free press issue 5, 2011: "revolution"

8/4/2019 Free Press Issue 5, 2011: "Revolution"

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II.~IIIIII~IIIIIII' an interview with atruly revolutionarystudent

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the student bodypresident talks schoelpolitics andpolicies.

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a real socialistrevolution Loeks like

SSDPPresident talksmarijuanadecriminalization AND O THERSTUFF TOO

* * *a lesson in feminism

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A n I n t ; e r v i e w w i t ; h U S G P r e s i d e n t ;a m T r a c

Samuel J Tracy is a junior Poly/Sci major. He's alsoour Student Body President, which is pretty swell.Tracy recently graced Free Press Radio with an in-terview, which was broadcast on 91.7fm WHUS. Inthe interview, Tracy discussed his goals for theupcoming semesters, and how he plans to

empower students at UConn.Q: Tell me what the word is, Prez.A: Well this year in USG we're do-ing a lot of awesome projects thatwe've been working on all summerlong. One of the main initiativeswe're working on is having a lot moretransparency within student govern-ment, and of course working towardsthe same in the CT legislature andUConn administration, but werelooking to lead-by-example in stu-

dent government.Q:How will you go about achieving

this transparency?A:There's a couple ofways. Of course,the main thing with transparency iscommunicating to the student bodywhat were doing, because you can'texpect students to be able to attendevery [USG] meeting. Although theyare all public, it would be kind of ri-diculous to expect. One thing that[USG Vice President] Lindsay Chi-appa and I are going to be doing ishaving our own USG radio show onUConn's radio station, WHUS. "ThePowers That Be" is the tentative title,and it is tentatively scheduled for6-7pm on Thursdays. [check www.whus.org for the full schedule] Theshow should be on-air by the time

this issue is in print. The show is forboth the students as well as membersof the surrounding community, be-cause WHUS does reach out to (po-tentially) several million listeners.

Q: Neat. Will USG be introducinganything other than WHUS-related

activities?A: Yes! We're also going to have anarticle every week in the Daily Cam-pus. Were going to be talking to thestudents about all of the importantthings that USG has been up to, keep-ing them updated, soliciting feed-back, making sure the students knowthat they can get involved with USG

and tell us their own opinions.Q: Fireside chats?

A: Exactly. Also, a few other things:For several years now on the USGwebsite (usg.uconn.edu) there's beenthis Presidential Blog.And for the pastcouple of years I think it's been usedroughly 3-5 times per year, and blogsshould be much more frequent thanthat. So Lindsay and I are going to beworking on updating that as much aspossible. I think we've already doneabout twenty or thirty posts, andwere trying to keep that as up- to-

date as possible. I'm also going to behaving some open office hours, whereI'll be sitting in my office with thedoor open, and anyone who wants tochat can come on in and voice theirconcerns or anything. My office is lo-cated in the main USG office, which

is Student Union room 219.Q: Which is right next to the SOCin room 218, where the UConn FreePress holds its weekly meetingsfrom 7-8pm every Thursday! But

enough of me.A: "chuckle" Well there's the wayswe'll be communicating with stu-dents, but also, one major thing thatlast year as a senator in USG I wasvery frustrated with was that previ-ously, every senate meeting (wherethey approve tier-II funding for stu-dent groups, pass bills, pretty impor-tant stuff) would have its agenda sentout only to senators, and only a dayor two before senate would meet--sometimes a few minutes before-hand, or even during the meetings.There's also this section at the begin-ning of each senate called "public


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comment", where anybody can comebefore senate and talk about any-thing they please, whether it's aboutthe agenda or not. I saw maybe fivepeople come and talk during publiccomment last year, and very rarelywas it about what was on the agenda.So this year what we're trying to dois to engage students even more byreleasing each agenda to all UConnstudents at least a week before eachsenate meeting. At very least they'llbe available on the USG website andfacebook page, so that students canread them at their leisure and see ifthere's anything in the agendas thatinterest them. They can then come tome directly during my office hours orduring senate, where they can talk to

USG as a whole.Q: Last year there were some "high-light bills" that passed throughUSG, notably the support of theDREAM Act. The other big billwhich you supported and draftedwas the support of decriminaliza-tion of cannabis in Connecticut, orat least they voted to support thebill that was already in CT's actuallegislature, SB 1014, which did endup passing. The USG vote passednearly unanimously. Do you haveany specific legislation or themeof legislation that you'd like to see

passed this year?A: On the topic of marijuana decrim-inalization, which was a huge success,we're not trying to get UConn to ad-just its policies to reflect those of thestate laws. As some mayor may notknow, the current policy on campusis that with alcohol, if you have somein a dorm and you are underage (un-der 21), your Residental Assistant(RA) will deal with that internally.They'll write up documentation andit is dealt with internally in Commu-nity Standards. Meanwhile, last year'smarijuana policy was that if you were

suspected, perhaps there would bea scent of marijuana on a floor, theRA was required to call the police,and could not personally knock onyour door, alert you to the incom-ing police presence, or handle it atall internally. The reason for this wasthat marijuana was more illegal thanalcohol, and RAs may feel uncom-fortable or unsafe--understandablein some respects. But now, what USGis trying to do is work with UConnadministration to update those [RAand housing] policies because thereare countless other schools, in bothdecriminalization and non-decrim-inalization states, who do not havetheir RAs (or similar positions) callthe police immediately. They dealwith it internally, just like they dowith underage drinking, and it hasbeen pretty successful. So what wewould like to see is for UConn to dothe same thing. We could craft a pol-icy to make that work out really wellbecause, honestly, the only reasonthat decriminalization of marijuanapassed in Connecticut was for itscost -saving implications for police,because it is such a waste of policetime to be responding to all of thesevery low-level and harmless offenses,especially considering how much

those police officers are paid.

Q:How about non-marijuana-related work?

A: Absolutely. One of the things wewould really like to see would be to beable to take out a bit more food fromthe dining halls. Right now, you canonly take one piece of fruit, one cupof ice cream, a beverage, or one bakedgood (no combinations: only one of

one).Q: Very specific stuff. I rememberthe one story of the poor girl thathad tried to take a celery stick outwith her, and she was coarsely ac-costed by dining hall employeesbecause celery is a vegetable, not afruit, so therefore she couldn't take

it with her.A: I mean, the students are alreadypaying for "all you can eat:' We dounderstand that the dining servicesdon't want people going in with theirbackpacks and taking tons of foodout. Backpacks are allowed in thedining halls now, but you're still notsupposed to use them to take foodout of the halls. There's a lot of wayswe're trying to fix this policy withouthaving to raise the cost of meal plansor anything like that. One way is add-ing more items that you're allowed

C u r r e n t d in in g h a ll p o liC y


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to take out: Sandwiches and burg-ers for example. Another idea we'rethrowing around which we'd love stu-dent feedback on is much like otherschools, where they allow you totake out a pre-approved tupperwarecontainer-full of food. This wouldperhaps be for cost of a flex pass, asmany students have flex passes leftover that go to waste at the end of asemester. This would work much likeGrab n Go's, where you can get food

to-go with a flex pass.

Q: All interesting ideas. In terms ofinternal USG improvements?

A: Many criticisms of USG in pastyears have labeled it as, for lack of abetter term, a "circlejerk" And thiswas actually an inside-joke in USG,and was the official name of our in-ternal newsletter. I'm definitely try-ing to distance the organization from

that.

Q:You told me earlier how it seemsthat many students, including someUSG senators themselves, have helda view of the organization that it is"play congress", a toy-government

where students go to learn how tobe in real government later. See-ing as they control millions of dol-lars year-to-year, this treatment canraise a few problems and eyebrows.

Can you elaborate?

A:We get $40 per-student per-semes-ter, which adds up to about $1.5 mil-lion per-year. This is real money takenfrom real students which we shouldbe doing real things with. Since weare supposed to be the "voice" of thestudents, it is important that we arerepresenting the student body prop-erly. I noticed that last year, often-times senators would not feel likethey had any real decision-makingpower within USG, and consideredthemselves as sort of a rubber-stampapproval for the decisions of the Ex-ecutive Committee, made up of my-self, Vice President Chiappa, Comp-troller Handley, and the committeechairs. I hope this year for senateand Exec (the Executive Committee)to work together, and I do not wishfor Exec to merely be dictating deci-sions to the senators. I want there tobe a true separation of powers. Andplease don't run for USG if you're justlooking for a resume booster. Thereare much easier resume-boosters on

campus, and we're looking for stu-dents who will truly devote time,energy, and passion into making thelives of other students on this campus

better.

Q: In terms of strengthening bondsbetween Tier-III and Tier-II orga-nizations through USG?

A: Previously, our funding policieshad stipulated that pretty much anytype of advertising could be fundedexcept for Daily Campus ads, whichmakes no sense. We got rid of thatthis year, but rather than groups hav-ing to ask for funding and use theirown money to get these ads, USG andthe Daily Campus actually workedout a contract for this year. We're go-ing to be buying regular ad-space inthe Daily Campus through USG, andany group working with or throughUSG can ask us for ad space to ad-vertise for an event, meetings, thingslike that, and we'll give it to them. Sofinally the groups will be allowed tohave ads in the Daily Campus, whichis an excellent way to advertise oncampus .

You can contact President Tracy [email protected]

THE POW ERS THAT BEwith Lindsay Chiappa and Sam Tracy, your USG VP and PrezEvery Thursday 6-6:30pmon

91.7fm WHUSListen online atwww.whus.org !
mailto:[email protected]://www.whus.org/http://www.whus.org/mailto:[email protected]


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WHU S (91 .7 fm )Wha li: U C on n 's R a d io fo r lihe P eo ple

S lia ff M e e li in g s: F irs li m o n d a y of lih e rn o nc hWh e re lW h en : 6:30p m , C a sli le m a n 21 2

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Visi l i www .whu s . o r g fo r more/conl iacl i i n fo !

And no~, let's check up on sOlDeofour favorite groups on calDpusNOTE: EVERYTHING SUBJECTTO CHANGE. Like the facebook pages to stay updated!

S tiu de n tis fo r S e ns ib le D ru g P o lic y{ S S D P }

W h a ti: D ru g P o lic y R e fo rmM ee tiin g : T u esd ay s, A {jo na 311e -ma i l : u c o nn ssdp@gma i l . c om

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W hab : Be c a u se F re e d om ca n 'b p ro -b ec b ib se lf

Me eb in g: E ve ry o bhe r Mo n, 6 :30pmW he re : S OC (S bu d e n b U nio n rm 218)

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S liu d en lis U n ilie d fo r R e pro d uc li iv e( SUR J )

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U Co n n F re e P re ssW ha t;: A n t;i-F u c ke ry M ed iaW he n : 7pm , T hu rsd a ys

W he re : S O C (S t;u d e n t; U n io n rm 218)e -ma i l : u c o nn f r e ep r e ss@gma i l . c om
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U G o n n S t u d e n t s h r S e n : s i b B D r u g P o l i c gT u e : s l h g s . 8 p m . f l l r j o n a 3 , ) 1


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T his w as o rig in ally p ub lis he d b y t;h e H uffin gt;o n P os t; s ev era ldays a f t; e r dec rim ina li za t ;ion o f m arjuana passed in C T. It; i s be-

in g r e- pr in t; ed w it ;h t ;h e au t; ho r' s p e rm i ss io n .0 J l D i l _ m " ~ m lI l ~ ~ ~ know if we had the votes there, if the We were visible at every campaign~ ~ _ & w ~ _ leadership was with us, or whether event in our area when Dan Malloythe Governor would expend any fur- was running for governor. We heldther effort to get the legislature to pass a very positive rally at the capitol onthe bilL We made contacts with pro- Day 1 of the legislative session. Wefessional lobbyists, journalists, and were loud, we were numerous, and welegislative aides. Through our conver- were consistent. And we were alongsations with them, we learned that we the parade route for Governor Mal-had more than enough votes to pass loy's sweating-in ceremony. Show upthe bilL It was only a matter of get-to their public events. It makes a hugeting the bill called to the House floor. difference.Again, we inundated Speaker of theHouse Chris Donovan's office withphone calls and e-mails demandingthat he bring the bill to the floor for

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~~And while it was definitely disap-pointing news, it motivated our en-tire chapter and other chapters in our

state to take action.Never underestimate the power ofconveying your opinions to a legisla-tor. Though your views on the DrugWar may be common among peopleyou know, itis very likely that a givenlegislator has never heard the argu-ments against drug prohibition. Wehad one member of our chapter re-ceive a response from his legislatorsaying that he intended to tell his per-sonal story during debate on the bill.The value of making contacts andfriendships with political elites can-not be overstated. Rub elbows. Learnfaces and names. Certain information(like what goes on in party caucuses)cannot be easily gotten. Having per-sonal relationships with people insidethe legislature helped a great deal in

knowing where we stood.

We lobbied Senators' aides at the cap-itol, and we got a meeting with thePresident Pro Tempore of the Senate,Don Williams. We barraged his officewith phone calls and e-mails in thedays leading up to that meeting, andwhen the meeting came, he statedthat he would vote in favor of decrim-inalization and that the bill wouldbe brought to the Senate floor for avote. Just 7 months earlier he stoodon stage at a debate and declared hisfirm opposition to decriminalization.What made him change his mind?There is no doubt in my mind that thedeciding factor was the loud, unified,

and persistent voice of hisconstituents.

a vote.On June 7the bill was called first thingin the morning. After four hours ofscaremongering from the opposition,the bill passed with a solid majority.The Governor signed the bill into lawon June 30, and on July 1Connecticutbecame the 14th U.S. state to decrim-

inalize marijuana.Throughout this whole process I havebeen continually surprised at theamazing returns you can get with justa small amount of effort. Phone callsDO matter. E-mails DO make a dif-ference. I submit the passage of this

bill as proof of that.e then turned our attention to Sen-ators who were on the fence. We weresuccessful in swinging one Senator,Edith Prague, with another barrage ofcalls and e-mails, That was enough toget us an 18-18 tie in the Senate, withLt. Governor Nancy Wyman break-

ing the tie in favor.

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Ask o,Socia.\'S~Dude" v J ifh 1 h . .B~t(

o u r r e a d e r s h a v e a r e a l Q & A w i t h a R E A L s o c i a l i s tWhat is a socialist?

Broadly speaking, a socialist is aperson who calls for the revolution-ary overthrow of capitalism and therearrangement of the economy un-der workers' control. The economywould be restructured democrati-cally and engineered to meet humanneeds instead of profits. Productionwould be planned by working peopleinstead of left to the whims of themarket and the profit interests ofa minority (the capitalists). Whilethere are many people who callthemselves socialists, these are thebasic principles which genuine so-

cialists stand for.Why is the working class central to

the struggle for socialism?Working people are central to thestruggle for socialism because oftheir relation to the production ofgoods and services under capitalism.Workers sell their labor to capitalistsfor a wage or salary in order to makea living. They then produce the goodsand services with their labor, whichcapitalists in turn sell for a profit.In the United States today, workingpeople make up well over two-thirdsof the population (see The WorkingClass Majority: America's Best Kept

Secret). Workers have the ability tobring the capitalist system to a grind-ing halt by withholding their worken masse (also known as a generalstrike). General strikes have the abil-ity to rock the foundations of soci-ety to its very core, as evidenced inFrance in 1968 and Iran in 1979 (andmany others). This type of classstruggle, when combined with con-scious political organization. posesthe question of who will rule society- the capitalists or the workers.

This is why the working class is cen-tral to the struggle for socialism.

Is there any hope for ending capi-talism through reform?

It would nice if we could, but I'mafraid not. The current organs ofgovernment are set up to protectprivate property and the marketeconomy. Even if socialists were towin a majority in Congress or electa socialist President, they would facebarriers to placing the economy un-der workers' control and restructur-ing it to meet human needs insteadof profits. History has shown that thecapitalist class is not willing to giveup their control over society withouta struggle (see Chile 1973 or Russiaafter the Soviets came to power), soany socialist movement is going

to have to face this issue. Majorchanges in our society have beenmade through mass action (Le. theCivil Rights movement or the move-ment against the Vietnam War), notby voting progressive politicians intooffice. Socialists advocate for massaction on the part of working andoppressed people and counter-pose


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this to reliance on the currentpolitical structure.

How are the prospects for a work-ing class revolution?

This is a very difficult thing to mea-sure because the class struggle ebbsand flows and circumstances canchange literally overnight. The twen-tieth century saw more revolutionsand revolutionary movements thanany century before and there is noreason to believe this trend won'tcontinue into the current century.Workers have been at the forefrontof many of these struggles. So long ascapitalism exists, workers are goingto be compelled to fight to protecttheir rights and their standard of liv-ing. Just look at what's happening inthe Middle East and North Africaright now. Allover the region ordi-nary working people have risen up tochallenge dictatorships and demanda raise in their living standards. Thechallenge that revolutionaries facein this era is the construction of po-litical organization and leadership ca-pable of providing a program for the

transformation of society.What alternatives do we have to theboss-worker social relationship?A socialist alternative to the boss-worker social relationship would beto replace these relations with demo-cratically run workplaces. In such aworkplace, employees would makedecisions collectively with a "oneperson, one vote" system. This styleof management would eliminate thecurrent system where one boss ora collection of bosses rules over the

workforce.Socialists say they are for the abol-ishment of private property. Doesthis mean they're going to takeaway my iPod, my shoes, or my

toothbrush?

No, that's silly. Socialists want to endprivate ownership of the means ofproduction (i.e. the factories, banks,etc) and place them under collectiveworkers' control. You'll be able tokeep your person possessions under

socialism.To what extent is Barack Obama a

socialist?Obama is not a socialist at all. His en-tire presidency has been in full sup-port of the capitalist system. He sup-ported more war efforts around theglobe and gave more tax breaks tothe rich. When I think of socialism,Obama is one of the last things that

comes to mind.Does the fiscal crisis in Europeshow that socialism has failed?

No. Although some European na-tions have an expansive welfare state(which is being eroded at the mo-ment), the European countries arecapitalist. Private ownership of theeconomy and the market still domi-nate. The current crisis in Europe isone of capitalism, not socialism. Thesocialist solution to the crisis wouldbe to place the economy under dem-ocratic workers' control and gear pro-duction to meet human needs insteadof bowing to the profit motive.

Don't socialists want to create a dic-tatorship?

Absolutely not. Socialists want to cre-ate a society that is run democrati-cally by working people. The work-ers' councils that sprung up duringthe Russian Revolutions of 1905 and1917 (known as Soviets - look themup), the German Revolution of 1918-1919, the Spanish Revolution of 1936,and many other workers' movements/revolutions are far more democraticand representative than any capi-talist democracy. Just look at ourso-called democracy in the UnitedStates. The same two capitalist par-

ties (Democrats and Republicans)have dominated the political scenecompletely for over 100 years. Everyelection cycle the American peopleare given the choice between whichparty will misrepresent their inter-ests in government. The people wereagainst war with Iraq yet they sent usto war The people were against bail-ing out the banks yet they gave themhundreds of billions of dollars. Whatsocialists want is REAL democracy(i.e. day-to-day control over politicaldecisions and the economy) - not thephony democracy that exists in the

West today.Then what does dictatorship of the

proletariat mean?Dictatorship of the proletariat is anold Marxist term that means work-ers' rule. It is meant as the rule ofthe working class over the capitalists,not as an actual political dictatorshiplike Caesar in Rome or Hitler in Ger-many. Currently, we are living underthe dictatorship of the bourgeoisie(capitalist class). Regardless of politi-cal form, the capitalist class controlsthe economy and the government.Under the "dictatorship of the pro-letariat" political democracy wouldflourish, and political and economicpower would pass from the handsof the capitalists to the workers (i.epassing from the dictatorship of thecapitalists to the dictatorship of the

proletariat) .What about the Soviet Union? Chi-

na? North Korea?The Soviet Union did initially havedemocratic organs of governance runby working people; they were calledthe Soviets. Unfortunately, during thecourse of the Russian Civil War theworking class was decimated owingto deaths and economic devastationand the Soviets became shadows ofthemselves. In these circumstances,a bureaucracy arose and became


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more and more powerful, eventuallyusurping all political power in theSoviet Union. They would rule thecountry with an iron fist until theircollapse in 1989-91 when capitalismwas restored. The development of theStalinist bureaucracy represented thedegeneration of the revolution andthe betrayal of the socialist move-ment. This was not an inevitableprocess, but the product of specificdevelopments in Russia and in theworld revolutionary movement.

China and North Korea are differ-ent in that they were ruled from thevery beginning by Stalinist-type bu-reaucracies. Workers' democracy andworkers' control of the economy nev-er existed in these countries. Sowhilethese countries did instill economicplanning (which has been erodedentirely now in China), they lackedthe political democracy necessary forsocialism to develop. China has sinceprivatized much of the economy andhas been re-integrated into the capi-talist world order. Workers makepitiful wages, working long hours insweatshops, while the capitalist classmakes billions (China has the 2ndmost billionaires in the world, 2nd

only to the United States).Has there ever been I is there acountry that is "truly"socialist?

No. 'There are two examples that areclose to socialism - the Soviet Unionand Cuba - but neither of theseachieved socialism. The Soviet Unionhad a period of workers' democracywith the advent of the workers' COUfl-cils (known as Soviets), but this wasdestroyed during the course of theRussian Civil War. Then came thedegeneration of the revolution withthe rise of the Stalinist bureaucracy- which was the product of specificconditions of economic ruin andisolation. Many of the gains of therevolution were [OIled back by the

Stalinists and the working class waspolitically suppressed under the iron

fist of the bureaucracy.Cuba, unlike other so-called social-ist nations (China, North Korea, etc),does not have a hardened bureaucra-cy that runs the country but they stilllack workers' democracy nonetheless.Without the development of workers'institutions to run the economy andsociety democratically the Cubanrevolution will inevitably fail to reach

the goal of a socialist society.What is the socialist stance on drug

policy?Socialists call for an end to the "waron drugs" which has wasted billionsof dollars and devastated countlesscommunities both here and abroad.Socialists support the legalization ofsoft drugs like marijuana (for bothrecreational and medicinal purposes)and, at the very least the decriminal-ization of hard drugs. This should becoupled with drug treatment and re-habilitation programs and facilitiesbeing established in as many placesas is plausible. Drug abuse and addic-tion needs to be treated as a medicaland not a criminal issue. Locking updrug users in prison has done nothingto curb the use of drugs in the UnitedStates and we need to face this.

What is the socialist stance on thewars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Like the "war on drugs" Socialists calfor an immediate end to the crimi-nal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Workers have no interest in thesewars, which have caused untold dev-astation in the Middle East and havedrained economic resources at home.While the government is offering upSocial Security and Medicare to thechopping block, over half of our fed-eral tax dollars are being contributedto military-related spending. Theseimperialist wars and the huge mili-tary budget benefit only the rich. So-cialists are at the forefront of buildingthe antiwar movement in the UnitedStates, such as is represented in or-ganizations like the United NationalAntiwar Committee (UNAC).What can I, a UConn student, do tofurther the socialist movement in

my own town or campus?Join and build socialist political or-ganizations. On campus, there is agroup called Youth for Socialist Ac-tion that holds regular meetings,forums, study groups, etc. In Hart-ford, Socialist Action is a very ac-tive organization within the antiwarmovement and other social justicemovements. There are also a varietyof other groups in the state of Con-necticut that you can get involvedwith. In order to build a movement,we will need strong political orga-nizations that have the support andactivity of people like you. So if youwant to get involved, then join one of

these groups.Is this article meant to be an all-en-compassing socialist program?No, it's just an introduction to social-ist politics and, as such, only scratchesthe surface. If you want to learn more,check out www.socialistaction.organd browse the site. There are a lotof other introductory writings underthe "Revolutionary Marxist Theory"

tab. Check it out!
http://www.socialistaction.org/http://www.socialistaction.org/


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M E A N W H IL E , I N C H IL E . . .


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salvatoreall photos by dylan

This summer during my work with Free Press Radio, Ihad the pleasure of interviewingDylan Sodaro, a student from Syracuse University who spent a year stydying abroadat the American University in Cairo. Halfway through the year, the a revolution sweptthrough the country, centered around Tahir Square in Cairo. Sodaro was in the verymiddle of all of this, and in this interview he provides us with a first-hand account ofthe revolution, as well as an American student's perspective on foreign uprisings,andhow oppressed Americans can bring the movement to their home town.Q: Dylan, thank you for joining us

today.A:Noproblem.

Q: Anyone who's been watching thenews over the past year has seen alarge handful of city-wide or country-wide protests and uprisings scatteredthroughout the world: Iran, Syria,Libya, England, Chile, and of course,Egypt--let's start at the beginning ofthat one. The country has been consid-ered relatively stable, and Mubarak,while not the most popular ruler inthe world, did not appear to have hispower threatened in any big way.Whatwas daily life in the country like in themonths, weeks, and days leading up to

the protests in Tahir Square?A:Well the whole Arab world has beena moderately stable region, but unresthas been building up until this point.It's funny, because even right up be-fore the revolution started, I would

sit in my classes and write papers withthe subject matter of, you know, "Whyaren't Egyptians taking to the streetsand protesting against their govern-

ment?Q: I've written a lot of similar papersmyself about American citizens andunrest. What was the source of the

Egyptian inactivity?

A: The conclusion we reached in classat the time was that they [the Egyp-tian people] just didn't think that theycould cause any real change. This wasthe rhetoric I would hear when I wouldtalk to people about such things.

Q: So it was the perceived personalpowerlessness of the proletariat?

A: Exactly. And finally somethingdid happen in mid-January: Peoplestarted to think they could make adifference, and once the ball getsrolling, you know, it just doesn'twant to stop. You can look at [therevolution in] Tunisia, and how peoplewere able to change their government.

Same thing.Q: What happened to spur this revo-lution in Egypt specifically, especiallyconsidering the restrictive situationthe people in the country lived in?


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A:Well in the time preceding the pro-tests, it was actually illegal for morethan three people to congregate in anarea for a certain cause or to protest:essentially making protest illegal.Many things like this were illegal, andthis corruption that was so rampantwas overlooked, and people just livedtheir lives. Ifthe police hassled them,they just put up with it. But finally

push came to shove:Unemployment was high, foodprices were going way up, and youhad all of these young students intheir 20s who were all educated,relatively liberal, had a universitydegree, but couldn't get a job.

Q: This all sounds very much like thesituation many people face right herein America, though Americans remainrather passive in the face of this adver-

sity.A:Wellin Egypt, people started takingto the streets, most notably inspiredby the man in Tunisia who, when pushcame to shove, and the cops came tohis fruit cart and took it away, said"screw this, I'm not taking this any-more;' and burnt himself alive in pro-test, and that's what inflamed Tunisiaand got the revolutionary ball rollingin the Arab world. However, the situ-ation in Egypt definitely has its differ-ences from the one here in America.In America, we at very least have avoice, whereas in Egypt, citizens neverreally had a voice. When they wouldvote for their president, it would comeout to be something like 99% in favorof keeping Mubarak in office, literallyevery year for thirty years. That wouldraise eyebrows in America, where youcan barely elect a president with a sim-ple majority of 50%. However, thereare definitely similarities that can bedrawn between [America and Egypt].Q: What caused the situation in Egyptto turn from a "simple" protest, some-

thing that happens in America nearlyevery day, into a full-scale nation-wide

uprising?A: What really made the crowds reactin a violent manner was the police.It was absolutely the way the policetried to clamp down on the protest-ers. Riot police were on the streetswithin hours of people gathering [inTahir Square] on Tuesday, and wereswarming throughout the city by Fri-day when everyone started paying at-tention to the situation there. Whenthe police start launching tear gas andshooting rubber bullets into crowds,especially angered crowds who are up-set with the government, they're gon-na fight back. The violence I saw wasreactionary, and was provoked by an-tagonism from the state, and the gov-ernment controlled the police at thetime. As opposed to what we'veseen inLondon, where people are just burn-ing down everything, the violence inEgypt was all directed towards govern-ment buildings and people. There wasa large anti-government sentiment.Q: Could you comment on the recentviolence in London, which appears tobe rather extreme and unfocused in

nature?A: Obviously it would seem that peo-ple in the UK are taking [the riots] toa bit of an extreme, but you have toremember that with anything you seewith these protests, and anything yousee on the news, a lot of it is sensation-alized. When I came back to Americaafter the Egyptian revolution, I wouldtalk to people who would say thingslike "Oh my gosh, it must have been sodangerous;' and yes, it definitely wasdangerous at times, but what the newswould show was whatever would givethem ratings: Theworst of the worst.

Q: It is definitely difficult to justifyuprisings, especially with the mediaskewing the perceptions and facts sur-rounding them. It's always a fine line:Should people dismiss these uprisingsas unnecessary displays of debauchery,or should people see them asnecessarymeans to an end, or is there some kind

of middle ground?A: Well in the UK, at this point, itseems to be more of "rioting for thesake of rioting;' whereas what I sawand experienced in Egypt wasmore sopeople trying to take control of theirlives, and trying to institute a true rep-

resentative democracy.It was people trying to gain a voiceand be considered "free?' It's some-thing you don't think about as aneveryday American until you seepeople without these freedoms try-

ing to fight for them.Q: And that fighting is something peo-ple in this country rarely see outside oftheir televisions, it becomes hard forpeople at home to connect to those onthe television, and easy to label those

freedom-fighters as just"violent rebels?'


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Q: You spent a lot of time in othercountries around the middle east.What were the perceptions of theEgyptian revolution in non-Egyptian

countries in the Arab world?

evacuated to Istanbul [in Turkey] oncethings got really intense. I had justcome out of a place that was in themiddle of so much turmoil and goingthrough so much change, but whenI would speak to people [in Turkey]about the revolution--and this is alljust my personal experience with thefewpeople I personally talked to--theywere all completely oblivious to whatwas really going on in Egypt. It wasn'tdue to any media blackout really, butmore due to complete ignorance of

world events.

A: First of all, let me just say that trav-eling once you're out ofAmerica isveryeasy, and very fun, and I highly sug-gest that if you have the opportunity,study abroad and travel amongst thearea. It's easy to grab a backpack anda good friend, and if you don't mindwhere you stay (couch, hostel, etc...)then it's a great time. Second of all, be-ing outside of Egypt after the revolu-tion happened was strange. I and theother American students in Cairo were

Q: "The America Complex"A: Exactly. But when I would talk to. . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . .

people in other countries in the re-gion, such as Israel, people were reallyworried, scared that this could reallyend badly: That the Egyptian-Israelitreaty which is still up in the air wouldbe threatened, because nobody reallyknew who was going to assume control

of the country.Q: And what is the current situation inthe Egypt? The revolt started in Janu-ary, people can't just be rioting day af-

ter day since then, can they?A: They are! It's not out of pure fun,like a spring break, but here's the dealMubarak stepped down, and the mili-tary took control of the government.The Egyptian military, while it techni-cally "reports" to Mubarak, is reallya separate entity, which has clashedideologically with Mubarak. The po-lice in Egypt are under a much tightercontrol of the government, so whenthe military came in, it really changedthings. I was in Tahir Square when thetanks rolled in, and pushed the policeout. Itwas amazing to see. The mili-tary did their best to stabilize the government. Slowly throughout the fol-lowing months, reforms and electionswere promised to the people, but then,about a month ago [June/July], peo-ple started saying "Hey, nothing has

Le ft;: E g y p t;ia n s b a n d t;o g e t;he r in p ro t;e s t;. R ig h t;: C lim b in g o n t;a n ks is a b la st;.


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changed, life is essentially the same asit used to be, and we're angry again!" A: I mean, you do see some unrestAnd so people took back to the streets. in America: In Wisconsin, for ex-

ample. But what people forget is thatQ: Trying to conneet this all to Ameri- they do have power, and they can af-ca now: Things aren't necessarily going feet change, whether through a vote,so well here. Unemployment, cost of standing strong for or against someeducation, and cost of food is up, while cause, or calling/writing your local oravailable jobs and quality of all of the national representatives on any level.above is low. In England, tens of thou- What I would say is that if you have asands of students violently took to the cause that you believe in, or you seestreets when the maximum allowable something somewhere that you knowdomestic university tuition was raised is an injustice in your government,to about $15,000 USD. Whereas right on your national, local, statewide, orhere at UConn, out of state tuition can university levels, whatever it is, yourun a student as high as $40,000 or have to stand up for it. And don't backmore, with no guarantee of financial down, because if any of those Egyp-aid...yet Americans sit idly by and just tians had backed down with police fir-sort of take it. We have the means for ing at them, or said "Oh, we're gettingthis kind of revolution. but Americans teargassed and shot at. Is my life worth(and specifically American students) it that Egypt in the future may havedo nothing of the sort. How can this these freedoms and rights, or should

I

L eft;: P r ot ;e s t;e rs a rg u e w it ;h a n E g y p t;ia np o l i c ema n

normal;' everything would have beendifferent. When push came to shovethese people [in Egypt] made that conscious choice and said "No, I am partof something greater, make my homeand country a better place, and dosomething for not just myself, but forall the other people who may not havethe opportunity or the voice to standup and fight for this.And all that made them do thiswas the belief that they couldmake change happen. As cheesy asit sounds, as much as you've everheard this: You can make a differ-ence, and--especially in America--the power iswith the people.

Q: Couldn't have said it better myself.

R i gh t; t;o p /b o t;t;o m : G o v e rn m e n t; b u ild in g s a n d v e hic le sre ce iv ed m o sti, b ut; n ot; a ll of t;h e p ro t;e s oo r's a n g e r.


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The ACLU and Youby o u r f r i e n d s a t t h e U C o n n C h a p t e r o f t h e

AMER ICAN C IV IL L IBERTIES UN ION

Forstarterslet's break down that acronym. We are:TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union

"TheACLUisour nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislaturesandcommunities to defend and preserve the individual rightsand liberties that the Con

stitution and lawsof the United States guarantee everyone in thiscountry."Abridged version: We look out for the little guy.

Rights.Remember those things you memorized for Social Studiesback in the day.Well, have you thought about them recently? Allow usto remind you:

- "Your FirstAmendment rights- freedom of speech, association and assembly; freedom of the press,and freedom of religion.

-Yourright to equal protection under the law - protection against unlawful discrimination.

-Yourright to due process- fair treatment by the government whenever the lossofyour liberty or property isat stake.

-Yourright to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into yourpersonal and private affairs.

TheACLUalso works to extend rights to segments of our population that have tradi-tionally been denied their rights, including people of color; women; lesbians, gaymen, bisexualsand transgender people; prisoners;and people with disabilities."*

Lawyers.Can't live with them, but unfortunately we can't livewithout them. Wouldn'it be awesome if there was some organization out there with some of the sharpest

legal minds at itsdisposal that was on the good guys? A legal watchdog for the resof usagainst the fat cats. Well look no further than the ACLU.


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What have we done on a National Scale?Remember hearing last year about Constance McMillen down in Mississippiwhoseschool canceled prom rather than letting her attend with her girlfriend? The ACLUdemanded her high school reverse their decision and brought them to court on herbehalf.We have had countless other monumental court cases (seriously,Google us) andwhat separates us from other organizations, isthat we are intent on protecting therights of everyone, not only those with whose opinions we believe in.While the ACLU isa national organization, our campus chapter formed this time lastyear, and we have accomplished much since then. We partnered with SSDPandhosted a film screening of 10RulesForDealing With Police followed by a Q&A withAndrew Schneider, ACLU-CT'sExecutive Director. In the winter we hosted the lec-ture "Shujaa Graham: From Death Row to Freedom" and educated the campuson racial discrimination within the legal system and its devastating human cost.And in the spring we traveled to Washington D.C. and lobbied our senators, urgingthem protect reproductive rights, and then participated in the national Women'sHealth Rally rally.

And although we have some great events in mind for this year, weare focusing our efforts more on outreach. We will be contacting asany student organizations on campus as possible and educatingthem on what we do and how our resources are your resources.While UConn ACLU isn't about The Revolution per se, we are allabout destroying the systemsof patriarchy, racism, ageism,classism,and homophobia and all around inequality thatare keeping you from living your life to the fullest.

It's about damned time that the little guy got a voice.

aclu.uconn@gmail,comhttp://aclu.org

* http://www.aclu.org/about-aclu-O
http://aclu.org/http://www.aclu.org/about-aclu-Ohttp://www.aclu.org/about-aclu-Ohttp://aclu.org/


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Q: Sowhat is feminism? It's what man-hating ugly women use as an excuse for not beingableto land a date, right?

NOTION THATWOMEN AREPEOPLE

Wrong.Q: Is it a method to oppress men and try and overthrow them to establish a matriarchy?

Surprisingly, it's not. I'll tell you what feminism is.Although different people define feminism in different ways, the crux of it is always the same: feminism advocatesfor the advancement of gender equality. A lot of things fall under the umbrella of feminism. GLBTQ rights. Abor-tion access. Health care. Wage gaps. Discrimination. Youname the inequality, feminism fights against it. Feminismoriginally began with women's suffrage as the heart of the movement. This is often known as the first wave. Since

then, there has been the second wave of feminism, which began in the 60s. There is some disagreement over whetheror not this wave has ended, and that we are now in the third wave, or whether we are still in a continuation of thesecond wave. The second wave began the idea of women's liberation, which modern day feminists continue

to develop. One prominent feature of modern day feminism is the idea of intersectionality, or integrating class, raceand other social structures into the way feminism is framed.

Q:Who are feminists?Your mom. No seriously, she could be. Me. Your friends. Your teachers. You? Anyone can be a feminist. There is noone image of a feminist, stereotypes to the contrary. You can be any gender, any race, any sexual orientation, any age.

T H I I \ I G B IV I E I \ I D O \ I \ f H E I \ 1 I T E L L T H E lv l l ' l v l t\ F E ] V I I I \ I I B TC H E C I{ F O I~

C A I ~ I I II P IT H A I I~( ,1 U E B T I O I 'J l i l l YB E X U A L I T Y

C O I ~ I P L l : : I " E N T I ~ I V I N -S IG H T S IN T O T H E

C O I ~ IP L E X N U A N C E S O FG E I ' I D E I ~ I ~ E L A T I O N S

Q: Are there different kinds of feminism?Yes,there are. There's liberal feminists, radical femi-nists, Marxist feminists, post-modern feminists,post -colonial feminists, and more. The differences

among these branches of thought tend to be regardingthe overcoming of gender inequality; that is, whetherinequality is founded in a political structure, societalconstruct, or anything in between, and whether or notchange must be enacted through legislative reform orsweeping changes in our understanding of gender.C A L L I I I I E A '1 3 1 T C H

I I ' I B U L T l i l lYI t ; A T 'B H O I 'I O I ~C(JI ~S IDER~EA "CHAL -

LE I~GE A I~DATIEMPT TOBED I~E

Q:What's the best kind?There isn't necessarily a best kind of feminism; you

L


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may find that some branches overlap to some degree. But there are issues that have feminists divided, such as sexwork and pornography. Criticism of past feminisms focused on their lack of focus on women of color or lower socio-

economic statuses, but many modern feminisms have worked toward rectifying this.Q:Why does feminism matter to me?

Well, it matters because issues plaguing society don't just hurt women, but everyone. A culture of hyper-masculinityconstrains men. Misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and so on creates an atmosphere of hatred, fear and violence.

Q:What can I do to help promote feminism?

A nything you w ant.

Speak out against rape culture.D on 't m ake light of inju stice.

T ake a class. Join a club.


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Au th or"s N ote : Some claim the story0( the Begote is false. O th ers sw earthat it is true. O the rs really couldn"tgive a damn. B ut this m uch, I can tellyou, is true:A long, long time ago, backin 2007, a free pressie known asGreg Bailey wrote what is known in(some) journalism circles as "the ex-pose of the decade:' The topic of hisarticle was not Al Capone's vault, norpolitical secrets from Syria, nor thesuper secret executive 5th floor of the

Student Union.Nay, the topic of Bailey's expertlycrafted article was one of biologicalintrigue and mystique, and focusedon the Frankensteinien exploits ofone Dr. Benson Ginsburg, Profes-sor Emeritus of Biobehavioral Sci-ences at the University of Connecti-cut. Bailey's article documented howthroughout the 1960s and 70s muchof Ginsburg's research focused on an-imal aggression: testing the long termeffects of social and physical stresson certain animals. There was evenone report of rabbits being bred to bemore vicious than wolves. (I couldn't

make this up, really).Enter: the Begote. A half-beagle, half-coyote hybridbred for who-the-fuck-

knows-why.

They were allegedly kept at SpringFarm Hill (a little past HorsebarnHill), and, aside from Bailey's articlein which he details his first-handinvestigation into the abandonedand rusty Begote facility, very littlehas been known about the Begote.Ever since the original expose waspublished in Ye Olde Free Presse allthose eons ago, the eerie tale endedhere. Many, including some membersof our own free press staff, are con-vinced that the creatures never exist-ed at all, and are merely the concoc-tion of a mischievous prankster (or a

particularly bad acid trip).However, the free press has acquirednew Begote information from a sourceclose to Professor Ginsburg (who willremain anonymous, because it makesthe story that much better). It is notmuch, but it is one step closer to re-vealing the truth behind this strangeexperiment, and I feel compelled to

share it with you today.Coydogs. That iswhat

Professor Ginsburg calledthem.

A name very similar in sound to"corndog', which is another Franken-steinien affront to nature, what withits unholy combination of corn and(hot) dog. According to the source,these "coydogs" were mainly experi-mented on in the 1970s, however anonline search turned up (along withthe calls of many bloggers asking thequestion "are the coydogs real?") the

professional resume of a particularwoman of note. Among her manyother zoological jobs, which var-ied from "Lobsterfishing person inCape Cod" to "Zookeeper at the SanDiego Zoo': a 22-month stint at theUniversity of Connecticut caught myeye: "Dairy Cow Milker, and Keeperof Coyote/Beagle Hybrids: November

1982-August 1984?'This was a bombshell to the Begote-believeing community (they calthemselves "Begleivers"), and forsome was direct proof of the begote'sexistence. The discovery also raisedmany questions: What does dairycow milking have to do with begotes?Is the secret in the milk? The dairybar, perhaps? My head was spinningwith the lactose-related implications.Perhaps more importantly, this meantthat Begotes may have lived for farlonger than was originally believed,

perhaps into the 90s or later.But back to Professor Ginsburg. Ac-cording to the source, he did workwith "wolves, mice, aggression, sei-zures, guide dogs, and a billion otherthings?' There was no word on if oth-er animal hybrids were attempted orcreated. The source mentioned thatGinsburg "did some freaky researchduring wwn;' but would not elabo-rate further on that. Clearly that is anexpose for another day. The Biobe-havioral program in which Ginsburgworked was apparently one of hisown creation, specializing in "Biopsy-chology &Genetics:' The department


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continued for some years until it was"swallowed up by Psychology:' Thesource explained that Ginsburg's of-fice is "in the process of being demol-ished:' and while they had personallylooked around in there, they main-tained that they had found "nothing

t oo s po ok y ?'

all the eggs in my basket are right,is truthful information), or a freepressie is brave enough to track downand interview Dr. Ginsburg, ourstory ends here. It would seem thatthis is the most recent checkpoint inthe free press' neverending quest fortruth, justice, and the infamous Coy-

dog: The Begote.Until the source graces us with morefirst-hand information (which, if Oh and one last thing: The source

mentioned that numerous "coydogs"were created during the yet-unspec-ified time-span the project's opera-

tion."The begotes were used fortons of different research;'said our source, "and there'sprobably a bunch still

around?'


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free press issue 5, 2011: "revolution"

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