To insulate them from political and cultural contamination, the California bourgeoisie used send its youth to the university of Santa Barbara. Safely out of Berkeley's political orbit and just beyond Los Angeles smog range, the campus Spanish-modern-colonially aganst posicara nills on the Pacific beach, reeking of country club. The dominant student ethos shows the influence of Playboy magazine.
The town of some 70,000 lives off the college, or tounsm, or the nearby navy and air force bases and war plants. It is very expensive to live in. It is the kind of place where lieutenants, Lockheed CACCULIVCS and Los Angeles real estate dealers • 20 reure. Except for the student population, the area, like most of Southern California, regularly CIeCEs conservative Republicans.
Two weeks ago the lid blew off. In a week of battling on campus and in town, Santa Barbara students proved that the thing their parents call Berkeley is not so much a place Those who keep score-cards on oted that Santa Barbara's upris lay of the their souls, ignori were suggested.
Josc to cact other, gently touching, savoring the experience.
No one had ever seen a bank burn before. It was very educational. There were smiles of pleasure.
Deposits and records, stored in a fireproof vault, escaped without damage. The structure was a total JOSS. The building had been erected less than a year previously.
Opinions differ as to the cause of the blaze.
There were, actually, two fires. The first, begun was estinguisbed by a brigade of fraternity boys before it had a chance to blossom. Police claim that shabbily-dressed, long-haired individuals rolled a barrel of gasoline into the building to finish it off, thereafter. This is doubtful, as gasoline does not come in barrels.
Students offer two alternative versions. One, advanced by those with economistic leanings, is that the fire was caused by friction between the bank and the student community. Most of the students live in a one-mile-square area called Isla Vista. The Bank finances the landlords of Isia Vista. The landlords charge extortionate rents, and engage in marginal gouging on top of that. landlords do not maintain the buildings in proper condition. There are safety and fire hazards, roaches, and rats. At the same time, the Bank takes up a contemptuous attitude toward small depositors, gouges on service charges, and imposes strict dress and behavior controls on student loans.
Others, of an internationalist bent, hold that the blaze was ignited by a spark borne eastward by the wind from Vietnam, just across the sea. They claim on clear nights you can see Saigon. They attach importance to the fact that the Bank of America is the capitalist world's biggest, that it has $21 thousand million stolen through network branches, subsidiaries and affiliates in 80 countries.
The Bank's reaction was overkill. From its world headquarters San Francisco telephoned the Governor of California, the former actor and television puppet for the General Electric Corp, Ronald Reagan. demanded, not asked, that immediate action be taken. Knowing where his bread was buttered, the Governor waxed theatrically livid, proclaimed a state of extreme emergency (Berkeley only rated emergency) sent in 1000 National Guardsmen.
So that no one would miss the point, the Bank subsequently published full-page advertisements in all California newspapers urging the authorities to spare no effort in maintaining law and order so as to protect freedom. To prevent possible misunderstandings that might remain, the Bank followed up with a similar spread a week later, calling on all citizens firmly condemn and abjure violence as a means of Gandhi. (sic). problem-solving. praised the champic of Public reaction remains difficult to fathom.
Bof A spokesmen have been supersaturating TV and radio, while the few radio stations that do man-in-the-street programs have prudently confined their sampling -HOO-BOUT the financial district.
The banks are not popular. Hatred of them runs deep in U.S. history. And since 1968-69, it has been impossible for workers making average wage to get home mortgage credit. Even financing a car is becoming difficult. It would not be surprising if the Santa Barbars blaze had more than OIC mind the feeling, serves em rgnt No one to my knowledge defends the burning of the Bank as a strategy. It may be that, as happened after Watts and Detroit, the survivors will be treated for a time with greater tact and consideration, and that some channels preCONCO open. Numerous black oted with irony that the black "riots" asure of the local - senter the neither were drag back a revolutionary proces Here is the background, briefly.
When black students were for the first time admitted to the campus in any numbers last year, the black-studies program for which they had struggled was ruthlessly sallized and sten 1zed. its purpose undermined. Petitions, protests, pickets, etc., proved useless.
The mind-killing diet of imperialist ideology force-fed in the classrooms was relieved only by a small number of professors, among them anthropologist Dr. William Allen. One tenth of the 11,000 students on the campus were in 1969 enrolled in his courses attending lectures. Naturally, he was found "professionally unqualified" and denied tenure. Petitions containing 7,776 signatures were presented to the administration, requesting an open hearing in his case. Rad-lib types defeated fraternity types for student government over the issue. A march 3,000 strong, the biggest stir ever on the campus, proved fruitless. All tactics, from petition to mass march, ran into a brick wall. Allen was fired and subsequently framed and arrested. All routine.
Then came the oil-slicks. A number of major oil corporations drill from offshore platforms a few miles up the coast. They grew careless, and let several hundred thousand gallons get away. These drifted up onto the town beach. End of paradise for the campus sun'n surf set, heavy loss in tourist income for the town. Frantic cables to Washington. Reassurances from the Interior Secretary. Firin promises from the corporation. A month later, another black tide heavier than the first. The political "center" began to feel what powerlessness was Aware of the accumulating tensions in campus and town, the authorities search for scapegoats. In the Isla Vista student ghetto they found suitable fodder for the public paranoia. The local rag jumped with cutnusiasm on the national dope and hippy scare bandwagon Using "suspicion of marijuana' as wedge, police began to break down entry, search and seizure immunities. It became unsafe to walk the streets night; assualts by police became common. At the same time, landlords stepped HUIC -boss and forgot about maintenance altogether, knowing that the courts would find mel tenants gully on sight A few weeks before the outbreak, the student government attempted to mediate between tenants and the real-estate owners. The student leaders went so far as to offer to pay half the landlords' costs for minimum building repairs, out of the student treasury. No.
The art of the possible was exhausted.
udent, brack, 27, in tad evening, a former student, had dropped financial reasons, was walking on an Isla Vista street. A patrol car stopped. Two officers got out, surrounded the man ane began to "question" him about "recent burglaries.
Except for the fact that the people watching were white and that most of their parents had money, it could have been Watts or Detroit or a thousand ghettos. But then a fairly historic thing happened. The people watching forgot "who they were." They dropped their whiteness and classness.
I guess the black brother must have told the cops to fuck off. The next minute he was down on the ground and the two pigs were working him over with batons. And the minute after that about fifty youth were giving the pigs a taste of rock, bottle, and whatever was handy Reinforcements, about thirty uniforms, were but by the time they arrived the people larger yet, and the State's forces led to find rapid means of exit from Isla In the heat action, police ght fire and was destroyed. That was the first next day. attorney William Kunstler, chief defense counsel in the Chicago conspiracy trial, made a scheduled speech. The press had given the trial very superficial and one-sided coverage. The experiences which Kunstler was able to relate opened many eyes. Kunstler was careful to avoid saying anything which might be construed as incitement to riot. This is a Federal crime under the Civil Rights Act, unless done in one's home stater Kunstler spent several years in the Southern states defending clients in civil rights cases. He would stand before Dixiecrat judges, arguing in his soft, measured voice about the rights of the accused. When he spoke about the injustice of *justice," and spoke of the courts as tools for the power of landlords, be quand policemesoand others, his voice had Equality personal experience standing. It evoked similar experiences in the student audience. He received a long and deep Ovalon After the speeches were over, people left the auditorium in a thoughtful mood. The events of the previous night were. TO T some, overshadowed by the ordeal of which Kunstler had spoken. As the homeward-drifting crowd began to disperse, police appeared. But I will let the summary in the Sunday paper tell it: "The arrest of a fellow student (who happened to be the room-mate of the vice-president of the student body, who was beaten and dragged off in full view of the big throng, touched off a riot (uprising) that involved 1,500 students and street people who battled sheriff's officers with rocks and bottles, burned a new Bank of America building to the ground, and smashed windows and fixtures in 23 other businesses. "By the time last weekend arrived, bringing with it 1,000 National Guard troops and a cooling rain that tended to dampen the fervor for street demonstrations, the week's statistics showed about $700,000 worth of damage, 136 arrested 27 police and sheriff's deputies (vigilantes) injured, four badly enough to be hospitalized, and ten demonstrators hurt. (demonstrators?!) "In addition, one university employee was shot in the shoulder by a campus guard who thought he was trying to run a road-block, a student was beaten by police and his car damaged when he inadvertently drove between massed lines of rock-throwing students and club-wielding police And another student was struck while riding his bicycle and seriously injured by a hit-and-run California Highway Patrol Car Other things happed which did not find their way into such papers. The arrested were held incommunicado, forced to stand rigid attention against a wall for many hours with shotguns being waved in their faces. Many were Dealer prison. The police blockaded the hospital, allowed no visitors and no reports, sc that friends of the injured did not know for days whether they were a live or dead. Police occupied the campus radio and promised to smash the equipment if it broadcast anything other than Muzak. Police roamed Isla Vista in gangs, breaking and entering at random.
and incidentally helping themselves Presently, except for the charred hulk of the B of A, "normalcy" has returned. Funds are being sought for the defense of the arrested.
What are the conclusions to be drawn about these events?
One: that the authorities, for many montn prior to the uprising, worked long and hard, by every means at their disposal, through the press the courts, through business practices, through the the police and the college administration, to Never manitestation of the most elementary democratic freedoms, and that they succeeded.
Two: that the uprising was a response repeated and severe provocation; that occurred self-defense. collective self-defense; that the students had no alternative but to rise up or be slaves; and that they were right to rise up. Their cause deserves the support of all people, wherever they may be, who are also the victims of banks, landlords, unjust courts, police, or university administrations Three: that the burning Bank of America, in these specific and concrete circumstances, was a correct tactic, whose audacity is to be applauded. It was carried out with mass participation in a clearly defined context of open warfare, against a widely and justly hated target. There was no loss of life and no "widows" savings" destroyed. It was not an act of random terrorism or sabotage. On the other hand, the breaking small-business of windows, other than those of the Isla Vista realestate companies, was counterproductive, and wrong. It is a mistake to create unity among shopkeepers.
Four: that the. students displayed courage and tenacity to keep up the battle for five days afterward. To engage police and soldiers for that length of time with nothing more than rocks and bottles is evidence of excellent fighting spirit.
Five: that the uprising was fought in an extremely unfavorable location, there being no other classes groups or strata in quantity who might have been able to lend support within sixty miles of the place; and hence that, once contained to Santa Barbara, the uprising was destined to be defeated, and was defeated.
Six: that the task with which Santa Barbara COLTON. develop methods of organization with which the limitations and errors of this struggle can be overcome, so that its strengths •Call be transmitted broader numbers of people and find wider application in more favorable locations.
Postscript: Three days after Santa Barbara was "pacified," a possibly even more significant uprising among students took place at Fullerton State College, just on the other side of Los A noelec. about a hundred miles from Santa Barbara both geographically and socially Fullerton is in the middle of Orange County generally considered the heartland of fascism in California, if not the nation; it is a hotbed of Birches, Minutement and Klansmen unimaginable to most people, a kind of Nazi paradise. Governor Reagan came there to deliver a televised speech. Four students in the literally captive audience chose the very rudimentary form of indicating disagreement which consists of getting up, turning your back and walking out in the middle of the speech. They were instantly summoned before a closed disciplinary hearing by campus authorities. Student supporters and friends of the four were forbidden from entering to testify in their behalf. The door to the hearing room was locked, and armed guard posted. To their everlasting merit, the students lost their patience, overpowered the guard, took the key. entered the room, and liberated the four Shortly, over 100 riot-equipped police stormed on campus. Three thousand students resisted, then battled, briefly, before withdrawing Another "riot." д потлет "defeat." But Orange County! There has not been an act of resistance to authority in Orange County in decades. Add, therefore Seven The events here described teach the tendency for the social base of reaction to lose its hold over younger including those who would normally affiliate to it, and to break apart.
Number of vides 3000 of mean 2,400 for freeze. 2000 twee 1919 1924 1914 NUMBER OF STRIKES The number of strikes which come to the notice of the state, which prostatistics, show some interesting changes. For ten years between 1955 and 1965 the number stoppages hovered around year. In 1966 the fiure slumped to 1,937, a sharp and profitable response to the Labour Party's wage Since then, however, the figure has climed steeply to a new. record in 1968 of 2,878 stoppages, and then upwards even more to 1969's figure of 3,021. Interpeting the condition of The Black Dwarf 23rd March 1970 1969 strikes have taken place in a single
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Police worked overtime providing fresh copy for the editors. Isla Vista became a police state.
lesson that the tendency for repression to get worse can go hand in hand with the opposed
1934 1944 1954