By now, many of you have seen the shocking videos taken on November 18th, as UC Davis police officers pepper-sprayed students at an Occupy protest. The most widely viewed video (linked below) shows officers spraying about 20 students directly in the face – not once but twice – in front of a horrified crowd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjnR7xET7Uo
Who, by the way, were all carrying cameras.
What follows in the video is an powerful illustration of how non-violent, collective action can turn a potential flash point into a history-changing event for positive change. As campus police hauled away the subdued (and agonizing) student protestors, and the shock of the spraying passed, the crowd stayed put with cameras, cell phones and iPads in hand, chanting “Shame on you!” and “Who’s University? Our University!”. When it became clear the crowd would not disperse, the police slowly, nervously retreated.
And then came the moment where everything could have gone horribly wrong.
At 6:30 in the video, with paint guns and batons drawn, one of the officers grabbed two cans of pepper spray, shaking them in plain sight to signal his intent to disperse the crowd with this vile concoction. One can easily imagine how this event could have devolved into the kind of chaos and violence that took place at UC Berkeley earlier this month. Instead, the crowd, collectively and peacefully, simply invited the officers to leave.
“You can go! You can go! You can go!”
And they did.
The 8-1/2 minute video of this event has now gone viral; over 800,000 views of the video linked above in a mere two days. The story has become headline news in national and international media outlets (see the coverage in the New York Times and BBC News). UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, in a statement posted on the UC Davis website, has called for a task force to investigate the events; while the UC Davis Faculty Association has led a call for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi. The Council for UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) has condemned the police actions at several UC and CSU campuses.
But I am most focused on the actions of the students at UC Davis, who showed remarkable restraint in the face of agressive police tactics. These students have demonstrated convincingly that non-violent resistance can be an incredible force for change in our society, by bringing shame and condemnation to those who choose to suppress rather than engage, to attack rather than act.
We applaud the members of the UC Davis community who have had the bravery, compassion and intelligence to stand up to police brutality in a peaceful manner. We urge our administration to stand with us in condemning the actions of the UC Berkeley and Davis police departments, to allow our community to protest freely without fear of retribution, and to join us in seeking fair solutions to improving the quality and access to education at our University.
Adam Burgasser, SDFA Board Member