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November 21, 2011

Occupy Davis: The Walk of Shame

By Michael Shaw

I would venture to say that the UC Davis student’s “walk of shame” action following Chancellor Katehi’s departure from the press conference at the school on Saturday night was so remarkable, we might never see the likes of it again.

I’ll explain:

In our social media-dominated culture, the instinct to record has overwhelmed the instinct to see, and the instinct to document (or electronically bear witness) has clearly overwhelmed the instinct to emotionally bear witness.

(click for full size)

Even at the moment where Officer Pike assaulted UC Davis students with pepper spray, a scene many of us are still reeling from, it’s hard to imagine students wouldn’t just stand there in horror and viscerally experience this assault on their fellow students. Looking at the photo, however, we can see that of the approximately 18 students witnessing the attack, roughly thirteen are, instead, preoccupied by the act of taking a picture. If we are, in fact, looking for some kind of emotional orientation and grounding from an eye-witness, we’re fortunate (personally, I’m relieved) to see the woman, dead center, holding some kind of electronic device who simply continues to clutch it as she takes in what’s happening in stunned, “unmediated” silence.

Compare that scene, however, to the photo above from UC’s California Aggie by Jasna Hodzic of the students waiting for the Chancellor. Of course, the students were determined to confront the administrator in terms that contradicted the exercise of anger or force. At the same time, however, I sure it was not lost on anyone how much they were part of a spectacle as emotionally charged as what happened  on the quad. In this case, however (and I think I the faces of these young women, particularly those in the lower right of the frame, will be in my mind for some time), the moral imperative and the intensity to connect with the authority, conscience-to-conscience, was so great, there is hardly a recording device to be seen.

The other day, I opined that we needed 48 hours to tell if Bloomberg’s evacuation of Zuccotti would pay off. The event at Davis offers a powerful reply. If there has been a strong moral and collective dimension to the Occupy movement from the beginning, it only continues to grow stronger.  The behavior we see in the “sit down” above is truly extraordinary. That kind of focus and intent cannot be meditated, it can only be inspired. And, compared to the hollow rituals and contrived gestures and the corresponding visuals of the measured goings-on at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, these students create such an electric high water mark, it’s stunning to sense how much our politics can come alive.

Story and more photos here at The California Aggie. Walk of Shame video here. (There are a number of versions. This one captures the students better than some of the others.)

(photo: Jasna Hodzic/California Aggie)

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  • Thirdeye Pushpin

    I actually believe the students at Davis set a highwater mark for non violent resistance and the images of both events will be in history books. Ironically the students may have seriously increased enrollment at their institution

  • Pingback: Police use pepper spray on Occupy protesters – Telegraph.co.uk | perfectbacon.com

  • Pingback: Police use pepper spray on Occupy protesters – Telegraph.co.uk | perfectbacon.com

  • Stella

    I’m in awe of the courage.  They’ll be needing a lot more of it, because after two months the powerful and the media are looking to bring the whole movement to a close. 

    How long can we care about NOLA, Fukushima, Afghanistan, poor people?  My thanks to The Bag for always keeping the focus where it belongs.

  • bks

    It’s non-violent, but I’m not sure it’s all that effective.   Certainly not in the same league as “mic chec/human microphone.”   It’s a good entry-level tactic for beginning protesters.

        –bks
     

    • Anonymous

      Au contraire, I found the overwhelming silence surrounding Chancellor Katehi’s perp walk surprising and surprisingly articulate at communicating to the Chancellor the intense level of concern in the student body. Total silence shows total agreement. I suspect the Chancellor will being hearing this silence in her private thoughts for a while to come.

  • Pingback: Occupy the Founding Fathers | friskyGeek

  • Pingback: Occupy UC Davis: How We Got Here & What Happens Next (VIDEO) – Patch.com | perfectbacon.com

  • Glenn

    I happen to be acquainted with several high-level UC administrators – not at Davis, at another location. And some of those people are competent, some even highly principled, and some are empty suit figureheads. Yet all of them are well-meaning, and would never willingly allow this to happen.  

    Throughout this whole episode – and indeed, the Penn State situation as well – I’ve been thinking “How would X have handled this?” “How would Y have responded?”  And I honestly don’t know. I would hope that they would have done better – so far their campus has not had an incident.

    Katehi should have seen the writing on the wall, after the Berkeley incident earlier in the week, and she should have been actively working with the UCDP leadership to refine the response tactics. Seems like she didn’t think it was important enough for her attention. Speaks to her cluelessness.

  • lq

    If you watch the 8+ minute version of the Friday, Nov. 19, incident, you will see both the human mic and the students’ assurances to the police that ‘you can leave’ – which lay the groundwork for the following night’s moving demonstration of passive resistance.  After the police (35 cops vs. 200 protesters) cluster together post-spraying and arresting, that police cluster starts edging backward toward the street, with at least one policeman holding his weapon at his shoulder.  The students’ chanting has progressed from ’shame on you’ to ‘who’s university – our university’ to ‘who do you protect? who do you serve?, to their final human mic telling the police they want peace, they want order, put down your weapons, it’s their university, and ‘you can leave’. As the police hear this, the students continue chanting ‘you can leave’ as they follow the police to the street.  That last part brings me to tears every time I watch it.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Mokray/767686527 George Mokray

    “I would venture to say that the UC Davis student’s “walk of shame” action following Chancellor Katehi’s departure from the press conference at the school on Saturday night was so remarkable, we might never see the likes of it again.”

    I disagree.  The students’ silence may inspire many, many more people to dramatic demonstrations of moral strength.  This particular tactic may not happen again but I believe it will serve as a foundation for new improvisations of non-violent power and real satyagraha, soul force.

    Think of this on another, simpler level.  Saturday, about 100 people turned out for Occupy Wayne, NJ and, reportedly, there was a lot of support expressed by the honking of passing cars.  Wayne, NJ!!??  Something is going on that is unprecedented and it is becoming ubiquitous, not just in the US (somewhat late to the party) but around the world.

    The King Center will be doing non-violent trainings with Occupy Atlanta I learned Thursday.  Tomorrow I hope to hear what is happening in Spain and will ask about 15-M’s online voter education for the recent election (which the “conservatives” handily won).  Are there methods that can apply to our own upcoming elections?  How will the US Occupy movement respond to what is happening in Tahrir Square, where the Egyptian authorities are justifying their use of force by referring to what the NYPD did in Zuccotti Park?  Will we make that connection and start another cycle around the circle?

    • Amandla

      What is so “morally strong” about wasting taxpayer dollars in this drama-queen way?

      In the 1950s-1970s when we did street actions, we did it on our own dollar. Not mommy’s, not daddy’s, and not the taxpayers’. Of course I wasn’t a rich college kid, so I guess my experience doesn’t count. 

  • Amandla

    Well, people wanted and demanded a “professional” model of law enforcement rather than an emotional one, like we old 1950s-1970s activists encountered on the streets. 

    He’s being professional. He’s not manifesting emotion. He’s coolly following policy. So now his problem is that he’s being too cool. “Dehumanizing.”So which is it? At what point do law enforcement get to enforce boundaries, and in what mode? Maybe he should have been weeping tears of remorse while following the next stage in the boundary-setting policy? Or “humanizing” by kissing each student first?The rules of engagement are stated. You violate them, then the next level is triggered. These “students” (most of them are just slackers) are just playing boundary games, like a bunch of frat boys. Come on. OWS is the most ridiculous psychopathic street theatre I’ve seen in 50+ years of leftist activism. They are destroying the left by turning it into a mindless series of poor-me-victim-flower Twitard memes. Accomplishing nothing but more emotional outbursts. Playing games that they can talk about forever at cocktail parties when their parents’ privilege buys them more access to the bourgeoisie.They are accomplishing nothing for the honest working people of the world. In fact they despise us. 

    • pragmatic realist

      Nobody has to destroy “the left”. It self destructed years ago.”The Left” has been no factor at all in slowing down the express train to hell we have been on since 1975. At least these people are saying something and beginning to be heard.

    • http://profiles.google.com/glennisw250 Glennis Waterman

      You’re not a leftist activist. You’re a concern troll.

  • Anonymous

    “…if you’re ignorant, you’re scared of ideas…” unidentified young woman at Occupy Wall St, Zuccotti Park, NY, NY. interviewed by Geraldo Rivera at large

    I’m not anti-police, I’m anti-abuse of power… but the video of police violating 1st Amendment rights of the Occupy Wall St/USA supporters is more than I can take. (I’ve got history, man…) I watched the video of the UC Davis cops using the industrial sized pepper sprayer on the student protestors and I have to ask myself: THIS IS THE USA?

    Ok let me get this straight… According to Republicans/Conservatives, the Occupy Wall St/Occupy USA crowd are lazy, unemployed, trouble makers who need a bath, right?
    City Halls/police departments all over the nation have decided to STOP CONCERNED CITIZENS demanding ethics, responsibility and accountability from those who destroyed the US economy, right?
    In the “land of the FREE, home of the BRAVE” we have officers of the LAW who think it’s a good idea to use MILITARY grade pepper spray on STUDENTS, right? Does this sound RIGHT to any human being?

    Please tell me a majority of the American PEOPLE find something VERY DISTURBING about this situation. What the f*** is University police departments doing with military grade anything?

    Tell me please, WHO are you fat, dirty rotten fascist pig m’f***or’s protecting? Funny how we didn’t see law enforcement breaking in on all those corrupt, greed stricken, power mad, war profiteering con artists who almost destroyed the US economy.

    Funny, how public sector workers such as police and corrections officers expect Americans to protect their job/pension/health care security from Republican/Conservative spending cuts (examples in Wisconsin and Ohio). But then the police union/association members pay us back by beating, gas, shoot with rubber bullets and wrongfully arresting Concerned Citizens demanding accountability from the Wall St con-artists who ruined our economy.  It seems the real criminals and true enemies of the USA have  police and secret service protection.

    Y’know what the REAL problem is? Too many law enforcement agents believe that crap dished out by the Limbaughs & FOX news! Conservative wacko cult bias shouldn’t driving police policy. It‘s “protect and serve” remember? Not act like the strong-arm guys for Wall Street organized crime, ya bunch of fascist oinkers.

    NOTE: FOX News and the AM radio Limbaughs want to divert attention away from these facts and ridicule/demonize the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Fox News is punk’n  Occupy Wall supporters… SETTING YOU UP for police abuse of power/brutality, (right, Gasperino & Crowder) The smartest thing protest radicals (with coines) could do is storm the FOX News building the next time Glenn Beck comes out of his bomb shelter to do the O’Reilly Show, lol.

    And if you see Andrew Breitbart or James O’keefe… well, speaking for myself I’d knock these silver spoons @$$ OUT, just to be known as the guy who shut up these propagandists working for foreign special interests. You right-wing, dittohead morons might as well dig up Joe McCarthy, J Edger, Tokyo Rose, take a loyalty oath,  urine test and get in line with the REST OF THE SHEEP! I detest & despise you Republican voters for giving power to the real enemies of the USA!

    The Class War has begun and the LAW better get out of the way. (like Egypt) The LAW has been very tough on Americans who can’t afford decent legal representation. The  Aristocrats and Ruling Class have spent a fortune of our tax dollars to set up a CONTROL by AUTHORITY legal system. (see jinnbad.blogspot.com)

    Back in the late 90’s while the Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm and Tom Delay were busy selling out the American middle class for a very few silver spoon trust fund babies… I don’t remember the public sector union workers standing up for their private sector union brothers and sisters. Right cyberbitchslap2.blogspot.com

  • Indomitus Erectus

    OWS is not a movement, it’s a hodge podge of whining pawns, against all manner of things for which they offer no alternative. Blah. It’s nothing but anarchistic noise. So these kids weren’t violent like other protests. BFD. What’s their point? Shut down and interrupt other people’s efforts to do something? The cops are just doing their jobs. How can any sane person call the pepper spraying an outrage?? These  socialist silver-spooned brats offer nothing but disruption while the rest of us are trying to get the country working. How can any of the OWS people seriously say they are against the 1% when their entire movement is funded by 1%ers who simply want to reshuffle the deck and take down the liberties we already hold. George Soros, one of the Uber 1%, is laughing at all of these ignorant pawns he has manipulated. 

    • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

      Another concerned troll.

  • http://www.uggsbaileybutton4u.com/ Suzann

    Very interesting topic.

  • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

    What I find interesting is the reaction of some to these images, here and in other places in the internet:

    1) Authority, be they be police on the street or the bankers in Wall Street, is always right, regardless of their actions/reactions.

    2)The protesters are members of the “leech” class (classic Objetivism) who “impede” the “real” Americans from doing whatever is they are doing.

    3)The protesters deserve whatever they get.

    This usually comes from the same people who claim to deeply distrust government and yet have no problem when government officials abuse their power. More so, they cheer them on.

  • http://twitter.com/marcsobel marcsobel

    I don’t think that the Chancellor will be hearing anything except winger applause.  She is firmly in the 1% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#Income_at_a_glance 

    Of course, the media doesn’t get that the term “walk of shame” (from the linked story 
    http://www.theaggie.org/2011/11/19/protesters-surround-chancellor%E2%80%99s-press-conference/ ) has sexual overtones.  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=walk+of+shame as in she screwed a lot of people.

  • Momly

    I watched the perp walk on video and the only thing you could hear was the clack of her heels on the concrete. Awesome. Just like crickets!

  • psychohistorian

    The Chancellor will resign.  The dance of steps to there from here will be instructive.  Stay tuned.

  • Glenn

    In the 1950s-1970s when we did street actions, we did it on our own dollar. Not mommy’s, not daddy’s, and not the taxpayers’.

    Okay, this has got to be a spoof!  Unless you actually think the cops in the 60’s and 70s weren’t paid by taxpayers?

    My goodness, Amandla, you’re really filling these threads with your personal resentment of UC students. Such issues you must have.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Mokray/767686527 George Mokray

    I saw Dr Bernard LaFayette, a co-founder of SNCC, speak last week.  He had a good grasp of the Occupy movement, announced that the King Center would be doing non-violence trainings with Occupy Atlanta, and my impression is that he would disagree with you about the students of UC Davis.

    I don’t understand how a group of students sitting in dead silence while the Chancellor walks to her car costing taxpayers or good old Mom and Dad money.

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