Excellent Post: 'Occupy Cal: Take A Guess Who Will Win The Steps.' - DailyKos

[WillyT]

Occupy Cal: Take a guess who will win the steps.
by catilinus - DailyKos
THU NOV 10, 2011 AT 07:10 AM PST

<snip>

When the Berkeley students unite with the people of Oakland against the batons of the 1%...take a guess who is going to win...this time.

Chancellor Birgeneau says no camping out on the steps. Chancellors have said that before. Chancellor Heyman said it back in the '80s during the anti-apartheid/U.C. divestment movement. He threatened to-

"take action to open the doors of Sproul Hall, take down the signs and end the camping out."

Yes, we took the steps & slept there. We renamed it Stephen Biko Plaza. The police came in riot gear, arrested 100s of us, & cleared the steps.

Then we took the steps again.



The same steps that were the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement...

<snip>

Much More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/10/1034996/-Occupy-Cal:-Take-a-guess-who-will-win-the-steps

:patriot:

:kick:

[WillyT]

1. Kick !!!

:kick:

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Who was that Biko guy? (From Wikipedia)

Biko was born in King William's Town, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. He studied to be a doctor at the University of Natal Medical School. Biko was a Xhosa. In addition to Xhosa, he spoke fluent English and fairly fluent Afrikaans.

He was initially involved with the multiracial National Union of South African Students, but after he became convinced that Black, Indian and Coloured students needed an organization of their own, he helped found the South African Students' Organisation (SASO), whose agenda included political self-reliance and the unification of university students in a "black consciousness."<7> In 1968 Biko was elected its first president. SASO evolved into the influential Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Biko was also involved with the World Student Christian Federation.
Biko married Ntsiki Mashalaba in 1970.<8> They had two children together: Nkosinathi, born in 1971, and Samora. He also had two children with Dr Mamphela Ramphele (a prominent activist within the BCM): a daughter, Lerato, born in 1974, who died of pneumonia when she was only two months old, and a son, Hlumelo, who was born in 1978, after Biko's death.<2> Biko also had a daughter with Lorraine Tabane, named Motlatsi, born in May 1977.
In 1972, Biko was expelled from the University of Natal because of his political activities<7> and he became honorary president of the Black People's Convention. He was banned by the apartheid regime in February 1973,<9> meaning that he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time nor to speak in public, was restricted to the King William's Town magisterial district, and could not write publicly or speak with the media.<7> It was also forbidden to quote anything he said, including speeches or simple conversations.
When Biko was banned, his movement within the country was restricted to the Eastern Cape, where he was born. After returning there, he formed a number of grassroots organizations based on the notion of self-reliance: Zanempilo, the Zimele Trust Fund (which helped support former political prisoners and their families), Njwaxa Leather-Works Project and the Ginsberg Education Fund.
In spite of the repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a significant role in organising the protests which culminated in the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976. In the aftermath of the uprising, which was crushed by heavily armed police shooting school children protesting, the authorities began to target Biko further.

On the 18th of August, 1977, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 and interrogated by officers of the Port Elizabeth security police including Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwoudt. This interrogation took place in the Police Room 619. The interrogation lasted twenty-two hours and included torture and beatings resulting in a coma.<7> He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a day.
On 11 September 1977, police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked and restrained in manacles, and began the 1100 km drive to Pretoria to take him to a prison with hospital facilities. However, he was nearly dead owing to the previous injuries.<10> He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. The police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike, but an autopsy revealed multiple bruises and abrasions and that he ultimately succumbed to a brain hemorrhage from the massive injuries to the head,<7> which many saw as strong evidence that he had been brutally clubbed by his captors. Then journalist and now political leader, Helen Zille, along with Donald Woods, another journalist, editor and close friend of Biko's, exposed the truth behind Biko's death.<11>

[WillyT]

3. Thank You For That !!!

:yourock:

:hi: