Letter to the Editor: Missed connections in Berkeley

Nicolas Holmes

As student organizers here on campus and vigorous defenders of the First amendment, the Students for a democratic Society (SdS) would like to congratulate the Inquirer for covering the Berkeley steel workers protest. It was thorough and succinct. It made clear that workers were in struggle and how the struggle impacted them. We even enjoy that this media was also trying to show the real community building that Occupy Oakland and Occupy Concord were doing and not just catering to what’s sexy: broken windows, street fights and revolutionaries trying a “diversity of tactics”.

But there is one thing the Inquirer missed: the connection to Community Colleges! There were two major community college groups that intersected with the workers: SdS and Laney College’s Against the Cuts group. While SdS did not organize the rally, it was clear we had a message and that our message dominated the rally: connecting the dots to capitalism and its destructive practices to all levels of society. Against the Cuts was handing out vital information pertaining to the cuts and the connection to austerity. There were even a few old SdS members there too, not one was quoted. Make these connections so students can relate.