WEBVTT - It Could Happen Here Weekly 64 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.680 Hey, everybody, Robert Evans here, and I wanted to let 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:06.359 you know this is a compilation episode. So every episode 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.360 of the week that just happened is here in one 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:13.240 convenient and with somewhat less ads package for you to 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.760 listen to in a long stretch if you want. If 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:17.720 you've been listening to the episodes every day this week, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.919 there's gonna be nothing new here for you, but you 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:28.040 can make your own decisions. Hello, podcast fans, it's me today, 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.840 it's James. It's Ernie James. We're giving you some updates 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.480 on the UC strike, but we record these before some 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.320 changes happened. Progress, you could call it, maybe it's not progress, 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.479 depends on where you're at a position wise with that. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.560 But there are two interviews today. One's going to explain 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.000 a little bit about the bargaining and the differences between 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.199 rank and file on the bargaining team. The other one 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.479 is going to explain the very important and radical and 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:55.680 progressive access needs demands that were made. And it seems 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:57.720 like ultimately not at least, I'm not on the table 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.600 in this tentative agreement. So that's a tentative agreet out 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.160 for voting right now. If you have been on the 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.280 internet today Saturday, and if you've been on today you 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.280 will have seen it presented as if the strike was over. 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.880 That's not necessarily the case, right the contractors up for 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.440 ratification and it's ratified by union members who have to 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.600 vote on it. A number of people who are organizing 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.960 for a no vote, especially people who are in departments 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.479 or parts of the university, which would qualify follower tears 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.560 of pay. The contract has tiered pay, has tiered pay, 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.440 birtht geographically and depict based on what kind of work 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.960 you're doing. Um So a lot of people who are 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:33.800 left at the bottom of those tears are obviously feeling 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:35.720 like they've they've been out of strike for five weeks 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:37.600 and haven't got what they wanted. A lot of people 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.440 who are in those higher tears are also feeling like 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.000 they should be expressing solidarity with their fellow workers at 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.200 the bottom. But you will have seen like a lot 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.600 of reporting. Some of it came up very very quickly 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:53.600 after the after the attemptive agreement was made, which it's 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.320 odd and perhaps is because the union appears to be 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.720 the union staff. I should say to people who are 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.840 who are making these in the terms some of the 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.120 people who are who are in favor of this contractor 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.960 using a PR company which appears to have maybe seeded 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.160 some stories and some publications, but we can't be sure. 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.480 Certainly they were very quick to press. So I would 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:13.880 urge you to listen to this as sort of a 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.040 coda to some of what you might be reading. There 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:18.760 are two things. You can listen to them separately. You 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.280 can listen one after the other. We won't have any 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.120 podcasts for a while over the over the break, so 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:25.880 I will speak to you again in the new year, 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:30.280 and I hope you enjoyed both these interviews. Mohammed, can 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.240 you just explain, first of all, tell folks at which 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.040 campus you're at and maybe what you're studying and where 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.080 you are in the in the giant structure that is 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.640 like the U A, W U C S D. Yeah, absolutely, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:45.880 so I'm at you see San Diego. I'm a fifth 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.960 year in the PhD program in the Department of Ethnic Studies. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:54.440 And yeah, I specifically study like Muslim racialization and sectarianism 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.239 in the US UM and how that yah, how that 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:02.720 looks up to like imperialism, settler cornialism, UM gender formations, 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.400 things like that, UM and I suppose my place within this, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.919 as you say, like the labyrinth of U C S D, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.160 ANU AW politics. UM. Right now, I'm just a ranking 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.680 final member UM. However, a couple of years ago I 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.360 was UM the unit chair for San Diego, So I 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.000 was actually on the bargaining team previously UM, and that 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.440 was at the beginning of the pandemic UM, and so 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.440 a lot of like COVID bargaining for example, UM, I 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.200 sort of like oversaw that. And prior to that, I 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:38.360 UM was organizer with the COLA movement and so I 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:44.320 helped organize the wildcat strike UM GREA at San Diego. Yeah. Nice, Yeah, Yeah, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.080 there's a long history off union ORGANA. It's good. And 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.720 so can you explain to folks a little bit about 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.760 because you mentioned the bargaining team there, right, and maybe 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.360 people wouldn't be familiar with the distinctions in union organization. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.080 Obviously this is in Italy and in the nineties, so 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.800 you don't bargain with the entire union on mass e sadly, 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.520 but they do. The university meets with a certain group 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.360 of union representatives. So can you explain like who they 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.360 are and how they're selected to start with? Maybe yeah, absolutely, UM. 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:21.120 So there are essentially two levels of three levels of 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.680 leadership UM within the union. So at the top, in 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:30.679 terms of statewide leadership, you have the Executive Board UM, 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.000 and that's you know, like president, vice presidents for North 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:38.120 and South campuses, UM, trustees, treasurers, things like that UM. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.359 And then you have campus based leadership and that's split 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.919 between head stewards that are apportioned to campuses based on 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:50.240 their population in size UM. And then you have to 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.760 kind of sort of like head leadership positions, one being 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.680 the unit chair and the other being the recording secretary. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:58.880 And so the bargaining team for the whole union is 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:03.000 composed of the unit chair and the sec from each 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.479 campus UM. And at this time around we've added someone 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.680 from you see, San Francisco. They're usually not represented, like 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.240 in the past bargaining cycles they haven't been, So there 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.000 are now nineteen people on UM the u W two 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.880 eight six five bargaining team, whereas previously there had been 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.280 a team UM. Yeah, and I guess that's sort of 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.679 like final level of of leadership that combines both campus 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.600 level and statewide leadership is what's called the Joint Council UM. 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.919 But that's kind of the hierarchy of the structure of 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.960 the union. Okay, yeah, it's fascinating. They just went to 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.920 an odd number because I want to get onto some 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:42.039 think next, which is this division like this that I 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:43.680 think people are calling them b T ten and b 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.200 T nine, right, Yeah, which which could a bit b 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:48.919 T nine at b T nine if you if you 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.359 didn't have the the UCSF person, which would have been 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:57.400 a whole larger sort of mess. N Yeah, yeah, that 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.359 would have been great. So what is this division like 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.040 there there are two distinct I guess positions as as 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:09.800 regards bargaining, So prectually could explain a little bit of that. Yeah, absolutely, Um, 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.560 I mean I think just you know, this might be obvious, 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.400 but just to preface with the fact that, um, even 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.600 within these so called camps of like b T T 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.040 N b T nine, there's a lot of heterrogen aggy, right. 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.279 And so we saw this voting block emerge in the 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.760 first week of the strike mainly around UM the wages 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:32.120 demand and how um you know, one of the central 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.800 pieces of that original demand, the way that it was 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.720 crafted was that it was aimed at bringing members out 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.520 of rent burdon and so rent Burton. I'm sure folks 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:42.640 have talked about this before, but it's defined as paying 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.720 more than of your monthly income in rent. And so 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.719 that translated in terms of our demand to a minimum 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.960 base wage of dollars a year, along with wage increases 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.159 that are attacked on to UM, the increase in like 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:02.240 the median rental price UM for housing and so uh, 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.719 in that vote, we saw you know, the split emerge 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.000 ten nine, and then we saw UM again this kind 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.840 of split paralleled in the vote to have open or 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.440 closed Bardening sessions and the fact that ten people voted 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.600 to have closed sessions. And again, you know, since then 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.920 another big concession. I'm going to use the term concession, 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.400 even though there's a lot of consternation coming from like 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:29.040 u AW leadership, because concession is technically when you lose 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.480 something you've already had, you already have. And so when 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.960 it comes to like the Disability and Access article, UM, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.880 you know, something that we proposed and which you demand, 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.560 that was crafted through and by uh, you know disability 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.640 just as activists and disabled workers was mandatory supervisor training 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.400 and that was dropped UM. And again we saw that 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:53.120 along the same lines of ten and nine UM and 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.000 so you know, I think ideologically speaking, if I were 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.720 to kind of you know, analyze this and give my 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.480 I take, it's that the nine people I think are 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:09.960 more committed to UM, I suppose being like representative of 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.720 UH their campus concerns UM. And so, for example, some 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.160 of those b T nine members I was on the 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.720 bargaining team with a few years ago, and you know, 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.400 they and I didn't necessarily agree on a lot of 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.440 issues UM. But now because their campuses have been vocally 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.800 in support of demands like a cost of living adjustment 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.240 of COLA or in support of UM, you know, not 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.240 dropping the amount of child care that we can get 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:40.400 folks reimbursed for UM. You know, actually listening to their 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.079 membership has caused them to kind of quinde quote side 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.360 with UM other bargaining team members which may have other 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:51.200 ideological commitments beyond just the contract right and so commitment 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:55.000 to progressively defunding you see p d R at the 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.360 police department and sort of putting those funds elsewhere within 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:03.240 the university system UM. And so yeah, I mean I think, 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.960 you know, we see that kind of split and emerge UM, 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.440 you know now with this bargaining cycle. But this is 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.679 also a split that's existed within the union for a while. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:17.080 And so you look historically at the contracts cycle, right, 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.880 UM two thousand eleven, and there's always been this kind 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.920 of division, and it's red. It's represented in American labor 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.959 more broadly between kind of like socio political unionism on 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.599 one end and we're like liberal or business unionism on 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.599 the other. And so it's not really at least it 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.000 shouldn't be surprising to us that a lot of those 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:40.200 BT ten members or a majority of folks on the 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.079 statewide executive board are aligned with what's called like the 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:48.120 administrative Caucus at the u a W international level, or 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:53.600 they're vocally supportive of current UW President Ray Curry. And 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.000 in the latest general elections UM, even though officially the 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.080 local didn't take a stance UM. On social media, there's 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.079 photos of our union president posing with Ray Curry UM 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.840 for the crease ador any team UM. And so there 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:12.120 are those kind of like larger structural alignments as well. Yeah, 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.439 and of course if people are unaware and even yeah, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.240 but like you said, within the union as a whole, 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.800 like and within the whole American unionization, right, we have 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.480 the a f l C I oh, which includes unions 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:28.400 which are of police officers. And then we have I 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.400 know that the UCSD locals of you at least so 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.880 you see locals I should say, of u AW have 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.000 made statements about that being an issue, but it's it's 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:42.360 still a thing that's happening. And yeah, it doesn't necessarily 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.640 and follow especially in this country, that labor organization is 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:53.840 always progressive in its in its other politics, right, absolutely, Yeah, 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.400 I thought it was really cool that a lot of 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.719 the demands that were made were progressive when when the 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.360 star began, right, like there was a cops of campus demand, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:07.240 there was access needs demand and things like that, like 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:10.600 access to childcare for people. And some of them some 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:12.760 of them were economics, some of them were not economics 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.839 some of them which has always been a thing with 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.160 student organizing. Right, we can go back and I'm not 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.079 really good at masks. We can get back to night 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.760 and we can we can look at like students making 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.640 political demands and that changing the demands that unions made 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.920 in the nineteen sixties. And I think it's cool that 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.360 that you will have those going in. Where are we 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.240 at with the bargaining now? Like it it doesn't look 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.160 like cops are leaving campus from what I can see 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:45.680 right now, yeah, I think, um, so it's kind of 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:50.400 complicated right now because we've just recently entered voluntary pre 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.920 impast mediation UM. And so a lot of the big 0:11:53.960 --> 0:12:01.360 outstanding articles wages, childcare, the remission of UH nonresident supplemental tuition, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.440 which disproportionately affects international students right makes them quota postre 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.319 more costly to the university. UM. So a lot of 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.679 those open things now are being discussed through this mediator UM. 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:17.040 And I think even within that process, UM, we see 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.040 a lot of the same issues emerging that have been 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.640 present for the entirety of the bargaining processes, which mainly 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.160 is that UM. Again, my position on this is that 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:32.560 our bargaining team hasn't been pushing enough UM. And you 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.800 see that kind of on two levels. One at the 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.640 actual table UM, there's a lot of passivity. And so 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.400 when you know the barbaining team is kind of explaining 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.120 their decision to membership, it's mainly UM. You know, they're 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.640 saying things like, well, we reduced the wages demand by 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.000 eleven thousand dollars, like right away, because that's what would 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.320 be more amenable to the university. And of course that 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.040 is not true, right because the u C came back 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.840 to us with like a dollar offer something like that, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.120 like pitifule low um. And so again there's a lot 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.160 of you know, concessionary I think moves UM. And there's 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.600 the desire to to kind of close the gap with 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:15.640 the university essentially, and again that kind of betrays UM. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:21.160 I think a fundamental misunderstanding from our bargaining team that somehow, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.280 if we are respectable enough, if we present enough rational 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.640 arguments that you see will respect that right, they'll they'll 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.160 sort of like give in to our demands. UM. That 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.200 will somehow goad them to come in our direction. Whereas 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:35.800 you know, we should see that you see as like 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.880 one of the largest bosses, one of the largest landlords 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.680 in the country. UM. And so of course they're gonna 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:43.440 try to scures us out of as much as they 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.559 can because that's their function. UM. And so on one end, 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.800 I think we've seen a lot of core demands get dropped. 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.200 We've seen um uh intense like weakening of our position 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:02.520 as well as the really incredible black transparency UM. And 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.880 so I mentioned before the fact that most bargaining meetings 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.360 or most bargaining sessions have been closed doors. UM. The 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:14.840 fact that a number of like private like sidebars have 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.880 taken place, and oftentimes membership gets like very vague emails 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.920 or or we're you know, told like progress was made. 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.000 You know, we won certain things, but then the technicality 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:29.080 of those wins is completely left out of the picture. UM. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:34.240 Even more recently, bargaining team members voted to uh, make 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.760 the votes at the table private. And so after dropping 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.160 the coal to demand, you know, folks were upset and 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.920 obviously reaching out to the bargaining team, showing up to 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.520 caucuses and being upset, and so from there, the bargaining 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.800 team framed this as quote court harassment and essentially voted 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.120 to make all the votes private. UM. And so you know, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.960 we've seen a lot of moves like that that, you know, 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.560 make it clear that the union leadership is trying to 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:02.960 preserve the union rather than preserve its membership right in 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:05.600 prisoner of the well being of those folks. And so 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.600 I think at the table again we see this kind 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:14.240 of passive or concessionaire UM strategy. And on the ground, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.720 when it comes to the strikes at all these campuses, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.520 we see something similar where you know, the majority of 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.120 the actions that we took in the first two to 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:27.120 three weeks of the strike was just picketing, right, And obviously, 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.440 you know, the picket is a powerful tool to picket, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.280 is a very symbolic tool. But in a you know, 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.760 industry like the academy, picketing doesn't serve the same purpose 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:37.880 as it might like at a factory. Right, we're not 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.760 actually shutting down the workplace. It's a great show of 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.520 force in a way because you have thousands of people out, 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.400 but obviously, when we're being required to sign up for 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.840 twenty hours of picketing to get our strike pay, folks 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.280 get exhausted. We will have you know, like huge marches 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.800 through campus, go to a rally and it will be 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.680 two hours of people talking um and that exhaust people. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.560 And even when it comes to you know, like you 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.360 see Davis, they had the undergrads actually had like an 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.680 amazing direct action where they blockaded the campus every single 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.240 day um and that of course led to a legal 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.680 response from the university and the union leadership. You know, 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:19.440 rather than challenge that or you know, take take measures 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.800 to make sure that those folks could organize autonomously of 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:28.840 them um started uh, like harassing and discipline folks basically 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.920 UM for taking taking part in solidarity actions that may 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.480 push up against the law. UM. And so what we 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.680 see as like a concessionary attitude at the table, I 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:44.360 think is translated as a very or is translated into 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:49.880 like respectability politics UM on the ground UM Yeah, yeah, No, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.320 I think that's an makeing way of phrasing it. And 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.760 that's that's sort of what what you're definitely suggesting and 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.480 what it seems that we've seen. So when is that 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.240 leave people? And I think some of the things that 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.520 have been suggested to be like in in the sort 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.440 of current proposals both from the union of the university, 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.959 would leave people with a contract that they would find 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:16.720 I'm guessing unsatisfactory, right, especially after for four and a 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.400 half five weeks of being out of and and possible 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.240 withholding of pay right which we can get onto. But 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.959 where does that leave people? Like what what sort of 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:30.760 feeling amongst your So obviously you can't speak for the 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.000 rank of file across the whole university, but what's was 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.199 the sort of feeling amongst the rank and file with 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.600 regards to what do we do if we get this 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.800 offer which doesn't give us the things that we went 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.080 out for in the first place. Yeah. UM, I think 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.560 that there is a lot of just polarization around that question. UM. 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.800 I've heard from a number of folks. Unsurprisingly. I think 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.040 people who UM are material at least treated a little 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.640 bit better. Right, we get higher pay already UM from 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.719 the university being all right with it, you know. But 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.760 that's that's the most that I hear. I haven't heard anyone, 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.560 even the most staunch supporter of the union establishment, say 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.640 that this contractor at least what is bound to come 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:15.960 to the table at this point, is going to be satisfactory, 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.959 is going to actually be desirable. It's just seen as like, oh, 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:20.400 this is the best we can get, and we might 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:25.119 as well settle in like every sense of the word UM. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.520 But that being said, there is a large contingent again, 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.439 folks that are totally fine with that, or they're tired 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.040 of striking, or they're seeing a lot of retaliation from 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.919 their supervisors, and the union I think has failed to 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.760 um not only respond to that retaliation and to like 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.639 reensure and empower members, but it's also failed to you know, 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.960 the technical term and organizing would be innoculated. Right. UM, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.600 there is a huge, in my opinion, organizational failure to 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.280 make clear exactly what could happen to folks when we 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.960 go on strike, or to prepare us to hear the 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.359 talking points from the university UM, and how to you know, 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.639 collectively organize against it, to build up a kind of 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.720 consciousness to resist internalizing that and to say like, oh, 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:08.520 I don't want to strike because my jobs at risk 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.000 or something. And it's like, yeah, of course, right, that's 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:15.720 the point, you know, it's like where we're taking that action, UM, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.399 And so on one end, right, I mean, there's a 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.199 number of reasons as to why, and the kind of 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.000 hinted at that, but there is a large contingent of 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:25.280 of people who UM would just be okay and they're 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.719 going to vote us. UM. But I also think, right, 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.119 and as I'm sure you know you've you've seen around 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.160 social media or you've talked to other folks who are 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.800 on this side of voting no UM. You know, I 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.320 think a lot of the consternation there comes again from 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.720 the fact that we've dropped so much UM and kind 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:47.760 of have left our most vulnerable members out to drive UM. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.080 So whether that comes from you know, reducing the amount 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:55.480 of childcare or dependent health care or UM you know 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.360 again dropping those like really core elements of the disability 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:02.520 and access needs UM articles. When it comes to dropping 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.160 COLA and dropping our wages down to a point where 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:07.000 we would still be in not just rent burden, but 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.800 severe rent burden. UM. It's been leading a lot of 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.240 folks to, uh, you know, promote the idea that we're 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.320 going to vote no UM regardless because even if the 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.720 remaining articles you know, are better than we expected UM 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.880 and they get tentatively agreed to, there's already too much 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:26.719 that's been lost to make this uh an adequate contract, right, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:31.000 not even great, not even satisfactory, but just adequate. UM. 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.000 And so you know, of course that kind of UH division, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.119 as you might say, UM, has brought up a lot 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.520 of tensions, especially in the last few days. UM. But 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:45.320 you know, I think now we're seeing a broader gap 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.600 between these two like sides UM, where there are folks 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.320 that are pretty much again set on voting yes because 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:57.280 it's good enough UM, and there are other folks who 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.240 are pretty staunching in voting now and trying to build 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.360 up that movement UM. And I think the point we're 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.520 at now at least speaking from that like vote no 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.639 side is that, Um, we really need to outline and 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:13.480 be transparent with membership where we can go from there, 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.520 Like how do we demystify the process or the process 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.240 the possibility of impasse? Um. You know, that's been a 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.679 concept that's thrown around a lot by UNI leadership and 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.240 is never fully unpacked. Um. And so it's like a 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:30.760 fearmongering tool that's that's been, in my opinion at least 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:36.639 like used to subdue member militancy. UM. So that's one issue. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.560 Another issue is like how do we reopen certain articles? 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.119 How do we build this quote unquote long haul strike 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.880 to gain more than we've already you know, um given 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:47.320 up at this point, And so I think a lot 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:52.040 of those technicalities that are up in the air are renewed, 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:56.479 sort of like areas of organizing focus. UM. Yeah, so 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:58.800 you don't have to abandon some of those demands which 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:03.199 we're not economic. Yeah, those can still be Yeah. I mean, 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:05.200 I guess there's my point in really speculating how many 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:07.359 people will vote yes or no. We'll see once once 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.560 we see the agreement. And yeah, but like can you 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:15.440 give us an update then on where striking gets some progressively, 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:17.200 how did it gets longer? Right, people don't want to 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:19.679 stand on a picket for five weeks, six weeks. They 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.800 don't they want to go home for the holidays. They 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:28.560 have this pressure that's been leveraged, perhaps unfairly and sometimes 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:35.720 like erroneously that their students will face immigration or graduation consequences, 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:39.960 which is largely untrue. So, like, can you talk about 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.080 there's there's a chance that people won't be getting paid 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.120 right in December? Has that happened to any one? What's 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.200 the latest with that? Um SO? A lot of what's 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:52.840 been going around UM in terms of issues with pay, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.520 A lot of the news I've seen concerns post docs, 0:22:56.720 --> 0:23:01.520 so folks from the local fifty eight who actually just 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:04.760 signed an approse that tenantive agreement um SO. The university 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:08.560 has put out some language implying that they'll retroactively dock 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.080 pay UM and so UM Yeah, I can't like speak 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.040 to the technicalities of that UM but that's definitely a 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.879 concern I've seen floating around UM, and I know that 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:22.879 they're actively organizing around it. UM for a s c 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:27.760 S and UH student researchers. UM we none of us 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:30.080 have been docked pay yet um we all got paid 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.879 for December. Um, in part because I just think the 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:36.520 university has a really hard time keeping track of who's 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:38.560 on strike. On top of the fact that, I mean, 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:40.440 I don't know if anyone's already complained to you about 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:43.400 you see path, but the parallel system that got rolled 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:46.080 out yeah a few years ago. Um, it's terrible. It's 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.000 an absolutely fucking nightmare. Yeah. Um. And so I think 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:51.960 it would be a massive achievement for them to even 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:54.840 be able to withhold folks pay through that system. Yeah. 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:57.760 They struggled to pay people in the first including myself. 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:03.199 Yeah yeah, um yeah, absolutely, and so um, you know, 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:05.359 I think it is it is a real concern. But 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:08.560 at this point, um, at least to my knowledge, no 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:12.520 one in five or s r U has been affected 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.760 by by pay withholding. And then let's let's talk about 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:18.399 the grade withholding, which is now like today, is today 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.040 right that the grades should be doing. Obviously many people 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:25.960 are not filing those grades, and which again it's another 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:28.360 example of sue the UC just being a bureaucratic disaster. 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:31.280 But we can skip past that. So the grades are 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:34.040 not being being filed, can we talk about some of 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:36.679 the suggestions that have been made by the university. I 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:39.399 know one of them was that students on like F 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:45.000 one visas might face consequences. That's not true, as best 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.320 having been one visa has better understand it, and that 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:53.080 students on think on grant and scholarships might face consequences. 0:24:53.119 --> 0:24:54.960 So can you explain sort of what they've said and 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:57.639 then perhaps prehaps offer some insight into into why you 0:24:57.680 --> 0:25:01.120 think that that might be misleading? Yeah? Absolutely, UM, so 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:04.000 exactly what you're saying. Um, you know, folks and vulnerable 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:07.840 categories such as people on academic probation or whose financial 0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.840 aid is dependent on being in like you know, good 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:15.480 standing um or yeah, like international students. Um. Yeah, there's 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:19.000 been a lot of uh fairmongering and misleading information out 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:21.560 there that these students might be you know, kicked out 0:25:21.560 --> 0:25:24.040 of school, they might be reported, they might um face 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:28.760 uh you know again like financial consequences. UM. But it's 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:34.159 important also to recognize that uh having a grade remain blank, 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:36.879 it doesn't affect folks g p A, it doesn't have 0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:43.199 folks affect folks academic standing um. And for international students, um. 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:45.760 You know, the best that we understand, and we've actually 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:50.760 communicated with Universities International students offices and what they say 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:54.240 is that, UM, it's enrollment that matters, not necessarily having 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:58.440 the grade, and so UM even if you know, let's 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:00.880 say like all of someone's grades are withheld, they've still 0:26:01.040 --> 0:26:04.560 enrolled in the requisite number of credits UM, and so 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:06.800 that that standing in terms of a visa wouldn't be 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:09.840 affected UM. And the same goes for even something as 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:13.760 simple as moving onto the next course in a sequence UM, 0:26:13.840 --> 0:26:17.400 because uh, you know, again, the withholding of a grade 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:20.320 doesn't affect UM that kind of like progress or academic 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:25.760 standard UM. And as a show like technical note, a 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:28.040 lot of folks are again concerned that like, well, wouldn't 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:30.359 this blank grade lead to an incomplete or wouldn't it 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:34.720 lead to an F UM? And in terms of the incomplete, 0:26:34.840 --> 0:26:38.320 there's a reason why we're not filing everyone with an eye. 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:41.880 We're leaving the grades blink because an incomplete is costly, 0:26:41.960 --> 0:26:44.239 it's more work for everyone, and so we're avoiding that. 0:26:44.880 --> 0:26:49.720 And UM, blank grades don't default to an F until 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:53.800 the following semester or following term ends. And so for 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:56.320 us at U C S D UM since many of 0:26:56.400 --> 0:26:59.280 us are withholding grades. They those blank grades wouldn't turn 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:02.160 to and F until the end of winter around March. 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:04.720 And I don't think anyone expects to strike to go 0:27:04.880 --> 0:27:10.200 that one. Yeah, it will be truly historical. And yes, 0:27:10.359 --> 0:27:13.840 So how has he had the graduate response been then? Yeah, 0:27:13.920 --> 0:27:19.200 that's um, it's difficult because I know at certain campuses, 0:27:19.200 --> 0:27:21.359 like I mentioned you see Davis earlier, there's been huge 0:27:21.400 --> 0:27:27.119 undergrad involvement there. UM. At San Diego, I think the 0:27:27.119 --> 0:27:30.080 response has been a bit mixed. UM. I know many 0:27:30.119 --> 0:27:34.480 of my students, for example, we're supportive of the strike UM. 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:37.320 And within you know, my department Ethnic Studies, we did 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:40.800 try to get students more involved, Like we held teachings 0:27:41.280 --> 0:27:44.040 UM to get students to come out. And you know 0:27:44.080 --> 0:27:46.520 the class I'm teeing for right now is called Land 0:27:46.560 --> 0:27:49.080 and Labor and so we talked about you know, U, C. S. D, 0:27:49.240 --> 0:27:52.680 right and and the relationship to like colonialism, capitalism, landed 0:27:52.760 --> 0:27:57.320 labor um. And so we've tried to integrate you know, 0:27:57.400 --> 0:28:01.959 not just um, you know, student and engagement and support, 0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:05.080 but also to use this as another form of study, right, 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:07.320 as a form of study that's not that's outside the 0:28:07.400 --> 0:28:09.879 kind of like bureaucratic mess that is the university with 0:28:09.920 --> 0:28:15.360 its nonsense UM. I think what's difficult at San Diego 0:28:15.600 --> 0:28:21.600 is that, UM, you know, political engagement has historically come 0:28:21.600 --> 0:28:24.840 in waves. Obviously at all universities. Folks come and go, 0:28:25.280 --> 0:28:28.040 but it's particularly acute, I think at San Diego where 0:28:28.040 --> 0:28:31.960 there's massive moments of like upheaval and like folks coming 0:28:31.960 --> 0:28:36.280 out in the thousands, like we saw back in UM 0:28:36.320 --> 0:28:40.600 around the pandemic, around the uprisings UM during the summer, 0:28:40.680 --> 0:28:42.800 around even the Cola movement, right, which was a little 0:28:42.840 --> 0:28:45.880 bit before that, we saw huge numbers of undergrads come out, 0:28:46.480 --> 0:28:48.680 in part because we were able back then at least 0:28:48.720 --> 0:28:52.480 to connect our demands to their concerns. Right. The fact 0:28:52.560 --> 0:28:56.680 that psychological services on campus are horribly underfunded, Right, people 0:28:56.720 --> 0:28:58.920 have to wait a whole quarter to get even the 0:28:58.960 --> 0:29:01.640 intake of planet UM. The fact that again like they're 0:29:01.640 --> 0:29:04.440 getting screwed over with housing just as much as we 0:29:04.480 --> 0:29:08.080 are UM paying you know, over ten or fifteen thousand 0:29:08.120 --> 0:29:11.880 dollars a year in it for a dorm um. And 0:29:11.920 --> 0:29:14.880 so you know, that connection back then, I think, really 0:29:14.960 --> 0:29:19.040 drew out the undergrads. And that's what's really lacking Now again, 0:29:19.080 --> 0:29:20.920 I think because of the way that the union has 0:29:20.960 --> 0:29:25.560 framed the struggle quite narrowly as not just what affects workers, 0:29:25.600 --> 0:29:29.520 but what what affects the majority of workers. UM, that's 0:29:29.600 --> 0:29:32.160 left out a lot of the broader concerns. That has 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:35.479 foreclosed a lot of broader critiques of the university. And 0:29:35.560 --> 0:29:37.280 so when it comes to something like the cops off 0:29:37.280 --> 0:29:40.320 campus demand, the fact that we have bargain team members 0:29:40.360 --> 0:29:42.880 at u c l A, for example, literally lie and 0:29:42.920 --> 0:29:45.479 say that it's never been on the table UM, it's 0:29:45.520 --> 0:29:49.480 really indicative of how the union is trying to frame this. 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:52.800 And so the fact that you know, again those broader 0:29:52.840 --> 0:29:58.160 conversations around the UC being a landlord around them, the 0:29:58.320 --> 0:30:02.600 way that you know, profit it and resources are inequitably 0:30:02.680 --> 0:30:06.800 distributed through the university infrastructure, right, those things drop out 0:30:06.800 --> 0:30:09.920 of the conversation about our strike, UM, and if we 0:30:09.960 --> 0:30:11.920 do bring it up, we're seen as dissidents or something 0:30:11.960 --> 0:30:15.760 like that, or radical UM. And so the fact that 0:30:15.800 --> 0:30:17.480 those things have dropped out, I think has led to 0:30:18.280 --> 0:30:21.560 us seeing the situation like we see at UCSD where 0:30:22.080 --> 0:30:28.080 the undergrads are almost ambivalent, if not hostile, because we 0:30:28.120 --> 0:30:30.960 haven't done a good enough job engaging them. We haven't 0:30:31.000 --> 0:30:35.000 also organized alongside and with them. Um. Rather it's been 0:30:35.040 --> 0:30:37.600 like come support your t A s and not like 0:30:37.760 --> 0:30:42.000 we're fighting together, right, And so it's yeah, it betrayed. 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:43.960 It gives the impression that this is like a very 0:30:44.000 --> 0:30:47.840 one way um or you know, like an interdirectional form 0:30:47.880 --> 0:30:50.520 of support, where in reality, you know, we should be 0:30:50.560 --> 0:30:53.440 building up those ties of solidarity and that you know, 0:30:53.480 --> 0:30:56.520 we should be focusing not just on winning a contract, 0:30:56.640 --> 0:31:01.040 but then building and sustaining this movement against the university 0:31:01.040 --> 0:31:05.160 in a much larger or broader sense. Yeah, because I'm 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:07.520 speaking from experience, I know a lot of those undergrads 0:31:07.560 --> 0:31:10.760 feel very disempowered in their relations with the university and 0:31:10.760 --> 0:31:13.600 and some of the demands, like the access needs demand, 0:31:14.280 --> 0:31:18.200 you know, the demand for improved student counseling, psychological services, 0:31:18.240 --> 0:31:21.720 things like that. But that would benefit directly everyone on campus. 0:31:21.920 --> 0:31:25.000 And then it's a shame not to see that. It's 0:31:25.040 --> 0:31:27.040 a shame to see that sort of left to the 0:31:27.160 --> 0:31:31.880 side when I think it could build a more effective movement. So, yeah, 0:31:32.120 --> 0:31:34.120 it does seem to go like you said, campus by 0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:37.200 campus department, your your department like has historically been a 0:31:37.240 --> 0:31:41.160 lot more engaged than others. I think it's fair to 0:31:41.200 --> 0:31:46.440 say so. And so we've reached the Christmas break now 0:31:47.240 --> 0:31:49.000 great have been withheld. I think a lot of people 0:31:49.000 --> 0:31:51.320 thought was like sort of a nuclear option or like 0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:55.360 a step up, which he doesn't seem to have been, like, 0:31:55.400 --> 0:32:00.360 it really hasn't done anything. And and the you see 0:32:00.360 --> 0:32:03.880 it entered into the university and the union have entered 0:32:03.880 --> 0:32:08.600 into a voluntary pre impassed mediation. When do you, like, 0:32:08.680 --> 0:32:11.160 if you were just speculating, and when do you think 0:32:11.160 --> 0:32:14.640 we'll see like a resolution, because it's already slipped out 0:32:14.640 --> 0:32:16.440 of coverage, right like if I look at our local 0:32:17.280 --> 0:32:24.080 newspaper that they've stopped reporting on it, which doesn't help absolutely. Yeah, um, 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:28.480 I think you know, it's it's difficult to speculate in 0:32:28.560 --> 0:32:32.000 part because as we've seen with past bargaining updates, they 0:32:32.000 --> 0:32:35.960 tend to drop bombshells on us. Um, like with the 0:32:36.000 --> 0:32:39.760 whole coal of demands being you know, severely cut down. 0:32:40.240 --> 0:32:42.680 We found about we found out about that like two 0:32:42.680 --> 0:32:46.400 hours before the bargaining which is out like ten pm. 0:32:46.440 --> 0:32:49.440 And so it's totally possible by like that by the 0:32:49.520 --> 0:32:51.960 end of this week we'll have a tentative agreement, like 0:32:52.320 --> 0:32:54.760 you know, folks have been speculating on that. It wouldn't 0:32:54.760 --> 0:32:59.280 surprise me. I would be disappointed, but I wouldn't be surprised. UM. 0:32:59.320 --> 0:33:02.040 At the same time, though, I I do think that 0:33:02.440 --> 0:33:05.840 we've been able to build up sufficient pressure on the 0:33:06.200 --> 0:33:10.080 union establishment or the leadership UM that I think there 0:33:10.640 --> 0:33:12.480 it might be a bit more hesitant right to take 0:33:12.520 --> 0:33:14.560 that sudden of a move or to kind of come 0:33:14.560 --> 0:33:18.400 out of left field or something like that. UM. And 0:33:18.600 --> 0:33:22.000 so you know, there is a distinct possibility, especially with 0:33:22.000 --> 0:33:24.720 the holidays coming up, that this might go into the 0:33:24.760 --> 0:33:28.000 new year. UM. And obviously that would be like my 0:33:28.040 --> 0:33:33.080 hope to go as long as possible, yea. UM. But yeah, 0:33:33.120 --> 0:33:35.800 I think it's it's incredibly tough, and I think that's 0:33:35.840 --> 0:33:38.440 causing a lot of anxiety UM. And that's kind of 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:41.120 a disorganizing energy, right to not know when something like 0:33:41.160 --> 0:33:43.880 this might happen, because there is such an utter lack 0:33:43.920 --> 0:33:50.000 of communication or um, you know, democratic input UM. And 0:33:50.040 --> 0:33:54.160 I think in terms of you know, the the coverage 0:33:54.280 --> 0:33:58.120 or the great strike, UM, what's really unfortunate, I think 0:33:58.280 --> 0:34:01.360 is the way that I I've heard, you know, from 0:34:01.680 --> 0:34:04.120 the horse's mouth, right certain barning team members saying that 0:34:04.320 --> 0:34:08.200 withholding grades isn't an important form or isn't an impactful 0:34:08.280 --> 0:34:12.160 form of labor withholding because the university doesn't care. And 0:34:12.200 --> 0:34:14.440 historically we've seen that they really do care and within 0:34:14.480 --> 0:34:18.440 activity strikes, withholding finals is a massive thing, right, And 0:34:18.480 --> 0:34:23.399 I think that in order to really um realized the 0:34:23.440 --> 0:34:25.719 impact that that will have on the institution, we have 0:34:25.840 --> 0:34:29.560 to go for a few more weeks into the winter quarter. Um. 0:34:29.640 --> 0:34:32.279 And you know, right now even to try to um 0:34:33.920 --> 0:34:36.400 build up some more UM. I guess, like you know, 0:34:36.480 --> 0:34:39.680 pr around great withholding UM. There are folks doing research 0:34:39.719 --> 0:34:43.719 and trying to calculate like quantify um what like you know, 0:34:43.760 --> 0:34:46.600 each credit would mean in like real dollars. And then 0:34:46.600 --> 0:34:49.680 the fact that you know, hundreds of students grades are 0:34:49.719 --> 0:34:52.080 being withheld for a three or four hour like three 0:34:52.120 --> 0:34:55.000 or four credit UM class and what that translates to 0:34:55.040 --> 0:34:59.759 into money? Um? And so yeah, yeah, I mean, if 0:34:59.760 --> 0:35:02.799 we live what the university does, right, it turns its 0:35:02.880 --> 0:35:06.520 capital into into into income essentially through like leveraging its 0:35:06.560 --> 0:35:09.560 credibility for credential and and charging people masses of rent 0:35:09.760 --> 0:35:12.920 for living there increasingly, and you can't take away the 0:35:12.960 --> 0:35:15.719 housing right, which is it's made just so survivingue, but 0:35:15.760 --> 0:35:20.200 you can't take away this this this product. Yeah and 0:35:20.200 --> 0:35:22.080 and and there have been um you know, there are 0:35:22.080 --> 0:35:26.640 a number of petitions out there, for example, UM UH 0:35:26.760 --> 0:35:30.320 for undergrads to request like a reimbursement of their tuition 0:35:30.440 --> 0:35:33.279 for any classes that haven't been held or grades that 0:35:33.320 --> 0:35:35.799 have been withheld UM and I think that's a really 0:35:35.800 --> 0:35:38.000 fantastic way to engage them and to put pressure on 0:35:38.040 --> 0:35:42.959 the university. There's also been UM attempts or at least 0:35:42.960 --> 0:35:46.880 you know, UM some strategizing on on our end on 0:35:46.960 --> 0:35:51.640 how to uh have the grade strike impact the university's 0:35:51.640 --> 0:35:55.000 accreditation UM and so we are trying to look for 0:35:55.040 --> 0:35:58.560 avenues to increase the pressure from this kind of like 0:35:58.600 --> 0:36:02.800 strategic move Yeah, that's smart. Yeah, Yeah. It must be difficult, 0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:06.080 I'm sure, Like is you develop relationships with undergraduate and 0:36:06.200 --> 0:36:09.239 especially when you're teaing in your department of class you 0:36:09.280 --> 0:36:13.160 care about. It's a shame to to lose that opportunity 0:36:13.200 --> 0:36:15.480 to talk to people about important things like landed labor. 0:36:15.960 --> 0:36:18.440 And so I'm sure it's difficult to not have that 0:36:18.520 --> 0:36:19.960 chance to even check in at the end of the 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:22.880 end of the term and just say like that, you know, 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:26.399 it's been fun. What have we learned? Yeah? Absolutely, um, 0:36:26.400 --> 0:36:28.920 And I think you know, for a lot of us 0:36:29.000 --> 0:36:31.040 who are a s c S. You know, we're doing 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:34.239 this not just for ourselves but for our students, right, 0:36:34.280 --> 0:36:38.000 because we care about education. We recognize that the university 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:41.360 as an institution is actually corrosive right to a quality education. 0:36:41.480 --> 0:36:44.640 And so absolutely, I think like there is a sense 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:46.640 of loss. I think the fact that I can't, like 0:36:46.680 --> 0:36:50.600 you're saying, close out my class, the fact that I can't, um, 0:36:50.640 --> 0:36:53.080 you know, really invest in my students the way I 0:36:53.120 --> 0:36:55.160 want and not trying to blame that on the strike, 0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:56.799 but trying to blame that on the conditions that have 0:36:56.840 --> 0:37:00.560 brought us to strike in the first police. Right. Yeah, um, 0:37:00.880 --> 0:37:03.440 I don't want to get like full marxistm on me, 0:37:03.640 --> 0:37:05.879 but like, yeah, the further alien atd you are from 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:09.600 your labor, then the the less that the experiences for 0:37:09.640 --> 0:37:13.440 your undergraduates. And that is definitely a thing that happens 0:37:13.480 --> 0:37:17.479 at the university. You become more and more inlalienated. And yeah, 0:37:18.160 --> 0:37:24.120 the joy dies I say with a PhD in doing 0:37:24.120 --> 0:37:27.719 the work in academia and mohmmed is there anything else 0:37:27.840 --> 0:37:31.040 people should know about the strike like that we haven't 0:37:31.040 --> 0:37:39.920 talked about mm hmm see UM. I I would say, 0:37:39.960 --> 0:37:42.640 you know, one one important thing is that both for 0:37:42.719 --> 0:37:46.760 folks within the university system and from you know, the outside, 0:37:47.120 --> 0:37:52.160 is to kind of place this strike in historic context. UM. 0:37:52.200 --> 0:37:55.840 I think when the union leadership has spoken about this 0:37:55.880 --> 0:37:57.880 at all, it's mainly around the size of the strength, 0:37:57.960 --> 0:38:00.799 the fact that it's it's historic because we have you know, 0:38:00.840 --> 0:38:04.040 forty eight thousand possible strikers UM from throughout the u 0:38:04.080 --> 0:38:07.839 c S. And that's kind of misleading because I think 0:38:07.880 --> 0:38:11.280 the real kind of like historic potential within the struggle 0:38:12.040 --> 0:38:16.239 is UM for example, establishing a precedent of what a 0:38:16.320 --> 0:38:18.920 researcher strike looks like. Part of the reason it's so 0:38:19.000 --> 0:38:23.279 difficult for us to not only you know, mobilize researchers, 0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:27.279 but also you know UM push back against retaliation is 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:29.439 because there is no set structure for what that kind 0:38:29.440 --> 0:38:32.759 of strike looks like, right, UM. There is no effective 0:38:32.800 --> 0:38:36.320 way that we have to UM counter the possible impacts 0:38:36.320 --> 0:38:39.839 on these people's futures UM. And so I think that 0:38:39.880 --> 0:38:43.040 you know, really emphasizing that to folks is UM is key. 0:38:43.360 --> 0:38:46.640 Another thing is um the cola demand. Right, the fact 0:38:46.760 --> 0:38:49.280 that we are trying to or at least we've tried 0:38:49.760 --> 0:38:54.759 to tack um our wage increases not just to um 0:38:54.800 --> 0:38:58.240 inflation or the consumer price index, but to the median 0:38:59.280 --> 0:39:03.040 increase in rental prices. UM. That would be huge. And 0:39:03.120 --> 0:39:06.399 that's not just big for us as as workers within 0:39:06.400 --> 0:39:09.239 this local but that does set the precedent for all 0:39:09.320 --> 0:39:12.160 workers in the US. And I think that you know 0:39:12.239 --> 0:39:15.319 we really by we, I mean like the union as 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:19.200 a whole apparatus has not stressed the importance of that 0:39:19.640 --> 0:39:22.000 or the kind of like monumental shift that I could, 0:39:22.480 --> 0:39:26.760 um kind of provoke in the landscape of American labor broadly, 0:39:27.400 --> 0:39:30.000 just so if people aren't aware, Like, like rent in 0:39:30.080 --> 0:39:32.520 California has gone up a way more than double, almost 0:39:32.560 --> 0:39:36.440 almost triple the rate of inflation, and working people people 0:39:36.440 --> 0:39:38.200 who are members of unions by a large tend to 0:39:38.239 --> 0:39:40.200 be people who don't own property, but they tend to 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:42.960 be people who rent property, right, And I can see 0:39:43.000 --> 0:39:47.600 by your your unfinished concrete ceiling that you're you're renting 0:39:47.640 --> 0:39:50.600 from the UC, which is the biggest landlord in California. 0:39:50.680 --> 0:39:52.960 So like you're right that this is a very historic 0:39:53.040 --> 0:39:56.399 thing is that rent increase for Cola. Is that tried 0:39:56.480 --> 0:39:59.520 to median rent in the state or is it median 0:39:59.600 --> 0:40:05.960 rent across you see rented uh, like like apartments. So 0:40:06.880 --> 0:40:10.120 I think the actual language So this is part of 0:40:10.120 --> 0:40:13.040 the problem is that because it was dropped so quickly 0:40:13.080 --> 0:40:15.120 at the table, we weren't even even able to get 0:40:15.120 --> 0:40:19.400 into the vicissitudes of the demand itself. UM. And so 0:40:19.520 --> 0:40:26.560 from my understanding, the increase would be based on UM 0:40:26.600 --> 0:40:30.000 the like least affordable or essentially the largest increase that 0:40:30.040 --> 0:40:33.319 will see at any of the campuses, and everyone's wage 0:40:33.320 --> 0:40:36.359 would be increased to that when we look at the 0:40:36.400 --> 0:40:40.759 base wage k UM that was tacked onto again a 0:40:40.840 --> 0:40:43.640 kind of like median income or a median rental price 0:40:43.719 --> 0:40:46.080 throughout the state as well. And so actually fifty four 0:40:46.160 --> 0:40:48.120 k would be exactly enough to get me out of 0:40:48.160 --> 0:40:50.960 rent burden. So anything less than that would actually still 0:40:51.080 --> 0:40:55.120 keep me in rent burdon UM And so yeah, that's 0:40:55.160 --> 0:40:58.799 kind of how they Yeah, which rent bedon is it's 0:40:58.800 --> 0:41:02.399 far too normal, I have to think, especially in California. Yeah, yeah, 0:41:02.400 --> 0:41:04.799 that and like collective bargaining is tenants as well as 0:41:04.840 --> 0:41:08.279 workers is fascinating, right, Like it's something we've seen, but 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:11.440 not in a large scale like and and like you 0:41:11.520 --> 0:41:16.880 on on rent strike yet but yes, and as as 0:41:16.640 --> 0:41:18.680 as a side note, yeah, UM, we did have a 0:41:18.680 --> 0:41:21.360 couple of rent strikes in UH within the UC system 0:41:21.360 --> 0:41:22.799 in the past few years at Berkeley at u C 0:41:22.920 --> 0:41:25.280 l A and here UM and so I was actually 0:41:25.280 --> 0:41:28.400 part of organizing UM in the aftermath of COLA at 0:41:28.440 --> 0:41:30.719 the beginning of the pandemic. UM, I helped organize the 0:41:30.760 --> 0:41:34.480 first rent strike UM within h D h U C 0:41:34.640 --> 0:41:37.239 S D grat House UM. And so we have we 0:41:37.360 --> 0:41:39.200 have also seen that. But that's another way that the 0:41:39.320 --> 0:41:41.760 union has kind of limited the scope of this movement. 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:45.360 Because there's been so much focus on us as only 0:41:45.400 --> 0:41:48.080 workers and the bread and butter issues, we kind of 0:41:48.120 --> 0:41:51.600 lose sight of the way that withholding rent, as you're saying, 0:41:51.680 --> 0:41:54.000 is another way of like really getting at the heart 0:41:54.080 --> 0:41:57.560 of the U c S profit engine. Yeah, yeah, and yes, 0:41:57.719 --> 0:42:00.360 it is a shame that these like yeah, if you 0:42:00.360 --> 0:42:03.120 want to, I think a historical perspective of course, like 0:42:03.200 --> 0:42:08.879 a Paris, it's like the monolith of student political organizing, 0:42:08.920 --> 0:42:12.360 I guess, and student political organizing changing the established structures 0:42:12.360 --> 0:42:16.200 of the left, which which is it's some of what 0:42:16.400 --> 0:42:19.320 you had demanded was very similar to that in a sense, 0:42:19.360 --> 0:42:22.319 and that it was societal and political as much as 0:42:22.600 --> 0:42:25.319 it was an economic right. And American unions tend to 0:42:25.719 --> 0:42:28.840 phrase themselves in terms of respectable liberal politics, not that. 0:42:28.960 --> 0:42:32.800 So it's a shame to see that. Go, I guess absolutely, 0:42:32.840 --> 0:42:35.480 and I think you know. This actually came up in 0:42:35.520 --> 0:42:38.279 a in a meeting UM, which kind of astounded me, 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:41.000 but again didn't on one hand astounded me. Another hand 0:42:41.080 --> 0:42:43.440 was completely sort of like to be expected, which is 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:48.120 someone saying, we need to make this movement um as 0:42:48.120 --> 0:42:51.360 accessible as possible to workers without an activist bone in 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:54.920 their body. Um. And so again there's always that appeal 0:42:55.040 --> 0:42:58.279 to the right, always the appeal to the most conservative 0:42:58.360 --> 0:43:01.440 reactionary force, and always at the expense right of the 0:43:01.480 --> 0:43:04.720 folks who are the most vulnerable, always at the expense 0:43:04.760 --> 0:43:07.040 of expanding this movement. And so as you're saying something 0:43:07.080 --> 0:43:11.680 that is more socio and socially and politically engaged, yeah, yeah, 0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:13.520 I think most people come activist when they have to 0:43:13.560 --> 0:43:15.799 live in their car because they can't reford to live 0:43:15.840 --> 0:43:17.480 in the EUC housing when they work at the EC. 0:43:17.680 --> 0:43:22.680 But that is not everyone, of course. And all right, Mohammed, 0:43:22.719 --> 0:43:25.280 where can people find you? Do you have social media? 0:43:25.480 --> 0:43:26.800 Do you, as I said, you want to share with 0:43:26.920 --> 0:43:30.200 you first, to share like your unions or um something 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:35.680 else I guess on on Twitter? Um, I am at 0:43:35.760 --> 0:43:40.480 a Islamo Marxist um and so yeah, yeah, so folks 0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:43.480 can find me there. Um. Otherwise, I mean, if there 0:43:43.480 --> 0:43:47.959 are folks within the u se Um that are organizing, um, 0:43:48.000 --> 0:43:50.160 within any of the like vote no channels, I'm sure 0:43:50.200 --> 0:43:53.000 folks could find their way to me. Um. But yeah, 0:43:53.000 --> 0:43:55.239 I think just in general, like following the rank and 0:43:55.320 --> 0:43:59.800 file and COLA associated accounts on on social media, trying 0:43:59.800 --> 0:44:03.400 to you attend as many means as possible, is is 0:44:03.440 --> 0:44:05.920 really how I think folks can get more in tune 0:44:05.960 --> 0:44:09.880 with the struggle. Yes, that's great, Thank you so much 0:44:09.880 --> 0:44:12.320 of your time. I appreciate it. And yeah, best of 0:44:12.400 --> 0:44:16.800 luck with everything. Thanks so much. So. I'm joined today 0:44:16.800 --> 0:44:19.960 by Megan Lynch, who's the founder of and a volunteer 0:44:20.000 --> 0:44:22.600 for u SEE Access Now, which has been one of 0:44:22.640 --> 0:44:26.760 the important bodies lobbying for increased access needs for people 0:44:26.800 --> 0:44:30.720 with disabilities at the u SEE as part of this strike. Hi, Megan, 0:44:30.719 --> 0:44:33.840 how are you doing Hi, I'm doing well. How about 0:44:34.320 --> 0:44:37.840 Thanks for having me great? Thanks, thanks for coming on. Megan. 0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:40.920 Can you explain and maybe explain a little bit about 0:44:41.320 --> 0:44:43.480 you see, access now first and then we can get 0:44:43.480 --> 0:44:45.480 into sort of what the issues were and what the 0:44:45.480 --> 0:44:49.320 demands were. Well, let me start with clarifying what access 0:44:49.400 --> 0:44:52.480 needs are. Generally, I wouldn't want to I want to 0:44:52.560 --> 0:44:54.520 I wouldn't want to have more access needs because it 0:44:54.560 --> 0:44:56.480 would mean that I need more things that I need 0:44:56.520 --> 0:45:01.640 to negotiate getting them met. So an access need is, uh, 0:45:01.719 --> 0:45:06.640 I have something that I need somebody to to. You know, 0:45:06.760 --> 0:45:12.239 the inaccessible environment that we have often it's it's sort 0:45:12.280 --> 0:45:15.960 of default inaccessibility, and so having an access needs means that, 0:45:16.040 --> 0:45:19.239 you know, I need to work out how to be 0:45:19.360 --> 0:45:21.560 in that environment. And sometimes you can even be in 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:26.239 a really well accessible environment, and uh, it would be 0:45:26.280 --> 0:45:29.120 hard for people to meet your access need without again 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:31.120 trying to come to some kind of agreement. So there's 0:45:31.160 --> 0:45:33.840 a difference between accessibility and access needs and I just 0:45:33.880 --> 0:45:38.320 wanted to clarify that. Thank you. I think that's very important. 0:45:38.400 --> 0:45:42.080 And so could you explain then what what sort of 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:45.960 issues people were running into before the strike, like what 0:45:45.960 --> 0:45:48.280 what sort of things where they're that limited people's access 0:45:48.320 --> 0:45:52.920 to university spaces or education or work. Well, still very 0:45:53.000 --> 0:45:55.480 much going on, and in fact it's actually increased during 0:45:55.480 --> 0:45:58.440 the pandemic. Um the only time where things got a 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:01.920 little better for some of us is, uh, you know 0:46:02.000 --> 0:46:05.040 in March when everybody you know, and this is what 0:46:05.120 --> 0:46:09.919 often happens, is that something when suddenly people who don't 0:46:09.920 --> 0:46:13.120 identify as disabled needs something, and there's enough of that, 0:46:13.200 --> 0:46:16.560 then there's there's no problem. Nobody has to submit medical documentation, 0:46:16.600 --> 0:46:18.840 nobody has to get special permission. It's really not a 0:46:18.840 --> 0:46:23.400 big rigmarole, right, But uh, when you identify as disabled 0:46:23.400 --> 0:46:25.399 and you say I have this as an access need, 0:46:25.440 --> 0:46:28.880 then suddenly, you know, you get you get the Spanish 0:46:28.880 --> 0:46:32.879 inquisition in terms of whether you you you deserve this 0:46:32.960 --> 0:46:36.359 thing that your tax dollars have been paying for at 0:46:36.360 --> 0:46:40.960 your institution anyway, So, um, it really runs the gamut 0:46:41.000 --> 0:46:42.920 for you know. I guess what I could best talk 0:46:42.960 --> 0:46:47.360 about is my own situation and uh what led to 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:51.440 the formation of UC access now. So, um, I arrived 0:46:51.440 --> 0:46:56.399 here before the start of fall as a fifty year 0:46:56.400 --> 0:46:59.040 old disabled grad student, So I'm already in a kind 0:46:59.080 --> 0:47:01.960 of unusual position ship by being fifty or four years 0:47:02.040 --> 0:47:05.600 old here and then disabled on top of it. And uh, 0:47:05.640 --> 0:47:08.719 I was set to t a my first quarter here, 0:47:09.239 --> 0:47:12.000 and I could spot even before the quarters started that 0:47:12.280 --> 0:47:15.240 the kinds of cycle recks they have here at UC Davis, 0:47:15.280 --> 0:47:19.520 which is, you know, usually lauded for being quote unquote 0:47:19.520 --> 0:47:23.799 bike friendly. Uh, we're not accessible to me, and that 0:47:23.920 --> 0:47:26.279 they would eventually, you know, I could do it once 0:47:26.360 --> 0:47:29.719 or twice without hurting myself, but over time I was 0:47:29.760 --> 0:47:31.719 gonna be hurt and that would get in the way 0:47:31.760 --> 0:47:33.440 of me being able to do my duties as a 0:47:33.520 --> 0:47:35.640 t A. Not to mention anything I need to do 0:47:35.719 --> 0:47:40.840 for myself, because I was writing, like a lot of 0:47:40.880 --> 0:47:45.399 disabled cyclists, I don't ride the standard upright bicycle. I 0:47:45.640 --> 0:47:51.240 ride a recumbent bicycle with underseat steering, and the recks 0:47:51.239 --> 0:47:53.120 are not usually a big deal. Places I've lived in 0:47:53.160 --> 0:47:57.360 a number of different cities in California, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 0:47:57.400 --> 0:47:59.600 see a lot of places have what are you know 0:47:59.719 --> 0:48:02.440 you acts you know, which is similar kind of to 0:48:02.520 --> 0:48:05.600 a Sheffield rack for foes folks who know those, except 0:48:05.719 --> 0:48:07.920 you know, not quite as big. So it's not like 0:48:07.960 --> 0:48:09.520 it's this special you know, you don't go to a 0:48:09.560 --> 0:48:12.839 special adaptive store for this rack. It is a more 0:48:12.880 --> 0:48:16.520 accessible rack, and most cities are sensibly using them, but 0:48:16.640 --> 0:48:20.200 for here, because despite their bike friendly reputation, they actually 0:48:20.200 --> 0:48:24.120 want to prioritize space for cars. They have made these 0:48:24.200 --> 0:48:28.760 racks that are so close together and not supportive, etcetera, 0:48:28.960 --> 0:48:33.040 that the only part I could ever lock my bike 0:48:33.160 --> 0:48:36.000 too would be the ends, and that's what everybody else 0:48:36.040 --> 0:48:38.480 wants to take first. Um, And it wouldn't even be 0:48:38.520 --> 0:48:41.480 easy to the ends because again, these are really very 0:48:41.520 --> 0:48:45.319 specifically they have wheel wells, and the relationship between the 0:48:45.360 --> 0:48:49.240 locker thing and the wheel well is exactly the space 0:48:49.239 --> 0:48:51.000 of part you would do if you had sort of 0:48:51.000 --> 0:48:54.319 a standard adult size upright bike. And honestly they're not 0:48:54.400 --> 0:48:57.800 even good for people who ride those. So, for instance, 0:48:57.840 --> 0:49:00.239 if you go and you see Davis subreddit, you will 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:04.960 see sometimes threads where people are bullying people who want 0:49:05.000 --> 0:49:07.759 to get a cruiser bike because they're like, those things 0:49:07.800 --> 0:49:09.799 take up too much room. No, it's not that they 0:49:09.800 --> 0:49:11.879 didn't take up too much room, it's that the racks 0:49:11.920 --> 0:49:19.439 are very poorly designed. There are things, but they are SUVs. Yeah, 0:49:19.440 --> 0:49:21.879 they rather they would rather bully somebody about their choice 0:49:21.880 --> 0:49:23.840 of bike than to say, hey, these are really what 0:49:23.960 --> 0:49:27.160 a waste of taxpayer money to get these these bike 0:49:27.239 --> 0:49:29.719 racks that not only don't work for a lot of 0:49:29.760 --> 0:49:32.360 disabled people, but don't even work for people who are 0:49:32.440 --> 0:49:35.640 riding cargo bikes or using a trailer or you know 0:49:35.680 --> 0:49:38.000 other things you would want to do. So so anyway, 0:49:38.040 --> 0:49:42.080 I went first to the Disabled Students Center here, which is, 0:49:42.120 --> 0:49:46.040 you know, the rationing and policing agency for disabled people. 0:49:46.200 --> 0:49:51.640 And you know, it's amazing to me like this, these 0:49:51.640 --> 0:49:54.640 are the people and they would literally call themselves experts 0:49:54.640 --> 0:49:59.120 on disability and accessibility. And they said to me, gosh, 0:49:59.200 --> 0:50:02.279 it never occurred us that that would need to be accessible. 0:50:04.640 --> 0:50:06.680 This is on a campus where they're trying to encourage 0:50:06.680 --> 0:50:08.560 you to leave your car at home at least some 0:50:08.680 --> 0:50:12.960 of us, right, and uh, and it's also how you 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:15.400 get to school and to work, right, So why wouldn't 0:50:15.400 --> 0:50:19.200 I need that to be accessible? And so they I 0:50:19.239 --> 0:50:21.919 asked for something as simple as can you sign a letter? 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:24.560 They wouldn't do it, you know, can you said they wouldn't. 0:50:24.600 --> 0:50:26.279 They wouldn't back me up at all. So then I 0:50:26.320 --> 0:50:30.160 go directly to the Transportation of parking services. They were like, 0:50:30.200 --> 0:50:32.240 it's not covered under a d A, which is not true, 0:50:33.320 --> 0:50:36.080 and you know, and then they were like the solution 0:50:36.120 --> 0:50:38.520 they wanted to pose with it. You know. Eventually when 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:41.759 I finally after months, got a meeting, they were like, well, 0:50:41.920 --> 0:50:44.360 give us your schedule of classes and will install one 0:50:44.520 --> 0:50:46.640 of these racks at each building you're at. As if 0:50:46.680 --> 0:50:51.080 my schedule isn't going to change each quarter, is that 0:50:51.120 --> 0:50:53.440 a better use of Yeah, is that a better use 0:50:53.480 --> 0:50:55.440 of tax money to send a crew around to like 0:50:55.880 --> 0:50:59.360 to to to Jackhamber Concrete at a different location for 0:50:59.400 --> 0:51:03.240 each quarter of acording to each disabled cyclist class that changes, 0:51:03.400 --> 0:51:07.440 just get the right rack. So that that's when I 0:51:07.440 --> 0:51:10.040 went to the union, and even in the union at 0:51:10.080 --> 0:51:13.520 that time, you know, it was really clear it wasn't 0:51:13.520 --> 0:51:16.920 just with that issue. I had other issues, but this 0:51:17.000 --> 0:51:19.080 was definitely getting in the way of my work as 0:51:19.080 --> 0:51:23.040 a t A because it was hurting my hands very badly, 0:51:23.080 --> 0:51:24.719 and in fact I had fallen a couple of times 0:51:24.719 --> 0:51:26.239 and my bike had fallen on top of me and 0:51:26.280 --> 0:51:28.760 like nobody helps you that, you just sit there watching 0:51:28.760 --> 0:51:33.959 you like a turtle trying to get So there's things 0:51:33.960 --> 0:51:37.320 like that. There's things like um even just the housing 0:51:37.360 --> 0:51:41.319 here in terms of for instance, if I had had 0:51:41.360 --> 0:51:43.719 the luck of having a romantic partner, if I'd had 0:51:43.760 --> 0:51:46.440 the wealth and the ability to choose to have children, 0:51:46.800 --> 0:51:48.960 I would have been able to get grad housing. But 0:51:49.080 --> 0:51:51.560 as a disabled person who has an access need to 0:51:51.600 --> 0:51:56.440 be close to campus, I was I had zero priority whatsoever, 0:51:57.040 --> 0:51:59.840 and so I very nearly ended up starting that quarter 0:51:59.840 --> 0:52:02.440 how thing to live out of my car because you know, 0:52:02.520 --> 0:52:04.520 and I would think it would be pretty clear that 0:52:04.560 --> 0:52:08.080 a fifty four year old disabled grad student might actually have, 0:52:10.200 --> 0:52:14.040 uh maybe have more have fewer options in housing than 0:52:14.080 --> 0:52:18.480 somebody who's in their twenties and isn't disabled. But but 0:52:18.600 --> 0:52:20.680 you know, and I'm not saying that parents don't need 0:52:20.719 --> 0:52:22.759 family housing or anything like that, but what I'm saying 0:52:22.840 --> 0:52:27.120 is very clearly I think some disabled people do have 0:52:27.440 --> 0:52:32.160 strong access needs to have accessible housing near campus. And 0:52:32.200 --> 0:52:36.000 that's very much not something that they bothered themselves with 0:52:36.080 --> 0:52:39.359 here at UC Davis. So you know, there's other things 0:52:39.360 --> 0:52:42.080 in terms of online accessibility and other things, but that 0:52:42.200 --> 0:52:44.600 those are the things that that affected me that I 0:52:44.640 --> 0:52:48.040 think are worth mentioning simply because they they're both unusual 0:52:48.080 --> 0:52:51.000 things people don't tend to think of right, Yeah, yeah, 0:52:51.160 --> 0:52:53.160 I know, and it is a very uh, it's a 0:52:53.239 --> 0:52:55.840 very difficult system to navigate. Like, like you said, I 0:52:55.880 --> 0:52:57.960 think one of the things that's already stood out is 0:52:58.000 --> 0:53:02.279 this this demand for like documenta shoan, frenny, any sort 0:53:02.320 --> 0:53:04.440 of accommodation that you might need that they can make 0:53:04.440 --> 0:53:07.360 it very hard to remember in um, I was teaching 0:53:07.360 --> 0:53:10.840 at UCSD and I shattered my pelvis, uh, and like 0:53:10.960 --> 0:53:14.960 that made moving at all extremely difficult for me, and 0:53:15.440 --> 0:53:19.919 they wouldn't give me a parking pass and like then 0:53:20.000 --> 0:53:22.279 then proceeded to offer me once their diabetes, which is 0:53:22.280 --> 0:53:26.759 a whole like like interesting, like it's sort of calculation 0:53:26.800 --> 0:53:29.080 of which one of those things will definitely stop you walking. 0:53:29.640 --> 0:53:33.239 So yeah, and it was extremely sort of humiliating, I 0:53:33.280 --> 0:53:36.920 guess from a personal perspective, and degrading and time consuming 0:53:37.000 --> 0:53:42.960 and unnecessary. And so what were the demands then at 0:53:42.960 --> 0:53:44.800 the start of this strike, right, there was an access 0:53:44.920 --> 0:53:47.720 needs element to the demands being made by the union. 0:53:47.920 --> 0:53:53.000 So perhaps we can go through Maybe first we can 0:53:53.000 --> 0:53:56.480 go through how you went from uh like this bike correct, 0:53:56.520 --> 0:53:59.680 which didn't accommodate but pretty pretty basic need right to 0:53:59.680 --> 0:54:01.480 trans for yourself to campus, how do we get from 0:54:01.480 --> 0:54:05.719 there to the union? Having access needs to minds as 0:54:05.760 --> 0:54:09.960 part of the strike. So as far as you see 0:54:09.960 --> 0:54:14.800 Access Now, it's involvement with it. UM. We went on 0:54:14.840 --> 0:54:19.200 Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and published the demandifesto in 0:54:19.320 --> 0:54:24.239 July of so, uh, the months between you know, the 0:54:24.280 --> 0:54:26.520 fall when I made you know, went through these processes 0:54:26.560 --> 0:54:29.520 and when I finally decided, Okay, nobody's doing anything about this, 0:54:29.600 --> 0:54:32.200 and I don't see any other organizations, so let's you know, 0:54:32.280 --> 0:54:38.880 jump into this um. By July, Uh, you see, Access 0:54:38.920 --> 0:54:43.480 Now was contacted by somebody who was an officer within 0:54:43.880 --> 0:54:46.799 u A W fifty ten and that's the post Doc 0:54:46.880 --> 0:54:53.040 and and Academic Researcher Union, and they had seen our work, 0:54:53.560 --> 0:54:57.640 you know, via social media and whatnot and said, you know, 0:54:57.680 --> 0:55:00.800 we're about to go into contract bargaining and we'd really 0:55:00.880 --> 0:55:03.440 like to talk about disability issues. So we had a 0:55:03.480 --> 0:55:06.719 meeting with them, and we actually had we did a 0:55:06.760 --> 0:55:10.279 presentation also to them, uh for their social justice and 0:55:10.400 --> 0:55:13.399 in our series. But we also had a meeting with 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:17.680 a number of people from fifty in terms of let's, 0:55:17.800 --> 0:55:21.040 you know, let's think creatively here, let's let's be ambitious 0:55:21.080 --> 0:55:23.719 about what it is, you know, because the thing is 0:55:23.719 --> 0:55:26.279 is that a lot of what people tend to do, 0:55:26.360 --> 0:55:30.840 particularly particularly when they're not disabled, but even some disabled 0:55:30.840 --> 0:55:32.880 people can do this because internalized able ism is a 0:55:32.960 --> 0:55:36.239 really hard to throw off. We're sort of you know, 0:55:36.280 --> 0:55:38.080 and this is true of other oppressions too. You know, 0:55:38.120 --> 0:55:40.800 we're all sort of used to this system that has 0:55:40.840 --> 0:55:47.200 this policing, austerity, etcetera. You know, we all get schooled 0:55:47.200 --> 0:55:50.439 into not hoping for much anymore because we're just so used. 0:55:50.520 --> 0:55:52.720 You know, in my life time, I've lived through decades 0:55:52.719 --> 0:55:56.279 of this kind of regularite bologne. So so it takes 0:55:56.320 --> 0:55:59.000 a while to think big about these things. But that's 0:55:59.000 --> 0:56:00.600 what we were trying to do. And so we sort 0:56:00.600 --> 0:56:03.680 of brainstormed with them as several UC Access Now members 0:56:04.200 --> 0:56:07.160 and several fifty eight ten members in terms of the 0:56:07.160 --> 0:56:11.080 sorts of things that could be uh asking for. And 0:56:11.160 --> 0:56:13.680 so if if there's time and you don't mind, I 0:56:13.680 --> 0:56:17.600 can give you a view of that because the other 0:56:17.600 --> 0:56:22.440 stuff is online. But this isn't so again, this is 0:56:22.520 --> 0:56:24.680 sort of just a spitballing document. But we were like, 0:56:24.719 --> 0:56:27.759 you know, all ads for post doc positions on all platforms, 0:56:27.760 --> 0:56:31.640 they have to be accessible. Now some some of this 0:56:31.760 --> 0:56:34.279 and some of what we're talking about is stuff that 0:56:34.320 --> 0:56:36.880 you see is actually legally obligated to do and just 0:56:37.040 --> 0:56:39.719 has not been doing. Um. That would be one of them. 0:56:40.400 --> 0:56:43.520 UM training. You know, most emergency access plans are not 0:56:43.680 --> 0:56:45.919 made with the input of disabled people, and they don't 0:56:45.920 --> 0:56:49.719 even mention us. So you know, there are considerations for 0:56:49.760 --> 0:56:54.640 accessibility for different types of disabilities, different people. Uh. We 0:56:54.719 --> 0:56:57.640 have several buildings on UC Davis campus here that have 0:56:57.719 --> 0:57:02.600 little placards right in the lobby that's say a they 0:57:02.600 --> 0:57:07.720 say something like, if you depend on uh, visual alarm 0:57:07.800 --> 0:57:10.799 systems in an emergency, please let somebody else know you're 0:57:10.840 --> 0:57:13.279 in this building. Blah blah blah. And it's like even 0:57:13.320 --> 0:57:17.080 the way that's phrased, because you know, quote unquote abled people, 0:57:17.880 --> 0:57:20.400 are you dependent on a sound alarm system to get 0:57:20.400 --> 0:57:24.360 out in a fire. But they but they don't phrase it, 0:57:24.600 --> 0:57:26.880 you know, as dependence when it's for them, right, They 0:57:26.880 --> 0:57:29.560 only phrase it as dependence when it's for somebody who's 0:57:29.560 --> 0:57:32.440 death or hard of hearing. So we've got several buildings 0:57:32.440 --> 0:57:36.000 on campus where they know that it's not up, it's 0:57:36.040 --> 0:57:38.040 not up to even not even just a d A. 0:57:38.160 --> 0:57:41.080 But just like basic human decency, people will die in 0:57:41.120 --> 0:57:43.680 that building. Deaf and hard of hearing, people will not 0:57:43.800 --> 0:57:47.160 know that there's a fire or another emergency alarm system 0:57:47.200 --> 0:57:49.880 going off because we couldn't be bothered to pony up 0:57:49.880 --> 0:57:53.640 for some lights. Um. So that that kind of thing. 0:57:53.680 --> 0:57:56.080 In terms of an emergency action plan, these things have 0:57:56.160 --> 0:57:58.360 to be done. There has to be training not only 0:57:58.400 --> 0:58:01.040 for the supervisors but really for you see itself, because 0:58:01.040 --> 0:58:04.280 the whole system is just you know, a cram full 0:58:04.400 --> 0:58:07.320 of able is um. You know, online working is key 0:58:07.360 --> 0:58:09.680 to accessibility. So it has to be a regular option, 0:58:09.760 --> 0:58:12.360 not just something for the pandemic. It should have been 0:58:12.440 --> 0:58:15.760 the whole time, and it also shouldn't you know, be 0:58:16.040 --> 0:58:20.760 a big burst up to it. There are some and 0:58:20.840 --> 0:58:22.760 you know they're like kind of things you would think 0:58:22.800 --> 0:58:25.800 of as smaller that we put in here simply because 0:58:26.280 --> 0:58:29.240 again we're trying to think creatively, which is you know, 0:58:29.360 --> 0:58:32.320 reimbursements for instance. I mean that's a general problem with 0:58:32.520 --> 0:58:35.240 grad students and whatnot. Is that the university, which has 0:58:35.280 --> 0:58:38.360 far more resources than we do, it's sort of you know, 0:58:38.520 --> 0:58:42.000 taking its time reimbursing us for things that we've had 0:58:42.040 --> 0:58:45.240 to get right, and so the debt is actually being 0:58:45.640 --> 0:58:48.320 heaped onto the people least able to support it. And 0:58:48.360 --> 0:58:51.440 when it comes to disabled people, that is going to 0:58:51.560 --> 0:58:54.080 be even more of a burden because most disabled people 0:58:54.160 --> 0:58:56.320 have a higher cost of living and often have a 0:58:56.360 --> 0:58:59.520 lower income to boot. So we put you know that 0:58:59.560 --> 0:59:04.280 in there. Put in reimbursements for costs incurred working at 0:59:04.320 --> 0:59:07.160 home or or or you know, in other ways remotely 0:59:07.200 --> 0:59:09.440 for an employer. That's section to eight oh two of 0:59:09.480 --> 0:59:14.480 the California Labor Code. Um uh, you know, sick policy 0:59:14.520 --> 0:59:18.640 in terms of like commuter checks, which you know, or 0:59:18.720 --> 0:59:22.520 some other kind of thing for public transit. The child 0:59:22.600 --> 0:59:25.440 care spaces and lactation rooms are accessible because you know 0:59:25.800 --> 0:59:28.360 the union will like lobby for that right, but you 0:59:28.400 --> 0:59:30.800 need to be you need to be express about the 0:59:30.840 --> 0:59:34.600 idea that these things need to be accessible. Like people 0:59:34.640 --> 0:59:38.720 don't think of everything needed to be accessible, but really 0:59:38.760 --> 0:59:41.680 it does. Yeah, and that sends a very sort of 0:59:41.680 --> 0:59:45.360 condescending message about like what you know, different people with 0:59:45.400 --> 0:59:48.440 different diffabilities might or might not be doing at which 0:59:49.080 --> 0:59:52.320 obviously isn't great that the US doing that. And so 0:59:52.520 --> 0:59:56.680 like I really I thought these demands were fascinating because 0:59:57.320 --> 0:59:59.480 it's not what we often talk about when we talk 0:59:59.480 --> 1:00:02.640 about rights that we talk about strikes often purely in 1:00:02.760 --> 1:00:07.000 terms of economics, right like UH, in in the US, 1:00:07.080 --> 1:00:09.920 I can include things like non way to benefits like healthcare, 1:00:10.640 --> 1:00:14.320 but it in sort of most instances we talk about 1:00:14.360 --> 1:00:16.920 striking bread and butter terms like they have gone out 1:00:17.000 --> 1:00:19.160 and they want this much money to come back. And 1:00:19.760 --> 1:00:22.640 I think that strikes have the potential to build much 1:00:22.760 --> 1:00:27.880 greater solidarity by doing things like this, by incorporating these 1:00:28.840 --> 1:00:31.800 I guess social justice demands is one way of phrasing it. 1:00:32.760 --> 1:00:35.080 This basic human decency to minds will be another way 1:00:35.120 --> 1:00:39.720 of saying it. And it really Yeah, it really impressed 1:00:39.760 --> 1:00:43.640 me that this was part of the package of demands 1:00:43.680 --> 1:00:47.320 from the union. How have things gone? Are you comfortable 1:00:47.320 --> 1:00:51.840 talking about how things have gone since the strike began? Well, 1:00:51.920 --> 1:00:56.000 I certainly don't know everything backwards and forwards, because honestly, 1:00:56.080 --> 1:00:57.680 it would be hard for any one person to do 1:00:57.760 --> 1:01:01.840 it all. It's all extremely complex in terms of not 1:01:01.880 --> 1:01:03.920 in terms of like you know, things on the ground, 1:01:03.920 --> 1:01:08.240 but in terms of the language in contracts and the 1:01:08.280 --> 1:01:11.439 process and bargaining. UH. There's a difference between like things 1:01:11.520 --> 1:01:14.240 that are tradition traditional to do as opposed to things 1:01:14.240 --> 1:01:16.160 that are actually the law, and then of course the 1:01:16.160 --> 1:01:18.400 actual enforcement and law. So anyway, this has been going 1:01:18.440 --> 1:01:19.880 on for a whole year, and as you can imagine, 1:01:19.920 --> 1:01:22.880 like penetrating it as your average person, it can be 1:01:22.960 --> 1:01:26.040 very difficult. So I will certainly give you, you know, 1:01:26.160 --> 1:01:28.520 my view of it as so far as I've seen it, 1:01:28.600 --> 1:01:32.400 but um, we do have. Uh So, so we helped 1:01:33.440 --> 1:01:35.720 with like sort of spitballing and they took it from there. 1:01:36.480 --> 1:01:41.480 And what they started out with was not as you know, 1:01:41.560 --> 1:01:46.200 ambitious as the spitball document. Um, I think it tends. 1:01:46.240 --> 1:01:50.640 I think that got replicated a lot throughout the unions, 1:01:50.680 --> 1:01:54.200 which is, you know, my advice as somebody from the 1:01:54.200 --> 1:01:58.040 outside just thinking about negotiations in general. Okay, you know 1:01:58.080 --> 1:02:01.480 they're gonna cut you down, right, so why would you 1:02:01.560 --> 1:02:03.840 be the one to cut you down. You know they're 1:02:03.840 --> 1:02:06.880 gonna do it right, you think big, let them cut 1:02:06.880 --> 1:02:12.560 you down. And and unfortunately there were the majority voices 1:02:12.800 --> 1:02:16.480 in the bargaining teams tended often to be at least 1:02:16.520 --> 1:02:20.640 where the access needs articles were concerned, um, tended to 1:02:20.680 --> 1:02:24.560 be kind of let us cut ourselves down. Uh So 1:02:24.640 --> 1:02:27.360 the starting doc for ten, although you know, it's still 1:02:27.440 --> 1:02:29.440 had things in it that were very like if we 1:02:29.560 --> 1:02:34.120 have the original version of ten instead of what actually 1:02:35.400 --> 1:02:41.960 the folks you know voted on voted yes on recently, Uh, 1:02:42.000 --> 1:02:45.479 it would still be a revolutionary document in in US 1:02:45.560 --> 1:02:48.320 labor history. I think, you know, I don't. I've never 1:02:48.360 --> 1:02:52.760 heard in the news of anything any uh more ambitious 1:02:52.800 --> 1:02:55.320 than that. But but definitely it was down from what 1:02:55.360 --> 1:03:01.640 we were starting with, which you know, um so, But 1:03:01.720 --> 1:03:04.160 I think what happened was that you know, fifty eight 1:03:04.200 --> 1:03:07.400 ten came out and they were trying to coordinate and 1:03:07.480 --> 1:03:11.560 learn from each other to different units. Right. So then 1:03:11.840 --> 1:03:18.000 folks on s R you and U A W also 1:03:19.360 --> 1:03:22.720 uh worked on the access needs articles and and the 1:03:22.800 --> 1:03:25.880 access needs articles even in themselves was a change because 1:03:25.920 --> 1:03:29.720 the previous versions of these things were phrases reasonable accommodations, 1:03:29.760 --> 1:03:33.400 which is language that stems from the Americans with Disabilities Act. 1:03:34.080 --> 1:03:40.080 And even that phrase is something that is really outdated 1:03:40.120 --> 1:03:44.200 because it is the idea, the ideas who is deciding 1:03:44.200 --> 1:03:47.920 what's reasonable, right the person who has no lived experience 1:03:47.960 --> 1:03:52.800 of disability or this gigantic public institution that is funded 1:03:52.880 --> 1:03:57.000 including by disabled people's tuitions and fed fees and whatnot 1:03:57.040 --> 1:04:01.960 in taxes. But you know where's my money go. It 1:04:02.000 --> 1:04:04.720 goes into building an inaccessible university, right, So why am 1:04:04.760 --> 1:04:07.840 I supposed to let you judge what is reasonable? I 1:04:07.840 --> 1:04:11.520 think it's incredibly unreasonable that you use my money to 1:04:11.680 --> 1:04:15.720 build a university that not is not only hard for 1:04:15.800 --> 1:04:18.440 me to be at, but it is actively hostile to 1:04:18.520 --> 1:04:22.040 my health. Um and so you know, and just the 1:04:22.440 --> 1:04:28.960 word accommodations centers and codifies that inaccessibility as being the norm, 1:04:29.160 --> 1:04:31.600 and anything you do different from it is like you 1:04:31.680 --> 1:04:34.160 being accommodating. We'll get that, get the hell out over 1:04:34.160 --> 1:04:38.600 here with that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it makes much 1:04:38.640 --> 1:04:42.240 more sense to phrase it in those ways. And like, yeah, 1:04:42.480 --> 1:04:44.720 it seems like it was, as you said, a very 1:04:44.760 --> 1:04:49.800 ambitious goal and one that not only those things got transferred, 1:04:49.840 --> 1:04:53.760 which is I mean that that can happen in strikes. 1:04:53.840 --> 1:04:58.040 But it's also like it's it's a non economic thing 1:04:58.120 --> 1:04:59.880 that the university could have given to you all of 1:05:00.040 --> 1:05:01.760 they wouldn't have had to have, you know, I mean, 1:05:01.880 --> 1:05:03.840 the university has a lot of money, and it would 1:05:03.840 --> 1:05:05.760 it would be very possible for it to pay grad 1:05:05.800 --> 1:05:08.160 to its students aways they asked for at the start 1:05:08.160 --> 1:05:12.160 and post grad post docs and could be paid the 1:05:12.200 --> 1:05:13.680 way to say, asked for to your and it wouldn't 1:05:13.680 --> 1:05:15.960 really have the university. They could they could, you know, 1:05:16.240 --> 1:05:18.880 there are a million ways they could fund that. But well, 1:05:18.880 --> 1:05:20.480 I think that gets to the crux of why they 1:05:20.480 --> 1:05:22.920 don't do this, because the thing is is that if 1:05:23.160 --> 1:05:24.880 if you really think about it this way, and it 1:05:24.880 --> 1:05:27.240 takes a little doing, because again we're sort of school 1:05:27.320 --> 1:05:33.000 dot to, but it is a form of misappropriation of 1:05:33.000 --> 1:05:36.440 public funds. If all of the public is funding this institution, 1:05:36.440 --> 1:05:38.880 and we do that through our state and our federal taxes, 1:05:39.000 --> 1:05:41.360 we do and then of course if we get in 1:05:41.440 --> 1:05:43.920 we're doing it through tuition of feeds, and then of 1:05:43.960 --> 1:05:46.720 course the grants the university gets are also federal grants 1:05:46.720 --> 1:05:51.600 and this sort of thing. Um, then what you're doing 1:05:51.680 --> 1:05:54.240 is you're taking money that comes from all of the 1:05:54.280 --> 1:05:59.000 public and pre pandemic figures in terms of like this 1:05:59.040 --> 1:06:01.960 is before the mass disabling event that the pandemic is 1:06:03.120 --> 1:06:08.520 the of America, adult Americans had at least one disability. 1:06:09.000 --> 1:06:12.480 So you're taking money from those folks, and you're saying, 1:06:12.520 --> 1:06:14.800 but we're not going to build this public university in 1:06:14.800 --> 1:06:18.840 a way that is not only like tolerable by you, 1:06:18.920 --> 1:06:21.640 but like a place where you could thrive. It doesn't 1:06:21.640 --> 1:06:24.360 even reach tolerable. It actually drives a lot of us 1:06:24.360 --> 1:06:26.400 out of here. It worse in health, and I have 1:06:26.560 --> 1:06:31.680 no doubt that it has killed people. So we So 1:06:31.760 --> 1:06:34.280 what happens? The reason I mentioned this is because that 1:06:34.400 --> 1:06:38.480 misappropriation to funds. You know, that's the incentive, right, what 1:06:38.640 --> 1:06:42.280 can if if if you're going off this austerity mindset 1:06:42.280 --> 1:06:45.520 that you shut off like people from things they need, right, 1:06:46.000 --> 1:06:49.680 what happens to that money? Well, we have an admin 1:06:49.720 --> 1:06:52.960 that is completely bloated in size. We have every single 1:06:53.120 --> 1:06:56.280 chancellor getting a raise during a pandemic that they completely 1:06:56.760 --> 1:07:00.120 blew in terms of public health protections, in terms of 1:07:00.160 --> 1:07:03.240 accessibility even to people when they needed it during the pandemic. 1:07:04.080 --> 1:07:07.440 Like if they hadn't been fighting accessibility that long, we 1:07:07.480 --> 1:07:09.440 would have handled the pandemic better because we would have 1:07:09.480 --> 1:07:14.880 had better online pedagogy already available and developed. So it 1:07:14.960 --> 1:07:18.200 is that's a kind of jump that people don't make. 1:07:18.720 --> 1:07:22.080 But that's exactly what's going on. That's why they have 1:07:22.200 --> 1:07:28.320 the interest in putting this rationing and policing bureaucracy together too, Like, 1:07:28.400 --> 1:07:31.400 not many disabled people even get here because this is 1:07:31.400 --> 1:07:35.000 of course not the only ablest institution. It's hard to 1:07:35.040 --> 1:07:38.200 even get here. But then when you get here, they 1:07:38.200 --> 1:07:41.800 want to reduce who can get their access needs met, 1:07:41.920 --> 1:07:46.120 and then the access needs being met is such a gauntlet, 1:07:47.960 --> 1:07:51.360 and only the most privileged of disabled people can get that. 1:07:51.480 --> 1:07:54.280 And so you know, as far as disabled people at 1:07:55.480 --> 1:07:59.600 at you see who are in the system so to speak, 1:07:59.640 --> 1:08:03.240 you know, our registered or whatever that's going to not 1:08:03.360 --> 1:08:05.880 at all be representative of the public. That's going to 1:08:05.920 --> 1:08:11.120 be mostly white folks with some access to privilege. You know, yeah, 1:08:11.200 --> 1:08:13.680 of course. And I think you've given a good sort 1:08:13.720 --> 1:08:17.719 of elucidation of why this is a struggle that obviously 1:08:17.720 --> 1:08:20.040 everyone should be part of, everyone should be getting behind, 1:08:20.080 --> 1:08:22.559 because it's like it's it's all of us who are 1:08:22.560 --> 1:08:24.080 invested in this in order of us are paying for 1:08:24.120 --> 1:08:29.360 this university which isn't accessible right now. So I wonder, like, 1:08:29.960 --> 1:08:34.400 what's your advice, because there are unprecedented numbers of people 1:08:34.439 --> 1:08:38.040 forming unions right like Starbucks being one example that we 1:08:38.080 --> 1:08:40.000 see a lot of coverage of, but all across the 1:08:40.000 --> 1:08:42.080 country there are more people forming unions there and more 1:08:42.080 --> 1:08:47.719 people going on to strike. How should they organize around 1:08:48.200 --> 1:08:51.160 similar things like, how should they organize around getting these 1:08:51.160 --> 1:08:55.120 access needs met? Well, I think I think you have 1:08:55.200 --> 1:08:57.519 to start by sweeping your old side of the street, 1:08:57.600 --> 1:08:59.640 which is that you have to make sure that you 1:09:00.200 --> 1:09:05.840 or union communications, your meetings, uh, everything about your union 1:09:06.000 --> 1:09:07.960 is accessible. And if you don't know how to do that, 1:09:08.000 --> 1:09:10.240 then that's where you start. You start with learning what 1:09:10.320 --> 1:09:14.960 accessibility is and how to make things accessible. Because what 1:09:15.040 --> 1:09:18.200 we found when we started, uh, when we came out 1:09:18.280 --> 1:09:22.360 kind of UC access Now did was you know, as 1:09:22.360 --> 1:09:26.160 you can imagine, in a society where there are quite 1:09:28.040 --> 1:09:33.040 strong financial punishments for even to say, you know, even 1:09:33.080 --> 1:09:36.760 identifying as disabled. And what I mean by that is like, say, 1:09:36.840 --> 1:09:40.400 again here on UC Davis, you were talking about how 1:09:40.400 --> 1:09:42.400 hard it was for you to get parking right, you know, 1:09:42.560 --> 1:09:44.920 when you had s chatter Paul Pelvis, how it was 1:09:44.960 --> 1:09:47.800 to go every single day here on campus. There are 1:09:47.840 --> 1:09:50.400 able to employees driving trucks and vans that they drive 1:09:50.479 --> 1:09:52.920 straight up to the door of the building on the sidewalk, 1:09:52.960 --> 1:09:57.200 blocking egress for actual disabled people and actually blocking fire 1:09:57.240 --> 1:10:00.880 regress out of the building. Because that's what's you know, 1:10:00.880 --> 1:10:03.519 because they can't be bothered to walk twenty ft from 1:10:03.560 --> 1:10:06.759 the legal space that they have already have the privilege 1:10:06.800 --> 1:10:09.920 of being on campus compared to everybody else, right, but 1:10:09.960 --> 1:10:11.839 they but they had to have it even more convenient 1:10:11.880 --> 1:10:13.960 to that, and then they drive straight up to the door. 1:10:14.200 --> 1:10:18.599 Right Nobody gives them. Nobody says boo about that. Nobody 1:10:18.640 --> 1:10:22.559 says you need to get a medical documentation, Nobody says 1:10:22.920 --> 1:10:25.960 you're getting fined and you'r and you you don't get 1:10:25.960 --> 1:10:28.680 to drive this campus truck again or whatever. None of 1:10:28.720 --> 1:10:31.639 that goes on. What would happen, I guarantee you if 1:10:31.680 --> 1:10:35.559 that employee identified as disabled all of a sudden, then 1:10:35.600 --> 1:10:38.000 they would come down on that person for what they're doing. 1:10:39.680 --> 1:10:42.200 It's it's a real so because of these things, there's 1:10:42.240 --> 1:10:46.680 a lot of incentive for people to hide their disability 1:10:47.160 --> 1:10:49.200 because you get there's a lot of stigma, but there's 1:10:49.240 --> 1:10:53.320 also a real, quite real financial hit to it. And 1:10:53.640 --> 1:10:56.679 uh and so what happens once you sort of create 1:10:56.840 --> 1:11:01.360 a safer space to talk about it, people will start 1:11:01.400 --> 1:11:03.960 damning you, you know, and they will let you know 1:11:04.120 --> 1:11:06.599 that they're starting to have problems on the job or whatever. 1:11:06.800 --> 1:11:09.240 They may not be ready to come out. For those 1:11:09.479 --> 1:11:11.800 like some people, it's obvious they're disabled, right, it's not 1:11:11.880 --> 1:11:14.200 even like they have a choice about quote unquote coming 1:11:14.200 --> 1:11:17.559 out right. But for other people it's not obvious unless 1:11:17.600 --> 1:11:19.519 they tell you, and they they have a lot of 1:11:19.560 --> 1:11:23.840 incentive to not you know, identify that way. Um. But 1:11:23.960 --> 1:11:27.519 when you make your union a safe and inclusive and 1:11:27.600 --> 1:11:31.599 accessible place, you will find that you have already been 1:11:31.600 --> 1:11:35.519 making assumptions about what your union membership is. So you 1:11:35.560 --> 1:11:38.800 already have members who are disabled, it's just that they're 1:11:38.840 --> 1:11:42.840 not telling you about it. But furthermore, if your union 1:11:42.880 --> 1:11:49.200 starts really um becoming an accessible inclusive place, you know, 1:11:49.280 --> 1:11:53.160 not performative, really being there, like your your communications are accessible, 1:11:53.640 --> 1:11:57.640 you you're clearly um educating yourselves around able is um 1:11:57.800 --> 1:12:01.559 educating yourselves around accessibility. So like when you have your meeting, 1:12:01.840 --> 1:12:05.599 it's not in a room that isn't wheelchair accessible, that 1:12:05.720 --> 1:12:08.479 doesn't have a working elevator on that floor. You know, 1:12:08.520 --> 1:12:11.240 all these things that people kind of don't think about 1:12:11.320 --> 1:12:15.320 until uh, they're the one with the broken leg. Um. 1:12:15.439 --> 1:12:19.599 Then that really goes some way to helping you organize things, 1:12:19.600 --> 1:12:22.559 and you will find you already have members that you 1:12:22.600 --> 1:12:25.439 can tap, you know, because they'll start to feel more 1:12:25.520 --> 1:12:28.280 for more involved once they see you're willing to go 1:12:28.320 --> 1:12:31.760 to bad from them. And what I would say that 1:12:31.840 --> 1:12:35.120 peaks folks should learn from the U see U a 1:12:35.400 --> 1:12:39.519 w experience right now. And this doesn't just refer to 1:12:39.600 --> 1:12:45.760 disabled workers, it's really other marginalized workers, which is, you know, 1:12:46.920 --> 1:12:49.840 if you're in a contract bargaining situation and it's clear 1:12:49.920 --> 1:12:54.640 that like you're the bargaining chip, Like why would that 1:12:54.720 --> 1:12:56.920 why would that group want to hang with you? You're 1:12:57.040 --> 1:13:00.320 you're saying, support us and what we want, but we're 1:13:00.320 --> 1:13:03.840 gonna desert you when it's your time. You weren't gonna 1:13:03.880 --> 1:13:06.760 depend on the fact that everybody likes more pay and 1:13:06.760 --> 1:13:09.880 we're just gonna say, Okay, you're gonna stick with us 1:13:09.920 --> 1:13:11.920 and and work, you know, with the union no matter 1:13:12.000 --> 1:13:16.280 what it's like. Now a lot of people are gonna go, well, 1:13:16.439 --> 1:13:19.200 I'm sticking you know, you clearly don't support me, So 1:13:19.240 --> 1:13:21.240 I don't see why I need to go with you 1:13:21.880 --> 1:13:24.280 and put myself at risk because if you win, I'm 1:13:24.280 --> 1:13:27.760 gonna get the raise anyway. And uh, and if you 1:13:27.800 --> 1:13:31.000 don't win, well then that's good for you because now 1:13:31.040 --> 1:13:33.120 you know how it feels like to be tossed aside, 1:13:33.360 --> 1:13:36.439 you know, so, so you have to really be there 1:13:36.479 --> 1:13:38.519 for your marginalized workers. You know, it has to be 1:13:38.600 --> 1:13:42.800 this non performative thing. But the but the thing is 1:13:42.800 --> 1:13:45.639 is that if you are non performative about it, you 1:13:45.720 --> 1:13:51.400 are you're making the workplace not only better from disabled 1:13:51.400 --> 1:13:54.040 workers you already have, but you are making it better 1:13:54.479 --> 1:13:58.240 for yourself. Because every single one of us pretty much 1:13:58.320 --> 1:14:01.639 is going to be disabled either temport earlier permanently at 1:14:01.680 --> 1:14:04.280 some point in our lives. It is the easiest club 1:14:04.520 --> 1:14:10.040 to join. And you know, I think as we found 1:14:10.120 --> 1:14:12.360 during the pandemic. You know, people, a lot of people 1:14:12.600 --> 1:14:16.719 they make this They say, oh, online sucks, Online school sucks. 1:14:17.240 --> 1:14:20.200 Why does it suck because you never invested in it. 1:14:20.200 --> 1:14:24.280 It's like several several decades and old, you never invested 1:14:24.320 --> 1:14:27.080 in it. You never put any effort or money into it. 1:14:28.439 --> 1:14:31.400 Like that's you know, So if you want your workplace 1:14:31.439 --> 1:14:34.720 to be a good quality workplace for you, that is 1:14:34.760 --> 1:14:37.720 not only just like a place you barely you know, 1:14:37.920 --> 1:14:41.800 feel okay going to, but like someplace you really we 1:14:41.880 --> 1:14:43.960 spend most of our lives in the workplace. You know, 1:14:45.320 --> 1:14:50.559 Students right, So it should be someplace that really makes 1:14:50.640 --> 1:14:53.639 us feel better and fulfilled, because nobody works well when 1:14:53.640 --> 1:14:56.880 they're stressed out. Nobody, you know, you're not productive when 1:14:56.880 --> 1:15:00.400 you're constantly stressed. So this really to be a win 1:15:00.439 --> 1:15:03.599 win all around. And and you're think about it this 1:15:03.600 --> 1:15:05.360 way also, which is that you know, and this is 1:15:05.400 --> 1:15:10.400 particularly applicable when it comes to you see, and you know, 1:15:10.439 --> 1:15:12.600 the pandemic is another great example of this is this 1:15:12.640 --> 1:15:14.360 has gotten a little bit of focus on the press, 1:15:14.360 --> 1:15:16.320 but I don't think as much as it deserves, which 1:15:16.360 --> 1:15:19.000 is that you have this not only an event where 1:15:19.040 --> 1:15:22.840 millions of people died globally, right, which you have. You 1:15:22.920 --> 1:15:26.040 have quite a few people, they have long COVID, they 1:15:26.040 --> 1:15:29.000 have other things. People who arrive at you see, and 1:15:29.040 --> 1:15:30.800 particularly who go you know, get to the point they've 1:15:30.840 --> 1:15:32.479 got their degree or whatever. You know, these are people 1:15:32.520 --> 1:15:39.240 who are trained, highly educated, trained in a certain thing. 1:15:39.280 --> 1:15:42.240 They're making contributions to their field. Do you really want 1:15:42.280 --> 1:15:45.519 it to be that we lose all the knowledge that 1:15:45.600 --> 1:15:51.320 these people have, all the the institutional memory and experience 1:15:51.400 --> 1:15:54.720 that these people have, just at a time when we're 1:15:54.760 --> 1:15:58.120 facing an incredible crises as a planet. You know, in 1:15:58.200 --> 1:16:00.760 terms of climate change and in terms of you know, 1:16:00.840 --> 1:16:03.640 the attacks on democracies and things, or just even what 1:16:03.680 --> 1:16:05.960 the people mean to their community, right, you know, you're 1:16:06.000 --> 1:16:09.120 talking about the fabric of your community if you make it. 1:16:10.280 --> 1:16:13.080 If you have an inaccessible workplace, if you have an 1:16:13.120 --> 1:16:19.120 inaccessible school, if you have places you know in the 1:16:19.160 --> 1:16:23.360 public square that are not accessible, you're making it so 1:16:23.400 --> 1:16:28.040 that when somebody becomes disabled, and that person could be you, 1:16:28.040 --> 1:16:30.280 you may never be able to practice the thing that 1:16:30.360 --> 1:16:33.320 you love and you've trained for your whole life, and 1:16:33.520 --> 1:16:37.599 the community loses what you could bring to this at 1:16:37.600 --> 1:16:41.760 a time when we need more than ever every all 1:16:41.800 --> 1:16:44.439 hands on deck to be like solving climate change and 1:16:44.479 --> 1:16:49.840 other problems that face us. Yeah, yeah, that is it's 1:16:49.920 --> 1:16:53.680 very well said. Actually that yeah, certainly made a very 1:16:53.720 --> 1:16:57.479 good case. So I want to I mean obviously that 1:16:57.560 --> 1:17:00.559 the negotiations are still ongoing at least four uh the 1:17:00.760 --> 1:17:06.360 s I U and for a I think for as well, Um, 1:17:06.439 --> 1:17:11.880 so what can people do to support the demands that 1:17:11.920 --> 1:17:14.720 have been made? How can people maybe who are not 1:17:14.800 --> 1:17:16.640 part of the union, who are not part of the 1:17:16.760 --> 1:17:18.880 u C even or preps undergrad to are part of 1:17:18.880 --> 1:17:20.479 the U S but not part of the union. How 1:17:20.520 --> 1:17:24.600 how can they show solidarity and support here? Well, I 1:17:24.600 --> 1:17:26.920 think part of this is, you know, not giving up 1:17:26.920 --> 1:17:29.759 on the idea that we can press for the original 1:17:29.760 --> 1:17:33.080 access needs article. I know there's all sorts of like 1:17:33.120 --> 1:17:38.080 you know, technical rules about regressive bargaining, but honestly, I 1:17:38.120 --> 1:17:40.040 think you see has broken a lot of the rules 1:17:40.040 --> 1:17:42.120 of bargaining. So I don't see why that doesn't you 1:17:42.160 --> 1:17:44.600 know what It's like, what's good for the goose is 1:17:44.640 --> 1:17:46.600 good for the gander as far as I'm concerned. But 1:17:46.840 --> 1:17:50.920 there's also even outside of bargaining. You know, as I said, 1:17:50.920 --> 1:17:52.960 a lot of these things are things that you see 1:17:53.280 --> 1:17:57.639 routinely breaks. A d A you see routinely breaks There's 1:17:57.640 --> 1:18:00.240 other parts of disability law in terms of sex five 1:18:00.320 --> 1:18:03.360 oh for the Rehabilitation Act, and there's some California law 1:18:03.400 --> 1:18:06.080 as well as my understanding of it. So you know, 1:18:06.360 --> 1:18:09.679 you see, just as they have this rationing and policing 1:18:09.720 --> 1:18:13.679 agency bureaucracy, and it's two separate silos, one for students 1:18:13.720 --> 1:18:16.320 and one for workers, and they do that. Like even 1:18:16.360 --> 1:18:18.559 the fact that they do that communicates that it's not 1:18:18.640 --> 1:18:22.200 about offering accessibility as a default, because why would you 1:18:22.240 --> 1:18:24.919 have two silos for that. Well, you have two silos 1:18:24.960 --> 1:18:27.400 for that because the law that affects students and affects 1:18:27.479 --> 1:18:30.519 workers are slightly different. So what you're coming from is 1:18:30.560 --> 1:18:37.120 this aspect of we are dedicated to only doing the 1:18:37.120 --> 1:18:40.640 barest minimum of the minimum required by law, so we 1:18:40.680 --> 1:18:43.120 don't even want to meet that minimum required by law. 1:18:43.160 --> 1:18:45.759 It's like it's like, you know, you want to offer 1:18:45.840 --> 1:18:47.800 minimum wage, but if you can get away with it, 1:18:47.840 --> 1:18:49.519 you're not even going to meet minimum wage. And you 1:18:49.520 --> 1:18:51.720 have a lot of lawyers in a bureaucracy to make 1:18:51.760 --> 1:18:53.800 it possible for you to do that. That's what you 1:18:53.880 --> 1:18:58.920 see does um So that kind of stuff is stuff 1:18:58.960 --> 1:19:02.639 that outside even a labor contract, you should be able 1:19:02.680 --> 1:19:06.160 to write the governor, right, the lieutenant governor who's actually 1:19:06.200 --> 1:19:08.639 got a seat on the board of regents rights your 1:19:08.720 --> 1:19:11.920 California legislators. You know, when there was a there was 1:19:11.960 --> 1:19:15.200 a nimby who sued cow. This was in the news 1:19:15.280 --> 1:19:18.000 this year. There was a nimby who sued cow to 1:19:18.280 --> 1:19:21.599 make it so the caw con make housing and and 1:19:22.360 --> 1:19:24.920 or to cow to make it so the cow was 1:19:24.960 --> 1:19:27.439 going to have to limit how many it was admitting. 1:19:27.479 --> 1:19:30.679 Because in the opinion of that group, like they weren't 1:19:30.680 --> 1:19:32.720 building enough housing to take care of their students, and 1:19:32.760 --> 1:19:35.679 they were crowding at Berkeley and blah blah blah. The 1:19:35.760 --> 1:19:38.880 outrage about that from parents who wanted to send their 1:19:38.960 --> 1:19:41.400 kids to cow was so great that like within a 1:19:41.439 --> 1:19:44.479 couple of weeks, the governor and the legislators had passed 1:19:44.560 --> 1:19:47.800 something to address that. If you put that kind of 1:19:47.840 --> 1:19:51.720 pressure on the governor of the lieutenant governor and the 1:19:52.040 --> 1:19:55.840 you know, your state legisslators, they will make sure that 1:19:55.920 --> 1:19:59.639 the UC Office of the President feels that pressure because 1:19:59.680 --> 1:20:01.800 these are things, these are laws. You know, at the 1:20:02.800 --> 1:20:06.360 we had more ambitious things beyond law. But some of 1:20:06.400 --> 1:20:09.160 the things that we were that are trying to do 1:20:09.200 --> 1:20:12.639 in this contract are really just things that they're already 1:20:12.640 --> 1:20:15.320 required by law to do but aren't doing. We were 1:20:15.360 --> 1:20:16.600 trying to give it and make it so there was 1:20:16.680 --> 1:20:21.200 more teeth there, because clearly the federal and state teeth 1:20:21.240 --> 1:20:26.479 weren't good enough. So we um, we have a resist 1:20:26.520 --> 1:20:28.479 spot petition out there, but you know, to make it 1:20:28.479 --> 1:20:32.240 a little easier to contact your if you're a California resident, 1:20:33.439 --> 1:20:36.120 the resist pot petition would work that way. But if 1:20:36.680 --> 1:20:38.559 but if not. You know, like I said, if you 1:20:38.720 --> 1:20:41.479 if you if you're a parent of a student here, 1:20:41.520 --> 1:20:44.360 you can write. If you're an alumni, you know, you 1:20:44.400 --> 1:20:50.559 can write, just really hammer them about it. Okay, Yeah, yeah, definitely. 1:20:50.600 --> 1:20:52.479 I think I think writing does make a difference. And 1:20:52.479 --> 1:20:55.400 I think especially for an institution that I don't quite 1:20:55.400 --> 1:20:57.639 know how financially dependent they are in donations, but they 1:20:57.800 --> 1:21:02.720 certainly do like to solicit them, actually if you're an alumnus, 1:21:02.800 --> 1:21:05.840 because think they solicit them for me a lot. I 1:21:05.880 --> 1:21:08.320 do not have that much money. So yeah, thank you 1:21:08.439 --> 1:21:10.960 very much for sharing all of that with us. And 1:21:11.000 --> 1:21:13.719 I thought that's really really interactive. How can people find 1:21:13.760 --> 1:21:15.680 you and how can people find you? See access now 1:21:15.720 --> 1:21:19.720 if they want to find you online? Uh, we are 1:21:19.880 --> 1:21:24.719 on Twitter as access you see at access you see um. 1:21:24.800 --> 1:21:28.080 We are on Facebook and Instagram as well. Actually is 1:21:28.120 --> 1:21:31.800 also linked in for the more business people. Uh you 1:21:31.880 --> 1:21:35.080 see access now um. And you can also reach us 1:21:35.080 --> 1:21:37.160 at you see access now at gmail dot com if 1:21:37.160 --> 1:21:40.680 you wanted to email us. Wonderful. Yeah, thank you very much. 1:21:40.760 --> 1:21:43.880 And just to finish that briefly, we are going to 1:21:43.920 --> 1:21:45.960 try and make a transcript. It's available at the same 1:21:46.000 --> 1:21:49.680 time the episode goes out and so folks would like 1:21:49.800 --> 1:21:51.880 to read it that way if that's easier for them, 1:21:51.880 --> 1:21:53.559 than We're going to make sure that we have that 1:21:53.640 --> 1:21:56.439 for this one. So yeah, if you're if you're listening, 1:21:56.520 --> 1:21:58.519 or if you think someone else that you know would 1:21:58.600 --> 1:22:00.840 like this and this it doesn't work for them, and 1:22:00.880 --> 1:22:03.200 we're going to do that. Thank you so much, Megan 1:22:03.320 --> 1:22:06.000 for giving us some of your afternoon. And yeah, I 1:22:06.040 --> 1:22:07.800 hope you see some support and I wish you the 1:22:07.840 --> 1:22:10.479 best of luck with everything. Well, thank you so much. 1:22:26.120 --> 1:22:31.160 Woo and welcome to it could happen here. My name 1:22:31.200 --> 1:22:35.840 is Sharene and today you are stuck with me. Yes, 1:22:36.920 --> 1:22:39.960 what a treat for all of you beautiful people out there. 1:22:40.800 --> 1:22:42.720 I've been wanting to do an episode about the World 1:22:42.800 --> 1:22:44.760 Cup for a while, but I felt like there was 1:22:44.840 --> 1:22:47.719 just so much to cover, and it was also happening 1:22:47.720 --> 1:22:50.280 in real time, so I want to wait a bit 1:22:50.360 --> 1:22:53.680 so I could have enough stuff to pull from. I 1:22:53.760 --> 1:22:57.519 will say I am recording this on Monday, December nineteenth. 1:22:57.800 --> 1:23:02.160 It is the day after the weekend where France lost 1:23:02.360 --> 1:23:06.200 to Argentina, and Argentina are now our World Cup champions. 1:23:07.080 --> 1:23:10.960 I'm happy about that. And then Morocco did lose last 1:23:10.960 --> 1:23:15.720 week to France, which was devastating to me and my 1:23:15.800 --> 1:23:17.920 family and the rest of the Arab world because we 1:23:17.960 --> 1:23:20.720 would have loved to see them beat their colonizers, but 1:23:21.280 --> 1:23:23.719 they got really far, and I want to talk about 1:23:23.760 --> 1:23:27.479 the impact that that's had. They did coming forth when 1:23:27.520 --> 1:23:31.040 they lost to Croatia this weekend as well, so just 1:23:31.120 --> 1:23:34.400 in case y'all needed to know that, But I will 1:23:34.400 --> 1:23:39.400 say I am really happy for Argentina, and maybe it 1:23:39.479 --> 1:23:43.200 was because Morocco lost to France, but I wasn't mad 1:23:43.280 --> 1:23:47.880 seeing France losing, and all the celebrations I've seen from 1:23:47.880 --> 1:23:53.360 people celebrating Argentina have been so heartwarming and yeah, but anyway, 1:23:53.640 --> 1:23:56.439 I wanted to focus on something that I think has 1:23:56.439 --> 1:24:01.679 been so unprecedented and beautiful and singular and I think 1:24:01.720 --> 1:24:06.360 deserves more coverage, and that is this show of Palestinian 1:24:06.400 --> 1:24:09.680 solidarity that has been happening during the World Cup. It 1:24:09.800 --> 1:24:12.080 is so cool, and I want to talk about why 1:24:12.080 --> 1:24:15.639 it's happening, the circumstances that could lead to this happening, 1:24:16.040 --> 1:24:19.160 and what it means, because I think it's very significant 1:24:19.800 --> 1:24:24.280 moving forward when it comes to Palestinian rights since Palestinian support, 1:24:24.760 --> 1:24:28.640 So let's get into it. There's a great article by 1:24:28.720 --> 1:24:33.479 British Palestinian writer Hams Aisha titled Palestine is the biggest 1:24:33.479 --> 1:24:36.439 winner at this year's World Cup. And this article did 1:24:36.520 --> 1:24:39.599 such a good job compiling some key moments, so I'm 1:24:39.640 --> 1:24:41.880 going to be referencing from it a lot as we 1:24:41.960 --> 1:24:46.559 continue this episode. Okay, here we go. Despite the Western 1:24:46.640 --> 1:24:50.519 media doing its best to ignore it, the World Cup 1:24:50.600 --> 1:24:55.800 has seen a huge tidal wave of Palestinian solidarity and 1:24:55.880 --> 1:24:58.679 it's united the Arab world in a really special way 1:24:58.960 --> 1:25:02.240 and also highlighted just how many people Arab and non 1:25:02.280 --> 1:25:06.960 Arab alike support the Palestinian cause. And so, not to 1:25:07.040 --> 1:25:10.120 be too cheesy, the biggest winners of this World Cup, 1:25:10.160 --> 1:25:13.160 in my opinion, haven't even had a team at all competing, 1:25:13.520 --> 1:25:17.240 and that's the Palestinians. The World Cup has been characterized 1:25:17.280 --> 1:25:22.920 by unforeseeable developments and dramatic quote unquote upsets, which it's 1:25:22.960 --> 1:25:25.479 a word I don't even really like, even if it's 1:25:25.479 --> 1:25:28.640 grammatically correct when it's used in fucking sports jargon. But 1:25:28.680 --> 1:25:30.120 I don't like it because it kind of sounds like 1:25:30.120 --> 1:25:33.719 a bad thing, because it's like upset bo who. But really, 1:25:33.760 --> 1:25:35.920 I think surprises like this are a really good thing 1:25:36.120 --> 1:25:39.640 because what these upsets usually mean is simply that the 1:25:39.760 --> 1:25:42.799 underdog one, which is a narrative I will always support. 1:25:43.120 --> 1:25:48.200 So these surprises really started with Argentina's lost to Saudi Arabia, 1:25:48.400 --> 1:25:53.200 which shocked everyone. The faces in the stadium, draws on 1:25:53.240 --> 1:25:55.880 the floor, everyone was shocked. I watched it with my mom. 1:25:56.040 --> 1:25:59.400 It was it was incredible and it was truly a 1:25:59.439 --> 1:26:02.719 beautiful game. I highly recommend you at least watch some 1:26:02.840 --> 1:26:06.240 clips from it. It was fucking cool and I don't know, 1:26:06.280 --> 1:26:09.200 it came out of nowhere. Was really beautiful. And after 1:26:09.240 --> 1:26:12.759 this victory, Kingston, man of Saudi Arabia, ordered that day 1:26:12.800 --> 1:26:15.960 that they won a public holiday to say the least. 1:26:16.000 --> 1:26:19.880 Everyone was losing their minds and these surprises seemed to 1:26:19.920 --> 1:26:22.960 be endless in this World Cup, mostly because, as I said, 1:26:23.120 --> 1:26:27.840 the obvious teams were losing to the underdogs. And coming 1:26:27.880 --> 1:26:30.519 out of this one of the most consistent themes has 1:26:30.600 --> 1:26:35.880 been this overarching Palestinian solidarity that has unfolded, particularly among 1:26:36.040 --> 1:26:41.880 fans of Arab Nations. World Cup was already significant on 1:26:41.920 --> 1:26:45.040 its own It's held in Gotha, making it the first 1:26:45.080 --> 1:26:47.280 World Cup to be held in the Arab world and 1:26:47.360 --> 1:26:50.640 the Muslim world, and only the second held entirely in 1:26:50.680 --> 1:26:54.479 Asia after the two thousand two tournaments in South Korea 1:26:54.600 --> 1:27:00.479 and Japan. The Arab world is obsessed with soccer. An 1:27:00.560 --> 1:27:03.760 understatement to say obsessed, I should you not. It's a 1:27:03.880 --> 1:27:07.680 huge part of Arab culture, Middle Eastern culture, and so 1:27:07.760 --> 1:27:10.280 this was already a huge deal to start with. And 1:27:10.320 --> 1:27:13.080 I think these two things together, the fact that it's 1:27:13.560 --> 1:27:15.799 very cultural and the fact that this is the first 1:27:15.840 --> 1:27:19.360 time it's been on an Arab stage. I think these 1:27:19.360 --> 1:27:22.679 two things together created the seed for Arabs and Middle 1:27:22.680 --> 1:27:25.639 East owners to really come together in a way we've 1:27:25.680 --> 1:27:29.240 never really seen. And this first World Cup in the 1:27:29.280 --> 1:27:33.839 Arab world has captured in this symbolic way, this reality 1:27:33.920 --> 1:27:39.040 where Western powers have receded in the face of their challengers. Morocco. 1:27:39.240 --> 1:27:43.480 They reached the semifinals and they played France, their colonizers, 1:27:43.880 --> 1:27:47.720 which was so symbolic. Saudi Arabia humiliated one of the 1:27:47.760 --> 1:27:51.600 tournament favorites, Argentina, and then Tunisia did the same to 1:27:51.680 --> 1:27:56.920 its former colonizer France Japan. They beat Germany and Spain. 1:27:58.120 --> 1:28:01.920 This traditional power and battle in global soccer and what 1:28:02.040 --> 1:28:05.360 it means for geopolitics. I feel like it can no 1:28:05.439 --> 1:28:09.439 longer be taken for granted or ignored. As many as 1:28:09.520 --> 1:28:13.639 five million Moroccans live abroad, mostly in Europe, and they've 1:28:13.640 --> 1:28:18.400 celebrated the team's victories in huge street celebrations in France 1:28:18.439 --> 1:28:21.800 and Belgium and Spain and the Netherlands, and just internationally. 1:28:22.360 --> 1:28:25.920 For Moroccans living outside of Morocco and for so many 1:28:25.960 --> 1:28:29.920 other migrants from the Arab world or Africa, they've been 1:28:30.000 --> 1:28:33.680 driven by decades of desperation in their home countries to 1:28:33.760 --> 1:28:38.120 risk everything to reach Europe, only to suffer abuse and contempt. 1:28:38.560 --> 1:28:43.600 So this achievement after achievement was a huge pivotal milestone. 1:28:44.280 --> 1:28:46.600 And I think this drive has been coupled with the 1:28:46.640 --> 1:28:50.080 show of Palestinian pride and thought out as well. There 1:28:50.160 --> 1:28:53.160 was no Palestinian team at the World Cup, and yet 1:28:53.160 --> 1:28:57.479 the Palestinian flag was everywhere, not only in the hands 1:28:57.600 --> 1:29:01.519 of celebrating Moroccan players and fans, but also at every 1:29:01.560 --> 1:29:05.160 game and on the streets of Dha and it was 1:29:05.360 --> 1:29:11.840 just overwhelming and so amazing to see. And these displays 1:29:11.880 --> 1:29:15.240 they shocked some Israeli journalists who had been assured by 1:29:15.280 --> 1:29:19.280 their own government that the US brokered Abraham Accords that 1:29:19.320 --> 1:29:22.839 had happened between Israel and Morocco and other Arab states. 1:29:23.120 --> 1:29:26.240 They thought that this signaled that the Arab world had 1:29:26.280 --> 1:29:31.599 relinquished any pretense of advocacy for Palestinian rights. But as 1:29:31.640 --> 1:29:34.800 we see with a lot of sports, soccer creates its 1:29:34.840 --> 1:29:39.000 own form of civil society. And especially because it's a 1:29:39.120 --> 1:29:42.800 huge international game in a way that no other sport 1:29:42.880 --> 1:29:46.800 really is, and also being played in a region where 1:29:46.880 --> 1:29:52.639 civil society has largely been suppressed by authoritarians, it's made 1:29:52.640 --> 1:29:55.839 it clear in this World Cup that the Arab public 1:29:56.000 --> 1:29:59.320 is not willing to follow their unelected leaders and accepting 1:29:59.360 --> 1:30:03.200 the brutal against Palestinians and what human rights organizations have 1:30:03.320 --> 1:30:08.000 called Israel's apartheid system a k a. Israel's ethnic cleansing 1:30:08.040 --> 1:30:12.840 of Palestinians, violence, brutality, murder. The list can go on. 1:30:13.560 --> 1:30:17.040 I'm sure you've heard me on my soapbox before, but 1:30:17.240 --> 1:30:20.679 it always bears repeating. My point is that the Arab 1:30:20.720 --> 1:30:23.680 public and the people in these Arab nations do not 1:30:23.760 --> 1:30:27.559 represent and do not necessarily believe in these leaders that 1:30:27.640 --> 1:30:33.000 again they did not elect it's all authoritarian dictatorships and 1:30:33.040 --> 1:30:37.160 just corrupt government that I mean, we can get into 1:30:37.200 --> 1:30:41.040 history another time, but the disablement of so many of 1:30:41.040 --> 1:30:44.280 these governments have been because of the Western world, say 1:30:44.320 --> 1:30:47.880 the least, I don't know, a different episode. I'm getting distracted, sorry. 1:30:48.479 --> 1:30:51.280 Even countries that did not qualify for the World Cup 1:30:51.360 --> 1:30:55.800 are surging with this united pride and pro Palestinian sentiment. 1:30:56.640 --> 1:31:00.439 The Palestinian cause is obviously near and dear to the 1:31:00.479 --> 1:31:04.479 hearts of many Arabs across the world. And again, not 1:31:04.640 --> 1:31:06.800 only is this the first time the World Cup has 1:31:06.840 --> 1:31:09.880 been hosted in an Arab country, it's also probably the 1:31:09.920 --> 1:31:12.559 first time there has been such a large gathering and 1:31:12.640 --> 1:31:17.559 concentration of Arabs across nationalities gathered all in one place. 1:31:18.560 --> 1:31:21.920 And again, at almost every single game, there have been 1:31:21.960 --> 1:31:25.559 fans holding the Palestinian flag or banners that say Free 1:31:25.560 --> 1:31:31.720 Palestine in the stadium. In their matches against Australia and Belgium, respectively, 1:31:32.120 --> 1:31:36.640 Tunisia and Moroccan fans each unfurled a huge Free Palestine 1:31:36.680 --> 1:31:40.479 flag in the forty minute, which is very significant because 1:31:40.479 --> 1:31:44.400 this is in reference to the ninet Necba, which translates 1:31:44.439 --> 1:31:49.800 to the catastrophe. The Necaba deserves millions of episodes on 1:31:49.800 --> 1:31:53.439 its own, but essentially it was the mass expulsion and 1:31:53.520 --> 1:31:57.080 ethnic cleansing of at least seven hundred and fifty thousand 1:31:57.160 --> 1:32:02.439 Palestinian refugees in ninety eight when the state of Israel 1:32:02.640 --> 1:32:05.240 was formed. A side note that I do want to 1:32:05.240 --> 1:32:09.240 mention here is that there's an incredible film on Netflix 1:32:09.320 --> 1:32:12.000 right now that you should all go watch. It's called 1:32:12.120 --> 1:32:16.439 Farha f A r h A. It's about the Neckba 1:32:16.680 --> 1:32:19.240 and there's never been a film like this before. And 1:32:19.280 --> 1:32:21.759 the Israeli government has been doing this like smear campaign 1:32:21.800 --> 1:32:24.840 against it and has been calling it all sorts of 1:32:24.960 --> 1:32:30.439 terrible things. But the other side, Palestinian supporters and Palestinians, 1:32:30.479 --> 1:32:34.560 they've made it so successful. They've outdone the haters, I 1:32:34.600 --> 1:32:36.599 guess to say the least, and it's doing really well. 1:32:36.640 --> 1:32:38.400 And it's because of these supporters that it is doing 1:32:38.439 --> 1:32:41.280 so well. So I mean, sorry to get a little 1:32:41.320 --> 1:32:44.400 bit tangential here, but I really encourage you to watch 1:32:44.479 --> 1:32:47.599 Farha on Netflix right now. There's never been a film 1:32:47.640 --> 1:32:52.559 about this catastrophe, the Neckba, so I highly encourage everyone 1:32:52.600 --> 1:32:54.360 to watch or even just like put it on in 1:32:54.439 --> 1:32:56.880 the background while you're doing something else, so it counts 1:32:56.880 --> 1:33:00.600 as views. Just keep supporting it. I think this is 1:33:00.640 --> 1:33:04.120 a really important time and it feels really significant that 1:33:04.160 --> 1:33:07.000 this is all happening at the same time. So anyway, 1:33:07.280 --> 1:33:10.599 go out to that film. But Tunisia and Moroccan fans 1:33:10.760 --> 1:33:14.440 each at the forty minute in reference to this catastrophe, 1:33:14.720 --> 1:33:18.879 they unfurled this huge free Palestine flag, and by waving 1:33:18.880 --> 1:33:23.519 that Palestinian flag, Moroccan fans and players expressed a very 1:33:23.520 --> 1:33:26.960 public descent from the choices of their government and of 1:33:27.000 --> 1:33:30.000 the Western powers and as well as other Arab autocrats 1:33:30.040 --> 1:33:34.080 to abandon the Palestinians to their fate. And as they advanced, 1:33:34.200 --> 1:33:37.400 Morocco was able to sustain the attention on these issues, 1:33:38.000 --> 1:33:40.840 and their players proved time and time again that they 1:33:40.840 --> 1:33:44.640 are more than deserving to be playing on this world stage. 1:33:45.400 --> 1:33:48.240 Morocco was also the first African team to make the 1:33:48.280 --> 1:33:51.040 semifinals of the World Cup, which is also a significant 1:33:51.080 --> 1:33:53.719 achievement and a lovely slap in the face to anyone 1:33:53.760 --> 1:33:58.080 who doubted them. The Moroccan defense was incredible, maybe some 1:33:58.160 --> 1:34:01.040 of the best defense I've ever seen, but due to 1:34:01.200 --> 1:34:05.519 soccer's globalization. The top players in soccer have for decades 1:34:05.600 --> 1:34:09.160 all played in Europe's elite leagues, and this was the 1:34:09.200 --> 1:34:13.080 first World Cup in which all five African teams were 1:34:13.120 --> 1:34:17.640 coached by African coaches rather than by European ones, and 1:34:17.680 --> 1:34:22.280 Morocco's coach in particular appears to have made an exceptionable difference. 1:34:23.200 --> 1:34:27.240 During Tunisia's game against France, a Gunesian fan ran onto 1:34:27.240 --> 1:34:30.840 the pitch and he waved a Palestinian flag, cartwheeling in 1:34:30.880 --> 1:34:35.639 the process. The crowd erupted into chance of Palestine as 1:34:35.640 --> 1:34:38.799 he was dragged away by security, and in a different 1:34:38.800 --> 1:34:42.400 match at the stadium, fans chanted with spirit and blood, 1:34:42.520 --> 1:34:46.080 we will redeem you Old Palestine. They chanted this in Arabic. 1:34:46.840 --> 1:34:50.280 And this occurred on the International Day of Solidarity with 1:34:50.320 --> 1:34:54.639 the Palestinian people November twenty nine, and it felt very poetic. 1:34:55.360 --> 1:34:59.280 And then when Morocco knocked the former champions Spain out 1:34:59.280 --> 1:35:02.799 of the tournament, the Moroccan team posed for the standard 1:35:02.840 --> 1:35:06.679 celebratory team photo and instead of holding the Moroccan flag, 1:35:06.920 --> 1:35:10.799 they all held a Palestinian one. A winning team holding 1:35:10.880 --> 1:35:15.040 up the flag of another country has literally never happened before, 1:35:15.880 --> 1:35:18.800 and the fact that it's a Palestinian flag. I don't know, 1:35:18.880 --> 1:35:23.280 man chills, I'm obsessed, obsessed, but okay, I feel like 1:35:23.280 --> 1:35:25.639 I'm going to get more rambily and distracted. So before 1:35:25.680 --> 1:35:28.559 I do that, let's take a break. I could not 1:35:28.680 --> 1:35:32.040 think of a witty segue to get there, but here 1:35:32.080 --> 1:35:36.880 are some ads. Okay, we're back. I also wanted to 1:35:36.920 --> 1:35:40.960 mention what, in my opinion, is the most iconic image 1:35:41.040 --> 1:35:46.959 of the World Cup, and that is when Morocco's Sophia 1:35:47.000 --> 1:35:50.599 and Buffal was dancing with his mom after his team's 1:35:50.760 --> 1:35:55.519 brilliant upset victory over Portugal in the quarterfinals. They were 1:35:55.640 --> 1:35:59.000 dancing and happy, and she's wearing a hijab, and it 1:35:59.120 --> 1:36:06.040 was just this you're display of joy and um it 1:36:06.160 --> 1:36:08.559 just it felt really familiar to me, and it felt 1:36:08.560 --> 1:36:10.799 that way to a lot of Middle Easterners and Arabs 1:36:10.840 --> 1:36:15.479 and Moroccans. This moment, this dancing between him and his mom, 1:36:15.600 --> 1:36:18.720 it was a statement of pride and of priorities and 1:36:18.760 --> 1:36:23.000 a reminder that as the mother of another great football player, 1:36:23.360 --> 1:36:27.559 Zenna Dean's Adan, she once said that quote some things 1:36:27.560 --> 1:36:31.120 are bigger than football. Buffall and his mother, like the 1:36:31.120 --> 1:36:34.839 majority of Morocco's players and coaches. They live in European 1:36:34.960 --> 1:36:39.840 cities and they're part of that continent's vast, marginalized and 1:36:39.880 --> 1:36:45.000 embattled migrant underclass. Again, she wore a hijab, something that 1:36:45.080 --> 1:36:47.559 she would be barred from doing if she was a 1:36:47.600 --> 1:36:51.880 teacher or a public servant in France. Against all of that, 1:36:52.400 --> 1:36:55.200 this moment on the field was captured in a moment 1:36:55.320 --> 1:37:00.400 of unbridled joy. It was so pure and so human 1:37:01.040 --> 1:37:04.479 and just reminded everyone, I hope reminded me and my 1:37:04.600 --> 1:37:08.400 family of who we are. And again, I think this 1:37:08.479 --> 1:37:11.760 is really significant when you think about the geopolitical implications 1:37:11.800 --> 1:37:15.160 that we've seen during these games, with countries like Morocco 1:37:15.439 --> 1:37:18.679 playing against the teams of the countries that colonized them 1:37:18.720 --> 1:37:21.840 a k a. When they played with France, it really 1:37:21.840 --> 1:37:26.919 feels like this beautiful blossoming of culture against all odds 1:37:27.040 --> 1:37:32.240 of trying to suppress it. So outside the stadiums, this 1:37:32.360 --> 1:37:36.200 theme remained the same when it came to Palestinian solidarity. 1:37:36.680 --> 1:37:40.400 A Saudi Arabian vendor selling flags of different countries. He 1:37:40.439 --> 1:37:43.320 went viral after he was spotted giving customers an extra 1:37:43.360 --> 1:37:46.920 Palestinian flag as a free gift with any purchase, and 1:37:46.960 --> 1:37:50.200 so this uplifting message that has been repeated time and 1:37:50.240 --> 1:37:53.280 time again during this World Cup is that Palestine can 1:37:53.320 --> 1:37:56.200 never be removed from the hearts of the people. And 1:37:56.240 --> 1:37:59.599 there are so many heartwarming videos like the one I mentioned, 1:37:59.800 --> 1:38:02.760 and I urge everyone to follow Palestinian accounts to keep 1:38:02.840 --> 1:38:06.040 up if you're curious. I know the World Cup is 1:38:06.080 --> 1:38:10.719 technically over now, but these videos are so fun and 1:38:10.960 --> 1:38:15.760 joyful to watch. I really felt so much joy watching them. 1:38:15.760 --> 1:38:18.960 This outpouring of support for Palestine is reminiscent of an 1:38:19.000 --> 1:38:21.759 earlier time in history when the Arab world was also 1:38:21.880 --> 1:38:25.880 united in its support for Palestine. The Palestinian cause was 1:38:26.000 --> 1:38:28.880 once a driving force in the policy direction of the 1:38:28.920 --> 1:38:31.960 Arab world, and it reached its zenith in the nineteen 1:38:32.040 --> 1:38:35.880 sixties when nations like Syria, Jordan and Egypt they went 1:38:35.920 --> 1:38:39.240 to war against Israel with the anti imperial objective of 1:38:39.320 --> 1:38:45.120 regional Arab unity in Palestinian liberation. However, those aspirations were 1:38:45.160 --> 1:38:49.360 stomped out in nineteen sixty seven when Israel quote unquote 1:38:49.360 --> 1:38:52.840 one the Six Day War or the June War, which 1:38:52.880 --> 1:38:55.919 is also known as the nineteen sixty seven Arab Israeli 1:38:55.960 --> 1:39:00.000 War or the Third Arab Israeli War. Just a very 1:39:00.040 --> 1:39:03.839 quick history lesson here. This war was fought between Israel 1:39:03.960 --> 1:39:07.120 and a coalition of Arab states, and it ended after 1:39:07.240 --> 1:39:11.400 Israeli tanks and infantry advanced on a heavily fortified region 1:39:11.439 --> 1:39:15.400 of Syria called the Golden Heights. They successfully captured the 1:39:15.439 --> 1:39:18.679 Goal and Heights. After this, the next day, on June 1:39:18.680 --> 1:39:22.320 tenth and nineteen sixty seven, a U N brokered ceasefire 1:39:22.360 --> 1:39:25.320 took effect and the Sixth Day War came to an 1:39:25.360 --> 1:39:29.720 abrupt end. The casualties between the two opposing sides are 1:39:29.760 --> 1:39:34.719 basically incomparable. I'm gonna say some stats here, but despair 1:39:34.840 --> 1:39:38.360 with me. Between seven hundred and seventy six and nine 1:39:38.439 --> 1:39:41.759 hundred and eighty three Israelis were killed and four thousand 1:39:41.760 --> 1:39:45.799 and five hundred and seventeen were wounded. Fifteen Israeli soldiers 1:39:45.800 --> 1:39:52.080 were captured. Arab casualties were far greater. Between nine thousand 1:39:52.080 --> 1:39:55.960 and eight hundred and fifteen thousand Egyptian soldiers were listed 1:39:56.000 --> 1:39:59.759 as killed or missing in action. An additional four thousand, 1:40:00.000 --> 1:40:04.040 three hundred and thirty eight Egyptian soldiers were captured. Jordanian 1:40:04.120 --> 1:40:07.320 losses are estimated to be seven hundred killed in action 1:40:07.600 --> 1:40:11.240 with another two thousand and five hundred wounded. The Syrians 1:40:11.240 --> 1:40:14.679 were estimated to have sustained between a thousand and two thousand, 1:40:14.720 --> 1:40:18.040 five hundred killed in action, between three hundred and sixty 1:40:18.080 --> 1:40:23.800 seven and five Syrians were captured. It's an incomparable, an 1:40:23.840 --> 1:40:27.519 insurmountable loss, and I might go as far to say 1:40:27.560 --> 1:40:31.480 it was a massacre because it was so unbalanced. Casualties 1:40:31.479 --> 1:40:33.800 were also suffered by the u n e F, the 1:40:33.920 --> 1:40:37.560 United Nations Emergency force that was stationed on the Egyptian 1:40:37.600 --> 1:40:41.799 side of the border. In three different episodes, Israeli forces 1:40:41.840 --> 1:40:45.000 attacked a U n e F convoy as well as 1:40:45.080 --> 1:40:48.920 camps in which UN e F personnel were concentrated, as 1:40:48.920 --> 1:40:51.800 well as the un e F headquarters in Gaza, and 1:40:51.840 --> 1:40:56.160 this resulted in one Brazilian peacekeeper and fourteen Indian officials 1:40:56.240 --> 1:41:00.000 killed by Israeli forces, with an additional seventeen peacekeepers wound. 1:41:00.080 --> 1:41:04.680 Did in both groups, that's your history lesson for today, 1:41:04.760 --> 1:41:07.360 at least for now. But as you can't imagine that 1:41:07.400 --> 1:41:10.680 this was a huge loss for the Arab world. In 1:41:10.720 --> 1:41:13.720 addition to stealing the gold and heights. This war led 1:41:13.800 --> 1:41:19.200 Israel to seizing and occupying all remaining Palestinian territories, and 1:41:20.120 --> 1:41:23.200 as you know or should know by now, Israel has 1:41:23.240 --> 1:41:26.320 maintained its control of the land at the expense of 1:41:26.320 --> 1:41:30.080 the Palestinians, with Arab leaders not able to do much 1:41:30.120 --> 1:41:34.200 in protest over these years, especially after this nineteen sixty 1:41:34.240 --> 1:41:38.600 seven loss, a lot of Arab leaders almost seemed indifferent. 1:41:39.720 --> 1:41:43.400 When we fast forward to something happened that seemed like 1:41:43.560 --> 1:41:47.439 a decisive death blow to the hopes of Palestinian solidarity 1:41:47.640 --> 1:41:52.000 in the Abraham Accords were signed, and these were a 1:41:52.040 --> 1:41:56.479 series of joint normalization statements between Israel and Arab countries 1:41:56.800 --> 1:42:00.120 that would theoretically pave the way for increased business and 1:42:00.240 --> 1:42:04.800 diplomatic relations. The implication was that Israel could afford to 1:42:04.880 --> 1:42:08.559 maintain it's apartheid rule and still enjoy warm relations with 1:42:08.600 --> 1:42:12.240 the Arab world because their politicians too, We're happy to 1:42:12.320 --> 1:42:18.040 willfully neglect the Palestinians. Officials from Bahayan, the UAE, and 1:42:18.080 --> 1:42:23.960 Morocco all signed the supposed quote unquote peace treaty with Israel. However, 1:42:24.520 --> 1:42:27.479 as we've seen from this year's World Cup, the Arab 1:42:27.520 --> 1:42:32.000 people do not agree with their politicians or their decisions. Again, 1:42:32.520 --> 1:42:36.280 most of these decision makers are not elected by their people. 1:42:37.000 --> 1:42:39.240 There's a lot of corruption at play, and I think 1:42:39.280 --> 1:42:42.519 it's very important to always separate a government from its people, 1:42:43.240 --> 1:42:46.479 as we're seeing, especially in Iran right now, which is 1:42:47.240 --> 1:42:50.640 something that makes me very emotional and deserves to be 1:42:50.680 --> 1:42:52.960 talked about more. I can't do a justice in this 1:42:53.000 --> 1:42:55.479 one sentence, but I urge you all to keep spreading 1:42:55.479 --> 1:42:59.120 awareness about Iran. Please. What they're doing to protesters is 1:42:59.160 --> 1:43:04.759 inhumane and truly medieval. Recent polls indicate that the Arab 1:43:04.800 --> 1:43:09.240 public widely disapproves of the Abraham Accords, strongly disagreeing with 1:43:09.280 --> 1:43:12.640 the prospect of normalizing ties with Israel as long as 1:43:12.680 --> 1:43:16.400 the Palestinians remain oppressed. But if there were still any 1:43:16.520 --> 1:43:21.120 lingering doubts that these accords our bullshit had not wanted. 1:43:21.880 --> 1:43:25.599 The experience of Israeli journalists and Clethod can be seen 1:43:25.760 --> 1:43:30.400 as this decisive confirmation that the treatment of Palestinians will 1:43:30.439 --> 1:43:36.600 actually be what dictate the trajectory of normalization. Israeli journalists 1:43:36.640 --> 1:43:41.400 broadcasting live have been interrupted by rallies of people chanting 1:43:41.439 --> 1:43:46.280 pro Palestinian slogans and waving Palestinian flags. An Egyptian man 1:43:46.360 --> 1:43:49.400 went viral after he leaned into the camera and said, 1:43:49.680 --> 1:43:55.360 live on Israeli television, Viva Palestine. Fans refusing to speak 1:43:55.439 --> 1:43:59.640 to Israeli channels has also been a hilarious common occurrence. 1:44:00.240 --> 1:44:04.040 One particular exchange included Moroccan fans posing for the camera 1:44:04.439 --> 1:44:07.840 before swiftly walking off upon realizing it was for an 1:44:07.880 --> 1:44:12.360 Israeli media outlet. The reporter's response was one of shock, 1:44:12.800 --> 1:44:16.320 repeatedly citing that a piece agreement had been signed by Morocco, 1:44:16.760 --> 1:44:20.599 thereby assuming that the Moroccan people themselves endorsed the notion 1:44:20.920 --> 1:44:26.360 that Israel's crimes could be whitewashed and forgotten. And again, 1:44:27.240 --> 1:44:30.080 highly recommend you watch these videos. They have brought me 1:44:30.120 --> 1:44:34.559 a joy that I haven't felt in literal years, and 1:44:34.600 --> 1:44:39.320 it's just beautiful and most importantly hilarious to see. Highly recommend. 1:44:39.920 --> 1:44:43.000 There are silver lining sometimes to life, and I feel 1:44:43.000 --> 1:44:45.519 like there are enough terrible things happening where a little 1:44:45.600 --> 1:44:51.400 joy is fine. And seeing Israeli journalists being accumulated, thank you, 1:44:51.600 --> 1:44:55.639 Thank you world. There's a thread on Twitter of World 1:44:55.640 --> 1:44:58.760 Cup football fans refusing to speak to Israeli channels. I'll 1:44:58.800 --> 1:45:01.640 try to put that in the notes and where, but regardless, 1:45:01.720 --> 1:45:07.400 highly recommend looking up these videos. Just again beautiful, beautiful stuff. 1:45:08.280 --> 1:45:12.120 And as I mentioned, Israeli journalists often seem bewildered as 1:45:12.120 --> 1:45:15.679 to why they are being boycotted. An Israeli reporter told 1:45:15.680 --> 1:45:18.760 The New York Times, I really changed my mind here. 1:45:19.600 --> 1:45:22.080 We are not human beings for them. They want to 1:45:22.120 --> 1:45:26.160 wipe us out from the map, which is obviously not true, 1:45:26.760 --> 1:45:29.599 and language like this is one of many Zionist talking 1:45:29.640 --> 1:45:34.520 points that are all stupid. And while Israeli journalists speculated 1:45:34.520 --> 1:45:37.719 about being wiped out, that is in fact the lived 1:45:37.760 --> 1:45:42.760 reality for Palestinians under Israeli rule. Also, there is a 1:45:42.840 --> 1:45:44.800 video that was captured, and I'm sure there are many 1:45:44.840 --> 1:45:47.920 more instances like this where it was not captured on video, 1:45:48.560 --> 1:45:52.560 but the Israeli police were violently cracking down on Palestinians, 1:45:52.600 --> 1:45:57.400 including children, who were celebrating Morocco's previous winds and occupied 1:45:57.439 --> 1:46:01.639 East Jerusalem. They were celebrating Rocco becoming the first African 1:46:01.680 --> 1:46:05.679 or air country to reach the Semifinals, and they were 1:46:05.760 --> 1:46:09.040 literally beaten up. There's no defense in this video That's 1:46:09.040 --> 1:46:11.320 the thing that I can't get over is the idea 1:46:11.320 --> 1:46:14.760 facts in a way that is so indefensible and so obvious. 1:46:15.320 --> 1:46:17.760 And you can say maybe the similar things about the 1:46:17.800 --> 1:46:21.480 police here. It's mind blowing that they've been able to 1:46:21.640 --> 1:46:26.639 terrorize Palestinians for basically a century now. I also want 1:46:26.720 --> 1:46:30.120 to play this video. Well, you're gonna hear the audio. 1:46:30.600 --> 1:46:35.080 There's a Palestinian activist online that I really admire. He's 1:46:35.120 --> 1:46:39.679 always posting really great things, and he sometimes posts funny 1:46:39.720 --> 1:46:42.800 things which are very funny. But his name is Slaa 1:46:43.080 --> 1:46:48.120 and his handle is s b e I h dot jpg. 1:46:48.920 --> 1:46:52.360 And there is a video that he posted about basically 1:46:52.360 --> 1:46:55.679 what Israel has been doing just throughout even the past 1:46:55.760 --> 1:46:58.960 week when this World Cup is happening, and I feel 1:46:59.000 --> 1:47:01.360 like he'll say it better than me paraphrasing it, so 1:47:01.479 --> 1:47:03.960 here he is. Let's go through everything Israel has been 1:47:04.040 --> 1:47:06.960 doing to Palestinians in the past week or so, during 1:47:07.000 --> 1:47:09.719 all this hype of Morocco making it to the semi finals. 1:47:09.840 --> 1:47:12.360 And these are the reasons why so many people are 1:47:12.439 --> 1:47:15.120 carrying and waving the Palestinian flag at the World Cup 1:47:15.200 --> 1:47:18.120 right now, including the Moroccan team. After their matches. First, 1:47:18.120 --> 1:47:22.480 we have Palestinians who are celebrating Morocco's winds being attacked 1:47:22.479 --> 1:47:25.639 by Israeli occupation forces. They're out here waving the Morocco flag, 1:47:25.760 --> 1:47:27.800 trying to celebrate with them, and of course it has 1:47:27.840 --> 1:47:31.200 to be cut short with Israeli soldiers coming and hitting everyone. 1:47:31.439 --> 1:47:34.120 Then we have a sixteen year old child named Jennezekadine 1:47:34.240 --> 1:47:36.240 who was on the roof of her house when she 1:47:36.400 --> 1:47:39.599 was shot in the face by Israeli forces during another 1:47:39.640 --> 1:47:41.920 illegal raid of the city of Genine. We have another 1:47:41.960 --> 1:47:45.040 sixteen year old Palestinian child, a boy named Yeti Maui, 1:47:45.120 --> 1:47:48.000 who was also killed by Israeli forces in west of Romola. 1:47:48.120 --> 1:47:50.599 On top of those two, we have four Palestinian men 1:47:51.000 --> 1:47:55.400 also killed by Israeli forces Jehad Hamid Ladock damage and 1:47:56.560 --> 1:48:00.839 Israeli forces demolished another Palestinian home in a town near Jericho. 1:48:01.040 --> 1:48:04.679 Then another Palestine home in the town of Laban. Israeli 1:48:04.720 --> 1:48:08.599 occupation forces fired tear gas at journalists who were covering 1:48:08.600 --> 1:48:12.519 the Palestinian protests against the illegal Israeli settlement expansions in 1:48:12.560 --> 1:48:14.840 the town of bid Desion. You'd think that we're done, 1:48:14.960 --> 1:48:18.120 but there's more. We have an Israeli soldier brutally beating 1:48:18.200 --> 1:48:21.519 a young Palestinian man in Nabilis. The soldier sits on 1:48:21.560 --> 1:48:24.000 top of him and punches him in the head. And 1:48:24.040 --> 1:48:28.160 the east of Hebron, Israeli forces cut down fifty olive 1:48:28.240 --> 1:48:32.400 trees belonging to Palestinian farmers. And of course Israeli settlers 1:48:32.400 --> 1:48:35.840 continue to break into a Uxam moss under the protection 1:48:35.960 --> 1:48:40.080 of Israeli occupation forces. This is why everyone's living in 1:48:40.080 --> 1:48:42.200 a Palestinian flag at the World Cup. This is why 1:48:42.240 --> 1:48:45.040 that tun Asian man randomly ran through the match with 1:48:45.080 --> 1:48:48.640 the Palestinian flag, or why Israeli reporters are being ignored 1:48:48.800 --> 1:48:51.679 and shunned. These are the reasons. Why not because anti 1:48:51.680 --> 1:48:56.280 Semitism is because Israel is literally killing Palestinians. You'd rather 1:48:56.320 --> 1:48:58.920 just blame it all on anti Semitism instead of simply 1:48:58.960 --> 1:49:02.720 holding Israel a acountable for their actions. Everything I just 1:49:02.840 --> 1:49:06.320 listed happened in the past like ten days, putting aside 1:49:06.439 --> 1:49:08.640 everything that Israel has been doing to Palestinians for the 1:49:08.680 --> 1:49:12.320 past well almost a hundred years now. So don't be 1:49:12.360 --> 1:49:16.719 surprised when people stand with the people of Palestine. Last 1:49:16.720 --> 1:49:21.680 week marked six months since El Jazira journalist Sharine was 1:49:21.760 --> 1:49:25.839 assassinated by Israeli forces, and while her death did attract 1:49:25.880 --> 1:49:28.840 more coverage than as usual, in part to her being 1:49:28.840 --> 1:49:33.320 an American citizen, it was unfortunately not an exception. Since 1:49:33.360 --> 1:49:37.560 the year two thousand fifty, Palestinian journalists have been murdered, 1:49:37.960 --> 1:49:43.800 many many more civilians, including children, have been murdered. So 1:49:43.840 --> 1:49:47.880 if media representatives or journalists from an apartheid state can't 1:49:47.880 --> 1:49:50.680 seem to understand why the reception to their presence has 1:49:50.720 --> 1:49:54.559 been so cold, they just are better off examining why 1:49:54.600 --> 1:49:57.000 that is and why their government is actually the one 1:49:57.240 --> 1:50:00.280 attempting to wipe a people off the map. Even in 1:50:00.320 --> 1:50:05.280 the weeks during this World Cup, Israel has killed multiple Palestinians, 1:50:05.320 --> 1:50:09.719 has murdered multiple Palestinians. They killed a sixteen year old 1:50:09.760 --> 1:50:13.360 girl when she was on her roof searching for her cat. 1:50:14.160 --> 1:50:19.400 She was shot four times, twice in the head. How 1:50:19.439 --> 1:50:22.479 can you justify that they're claiming it was an accident. 1:50:22.680 --> 1:50:27.400 But it's similar to what police say here when they 1:50:27.479 --> 1:50:30.280 shoot someone multiple times in the back and then blame 1:50:30.320 --> 1:50:33.360 it on the person that they murdered. In the family 1:50:33.360 --> 1:50:37.320 that they destroyed X y Z, etcetera, etcetera. And just 1:50:37.400 --> 1:50:40.360 to put it in perspective, Israeli forces have killed over 1:50:40.479 --> 1:50:44.880 two hundred and fifteen Palestinians this year, making it the 1:50:44.960 --> 1:50:48.800 deadliest year and over a decade. Israel is the one 1:50:48.880 --> 1:50:52.200 who does not see Palestinians, as has proven time and 1:50:52.240 --> 1:50:56.880 time again by their actions as human beings. Something so 1:50:56.960 --> 1:51:01.200 significant is that the public support of Palestinians solidarity has 1:51:01.240 --> 1:51:05.040 not been confined to only fans of Arab nations. Brazilian 1:51:05.160 --> 1:51:09.760 fans also proudly raised the Palestinian flag, and Uruguay supporters 1:51:09.800 --> 1:51:13.320 have been spotted donning the Kofeia, which is the symbolic 1:51:13.439 --> 1:51:16.040 black and white scarf that has become a symbol of 1:51:16.080 --> 1:51:20.360 Palestinian resistance, and they're also wearing pro Palestinian shirts, with 1:51:20.439 --> 1:51:25.400 fans insisting the Palestinian people deserve freedom. One clip that 1:51:25.439 --> 1:51:29.040 also went viral on social media featured an English fan who, 1:51:29.120 --> 1:51:32.120 during an interview with an Arabic channel, confessed that as 1:51:32.120 --> 1:51:35.240 Arabic wasn't really that strong, and then he shouted free 1:51:35.280 --> 1:51:40.120 Palestine and great Arabic and then he broke into this free, free, 1:51:40.120 --> 1:51:45.120 free chant with everyone around him again joyful, beautiful stuff. 1:51:45.720 --> 1:51:48.880 That just proves that this kind of support works, and 1:51:48.960 --> 1:51:53.240 it grows and it spreads, and so all of this 1:51:53.280 --> 1:51:55.760 really goes to show is that while Arab governments have 1:51:55.880 --> 1:51:59.919 been normalizing relations with Israel, that sentiment is not reflected 1:52:00.000 --> 1:52:03.040 in the streets, and Arabs and non Arabs alike are 1:52:03.080 --> 1:52:08.240 more passionate than ever about the Palestinian cause. Some Palestinians 1:52:08.240 --> 1:52:10.679 living in Cutold have referred to the World Cup as 1:52:10.960 --> 1:52:14.800 a quote golden opportunity to introduce our cause, and this 1:52:14.920 --> 1:52:19.240 intent has been received enthusiastically, to say the least. And 1:52:19.360 --> 1:52:23.240 yet in the face of such an unavoidable talking point, 1:52:23.640 --> 1:52:27.240 there's been a striking, if not unsurprising, radio silence from 1:52:27.240 --> 1:52:30.479 Western media. It's a huge reason why I wanted to 1:52:30.479 --> 1:52:33.320 talk about this in an episode. I found it so 1:52:33.400 --> 1:52:36.400 strange that my family and friends who were tuned into 1:52:36.400 --> 1:52:39.479 the World Cup, we're constantly talking about something that hasn't 1:52:39.479 --> 1:52:42.400 been covered at all by Western media, at least not 1:52:42.439 --> 1:52:46.800 in a real honest way. If anything, the World Cup 1:52:47.120 --> 1:52:52.839 has ignited a Islamophobic and orientalists tropes in some Western 1:52:52.960 --> 1:52:56.839 news coverage, which I think is so shameful. For example, 1:52:56.840 --> 1:52:59.040 I'm going to go through a little list that Al 1:52:59.120 --> 1:53:04.280 Jazeera shared. A Dutch newspaper published a cartoon of Moroccan 1:53:04.360 --> 1:53:08.679 men stealing the World Cup trophy. And this image, they're 1:53:08.720 --> 1:53:12.760 on a bike and they're grabbing this trophy from a 1:53:12.840 --> 1:53:18.400 white man. They're depicted as not white, obviously, and it 1:53:18.640 --> 1:53:22.519 just reinforces these stereotypes of young Arab men in the 1:53:22.560 --> 1:53:28.599 Netherlands being seen as criminals. Another example is Okay, so 1:53:29.360 --> 1:53:33.280 when Muslims put up an index finger, it's what we 1:53:33.400 --> 1:53:38.719 call dak weed, which is to signify the oneness of God, 1:53:39.560 --> 1:53:43.080 because Islam there's only one God, just like all the 1:53:43.760 --> 1:53:47.200 Big Three as far as religions go. But when these 1:53:47.280 --> 1:53:50.559 Muslim teams are winning, the gestures from the players, like 1:53:50.640 --> 1:53:53.439 sometimes you'll see a player raising an index finger, are 1:53:53.520 --> 1:53:56.880 raising two index fingers. And so this fucking German TV 1:53:57.040 --> 1:54:02.080 news anchor responded to Moroccos excess by suggesting that these 1:54:02.080 --> 1:54:05.280 players that are raising their index fingers are showing support 1:54:05.360 --> 1:54:08.840 for Isis. And some fans have responded to this with humor, 1:54:08.880 --> 1:54:11.360 but at the same time it's like you're laughing only 1:54:11.360 --> 1:54:16.400 because it's sad and maddening. Another example is a cartoon 1:54:16.520 --> 1:54:20.760 in a French newspaper. It depicted Cathos national team as 1:54:20.840 --> 1:54:26.080 bearded caricatures that were playing soccer holding rifles and machete's. 1:54:27.240 --> 1:54:31.400 Is such an ugly cartoon and I have no idea 1:54:31.479 --> 1:54:34.600 why they insist on making these artistic depictions. I think 1:54:34.600 --> 1:54:37.440 they know because it's gone people riled up in the past. 1:54:37.760 --> 1:54:41.240 It's almost like they're like poking the bear. So it's 1:54:41.280 --> 1:54:45.200 kind of annoying. That's so childish in my opinion, but again, 1:54:45.840 --> 1:54:50.360 terrible depiction of Arabs, what's new. And then another example 1:54:50.640 --> 1:54:54.040 is a photo caption in a British newspaper stated that 1:54:54.160 --> 1:54:57.839 Cathodies are not used to seeing women in Western clothing, 1:54:58.440 --> 1:55:04.160 when in reality about population is from other countries, including 1:55:04.200 --> 1:55:09.800 western ones, and this caption was later removed. Another example, 1:55:10.120 --> 1:55:14.120 yes there's still more, is that a French journalist joked 1:55:14.160 --> 1:55:17.680 about there being a lot of Mosques in Clethod as 1:55:17.680 --> 1:55:21.720 if that was something like notable to be aware of. Yeah, no, ship, 1:55:21.760 --> 1:55:26.680 people are sucking Muslim And then a Danish TV channel 1:55:26.920 --> 1:55:30.680 literally compared Morocco's players who were celebrating by hugging their 1:55:30.720 --> 1:55:34.760 mothers on the field. They compared them with monkeys on 1:55:34.920 --> 1:55:39.000 live television TV two News. They showed a segment in 1:55:39.080 --> 1:55:42.200 which the anchor Sore and Lippert he held up an 1:55:42.200 --> 1:55:46.360 image of monkeys embracing while talking about Morocco's national team 1:55:46.400 --> 1:55:50.680 players hugging their mothers. And while comparing black and brown 1:55:50.720 --> 1:55:56.840 people with monkeys is a common, unsurprising racist trope, it 1:55:56.960 --> 1:55:59.840 was still pretty upsetting to see what happened in this 1:56:00.040 --> 1:56:04.560 year of two whatever. I just think the obvious orientalist 1:56:04.800 --> 1:56:08.560 nature of Western news really um came out in full 1:56:08.600 --> 1:56:11.680 force for some of this coverage. But yeah, I just 1:56:11.760 --> 1:56:15.920 think these kind of depictions and coverage, it reinforces stereotypes 1:56:15.920 --> 1:56:21.080 that are harmful and shameful, and it further makes immigrants 1:56:21.120 --> 1:56:24.400 and people of color in countries that they immigrant to 1:56:25.280 --> 1:56:29.320 just get terrorized. And I just wanted to bring up 1:56:29.360 --> 1:56:32.160 some examples to remind you that news sucks most of 1:56:32.200 --> 1:56:35.320 the time. Okay, the World Cup and all the joy 1:56:35.360 --> 1:56:38.760 and pride that's come from it is all my family, 1:56:38.920 --> 1:56:41.480 and I'm sure most air families have talked about for 1:56:41.480 --> 1:56:45.640 the last month, and I feel like it barely registers here. 1:56:46.600 --> 1:56:51.360 You have no idea how happy I've seen my parents, 1:56:51.360 --> 1:56:54.520 and my mom in particular just text me updates, are 1:56:54.520 --> 1:56:57.960 watching a game with me. We're all so united in 1:56:57.960 --> 1:57:01.360 a way that I haven't felt before, and it's just 1:57:01.440 --> 1:57:03.640 really beautiful, and it reminds you that borders are all 1:57:03.720 --> 1:57:05.760 made up and in the end, we're all the same 1:57:05.840 --> 1:57:11.040 people fighting for the same things. Notoriously, large sections of 1:57:11.240 --> 1:57:14.120 US and British media have engaged in the practice a 1:57:14.200 --> 1:57:18.600 deceptive framing and untrue coverage when it comes to covering 1:57:18.760 --> 1:57:23.880 Israel's treatment of Palestinians. We've seen this in inaccurate headlines, 1:57:23.960 --> 1:57:27.880 the twisting of words, and the general constant anti Palestinian 1:57:27.960 --> 1:57:31.920 and pro Israel bias that is almost always present when 1:57:31.960 --> 1:57:36.760 Western media talks about Palestine, and if Palestine rises in 1:57:36.960 --> 1:57:41.240 the political agenda, western media is quick to disparage it. 1:57:41.760 --> 1:57:45.320 In the UK, when a Labor Party candidate made reference 1:57:45.320 --> 1:57:49.760 to Palestine during a campaign in one the liberal leaning 1:57:49.920 --> 1:57:54.440 New Statesman magazine referred to it as quote unhinged and 1:57:54.680 --> 1:58:00.600 an obsession. British Palestinian writer again Hamazali sha rights in 1:58:00.720 --> 1:58:05.720 his article do people suffering from decades of cruelty deserve support? 1:58:06.400 --> 1:58:11.080 Apparently not if they're Palestinian. It's characteristic of this bias 1:58:11.200 --> 1:58:14.280 that while human rights have been a hot topic throughout 1:58:14.320 --> 1:58:17.080 the World Cup, and fans across the world are being 1:58:17.080 --> 1:58:21.240 commanded to speak out against injustice. The outpouring of Palestinian 1:58:21.280 --> 1:58:27.800 solidarity has largely been ignored, and this, unfortunately isn't surprising, 1:58:28.760 --> 1:58:32.280 but it doesn't make it any less disappointing, he continues, 1:58:33.120 --> 1:58:37.000 as it maintains its rule. Israel has spent years, with 1:58:37.160 --> 1:58:41.360 unconditional assistance from the Western world, cracking down and suppressing 1:58:41.360 --> 1:58:45.800 Palestinian solidarity. We are under no illusions that the outpouring 1:58:45.840 --> 1:58:48.880 of support at the World Cup will cause the occupation 1:58:48.960 --> 1:58:52.480 to grind to a halt or prevent Palestinians from being killed. 1:58:53.320 --> 1:58:56.360 As a British Palestinian, he says, I often see the 1:58:56.440 --> 1:58:59.440 misery of my family who are living under occupation gets 1:58:59.480 --> 1:59:03.680 swept under the carpet by the international community. As a result, 1:59:04.040 --> 1:59:08.360 it's hard not to exist in a perpetual state of despondency. 1:59:08.520 --> 1:59:12.080 But seeing the Palestinian flag hoisted so proudly during the 1:59:12.120 --> 1:59:16.919 World Cup has been heartening because it provides new grounds 1:59:17.000 --> 1:59:20.000 for hope and it shows that this is by no 1:59:20.200 --> 1:59:23.720 means a solo struggle and that the commitment to palestinean 1:59:23.800 --> 1:59:29.200 liberation remains as unshakable as ever. That was the end 1:59:29.200 --> 1:59:32.640 of his article, and uh, that's a great place to 1:59:32.720 --> 1:59:35.520 end because that was fucking great and poetic. And I 1:59:35.560 --> 1:59:40.640 hope that you also go watch the movie on Netflix. 1:59:41.520 --> 1:59:44.880 It's really important and it all goes hand in hand 1:59:45.040 --> 1:59:48.680 with supporting the Palestinian people and continuing to raise awareness 1:59:48.840 --> 1:59:51.920 because that's a huge reason why we've gotten this far, 1:59:53.240 --> 1:59:58.160 and the culmination of all of that being broadcast from 1:59:58.160 --> 2:00:04.880 the World Cup internationally. It's just been really really incredible 2:00:05.000 --> 2:00:10.040 and beautiful to watch. And uh, yeah, that's the episode 2:00:10.720 --> 2:00:14.920 until next time. I don't know, go watch. That's the 2:00:14.920 --> 2:00:16.760 only thing I can really say. And I hope you 2:00:16.800 --> 2:00:38.280 all have nice holidays whatever you do. Um yeah, have fun, goodbye, 2:00:40.880 --> 2:00:44.600 Welcome Today could happen here. It's it's the last episode 2:00:44.840 --> 2:00:48.800 that that that we're that I'm recording this year. Um yeah, 2:00:48.840 --> 2:00:50.960 I'm your host. Be along, and today we are going 2:00:51.040 --> 2:00:54.440 to tell you a story of the Republican Party using 2:00:54.440 --> 2:00:57.600 extensive political violence and attempt to manipulate an election to 2:00:57.680 --> 2:01:01.720 install their unelected presidential Canada as dictator of the United States. 2:01:01.840 --> 2:01:04.560 And of by this, of course, I am referring not 2:01:04.640 --> 2:01:08.720 to the election, but to the election of two thousand's okay, 2:01:08.760 --> 2:01:10.840 So for for for those of you who do not 2:01:11.280 --> 2:01:16.680 remember this story, and this is okay. I was like 2:01:16.920 --> 2:01:20.840 three when this was happening. But weirdly, I have a 2:01:20.960 --> 2:01:23.760 very very this is legitimately one of my first memories. 2:01:23.880 --> 2:01:26.840 Is just I have the words engraved into my mind 2:01:26.960 --> 2:01:30.560 hanging chads, and so we we we will get to 2:01:30.640 --> 2:01:33.640 what exactly that is. But the two thousand election was 2:01:34.200 --> 2:01:37.200 one of the most chaotic elections in the history of 2:01:37.240 --> 2:01:41.720 the United States. Now, the US has a long history 2:01:41.760 --> 2:01:46.160 of really really weird elections. I mean, you know, from 2:01:46.200 --> 2:01:48.800 from from the serbspective of sort of like is the 2:01:48.880 --> 2:01:51.160 U s representative democracy? I think there's a pretty good 2:01:51.240 --> 2:01:56.680 argument that no election until like after the Civil Rights 2:01:56.760 --> 2:02:01.680 Act is even sort of a legitimate election. But you know, 2:02:01.720 --> 2:02:04.320 I mean, and and so far as you like consider 2:02:04.360 --> 2:02:08.960 elections to be legitimate, which you know, okay, but you 2:02:09.000 --> 2:02:11.080 know that the US is no is no stranger to 2:02:11.200 --> 2:02:14.760 someone winning an election than not taking office. There are, 2:02:14.800 --> 2:02:16.520 in fact, there are if you if you go back 2:02:16.520 --> 2:02:19.400 into American history, there are two different elections that are 2:02:19.400 --> 2:02:25.000 called the corrupt bargain Um. There's uh, John Quincy Adams, 2:02:26.000 --> 2:02:30.040 and I think it's makes this really really weird alliance 2:02:30.120 --> 2:02:35.480 with the original American political Slee's ball Henry Clay to 2:02:35.520 --> 2:02:38.720 get himself and solved as president. Although that that that's 2:02:38.720 --> 2:02:41.160 an election that's like truly an election where there are 2:02:41.200 --> 2:02:47.200 no heroes, where it's it's John Quincy Adams Henry Clay 2:02:48.720 --> 2:02:53.200 allying to bring down Andrew fucking Jackson. So you know, 2:02:53.320 --> 2:02:57.360 no no heroes there. There. There's there's another election after Reconstruction, 2:02:57.400 --> 2:03:01.160 which is the end of Reconstruction, where the Republican Party 2:03:01.200 --> 2:03:06.080 literally trades and like trades ending Reconstruction for putting their 2:03:06.080 --> 2:03:11.160 president in office. After a truly genuinely wild set of 2:03:11.200 --> 2:03:14.280 voting results happens, we're like all of the votes are 2:03:14.320 --> 2:03:17.120 in a box and the two parties are fighting over 2:03:17.160 --> 2:03:19.720 like who's going to count the votes because the guy 2:03:19.760 --> 2:03:23.360 who counts the votes from like the box is the 2:03:23.400 --> 2:03:25.680 person who's going to determine who wins the election. And 2:03:25.680 --> 2:03:29.200 so there's this whole negotiated thing where the eight d 2:03:29.400 --> 2:03:32.920 like racist Southern Democrats, are like, okay, we'll we'll give you, 2:03:32.960 --> 2:03:35.400 we'll we'll give you this election if you promised the 2:03:35.440 --> 2:03:39.080 pull troops out of the South. So okay, you know, 2:03:39.280 --> 2:03:42.320 American elections have always been sort of more fraudulent than 2:03:42.520 --> 2:03:45.360 people give them credit for. But the two thousand election, 2:03:45.480 --> 2:03:47.880 even by the standards of like an American election, is 2:03:48.480 --> 2:03:52.480 some bullshit. So let's let's let's go back. Let's go 2:03:52.520 --> 2:03:54.600 back to the origin of the story. The year is 2:03:54.640 --> 2:03:58.400 two thousand. For the last time in human history, humanity 2:03:58.440 --> 2:04:01.960 has taken collective action to stopping in penny catastrophe, having 2:04:02.200 --> 2:04:05.240 by the heartrending labor of a bunch of siss admins, 2:04:05.280 --> 2:04:08.360 including a guy that I knew growing up who spent 2:04:08.480 --> 2:04:11.800 fucking New Year, who literally spent New Year's Eve until 2:04:11.880 --> 2:04:14.400 the bell ring, like basically in a closet with a 2:04:14.400 --> 2:04:16.440 bunch of computers at his job trying to make sure 2:04:16.480 --> 2:04:19.400 what UK wouldn't happen. But you know, we did it, 2:04:19.480 --> 2:04:21.520 Actually we we actually did it. There was there was 2:04:21.520 --> 2:04:24.280 there was like, you know, there was human collective action 2:04:24.320 --> 2:04:28.080 to stop a major catastrophe from happening. And Al Gore, 2:04:28.160 --> 2:04:30.520 a Democrat who claims to have invented the Internet, is 2:04:30.600 --> 2:04:35.040 running against Harvard educated Harvard and actually Yale educated oil 2:04:35.080 --> 2:04:40.600 man caused playing as a cowboy whose name is George Bush, 2:04:40.640 --> 2:04:43.880 and I, oh god, I don't know, I don't I 2:04:43.880 --> 2:04:48.480 feel like people have kind of forgotten how really genuinely 2:04:48.600 --> 2:04:51.400 sleazy George Bush was. Like he he has this sort 2:04:51.440 --> 2:04:53.160 of public like, you know, one of the reasons he 2:04:53.240 --> 2:04:55.760 wins elections, and he has his public images like the 2:04:55.880 --> 2:04:59.120 guy who you know, like everyone like he he's the 2:04:59.120 --> 2:05:02.320 presidential candidate you'd want to have a beer with. But again, 2:05:02.360 --> 2:05:06.960 like literally everything from he's like public mannerisms down to 2:05:07.080 --> 2:05:10.280 like the minutia of his accent to like the stupid 2:05:10.280 --> 2:05:12.800 cowboy hat that he wears. All of this this is 2:05:12.800 --> 2:05:15.040 a bullshit, right, This is a fucking Harvard guy, And 2:05:15.200 --> 2:05:20.640 all of this is you know, completely intricately manufactured by 2:05:20.760 --> 2:05:24.200 a set a set of like very very very like 2:05:25.360 --> 2:05:31.120 sleazy but incredibly ruthless and efficient Republican political operatives. Now, 2:05:31.800 --> 2:05:35.320 George Bush's father is George H. W. Bush, who was 2:05:35.360 --> 2:05:38.440 the first and only director of the CIA to become president. 2:05:39.400 --> 2:05:42.680 So yeah, but Bush bushes running on this sort of 2:05:42.720 --> 2:05:46.640 neo conservative alliance of Texas oil men, evangelical hardliners, and 2:05:46.640 --> 2:05:51.800 weapons contractors. Um. The weapons contractors part uh winds up 2:05:51.840 --> 2:05:56.440 being incredibly relevant when nine eleven happens, and both Bush 2:05:56.600 --> 2:06:00.040 and Dick his code what's it called vice presidential I 2:06:01.320 --> 2:06:04.280 guess candidate at the time, but it is vice presidential selection. 2:06:04.360 --> 2:06:09.360 Dick Cheney, who is like Dick Cheney like saying that 2:06:09.440 --> 2:06:12.360 he's like the physical human embodiments of the military industrial 2:06:12.400 --> 2:06:17.360 complex is under selling how closely tied um Dick Cheney 2:06:17.440 --> 2:06:20.040 is to the military dustrial complex. And you know, like 2:06:20.080 --> 2:06:21.360 this is this is part of the reason why the 2:06:21.360 --> 2:06:24.520 warn Rock happens because again, like this entire coalition is 2:06:24.600 --> 2:06:28.280 just like it is, it is the it is is 2:06:28.320 --> 2:06:32.960 the sort of height of the military petro dollar coalition, 2:06:33.880 --> 2:06:38.600 just a a coalition of pere evil like fueled by 2:06:38.680 --> 2:06:43.320 war profits and homophobia. And but you know, part part 2:06:43.320 --> 2:06:45.360 of part of what's been happening in in this entire 2:06:45.400 --> 2:06:48.040 period is this is this is the year after the 2:06:48.040 --> 2:06:51.320 Battle of Seattle on the anti globalization movement hasn't been 2:06:51.320 --> 2:06:53.040 smashed again. This is there's other things. This is pre 2:06:53.240 --> 2:06:55.080 nine eleven, right, This is this is a very very 2:06:55.080 --> 2:06:58.880 short period of time where like in between the Battle 2:06:58.880 --> 2:07:04.920 of Seattle and UH eleven, where American politics are very 2:07:05.000 --> 2:07:10.520 very very weird, and you get another thing that we 2:07:10.520 --> 2:07:14.400 don't really have now, but from the nineties until about 2:07:14.440 --> 2:07:17.640 nine eleven kind of existed where that which was that 2:07:18.080 --> 2:07:21.160 there was a period where third party is kind of 2:07:21.200 --> 2:07:26.400 mattered ish like Ross Pirot like in the nineties. Arguably 2:07:26.600 --> 2:07:29.400 maybe could have won the election if vietn't just like 2:07:29.680 --> 2:07:33.240 given up. But yeah, you know. And one of the 2:07:33.240 --> 2:07:36.280 sort of products of this is that the Green Party 2:07:36.800 --> 2:07:39.480 is actually a real thing in in two thousands in 2:07:39.480 --> 2:07:40.960 a way that they're kind of not right. And then 2:07:40.960 --> 2:07:43.800 this has been this this sort of unfolding of a 2:07:43.840 --> 2:07:46.120 bunch of left wing social movements into which is absolutely 2:07:46.160 --> 2:07:49.920 disastrous attempt to enter party politics. Um, but they pull, 2:07:50.280 --> 2:07:52.640 you know, and this is the thing that no one 2:07:52.680 --> 2:07:54.160 has ever heard the end of, but they pull a 2:07:54.200 --> 2:07:58.720 bunch of votes into Ralph Nader in Florida, which winds 2:07:58.760 --> 2:08:02.840 up being a big deal. But the product of this 2:08:03.000 --> 2:08:07.200 is that this election is on a just on a 2:08:07.320 --> 2:08:11.880 knife's edge. Both sides of this election are unbelievably close. 2:08:12.200 --> 2:08:16.560 The entire election comes down to Florida. Now, the problem 2:08:16.680 --> 2:08:18.600 with the entire election coming down to Florida is that 2:08:18.640 --> 2:08:21.680 the American electoral system is a fucking joke. It is 2:08:21.720 --> 2:08:24.840 a disaster. It is a a genuine embarrassment. The United 2:08:24.880 --> 2:08:27.920 States is a country that has more resources than like, 2:08:28.480 --> 2:08:37.680 it has enough resources that, like Genghis Khan would weep like, 2:08:38.280 --> 2:08:43.840 it has a genuinely unfathomable amounts of resources, and its 2:08:43.840 --> 2:08:48.839 election system is basically run by a bunch of weird 2:08:49.000 --> 2:08:54.840 dipshit like party if like local like a weird patchwork 2:08:54.880 --> 2:08:59.880 of like completely underfunded and overworked local government officials who 2:09:00.240 --> 2:09:04.200 never have real budgets and who just spends like two 2:09:04.240 --> 2:09:07.560 months not sleeping with their like three co workers trying 2:09:07.560 --> 2:09:10.520 to make the elections work. And this is really weird 2:09:10.560 --> 2:09:15.760 because like most places on Earth that have elections, um, 2:09:15.800 --> 2:09:19.160 there's like, you know, a national thing that sort of 2:09:19.200 --> 2:09:21.440 does the elections in the US, Like no, no, it 2:09:21.920 --> 2:09:25.640 relies heavily on volunteers. It's just like this weird patchwork 2:09:25.800 --> 2:09:30.320 quilt of stuff, and Florida being Florida, a bunch of 2:09:30.360 --> 2:09:34.760 stuff goes very wrong very quickly. Um. There There's two 2:09:34.880 --> 2:09:37.320 very famous ballot problems, the most famous of which is 2:09:37.360 --> 2:09:41.400 hanging chads. So okay, okay, what what what? What is 2:09:41.440 --> 2:09:43.560 the hanging chat For people who have forgotten? Are people 2:09:43.600 --> 2:09:46.640 who you know, weren't alive then, which I realize is 2:09:47.560 --> 2:09:49.920 I man, the fact that the fact that I have 2:09:49.960 --> 2:09:53.360 coworkers who are not alive for hanging chads is really 2:09:53.400 --> 2:09:56.600 really disturbing thought. But okay, so what is a hanging 2:09:56.680 --> 2:09:59.240 chat um? The answer is that in Florida, the way 2:09:59.240 --> 2:10:02.680 this ballot works is that you have to physically punch 2:10:02.800 --> 2:10:05.560 holes in your ballot. And you know, you punch a 2:10:05.600 --> 2:10:07.520 hole in the place, like, okay, so today, right when 2:10:07.560 --> 2:10:09.640 you fill in a ballot, you have to like fill 2:10:09.680 --> 2:10:14.960 in a square right with a pencil in in in Florida, 2:10:15.000 --> 2:10:17.880 you have to like hole punch that square. This is 2:10:17.880 --> 2:10:21.000 maybe the worst ballot design I can possibly imagine, and 2:10:21.080 --> 2:10:25.000 it goes terribly wrong. A bunch of these whole punches 2:10:25.040 --> 2:10:29.480 basically don't actually remove all the paper. And there's there 2:10:29.520 --> 2:10:33.320 are so many ways, so many ways that this gets 2:10:33.360 --> 2:10:36.360 sucked up. The hanging chat is the most famous one. 2:10:36.400 --> 2:10:39.720 That hanging so a chad Basically, it's the piece of 2:10:39.720 --> 2:10:43.240 paper that when you punch the thing with like the 2:10:43.240 --> 2:10:47.400 whole punch it's supposed to like, it's the paper that 2:10:47.440 --> 2:10:50.560 comes out of the hole. Right. Hanging chad is when 2:10:50.720 --> 2:10:54.040 you do the whole punch thing. But the chat is 2:10:54.120 --> 2:10:57.160 still connected to the piece of paper by like one corner. 2:10:57.840 --> 2:11:00.760 But but but again less less. Do you think there's 2:11:00.800 --> 2:11:03.920 only one way that these ballots get sucked up? No, no, no, no, no, 2:11:04.120 --> 2:11:08.440 there's there are like, there are an unfathomable number of 2:11:08.480 --> 2:11:12.080 ways that these ballots don't punch correctly. They're they're swinging 2:11:12.120 --> 2:11:15.080 door chairs, there's tried chairs, there's did bull chairs, there's 2:11:15.120 --> 2:11:19.640 pregnant chats. It's unbelievable. And a bunch of people's votes 2:11:19.720 --> 2:11:23.160 just don't get counted because these ballots. The reason they're 2:11:23.160 --> 2:11:25.240 doing these whole bunch ballots that these are these are 2:11:25.280 --> 2:11:26.360 you know, this is what it's supposed to be, like 2:11:26.360 --> 2:11:28.880 the fancy new like voting technology. Right then, then the 2:11:28.880 --> 2:11:31.640 new vote technology is the voting machines. And the way 2:11:31.680 --> 2:11:34.040 the voting machine works is basically, the voting machine can 2:11:34.120 --> 2:11:36.880 check if if if there's a hole there, and if 2:11:36.920 --> 2:11:38.440 there's a hole in the paper, then it counts you 2:11:38.480 --> 2:11:40.640 as the accounts that as the vote. But if the 2:11:40.720 --> 2:11:43.360 entire chad hasn't been punched out, it won't count your vote. 2:11:44.000 --> 2:11:47.840 This is a problem. And there's another problem, uh, and 2:11:47.840 --> 2:11:51.680 and that problem is the butterfly ballot. So the butterfly 2:11:51.760 --> 2:11:54.600 ballot was original. Is this ballot they're using in Florida 2:11:54.600 --> 2:11:58.240 that was originally designed to help elderly voters? Um, it's 2:11:58.240 --> 2:12:00.800 supposed to be. The goal all of the ballot is 2:12:00.840 --> 2:12:03.160 to have larger thought sizes to make it more accessible 2:12:03.200 --> 2:12:05.879 for people. Which this is good, right, like, okay, I 2:12:05.680 --> 2:12:09.000 I support I support accessible design. Is put accessible design 2:12:09.040 --> 2:12:12.840 for voting. The problem is this ballot is designed like ship. 2:12:13.840 --> 2:12:16.120 The way it works is there's a two page ballot 2:12:16.160 --> 2:12:17.520 with like a crease in the middle. Right. It's it's 2:12:17.560 --> 2:12:20.120 kind of like a book, right, like you unfold the 2:12:20.160 --> 2:12:21.840 book in the middle of the ballot, you know, And 2:12:22.280 --> 2:12:27.240 on both of these pages there are like the different 2:12:27.240 --> 2:12:30.320 different candidate names and parties. The problem is, in order 2:12:30.360 --> 2:12:33.120 to pick a candidate, you have to punch just like 2:12:33.160 --> 2:12:34.720 a whole. You have to punch one of the one 2:12:34.720 --> 2:12:36.560 of these served circles. But these circles are in a 2:12:36.720 --> 2:12:40.839 line down the middle of the crease of the ballot, right, 2:12:40.960 --> 2:12:44.040 so you have you have candidates on both You should 2:12:44.040 --> 2:12:45.600 you should google what these look like because it's kind 2:12:45.600 --> 2:12:48.200 of hard to explain. But basically what's happening is that 2:12:48.960 --> 2:12:51.360 there are there are different party names on each side 2:12:51.400 --> 2:12:54.200 of the ballot. But then in order to pick which 2:12:54.240 --> 2:12:56.480 party you're voting for, you have to pick for a 2:12:56.600 --> 2:13:01.600 specific hole that's supposed to be next you the like 2:13:01.680 --> 2:13:03.760 the candidate you supported in the in the middle of 2:13:03.760 --> 2:13:05.200 the page. Of the problem is these are all on 2:13:05.200 --> 2:13:07.560 a line, right. They're on a straight line, which means 2:13:07.600 --> 2:13:11.280 that two candidates can be like across from each other 2:13:11.320 --> 2:13:14.120 on the same page or on on opposite pages. And 2:13:14.160 --> 2:13:17.440 then there's two holes that are like right next because 2:13:17.440 --> 2:13:18.920 because the holes are both in the middle of the ballot, right, 2:13:18.960 --> 2:13:21.880 so that you have these situations where for example, for 2:13:22.000 --> 2:13:24.760 and this is the one that's important. Inside of the 2:13:24.560 --> 2:13:27.720 there's like two lines and then there's like it says 2:13:28.120 --> 2:13:31.480 al Gore and Lieberman in it, right, and inside of 2:13:31.480 --> 2:13:33.560 those two lines in the in the in the middle 2:13:33.560 --> 2:13:35.800 of the page, there are two holes, and one of 2:13:35.840 --> 2:13:38.760 these holes votes for Core. But the other one of 2:13:38.760 --> 2:13:42.320 those holes, I is for the candidate on the other 2:13:42.360 --> 2:13:44.760 side of the page, which is Reformed Party candidate Crimtinal 2:13:44.760 --> 2:13:48.920 Fascist Goal path Bu Canon. And the result of this, 2:13:48.960 --> 2:13:51.640 it says, people start looking through these things. Pap Bu 2:13:51.680 --> 2:13:56.080 Canon has a bunch of voters from Democratic Party strongholds 2:13:56.080 --> 2:13:58.360 and like also particularly like like a bunch of like 2:13:58.400 --> 2:14:03.800 Democratic Catholic voters vote for Buchanan, and Buchanan himself is like, 2:14:04.040 --> 2:14:08.400 there's no way this is real. Like Buchanan's like, you know, 2:14:08.880 --> 2:14:11.880 he's he's a figure will probably like one day do 2:14:12.000 --> 2:14:15.560 a like we'll probably talk about more on this podcast. Yeah, 2:14:15.640 --> 2:14:19.000 that those behind the Baschard's episode about him, he is 2:14:19.040 --> 2:14:21.880 a he is a fucking Nazi. Uh, he sucks ass. 2:14:22.720 --> 2:14:25.400 But he's also so he's from a kind of evangelical 2:14:25.480 --> 2:14:30.520 who like really really really fucking hates Catholics. And you know, 2:14:30.680 --> 2:14:33.560 so there's a bunch of these Catholic like Democratic voters 2:14:33.560 --> 2:14:35.280 he voted for this guy, and everyone's like, what the 2:14:35.320 --> 2:14:37.440 funk happened here? The thing that happened here is all 2:14:37.440 --> 2:14:44.040 these people got confused. And yes, so this is a 2:14:44.080 --> 2:14:47.320 disaster on a hundred million levels. And when we come 2:14:47.360 --> 2:14:50.320 back from ads, we will talk about the product of 2:14:50.360 --> 2:14:54.320 all of this, which is not good. Alright, we're back. 2:14:55.080 --> 2:14:59.240 So on election night, the media starts to call Florida 2:14:59.320 --> 2:15:02.680 for Gore based an exit pulling, but they start getting 2:15:02.720 --> 2:15:05.280 calls for Republican political operatives saying hold no, hold on, 2:15:05.320 --> 2:15:08.640 hold on, it's actually too close to call. And the 2:15:08.720 --> 2:15:15.040 initial count from Florida has the Republican Party ahead. But 2:15:15.520 --> 2:15:17.240 when I say the Hublican Party is ahead, they were 2:15:17.240 --> 2:15:20.880 ahead by like six votes. And so this triggers a 2:15:20.920 --> 2:15:24.520 mandatory recount. But and this, and this is another problem 2:15:24.520 --> 2:15:26.440 with this, right we we we we've gone through at 2:15:26.560 --> 2:15:30.640 length all of the problems with these ballots. Right the 2:15:30.760 --> 2:15:34.560 recall that they do is a recall using the voting machines. 2:15:35.320 --> 2:15:40.720 And those voting machines our guess what the ones that are. 2:15:40.800 --> 2:15:43.200 If if you if you rerun a funked up Chad 2:15:43.200 --> 2:15:46.560 ballot through the same voting machine, it's going to get 2:15:46.600 --> 2:15:51.000 a fucked up result. So okay, So they run this 2:15:51.040 --> 2:15:55.240 again and the difference in votes comes down to fle 2:15:55.520 --> 2:16:02.640 five hundred votes. At this point, Gore's campaign requests a 2:16:02.720 --> 2:16:05.360 manual recount. They want people to look at the balance 2:16:05.400 --> 2:16:08.120 by hand and figure out who people actually voted for, 2:16:08.400 --> 2:16:11.240 because these machines are a fucking shit show. But in 2:16:11.400 --> 2:16:14.400 any kind of sort of like you know, and even 2:16:14.480 --> 2:16:19.480 remotely competent or saying like democratic political system, there would 2:16:19.480 --> 2:16:22.680 be a bunch of people doing this like they're there. 2:16:22.720 --> 2:16:24.720 You know, like when when an election happens, they would 2:16:24.760 --> 2:16:27.200 be just a very very large number of people mobilized 2:16:27.240 --> 2:16:30.160 to make sure that it runs smoothly. There's not. There's 2:16:30.280 --> 2:16:34.720 like a bunch of like unbelievably overworked and underpaid. Some 2:16:34.760 --> 2:16:37.560 people are people who also people who are just sucking volunteers, 2:16:37.560 --> 2:16:41.280 like a bunch of just random like unbelievably exhausted, like 2:16:42.840 --> 2:16:47.240 local election officials who have to do this recount. And 2:16:47.600 --> 2:16:49.880 this is where the Bush campaign sees their chance to 2:16:49.920 --> 2:16:52.720 steal the election. So the election happens on November seven, 2:16:52.840 --> 2:16:55.680 and on November eleven, the Bush campaign sues to stop 2:16:55.720 --> 2:17:00.200 the recount. Now, we talked on a previous episod known 2:17:00.240 --> 2:17:04.240 a while back about the Democrats how they have this 2:17:04.320 --> 2:17:06.200 line in the two thousand's about how they're part of 2:17:06.240 --> 2:17:09.600 the quote reality based community, and how this is a 2:17:09.640 --> 2:17:12.320 reflection of you know, if you look at the whole quote, 2:17:12.320 --> 2:17:17.080 which is from a Republican political strategist, I what's actually 2:17:17.080 --> 2:17:19.560 what they're saying here is that what's happening is that 2:17:19.600 --> 2:17:23.920 the Democrats observe reality. Well, the Republicans set out to 2:17:23.959 --> 2:17:29.640 define reality. And this is the moment, this election is 2:17:29.680 --> 2:17:31.760 where we get to see how the dynat we we 2:17:31.879 --> 2:17:34.000 we we we get to like really first see these 2:17:34.600 --> 2:17:38.119 these principles in action. I'm gonna read from the Washington 2:17:38.160 --> 2:17:42.279 Post here. Unlike the Gore campaign, which focused on filing 2:17:42.320 --> 2:17:45.039 motions in Florida courts to keep the recount going in 2:17:45.120 --> 2:17:49.480 key counties like Miami Dodd, the Bush campaign waged a broader, 2:17:49.560 --> 2:17:53.000 costlier effort on multiple fronts. Blakeman said it was a 2:17:53.040 --> 2:17:56.000 three pronged effort. He said, it was a court battle, 2:17:56.080 --> 2:17:58.400 it was a recount organization, and it was also a 2:17:58.440 --> 2:18:03.320 pr effort because although the voting effort ended, the campaign 2:18:03.360 --> 2:18:06.640 never did until there was a definitive winner. So what 2:18:06.720 --> 2:18:09.680 happens here is Republicans start this massive media blitz to 2:18:09.680 --> 2:18:13.360 convince people that Bush actually won the election. And this 2:18:13.360 --> 2:18:15.640 this is a really really important moment in sort of 2:18:15.640 --> 2:18:17.920 American history because it's one of the things that solidifies, 2:18:19.120 --> 2:18:22.600 um It's one of the things that solidifies sort of 2:18:22.640 --> 2:18:24.720 like like owning the lib for example. It's like a 2:18:24.720 --> 2:18:26.720 major point, and it's like like one of like the 2:18:26.840 --> 2:18:29.320 key focal points of America of Republican politics. And this 2:18:29.320 --> 2:18:32.840 is eventually gonna consume like all of their politics right 2:18:32.879 --> 2:18:35.400 until when we get this sort of you know, like 2:18:35.520 --> 2:18:37.600 now right where that's like owning the Libs is the 2:18:37.680 --> 2:18:39.640 only thing this is about. You know, this this had 2:18:39.680 --> 2:18:41.320 owning the Libs is kind of like it's it's been 2:18:41.360 --> 2:18:44.119 a part of Republican politics for a long time. But 2:18:44.280 --> 2:18:45.880 this is where we really start to see it sort 2:18:45.920 --> 2:18:49.000 of consuming everything. And Okay, if you look at their 2:18:49.040 --> 2:18:51.760 like like what they're saying, by modern standards, it is 2:18:51.800 --> 2:18:55.160 incredibly weak ship. Right, this is like this is a 2:18:55.200 --> 2:18:57.959 culture that is just a bourge from the es. Nobody 2:18:58.000 --> 2:19:01.640 has invented real posted yet, but it is really on 2:19:01.720 --> 2:19:03.480 the lip stuff. Like they have this whole campaign where 2:19:03.480 --> 2:19:07.000 they call the Goyal Libramain campaign sore loser Man, and 2:19:07.000 --> 2:19:10.240 everyone has like sore loser man hats and like they 2:19:10.240 --> 2:19:12.800 have all these like printed signs and like T shirts 2:19:12.840 --> 2:19:17.600 and they're selling merch and you know, and so you know, 2:19:17.640 --> 2:19:20.720 they're running basically an OP and they're running an OPT 2:19:20.720 --> 2:19:24.680 to convince everyone that like, no, actually we legitimately won 2:19:24.720 --> 2:19:28.200 this election and it's over and the recounts just people 2:19:28.240 --> 2:19:31.280 being but heard they lost. And this is where things 2:19:31.360 --> 2:19:35.200 get really really weird. So in Miami, DoD where there's 2:19:35.200 --> 2:19:39.400 a manual recount going on. A bunch of protesters in 2:19:39.520 --> 2:19:44.120 fancy suits show up and starts screaming at election workers. Now, 2:19:44.480 --> 2:19:48.040 if this was the old Democratic Party machine like LBJ 2:19:48.200 --> 2:19:50.800 would have personally pushed six of these guys out a window, 2:19:51.160 --> 2:19:53.199 and the recount would have been run by like sixty 2:19:53.240 --> 2:19:57.119 of the earliest dudes, the entire Chicago mob. But this 2:19:57.200 --> 2:20:00.360 is the the incredibly decrepit two thousand Democratic Party, who 2:20:00.360 --> 2:20:03.680 have replaced all their mob guys with consultants. And these 2:20:03.680 --> 2:20:07.280 people legitimately, like you know, they believe in the rules 2:20:07.280 --> 2:20:10.520 and the norms and the process. And the result of 2:20:10.520 --> 2:20:13.080 this is that Bush literally destroys the entire United States, 2:20:13.120 --> 2:20:20.400 and I think, like irrevocably damaged, like the entirety of 2:20:20.440 --> 2:20:22.400 the of you know, like what what whatever is left 2:20:22.400 --> 2:20:27.880 to the American democratic system. So how how this has achieved? 2:20:28.440 --> 2:20:31.480 But back in Miami DoD this Democratic Party operative is 2:20:31.520 --> 2:20:34.800 seen walking around the recount area with a ballot. Now 2:20:35.000 --> 2:20:38.320 this is a blank ballot, right, this guy is going 2:20:38.360 --> 2:20:41.039 to see He's going with an election official to go 2:20:41.200 --> 2:20:43.880 see if he can replicate like the like how the 2:20:43.920 --> 2:20:46.000 hay h has stuff happens to prove that like this 2:20:46.040 --> 2:20:48.800 is what's going on. But they Problicans see this guy 2:20:48.959 --> 2:20:51.760 and they immediately start screaming about how the Democrats are 2:20:51.760 --> 2:20:54.920 staling in the election, and they like beat this ship 2:20:54.959 --> 2:20:58.440 out of this guy, and just a full on riot 2:20:58.480 --> 2:21:04.640 starts in this government building and it works. The recount stops. 2:21:04.680 --> 2:21:09.240 The election workers are terrified. The recount. Yeah, like the 2:21:09.080 --> 2:21:11.760 all like everything stopped for the day. They can't do anything. 2:21:11.760 --> 2:21:15.520 And the next day the recount is fully stopped. It 2:21:15.560 --> 2:21:18.840 never resumes, and the Republicans are sunned by this. They 2:21:18.840 --> 2:21:22.000 assumed that, like, you know, the political operatives doing the rioting, 2:21:22.040 --> 2:21:24.200 we're gonna like face some oppositions to the Democrats on 2:21:24.240 --> 2:21:29.400 the ground for you know, like literally assaulting and intimidating 2:21:30.280 --> 2:21:32.880 a bunch of election workers in order to like stop 2:21:33.200 --> 2:21:36.440 votes from being counted. But there's they they don't, there's 2:21:36.480 --> 2:21:38.720 there's nothing, there's no resistance at all. Um. Here's a 2:21:38.800 --> 2:21:41.560 quote from Douglas Hay, who is there a Republican political 2:21:41.560 --> 2:21:43.240 operatives who is one of the organizers of the Brooks 2:21:43.280 --> 2:21:47.000 Brothers riot, who he tried to do a redemption arc 2:21:48.000 --> 2:21:53.000 in the media to sort of like be like, oh 2:21:53.320 --> 2:21:55.480 I was part of the Brooks Brothers riot. But even 2:21:55.560 --> 2:21:58.879 I think the stop the steel stuff is bad, which, 2:21:59.040 --> 2:22:03.360 like I think man doth protest too much. Um, here's 2:22:03.360 --> 2:22:06.280 just the quote. I still don't understand how it was 2:22:06.320 --> 2:22:10.400 that we completely outmatched the Democrats, Hey says, and this 2:22:10.440 --> 2:22:13.600 is how Bush wins the election the Supreme Court, which 2:22:13.680 --> 2:22:15.320 again it should also be know the Streme Court is 2:22:15.360 --> 2:22:19.279 staffed by a bunch of George H. W. Bush appointees. Um. 2:22:19.320 --> 2:22:22.040 Eventually here's the Clayic case and decides that the constitution 2:22:22.040 --> 2:22:24.000 says that the winner the winner has to be declared 2:22:24.000 --> 2:22:25.960 by a certain times, so there's no time for a recount, 2:22:25.959 --> 2:22:31.040 and they have the election to Bush. And this is achieved. 2:22:31.080 --> 2:22:33.280 And this is possible because of the Brooks Brothers riot 2:22:33.320 --> 2:22:35.120 and the Brooks Brothers, right, is what this whole sort 2:22:35.120 --> 2:22:37.600 of republican opertor things comes to be known because they're 2:22:37.600 --> 2:22:42.320 all wearing Brooks Brothers suits. Um. Now, okay, there are 2:22:42.320 --> 2:22:45.039 a lot of people involved in this riot who are 2:22:45.080 --> 2:22:48.880 like at the core of modern republican politics. Um. Yeah, 2:22:49.200 --> 2:22:51.600 Neil Gorrich and Amy COLEMYN. Barritt, and I think there's 2:22:51.600 --> 2:22:56.119 actually one other like Paris and Republicans of elevated senior office. 2:22:56.280 --> 2:22:59.040 There are multiple people on the Supreme Court today who 2:22:59.080 --> 2:23:01.840 were on the Wish legal team when they were doing this. 2:23:03.080 --> 2:23:05.360 And you know, there's also the question of the extent 2:23:05.400 --> 2:23:07.920 to which roger Stone is involved. If you asked roger Stone, 2:23:08.360 --> 2:23:13.160 he claims to have organized literally this entire thing. Um. Now, 2:23:13.240 --> 2:23:15.720 other people who were involved with they claimed that roger 2:23:15.760 --> 2:23:18.920 Stone was like fucked off at a hotel somewhere else 2:23:19.800 --> 2:23:23.560 and didn't was just sort of around and didn't actually 2:23:23.680 --> 2:23:28.000 organize it. But either way, this set up precedent for 2:23:28.480 --> 2:23:31.920 how you can rig an election, which is if you 2:23:32.000 --> 2:23:34.360 if you can seize the majority on the Supreme Court. 2:23:34.440 --> 2:23:35.920 Was sort of like when you know, you can put 2:23:35.920 --> 2:23:39.320 your sort of loyal minions there and then you can 2:23:39.400 --> 2:23:42.000 have an initial count of an election that looked that 2:23:42.120 --> 2:23:44.800 that that looks like it's favoring you, even if that's 2:23:44.800 --> 2:23:48.280 not actually true. If you then have an initial count 2:23:48.320 --> 2:23:51.280 of an election that says that you win, and then 2:23:51.320 --> 2:23:53.240 you can stop and then you were able to stop 2:23:53.360 --> 2:23:58.039 votes from being counted, uh from November until January, you 2:23:58.080 --> 2:24:00.680 will win the election. That that that that is the 2:24:00.680 --> 2:24:04.560 precedents that was installed by by the two thous election 2:24:05.080 --> 2:24:07.200 and if you look at the Stop the Still campaign, 2:24:07.760 --> 2:24:09.920 this is exactly what Trump is trying to do. And 2:24:10.080 --> 2:24:14.119 literally Roger Stone is also trying to do this, right, Um, 2:24:14.200 --> 2:24:15.600 this is this is this is this is what stop 2:24:15.640 --> 2:24:18.840 is Still is. I you can you can find Trump 2:24:18.840 --> 2:24:21.360 talking about this months before the election, right this, this, 2:24:21.360 --> 2:24:23.600 this is why he was trying to do his whole 2:24:23.640 --> 2:24:28.200 thing about about the mail in ballots because he and 2:24:28.320 --> 2:24:30.360 Roger Stone and sort of all the political operators whore 2:24:30.360 --> 2:24:33.360 involved in the circles were like, okay, so we know 2:24:33.520 --> 2:24:35.520 that like a bunch of Democrats are gonna do mail 2:24:35.520 --> 2:24:37.360 in ballots because of COVID because they don't want to 2:24:37.360 --> 2:24:39.560 be there at the ballots. They know that the initial 2:24:39.640 --> 2:24:41.840 count is going to favor them. And I think people 2:24:41.840 --> 2:24:44.600 have forgotten this, but if you remember the the night 2:24:44.640 --> 2:24:47.600 of the election in I remember like like even a 2:24:47.640 --> 2:24:49.240 bunch of my friends who were like people who were 2:24:49.240 --> 2:24:53.240 you know, like like fairly serious, like I don't know 2:24:53.320 --> 2:24:56.520 politics nowhere, people were really deeply invested in politics, like 2:24:56.640 --> 2:25:00.200 thought that Trump had won the election because what would 2:25:00.200 --> 2:25:02.440 have been counted on that night was just was just 2:25:02.600 --> 2:25:05.720 the sort of initially wasn't counting the mail in ballots, 2:25:06.720 --> 2:25:09.600 and so yeah, the plan was just to de legitimate 2:25:09.959 --> 2:25:12.360 mail in ballots in the eyes of of sort of 2:25:12.720 --> 2:25:15.080 the well mostly the Republican based, but like sort of 2:25:15.080 --> 2:25:18.080 the American populacets the whole, and then have a bunch 2:25:18.080 --> 2:25:21.959 of people physically assault these centers to get them to 2:25:22.000 --> 2:25:24.560 stop the places with these votes are being counted, to 2:25:24.600 --> 2:25:28.080 get them to stop the count and it doesn't work. 2:25:28.160 --> 2:25:33.320 And it doesn't work I think partially because but yeah, 2:25:33.320 --> 2:25:38.879 those feelings, Like one of the things is that you 2:25:38.920 --> 2:25:42.440 know you can't if you're gonna do a play like this, 2:25:44.400 --> 2:25:48.400 you have to run it like you you are relying 2:25:48.440 --> 2:25:50.640 on the sort of physical intimidation of the court workers. 2:25:50.720 --> 2:25:53.600 But mostly what you need to do is make sure 2:25:53.600 --> 2:25:57.320 that it's stuck in a court fight. And the problem 2:25:57.400 --> 2:26:00.160 is that like the sort of modern like trump Ace 2:26:00.280 --> 2:26:04.039 people like they don't have any competent lawyers. The root 2:26:04.120 --> 2:26:06.240 of Giuliani is like trying to do this ship or whatever. 2:26:06.280 --> 2:26:09.520 But like that guy, I don't know that that guy 2:26:09.680 --> 2:26:15.080 may have known what a law was in like ninety three, 2:26:16.000 --> 2:26:20.800 but his brain has been just melted by like inhaling 2:26:20.959 --> 2:26:27.720 cigars smoke and truly copious about of drugs, so you know, 2:26:27.720 --> 2:26:29.360 they're not they're not really able to sort of pull 2:26:29.400 --> 2:26:35.120 this off. But Bush is and the result of this 2:26:35.480 --> 2:26:38.800 is the American reaction about eleven is the war in 2:26:38.879 --> 2:26:43.840 the Rock is basically the the the sort of complete 2:26:43.879 --> 2:26:50.760 annihilation of like the content like this is slightly an exaggeration, 2:26:50.800 --> 2:26:53.840 but like the concept of freedom in the US, like 2:26:53.959 --> 2:26:56.440 the ability for you not to be constantly surveiled, the 2:26:56.480 --> 2:27:01.959 ability for you to like you know, live live in 2:27:01.959 --> 2:27:04.520 a society in which there's like every single thing you 2:27:04.560 --> 2:27:08.120 do isn't being monitored by a thousand different kinds of 2:27:08.120 --> 2:27:10.720 police stations who are all sharing your tweets so they 2:27:10.720 --> 2:27:13.280 can fucking grab people out off of the road, sucking 2:27:13.400 --> 2:27:17.879 unmarked fans, right, Like, that's all stuff that is a 2:27:17.920 --> 2:27:20.360 specific product of the sort of kind of fascism at 2:27:20.360 --> 2:27:23.120 the Bush administration deploys and they're a we'll do this 2:27:23.160 --> 2:27:25.959 because they just try to stole an election, and now 2:27:26.120 --> 2:27:28.080 we all we all sort of just live in in 2:27:28.120 --> 2:27:30.800 the permanent afterlife of the Brooks Brothers riot. This is 2:27:30.840 --> 2:27:33.200 what January sixth was. This is what stop the Steel is, 2:27:34.160 --> 2:27:36.280 and it's what the that's what the modern Republican Party 2:27:36.360 --> 2:27:41.000 is so yeah. It's happy holidays everyone. I hope you 2:27:41.040 --> 2:27:44.160 have a good new Year. And uh inslaw. We will 2:27:44.760 --> 2:27:49.320 destroy these fashion Republican bastards and make sure that none 2:27:49.360 --> 2:28:06.560 of them ever get to do this again. Hello, Ulu, 2:28:07.120 --> 2:28:11.120 welcome to another episode of It could happen here with 2:28:11.240 --> 2:28:18.200 a twist. Um, this is the holiday special answer for that. UM, 2:28:18.240 --> 2:28:21.240 So you know, buckle up, you know Santa might make 2:28:21.280 --> 2:28:25.440 an appearance. UM. I don't want to take a moment 2:28:25.560 --> 2:28:29.520 to discuss, you know, this whole idea of Christmas. This 2:28:30.200 --> 2:28:36.840 practice is globally celebrated cultural festivity, and I guess on 2:28:37.000 --> 2:28:40.920 the not to be stereotypically leftist, but the issues I 2:28:40.959 --> 2:28:44.200 have with it alongside UM, I think some of the 2:28:45.440 --> 2:28:54.080 ah best UM and most I think UM hopeful elements 2:28:54.120 --> 2:28:58.320 within it. I don't know about the rest of you. UM. 2:28:58.360 --> 2:29:04.800 And by the way, I'm joined by Garrison andterest for 2:29:07.000 --> 2:29:09.440 I'm very excited we get we get to finally talk 2:29:09.480 --> 2:29:11.360 about the issue that I've been wanting to talk about 2:29:11.800 --> 2:29:15.200 ever ever since we started the show. How telling your 2:29:15.280 --> 2:29:18.480 kids that Santa exists is actually child abuse? This is 2:29:18.600 --> 2:29:21.440 very exciting. I'm glad we can have this civil discussion 2:29:21.800 --> 2:29:25.680 to to to cover these these hard hitting topics that 2:29:25.720 --> 2:29:30.720 are impacting us most in Are you trying to say 2:29:30.720 --> 2:29:35.160 this like a Santin's abolitionist or something. Yes, I think 2:29:35.560 --> 2:29:39.879 the fact that we condone lying to children in this 2:29:39.879 --> 2:29:42.640 way every Christmas is I'm sorry, but that's that's so 2:29:42.720 --> 2:29:45.200 politically unrealistic. I don't know how you have a platform. 2:29:45.959 --> 2:29:48.880 Can't take that seriously. Um, it teaches our kids not 2:29:48.920 --> 2:29:52.680 to trust us. Um. It starts. It is really an 2:29:52.680 --> 2:29:55.879 extension of the great Man theory that Santa as this 2:29:55.920 --> 2:29:58.320 man is the only one capable of delivering all these presents. 2:29:58.560 --> 2:30:00.760 I think it's I think it's quite. Are you trying 2:30:00.760 --> 2:30:03.520 to say so it's a manifestation of patriarchy. That's right, 2:30:03.680 --> 2:30:07.199 it is. It is quite. It's it's quite problematic. Um. 2:30:07.280 --> 2:30:09.840 You know those elves are not getting paid. You know 2:30:09.920 --> 2:30:13.120 that Santa has tried to bust unions at his workshop 2:30:13.160 --> 2:30:16.039 every year. Um. I don't think this reindeer are treated 2:30:16.120 --> 2:30:19.280 very well. Um. There is a whole, a whole lot 2:30:19.360 --> 2:30:22.360 of issues here. Yeah, it's a normalization of the surveillance state. 2:30:22.600 --> 2:30:26.600 It right on the shelf classic, Yeah, elf on the 2:30:26.600 --> 2:30:29.480 shelf came to rise after the Patriot Act was introduced 2:30:29.720 --> 2:30:33.720 to condition American children into thinking it's okay to always 2:30:33.760 --> 2:30:36.720 be watched. This is it's it's this, this, this is sick. 2:30:37.600 --> 2:30:41.320 Parents are culpable in promoting this myth. Um, I think 2:30:41.320 --> 2:30:43.920 this needs to be addressed. You know what I think, 2:30:44.200 --> 2:30:46.000 you know what I think. I think you all need 2:30:46.040 --> 2:30:48.440 to be Christmas bill. I don't know about show, but 2:30:48.520 --> 2:30:52.880 I love I love Christmas, I think, Um, I think 2:30:52.879 --> 2:30:56.040 it's I think we need to take a Christmas bill. Um. 2:30:56.080 --> 2:30:59.560 You know, of course the actual gift getting hasn't been 2:30:59.600 --> 2:31:04.560 the best. Especially want to get past une, just like, okay, 2:31:04.800 --> 2:31:08.199 this is what it is then. But you know, the 2:31:08.200 --> 2:31:10.120 the unity and the joy and the excitement, I mean 2:31:10.120 --> 2:31:12.240 what about that? You know, the color, the food and 2:31:12.280 --> 2:31:17.240 the drink, getting people together, um, catching up. You know, 2:31:17.320 --> 2:31:20.520 celebrated in many different ways, religiously and non religiously. And 2:31:20.520 --> 2:31:22.760 of course it's not even celebrated at all, um in 2:31:22.840 --> 2:31:26.039 some places and with some people. Um. And you know, 2:31:26.040 --> 2:31:29.000 there are other religious observances and holidays around this time. 2:31:29.440 --> 2:31:33.760 They don't like Kannaka and concer and whatever else. But 2:31:34.040 --> 2:31:37.240 you know, I think a lot of us are most 2:31:37.240 --> 2:31:41.720 familiar with Christmas, and I think we're, you know, mostly 2:31:41.920 --> 2:31:45.920 familiar with the origins of Christmas. That's not the kind 2:31:45.920 --> 2:31:49.160 of episode we're getting into here. Um. I think you know, 2:31:49.600 --> 2:31:52.760 we all known about Jesus and you and sat Anlia 2:31:53.000 --> 2:31:57.440 and all that fun stuff. Knows it about Charles Dickens 2:31:57.520 --> 2:32:03.560 and Scrooge and of course the the diagram of Scrooge 2:32:04.000 --> 2:32:07.199 and cringe. And you know whether or not those two 2:32:07.320 --> 2:32:10.160 concepts will a lap. But I want to look more 2:32:10.240 --> 2:32:13.640 to these sort of you know, ideas of what Christmas is, 2:32:13.680 --> 2:32:18.280 what it means, you know, um, and really how a 2:32:18.320 --> 2:32:21.440 lot of our society's issues come to the forefront around 2:32:21.440 --> 2:32:26.240 this time of year. Um, the scourge of Scrooge is 2:32:26.360 --> 2:32:30.959 particularly apparent. I mean, for many, Christmas is basically capitalism 2:32:31.040 --> 2:32:36.880 on steroids. For one, UM and Santa have to sort 2:32:36.879 --> 2:32:39.720 of promote that from an early age as a propaganda 2:32:39.760 --> 2:32:43.280 tool of the capitalists, as I'm sure would m would. 2:32:43.280 --> 2:32:48.480 Thank you, thank you, thank you. Great. Well that's the 2:32:48.520 --> 2:32:51.800 episode everybody. Again. I hope you I hope you have 2:32:51.840 --> 2:32:55.720 a good holiday season. Oh wait, I think Andrew is 2:32:55.720 --> 2:32:57.560 more to say. Yeah, I think we're wrapping up a 2:32:57.600 --> 2:33:00.440 little bit EARLYI there, you know, but you know, we 2:33:00.480 --> 2:33:03.240 can't talk about the fact that you know, Santa really 2:33:03.480 --> 2:33:08.240 is um a big fan of this like ultimate now 2:33:08.240 --> 2:33:11.320 you know, there's GDP growth sull of inducing this this 2:33:11.480 --> 2:33:17.000 pro growth ist capitalist production for production, seek consumption for 2:33:17.040 --> 2:33:22.039 consumption sake, like the idea that Santa expects children to 2:33:22.120 --> 2:33:26.840 write and request something from him every single year. Um, 2:33:26.879 --> 2:33:31.240 that he he, he stakes an entire holiday upon his 2:33:31.280 --> 2:33:35.240 own business and upon his own you know production, whole 2:33:35.440 --> 2:33:39.640 industrial apparatus a center around this one event, um. And 2:33:39.680 --> 2:33:42.320 I mean the sort of consumption we see around Christmas season, 2:33:42.360 --> 2:33:45.720 it's like it ramps up, you know, online stores, department stores, 2:33:45.840 --> 2:33:49.959 malls just burst in with with people um looking to 2:33:50.360 --> 2:33:54.320 bye bye bye all around the world. In America, at 2:33:54.360 --> 2:33:58.840 least twenty nineteen so Americans spent over one trillion dollars 2:33:58.959 --> 2:34:01.360 just in the Christmas see done. I mean, it's just 2:34:02.440 --> 2:34:06.800 glorious excess, honestly. And of course there's also the excessive 2:34:07.080 --> 2:34:11.960 you know, decorating and shopping and drinking and the us 2:34:12.000 --> 2:34:14.240 and sort of arrities with those things. And that sort 2:34:14.280 --> 2:34:17.960 of over indulgence is part of what's seriously harm on 2:34:18.040 --> 2:34:23.039 the planet. Not to you know, blame individuals and exclusively 2:34:23.240 --> 2:34:26.039 because you know, obviously the sort of thing is encouraged 2:34:26.040 --> 2:34:29.640 by you know, advertising and by the entire industries that 2:34:29.720 --> 2:34:35.600 builds around around this, this idea of consumerism. But the 2:34:35.640 --> 2:34:37.800 holiday is basically, you know, you know, it's become this 2:34:37.920 --> 2:34:40.680 thing where the focal point is to indulge, to splooge, 2:34:40.720 --> 2:34:45.040 to consume um. And you see a lot of Christmas 2:34:45.080 --> 2:34:47.840 movies too, I mean Christmas of the Crowns is when 2:34:47.920 --> 2:34:52.120 particularly iconic example. And with all this you know consumerism, 2:34:52.120 --> 2:34:55.039 it feels like we lose sight of the purpose, you know, 2:34:55.080 --> 2:34:56.600 of the gift giving. I don't think we've lost our 2:34:56.640 --> 2:34:59.720 selves less nature. I think we've lost some of the 2:35:00.160 --> 2:35:03.320 within it. I think it's by design a natural tendency 2:35:03.360 --> 2:35:05.240 to care for the people in our lives are sort 2:35:05.280 --> 2:35:09.000 of exploited. Um, you know, we're expected by the systems, 2:35:09.040 --> 2:35:12.840 are super hyper competitively in spirital coupitlism. But now we 2:35:12.920 --> 2:35:16.040 have to be super generous and caring around this time 2:35:16.040 --> 2:35:18.120 of year. But just in a way that just so 2:35:18.280 --> 2:35:22.760 happens to profit campus anyway. It's like, yeah, yeah, be generous, 2:35:22.879 --> 2:35:26.680 be caring and stuff by this gift for you know, 2:35:26.720 --> 2:35:29.760 you know, you loved one and I will pocket the change. 2:35:30.400 --> 2:35:31.960 And I don't think it has to be that way. 2:35:32.120 --> 2:35:36.240 But the commercialization of what we're wants wholly days is 2:35:36.760 --> 2:35:39.520 you know, it tends to do that. And of course 2:35:39.520 --> 2:35:42.800 with all these soup kitchens and can food drives and 2:35:43.400 --> 2:35:47.560 Red Cross Santa's outside groceries, building and for some donations. 2:35:48.120 --> 2:35:50.080 Um and by the way, it don't donate the Red 2:35:50.160 --> 2:35:55.200 Cross that kind of problematic. Salvation Army do not do 2:35:55.240 --> 2:36:02.800 not donative salvation Salvation my bad, I'm back. I think 2:36:02.800 --> 2:36:06.160 that's confusing them. Red Cross just takes credit for anarchist 2:36:06.240 --> 2:36:11.200 projects in the relief of disasters and salation Harmy hates 2:36:11.280 --> 2:36:14.280 gay people, so it also has also has shot anarchists. 2:36:15.160 --> 2:36:18.320 I think they don't talk about very much. Well damn, 2:36:18.480 --> 2:36:23.200 that should probably be an episode. Yeah, there's another way 2:36:23.240 --> 2:36:28.520 of that, but yeah, yeah, you know, it's like all 2:36:28.560 --> 2:36:32.280 this stuff is happening, and it's like this sort of 2:36:32.400 --> 2:36:39.280 performance of all of a sudden, we care about, um, 2:36:39.360 --> 2:36:42.120 what's the name of that little kid from Christmas Carol, 2:36:42.640 --> 2:36:48.480 Tiny Tim? All of a sudden, we care about Tiny Tim. 2:36:48.520 --> 2:36:52.000 In a system that literally requires an impoverished base of people, 2:36:52.400 --> 2:36:55.680 you know, poverty is certainly this virtue that we we 2:36:55.760 --> 2:36:58.160 look to help Tom meliorate to be careful. You know, 2:36:58.240 --> 2:37:00.440 we we want to uplift the tiny him as we're 2:37:00.440 --> 2:37:03.480 gonna warm the hearts of the Scrooge McDuck's of the 2:37:03.520 --> 2:37:06.880 world the rest of the year. It's just like, oh, well, 2:37:07.080 --> 2:37:09.360 in this underclass is a patrol and the class needs 2:37:09.360 --> 2:37:14.360 to exist. I think the extension of our tendency towards 2:37:14.400 --> 2:37:17.360 mutually throughout the year and across bonds of kid and 2:37:17.400 --> 2:37:21.600 on kind of like, um, it's something that we should 2:37:21.800 --> 2:37:28.640 pursue um to prefigure a gift economy um, not just 2:37:29.760 --> 2:37:32.440 around a particular season, but year round. I think that 2:37:32.600 --> 2:37:37.720 is both while exercise to look into and of course 2:37:37.760 --> 2:37:40.959 I think an ideal you would want to see. I 2:37:41.000 --> 2:37:47.200 guess we could call us my Christmas wish UM readjustment 2:37:47.280 --> 2:37:49.240 to this sort of consumption around this time of year, 2:37:50.000 --> 2:37:53.000 the one that is done with a sort of ad 2:37:53.080 --> 2:37:56.400 growth mindset. One of his cognizance of local condition is 2:37:56.400 --> 2:37:59.160 the one that seeks to reduce food miles, socalize the 2:37:59.160 --> 2:38:02.640 production can some shown. So that's I guess wish number 2:38:02.640 --> 2:38:05.320 one Christmas wish number one. Let's um, let's make a 2:38:05.320 --> 2:38:13.160 gift economy rather than a capitalist gift consumption day. And 2:38:13.200 --> 2:38:15.360 of course I think our next Christmas wish on this 2:38:15.440 --> 2:38:20.040 topic would be a wish for work abolition. You know, 2:38:20.040 --> 2:38:22.360 with all that consumption happening around this time, yet it 2:38:22.440 --> 2:38:26.120 really does a number on the service and manufacturing and 2:38:26.280 --> 2:38:30.920 delivery and SOT and so forth workers around the world. 2:38:31.160 --> 2:38:35.320 You know, work sucks in general, but it's extra sucks 2:38:35.360 --> 2:38:38.560 around this time of year. Um, you know, with sweatshop labor, 2:38:38.680 --> 2:38:43.120 with retail hell around this season, it's really opposite of 2:38:43.120 --> 2:38:45.360 peace on you for a good chunk of the working class. 2:38:46.920 --> 2:38:49.840 You could call it the season for overworking. And it's 2:38:49.840 --> 2:38:55.280 not just for um, you know, gears, token oppressed group, 2:38:55.480 --> 2:39:00.120 you know, the elves, like the other workers that the 2:39:00.240 --> 2:39:05.640 exploits it that we should probably be championing. Yeah, we 2:39:05.640 --> 2:39:09.160 we talked about this in a couple of China episodes 2:39:09.160 --> 2:39:11.160 that I did. But one of the big reasons for 2:39:11.240 --> 2:39:15.720 the sort of huge like workers up risings in China 2:39:15.760 --> 2:39:18.600 in the last like a few weeks was that like 2:39:19.120 --> 2:39:21.400 basically a bunch of people got locked into a factory 2:39:21.480 --> 2:39:24.320 because Fox Gone and Apple were trying to hit their 2:39:24.360 --> 2:39:28.560 Christmas like production targets. And people started fighting the cops 2:39:28.600 --> 2:39:30.879 because they were like, this actually sucks. I don't want 2:39:30.920 --> 2:39:34.480 to be stuck in here being lied to by how 2:39:34.560 --> 2:39:37.840 much I'm going to get paid so that these companies 2:39:37.840 --> 2:39:43.240 can have their Christmas sales. I mean, yeah, definitely. I 2:39:43.240 --> 2:39:45.280 think it's completely fair to say that the worker elves 2:39:45.280 --> 2:39:49.440 are very mistreated. Um. But with the exception I think 2:39:49.600 --> 2:39:52.160 of specifically the elf on the shelf elves. I don't 2:39:52.160 --> 2:39:56.680 think those count as workers. Elves are cops. They only 2:39:56.720 --> 2:40:00.320 function as niches for the surreal state. So yes, the 2:40:00.360 --> 2:40:04.400 elf workers are are mistreated um and should unionize and 2:40:04.400 --> 2:40:07.880 and should should deserve way more support and possibly even 2:40:07.879 --> 2:40:10.160 the abolition of of work. But the elf on the 2:40:10.160 --> 2:40:13.440 shelf elves are not workers. I think that's a that's 2:40:13.480 --> 2:40:18.600 an important distinction. Yeah. Yeah, it's like the class strators 2:40:18.680 --> 2:40:24.560 more than anything, exactly. Yeah, very blatantly. So yeah, it 2:40:24.640 --> 2:40:28.120 really is, you know, the season for overworken. You know, 2:40:28.520 --> 2:40:32.280 with all this, it's very interesting that that's really what 2:40:32.320 --> 2:40:36.000 triggered the protests in China. I mean, I would love 2:40:36.040 --> 2:40:39.840 to see celebrations and festivals have given in any sort 2:40:39.840 --> 2:40:42.160 of an archic society, but it doesn't fail. No, it's 2:40:42.200 --> 2:40:47.039 at the right these festivities UM built on the exploitation 2:40:47.480 --> 2:40:52.440 of others. I mean, what kind of celebration it's we 2:40:52.560 --> 2:40:56.560 had when people are suffering in such a capacity to 2:40:56.959 --> 2:41:02.600 produce that sort of celebration. And speaking of suffering, I think, um, 2:41:02.680 --> 2:41:06.360 there are a lot of people who suffer through family 2:41:06.560 --> 2:41:09.720 around this time of year. And I think some people 2:41:09.760 --> 2:41:13.400 actually appreciate having to work through the holidays because it 2:41:13.440 --> 2:41:17.320 means they don't have to deal with said family. And 2:41:17.360 --> 2:41:19.920 I mean family is a big focus and the sort 2:41:19.920 --> 2:41:23.560 of culture of Christmas. But you know, unlike the greeting 2:41:23.640 --> 2:41:26.720 cards and the billboards and stuff, not everyone's family is 2:41:26.800 --> 2:41:30.520 picture perfect and holiday is often open a lot of 2:41:30.520 --> 2:41:34.320 wounds and heightened re read for a lot of people. UM. 2:41:34.800 --> 2:41:38.920 People consume to hear people um, and a lot of 2:41:38.920 --> 2:41:46.800 toxicity and intoxication is brought under one roof during TRUSTMA celebrations, 2:41:46.840 --> 2:41:49.440 bigotree abuse, that sort of thing. It's not a fun 2:41:49.440 --> 2:41:52.879 time for some people. And I think it's important in 2:41:52.959 --> 2:41:55.160 the season and in general to let go of this 2:41:55.280 --> 2:42:00.440 sort of patriarchal and restricting designation of family in favor 2:42:00.440 --> 2:42:04.640 of something that is more subject to choice, to agency, 2:42:05.240 --> 2:42:08.960 to consent to you know, more expanded forms of kinship, 2:42:09.040 --> 2:42:12.080 bringing people together who care for and enjoy and want 2:42:12.120 --> 2:42:16.320 to share each other's company, you know, create a new traditions, 2:42:16.600 --> 2:42:21.520 to build new bonds of solarity and care. UM. I think, 2:42:22.440 --> 2:42:26.680 you know, opportunities like these, Seasons like these enable us 2:42:26.720 --> 2:42:31.680 to demonstrate the veracity of the liberation that can be 2:42:31.760 --> 2:42:35.560 had in our projects. I think it's something that a 2:42:35.600 --> 2:42:39.280 lot of people need around this season because mental health 2:42:39.360 --> 2:42:41.920 boways seem to worsen around this time of year. They 2:42:41.959 --> 2:42:46.760 often toxic culture of Christmas could be clearly bad people's 2:42:46.800 --> 2:42:49.879 mental health. You know, it's loneliness and depression and suicide 2:42:49.920 --> 2:42:53.240 and the struggle to care for your basic needs that 2:42:53.360 --> 2:42:55.600 alone and joy the season, and it takes some big 2:42:55.680 --> 2:42:59.879 tool on people's well being. You know, it's easy to 2:43:00.000 --> 2:43:03.120 they all just go to therapy and whatever. But with 2:43:03.320 --> 2:43:07.200 the inaccessibility of therapy and the fact that you know, 2:43:07.440 --> 2:43:12.280 therapy is not necessarily a salve for material conditions, UM. 2:43:12.440 --> 2:43:15.560 There needs to be a social safety net in place. 2:43:15.600 --> 2:43:18.120 They must be healing in community and not just an 2:43:18.200 --> 2:43:22.720 exolution UM. And so I think the season is an 2:43:22.800 --> 2:43:25.720 opportunity for us to reflect on that and to you know, 2:43:25.760 --> 2:43:30.040 try to avail ourselves to those whom we fay might 2:43:30.040 --> 2:43:32.240 be suffering at this time. And if you yourself a 2:43:32.320 --> 2:43:35.600 suffering and it's trying to reach out and sort of 2:43:36.240 --> 2:43:39.440 engage in that sort of mutual mutual aid and mutual support, 2:43:40.560 --> 2:43:43.040 I think there's a lot that we can reframe and 2:43:43.120 --> 2:43:47.880 reconsider surrounding Christmas. I mean, for a season of kindness 2:43:47.879 --> 2:43:52.840 and given it unfortunately hoots a lot of people, um, 2:43:52.879 --> 2:43:57.640 but that can change, you know, through solidarity, through generosity, 2:43:58.520 --> 2:44:02.480 through kinship, solidarity organized in the bottom of the extension 2:44:02.480 --> 2:44:06.320 of the principle of mutually into everyday life. Redirecting our 2:44:06.400 --> 2:44:10.440 generosity around this time from giving to the pockets of 2:44:10.520 --> 2:44:14.480 billionaires to given to the people, um. To display our 2:44:14.520 --> 2:44:18.480 capacity for well doing, to think locally, to think d 2:44:18.600 --> 2:44:21.600 I y, to think meaningful rather than to just add 2:44:21.600 --> 2:44:24.959 another thing to the Amazon card. And of course not 2:44:25.120 --> 2:44:28.800 just physically giving gifts, but as being generous with our 2:44:29.200 --> 2:44:32.320 time and our love and our care because we do 2:44:32.600 --> 2:44:35.360 need each other, um, not just in this time, but 2:44:35.480 --> 2:44:40.600 in general. I think bred Santa had some entertaining suggestions 2:44:40.600 --> 2:44:44.320 of the season. To bred Santa, of course, being Peter Kropotkin, 2:44:45.160 --> 2:44:50.120 he figured that we should all pose as Santa Clause 2:44:50.520 --> 2:44:55.160 perhaps there as a subversion of what he represents as 2:44:55.160 --> 2:44:59.960 a capitalist. We all pools as Santa Claus or as St. Nicholas, 2:45:00.040 --> 2:45:03.400 and to infiltrate the stores and give way the toys. 2:45:04.240 --> 2:45:07.879 Um and one postcard Krobakin route that of the night 2:45:07.920 --> 2:45:12.240 before Christmas, we'll all be about while the people are sleeping. 2:45:12.320 --> 2:45:15.760 We will realize or cloud will expropriate goods from the 2:45:15.879 --> 2:45:19.720 stores because that's fair, and distribute them widely to those 2:45:19.800 --> 2:45:25.320 we need care. So yeah, Merry Christmas and half of 2:45:25.320 --> 2:45:28.800 your holidays to all and to all are good. Fight 2:45:30.320 --> 2:45:40.240 for freedom. You can of course find me on YouTube 2:45:40.240 --> 2:45:44.400 at androids um dot com slash and underscore seeing True, 2:45:45.240 --> 2:45:48.039 and if you want, you can support me on picture 2:45:48.040 --> 2:45:51.320 on dot com slash saying true. That's it for me 2:45:51.800 --> 2:45:55.720 for this year, for it could happen here, So you're 2:45:55.760 --> 2:46:06.840 next year great destroist icons Center Clause. Hey, we'll be 2:46:06.879 --> 2:46:10.240 back Monday with more episodes every week from now until 2:46:10.240 --> 2:46:12.720 the heat death of the Universe. It could happen here 2:46:12.800 --> 2:46:15.400 is a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts 2:46:15.440 --> 2:46:18.040 from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zone media 2:46:18.080 --> 2:46:19.880 dot com, or check us out on the I Heart 2:46:19.959 --> 2:46:23.000 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, 2:46:23.360 --> 2:46:25.520 you can find sources for It could happen here, Updated 2:46:25.560 --> 2:46:29.000 monthly at cool zone media dot com slash sources. Thanks 2:46:29.040 --> 2:46:29.600 for listening.