sabato 8 ottobre 2011

Il gigante si sta svegliando













Con le cariche del 1 ottobre la polizia di New York ha commesso uno sbaglio: gli indignati si stanno moltiplicando e scendono in piazza anche i sindacati. Il movimento si allarga nelle università


Cinzia Arruzza
da New York
Già nelle giornate tra gli arresti di massa di sabato e mercoledì 5 ottobre si respirava una strana aria in giro per la città e nei campus. Un’aria ancora più frizzante del solito ritmo frenetico di Manhattan. A quanto pare l’arresto di 700 manifestanti sabato 1 ottobre è stato il peggiore errore che la polizia newyorkese potesse commettere. È servito solo a fare indignare ulteriormente tutti coloro che già guardavano con indignazione alle misure neoliberiste con cui i governi di tutto il mondo stanno cercando di far pagare la crisi a chi la crisi non l’ha creata. Per esempio, ha spinto quasi 200 professori universitari della New School, la quarta università newyorkese per numero di iscritti e con una lunga tradizione progressista, a firmare e far girare un appello di condanna della repressione poliziesca e di sostegno a Occupy Wall Street e al corteo organizzato dagli studenti.

La manifestazione di ieri è stata organizzata dai sindacati più potenti di New York, tra cui Seiu 1199 (sindacato dei lavoratori della sanità), Afl-Cio, Cwa 1109 (sindacato dei lavoratori delle telecomunicazioni), Rwdsu (sindacato dei lavoratori commercio), Transport Workers Unions (che organizzai lavoratori della metropolitana) e da una rete di comunità di base, tra cui Alliance for Quality Education New York Communities for Change, Coalition for the Homeless, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice e molti altri. Con la manifestazione di ieri questa rete di sindacati e organizzazioni locali intendeva esprimere la propria solidarietà con Occupy Wall Street. A loro si sono aggiunti gli studenti di tre università newyorkesi, Cuny (università pubblica con un’alta percentuale di studenti afro-americani e latinos), The New School e NYU, che hanno organizzato il proprio corteo dai rispettivi campus alla piazza di partenza della manifestazione, Foley Square. Gli studenti sono partiti in una manifestazione non autorizzata dalla sede della New School, hanno bloccato la Quinta Avenue e si sono uniti in Washington Square agli studenti della NYU e di CUNY, per poi continuare verso il concentramento dei sindacati. Oltre 2000 studenti universitari hanno invaso le strade della città dietro gli striscioni “Arabian Spring, European Summer, American Fall...” (“fall” in americano vuol dire sia autunno che caduta, o declino) e “Occupy America”. E molti altri erano già nella piazza, mescolati ai vari spezzoni di sindacati, organizzazioni locali e comunità di base. A mobilitare gli studenti, oltre all’indignazione per gli arresti di sabato, la preoccupazione per gli effetti della crisi economica. Solo tra 2001 e 2006 le tasse universitarie sono aumentate del 56%. Ogni studente universitario americano ha un debito medio di 24 mila dollari: una cifra che, con gli effetti della crisi sul mercato occupazionale, in molti impiegheranno decenni a pagare. Peraltro, il totale del debito studentesco statunitense è di 805 miliardi dollari: somma sufficiente a fare scoppiare un’altra bolla finanziaria, in caso di insolvenza.

Foley Square era così affollata che il corteo ha impiegato più di un’ora per riuscire a defluire dalla piazza. I sindacati e le comunità di base hanno mantenuto la promessa. La manifestazione di oggi è stata imponente e ha visto una partecipazione massiccia di lavoratori afro-americani, latinos e migranti. Per tutto il corteo risuonava lo slogan “Lavoratori e studenti uniti: blocchiamo la città!” Decine di migliaia di persone hanno sfilato per ore fino ad arrivare al Financial District e al Zuccotti Park, in cui da venti giorni centinaia di persone organizzano assemblee generali, workshop, gruppi di lavoro e sfidano l’autunno newyorkese dormendo all’adiaccio.
Nel frattempo Occupy Wall Street si sta trasformando in Occupy America. Sempre in questi giorni si stanno moltiplicando le occupazioni e le manifestazioni in tutti gli Stati Uniti: da Austin, in Texas, a Boston,Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles e decine di altre città in California e Florida. I commentatori di diverse testate americane, dal New York Times, a Democracy Now and The Nation, si iniziano a chiedere se la solidarietà tra sindacati, studenti e la protesta Occupy Wall Street, che ha dato vita alla straordinaria giornata di mobilitazione di oggi, non segni l’inizio di un nuovo movimento. A giudicare dall’aria che si respirava a New York oggi pomeriggio, sembrerebbe che il gigante America si stia finalmente svegliando.

140 professori della New School a sostegno dei manifestanti

The New School faculty in support of Occupy Wall Street
We faculty members of The New School would like to express our solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protest. We support its demand for real democracy and its denunciation of the effects of the economic crisis on the conditions of life for millions of people around the world. We strongly disagree with political and economic measures against the crisis based on the reduction of public spending and cuts to public services. We condemn the exclusive and unnecessary use of force by the NYPD that resulted in the arrests of 700 hundred people marching in a peaceful and non-violent demonstration on Saturday October 1st. It is inconceivable that New York, the city known for a tradition of free and independent thinking, should be governed like a police state.
This crisis and the measures adopted by governments will affect the future of young people, and among them, our student body. We all know that our students made a commitment to higher education that forces them into debt. The current economic situation is such that our students will probably carry these debts for decades to come. This is why we support the walk out organized by our students on Wednesday October 5th at 3:30pm.

Signatures
Elaine Abelson (Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies)
Barbara Adams (PT faculty at Parsons and NSGS)
Zed Adams (Assistant Professor of Philosophy)
Andrew Arato (Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor of Political and Social Theory)
Cinzia Arruzza (Assistant Professor of Philosophy)
Peter Asaro (Assistant Professor, The New School for Public Engagement)
Jonathan Bach (Associate Professor of International Affairs)
Lopamudra Banerjee (Assistant Professor of Economics)
Stefani Bardin (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Parsons)

Banu Bargu (Assistant Professor of Political Science)
David Barker (Adjunct Faculty, Lang College)
Fabiola Berdiel (Professor of International Affairs)
Jay Bernstein (University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy)
Richard Bernstein (Vera List Professor of Philosophy)
Omri Boehm (Assistant Professor of Philosophy)
Chiara Bottici (Assistant Professor of Philosophy)
Jackie Brookner (Associate Teaching Professor, Parsons Fine Arts)
Colette Brooks (Arts in Context Program Coordinator, Lang College)
Ted Byfield (Assistant Professor Art, Media, and Technology)
Chris Christian (Assistant Professor, Psychology Department)
Laurie Halsey Brown (Associate Professor, Department of Film and Media)
Paolo Carpignano (Associate Professor of Media Studies)
Emanuele Castano (Associate Professor of Psychology)
Benoit Challand (Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science)
Katayoun Chamany (Associate Professor of Biology, Lang College)
Doris F. Chang (Assistant Professor of Psychology)
Juliana Cope (Part-time Faculty, Parsons)
Alice Crary (Associate Professor of Philosophy)
Simon Critchley (Professor of Philosophy)
Juan E De Castro (Associate Professor, Literary Studies)
Alexandra Délano (Assistant Professor of Global Studies)
Shari Diamond (Assistant Professor of Fine Arts)
James Dodd (Philosophy Department Chair)
Patrick Dodd (Adjunct Faculty, French Department)
Kate Eichhorn (Assistant Professor Culture and Media Studies)
Nadia Elrokhsy (Assistant Professor Sustainable Design)
Ernesto Fedukovitch (Part Time Faculty, Foreign Languages)
Federico Finchelstein (Associate Professor of Historical Studies)
Duncan Foley (Leo Model Professor of Economics)
Carlos Forment (Associate Professor of Sociology)
Oz Frankel (Associate Professor of History)
Nancy Fraser (Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Politics and Philosophy)
Jeffrey G. Goldfarb (Michael E. Gellert Professor of Sociology)
Deborah Gordillo (Assistant Professor of Music)
Neil Greenberg (Professor, The Arts)
Mark Greif (Assistant Professor of Literary Studies)
Pamila Gupta (Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology)
Luis Guzman (Humanities, New School for Public Engagement)
Tilmann Habermas (Visiting Heuss Professor)
Orit Halpern (Assistant Professor of History)
Peter Haratonik (Associate Professor of Media Studies)
Rachel Heiman (Associate Professor of Anthropology)
Daniel G. Hill (Assistant Professor of Fine Arts)

Lawrence A. Hirschfeld (Professor of Anthropology and Psychology)
David Huyssen (Postdoctoral Faculty, Lang College)
Jessica Irish (Assistant Professor of Design & Technology)
Noah Isenberg (Director of Screen Studies)
Andreas Kalyvas (Associate Professor of Political Science)
Jesal Kapadia (Part-time Faculty, Media Studies)
Elizabeth Kendall (Part-Time Faculty)
Paul Kottman (Associate Professor of Comparative Literature)
Nicolas Langlitz (Assistant Professor of Anthropology)
Cynthia Lawson (Assistant Professor of Integrated Design)
Benjamin Lee (Professor of Anthropology)
Deborah Levitt (Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Media Studies)
Margrit Lewczuk (Faculty, Visual Arts)
Gina Luria Walker (Associate Professor of Women's Studies)
Arien Mack (Alfred J. and Monette C. Marrow Professor of Psychology)
Lenore Malen (Faculty Member, The New School for General Studies)
Victoria Marshall (Assistant Professor of Urban Design)
Peter Matthiessen Wheelwright (Associate Professor, School of Constructed Environments)
Elzbieta Matynia (Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Sociology)
Conor McGrady (Adjunct Faculty, Lang College)
Jack McGrath (Adjunct Faculty, MFA program)
P. Timon McPhearson (Assistant Professor of Urban Ecology)

Inessa Medzhibovskaya (Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Literary Studies)
Carlos Motta (Adjunct Faculty, Parsons)
Edward Nell (Malcolm B. Smith Professor of Economics)
Vladan Nikolic (Associate Professor, Film and Media Studies)
Dmitri Nikulin (Pofessor of Philosophy and Director of Undergraduate Studies)
Julia Ott (Assistant Professor of History)
Leslie Painter-Farrell (Associate Director MATESOL, School of Languages)
Dominic Pettman (Chair and Associate Professor, Culture and Media)
Robert Polito (Professor of Writing)
Ross Poole (Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Philosophy)
Christian Proaño (Assistant Professor of Economics)
Timothy R. Quigley (Associate Professor of Philosophy)
Robert Rabinovitz (Associate Professor)
Hugh Raffles (Professor of Anthropology)
Rachelle Rahme (Senior Secretary of Culture & Media Studies, Interdisciplinary
Science, and First Year Programs)
Vyjayanthi Rao (Assistant Professor of Anthropology)
Jasmine Rault (Assistant Professor Culture and Media)
Janet Roitman (Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs)
Lisa Rubin (Assistant Professor of Psychology)
Sanjay Ruparelia (Assistant Professor of Political Science)
Jeremy Safran (Professor of Psychology)
Scott Salmon (Associate Professor of Geography & Urban Studies)
Elaine Savory (Associate Professor Literature)
Trebor Scholz (Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Media)
Mira Schor (Associate Teaching Professor, Parsons Fine Arts)
Anezka Sebek (Associate Professor of Media Design)
Willi Semmler (Professor of Economics)
Anwar Shaikh (Professor of Economics)
Ann-Louise Shapiro (Professor of History)
Henry Shapiro (Part-time Lang faculty since 1989)
Rachel Sherman (Associate Professor of Sociology)
Trebor Scholz (Assistant Professor, Department of Culture and Media)
Mira Schor (Associate Teaching Professor, Parsons)
Kathryn Simon (Faculty, Parsons School of Design)
Ann Snitow (Associate Professor, Literature and Gender Studies)
Nidhi Srinivas (Associate Professor of Nonprofit Management)
Miriam Steele (Professor of Psychology)
Radhika Subramaniam (Asst. Professor, Art & Design History & Theory, Parsons)
Karam Tannous (Faculty, Dept. of Foreign Languages)
Sharika Thiranagama (Assistant Professor of Anthropology)
Iddo Tavory (Assistant Professor of Sociology)
Nadine Teuber (Visiting Heuss Lecturer)
Eugene Thacker (Associate Professor, Media Studies)
Miriam Ticktin (Assistant Professor of Anthropology)
Lynne Tillman (Part-time Faculty)
Cameron Tonkinwise (Associate Dean for Sustainability)
John VanderLippe (Associate Dean for Faculty & Curriculum, NSSR)
Jeremy Varon (Associate Professor of History)
Silvia Vega-LLona (Associate Teaching Professor Culture and Media)
Aleksandra Wagner (Assistant Professor of Sociology)
Robin Wagner Pacifici (Professor of Sociology)
Louise Walker (Assistant Professor of Historical Studies)
McKenzie Wark (Professor of Liberal Studies)
Jamieson Webster (Psychology Department)
Leah Weich (Director of Academic Advising, Lang College)
Tony Whitfield (Associate Dean for Civic Engagement, Parsons)
Deva Woodly (Assistant Professor of Political Science)
Susan Yelavich (Assistant Professor, School of Art and Design History)
Rafi Youatt (Assistant Professor of Political Science)
Caveh Zahedi (Assistant Professor of Screen Studies)
José DeJesús Zamora (Assistant Professor, School of Design Strategies)
Eli Zaretsky (Professor of History)
Aristide Zolberg (Walter P. Eberstadt Professor of Political Science)
Vera Zolberg (Professor of Sociology)

Nessun commento: