The corporatists vs. the grandmothers

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By Jane Stillwater (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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And the Regents are teaching us this lesson less than half a mile from the very place that Mario Savio and the Free Speech Movement made their heroic stand back in 1964. "There is 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!"

44 years have passed and nothing has changed.

I wanted to just cry.

I had moved to Berkeley in 1966 and had missed the original Free Speech Movement. Well. This time I wasn't going to miss it again! "Come on, baby Mena! Let's go put our bodies upon the gears and stop the wheels!" As long as I get you back home by 2:30, that is.

So me and my daughter Ashley and baby Mena went up to the old grove of oaks. On one side of the street were the campus police and the barbed wires and the Cyclone fences and the cherry-picker cranes. And on the other side of the road were the grandmothers. It's the corporatists vs. the grandmothers! Who will win? Shouldn't we all be asking ourselves that question right now?

PS: Ashley had to get to work so we didn't get to stay long at the oak grove but the grandmothers did look determined. I'd put my money on them! And baby Mena got to have her first taste of gelato once we got Ashley to work. But this time both her aunt and her grandmother were more prepared, standing around with napkins this time, ready to clean up the mess. But who will clean up the mess left on our planet by the corporatists?

It looks like it's going to be up to the grandmothers. Again.

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Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has recently published a book entitled, "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips For Touring (more...)

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