteen people at a time were supposed to be allowed in, the cops barred the door. They shunted the crowd behind the NAC building, which effectively hid the protesters from the main entrances. One PL’er yelled at the cops, “This is what fascism looks like!”
Inside the hearing, Taffy and Khalil were offered a deal. They would be readmitted to campus if they renounced political activity and consented to be monitored by the cops. What rubbish! Instead of giving in, they demanded that their comrades be let in for the hearing. These student militants are committed to winning back the student center. Their hearing will now take place in a larger room to accommodate the protesters.
All of us should be out in force on Friday, making our presence known to the school with posters, flags, and chants. Within the reform struggles for the student center and against ROTC, we also need to put communism at the center of the fight. Students have won reforms in the past, but the university later breaks its promises and takes them away. The only lasting victory is to recruit more forces into Progressive Labor Party to fight directly for communism.
Greetings from Haiti
At today’s rally, one student read a letter of solidarity from college students in Haiti who also are fighting the militarization of their campuses [see front page]. The crowd cheered. We need to do more to bring an international outlook to our local fights.
Our main weakness is the lack of mass student support on campus. Class consciousness is at a low ebb. While many students took literature and nodded in solidarity, they have yet to see the importance of building an anti-imperialist movement. Universities are sites of struggle. Although the bankers, generals, and politicians may own the school, we can use this space to expose the bosses’ war aims and win students to the fight for a communist revolution.