saving education is a full time occupation!
8 hours of occupation at RMIT university
i just returned from the most exciting protest of my entire life. we occupied the RMIT administration building for 8 hours straight! after the customary march through the city we stormed the foyer of the university building. it was pre-planned but kept deliberately vague so the cops weren't prepared for us. it was fast fast fast - i barely had time to throw down my red flag. we had outwitted the cops - there were about 300 of us protestors in the foyer & only 100 cops scampering behind us, tripping on our discarded flags & banners as they went. i was on the first lift up to the 7th floor. when we arrived it was scary. there were only 10 of us trying to overpower the security guards & storm the building. furthermore, we didn't know what was happening with our comrades downstairs. understandably we were hesitant as we thought the police were coming up the stairs to our floor. we blocked the lifts with office chairs so the police wouldn't be able to come back up. finally the police downstairs (after using force) decided to retreat because they were outnumbered. my comrades chanted "fuck off pigs!" behind them, as they scurried away from all the protesters like wounded dogs. we then unblocked the lifts so our comrades could join us on the 7th floor. it was such a relief when the lifts full of my comrades appeared! we chanted & cheered & hugged each other & it was euphoric. we all broke through the admin door together & occupied the offices, forcing the vice chansellor, security guards & office workers out & barricading the doors & stairwells behind them.
we stayed there for hours, demanding that the RMIT council votes against the increase of hecs fees next week. we totally trashed the offices, ripping furniture off walls to use as barricades. at first the entire floor was just stripped bare as all the desks & cabinets were use to block the doors. but pretty soon it was a total mess; papers & books strewn everywhere, & of course (temporary & easily removeable) graffiti by us decorating the otherwise mundane walls. the greens & democrats sent us faxes of support. we negotiated with the vice chansellor of RMIT over the speaker phone but she was totally unreceptive to anything we had to say so we soon abandoned this attempt, instead utilizing the media to voice our demands - no 25% increase in fees. there was no toilet on the floor so we had to use a communal bucket. i held a piss for hours but eventually used it too, being in full view of all the windows of the surrounding buildings as i tried to gracefully squat! some guy walked in on me when i was pissing. it was awkward but i didn't care too much. none of the windows on the floor opened (a suicide prevention technique) so we couldn't smoke, as lots of our comrades have asthma. we eventually established an office room especially for smoking, using the pencil tins as ash-trays. i wrote an apology note for the person whose office it was - i felt bad ashing all over their contemporary office containers! we ate all their food (mostly just coffee & unappetizing biscuits) & used all their office stationary to voice ourselves, sticking "fuck you & your fees" post-its all over the walls of the offices & making signs to stick on the windows for the media downstairs to read. we wanted to drink their expensive booze too but decided against it as there was a news crew there to film us the whole time & we didn't want to give them ammunition to use against us. we quickly ran out of food, & everyone was starving. the bastard cops refused to let our comrades downstairs take up food for us. i was so excited when everyone on the floor used my chant: "you have donuts, why shouldn't we?" in retaliation to this. the pigs also turned off the ventilation for the air vents & the rooms became steamy really fast.
we all watched the sun set over the city from the office windows & it was fucking beautiful. it was so nice to lean pressed up against the glass & look down at the neon blur of evening traffic. somehow the buzz of city life seemed nothing compared to what was happening up on the 7th floor - it may as well have been in slow motion. we negotiated every decision we made democratically, everyone who wished had the chance to give input. most of us voted to stay there overnight but unfortuantely we weren't prepared for this situation, as we had no food, toilet or medical supplies & were running out of water also. we intended this to be a media stunt, & had no idea it would be so huge. we were sort of taken aback by how successful it went, & unprepared for such success.
the cops were passive for most of the occupation. there were only about 10 outside, & they rarely tried to break down our barricades (partly because our barricades were impossible to destroy, & partly because the media was there & the cops didn't want to look bad infront of them). unfortunately our remaining comrades downstairs, still rallying in the foyer, didn't experience the same level of pacificism. many were hurt in the struggle, although none were seriously injured. the comrades downstairs were so fucking great, making passing cars honk to inject us with energy, & taping various banners around the building walls to inspire us. without their solidarity, i don't think we'd have been so adament about staying as long as we did. comrades in other cities, particularly sydney, experienced police brutality also. in sydney the police used capsicum spray on students, & also used force on a pregnant woman.
finally at around 10.30pm the police threatened violence against all those who chose to stay. we refused to leave so they broke down the barricades & stormed the offices. they grabbed the first guy they saw & tried to hurt him but we restrained them til they stopped. "leave us alone. we're leaving peacefully!", many of us screamed. although i knew it was highly unlikely, i was scared of being arrested, as were many others around me. to stop the pigs arresting anyone we all linked arms, & marched our way out of the building chanting. we looked like a stream of paperdolls, our arms merged together making us into one strong mass rather than a number of seperate individuals.
we then marched down through the streets, stopping traffic along the way. we were all high on the euphoria of the day's events & cared little that we had no audience to hear our politicized slogans. we marched to the RMIT library. our comrades downstairs had occupied it whilst the police were trying to force us out. we debated over whether to try & occupy the library too, but we were all tired, & an hour later the comrades occuping the library decided to leave. the day finally came to an end at a nearby bar, where shared cigarettes & beer united us all even further.
nobody was arrested. although our demands weren't met, this action achieved what we originally set out to do - raise awareness through the media, & force people to think about this issue. it was the longest uni occupation in australia since 1997. in short it was very exciting. it feels so good to have a campaign i have worked so hard for actually achieve something. socialist alternative put so much effort into this action, & it was so exciting to see it pay off with such a mobilising action.
this is a very brief & half-assed account of what happened as i'm too tired to go into proper details. if you're lucky i'll post videos tomorrow. goodnight everyone xx.
i just returned from the most exciting protest of my entire life. we occupied the RMIT administration building for 8 hours straight! after the customary march through the city we stormed the foyer of the university building. it was pre-planned but kept deliberately vague so the cops weren't prepared for us. it was fast fast fast - i barely had time to throw down my red flag. we had outwitted the cops - there were about 300 of us protestors in the foyer & only 100 cops scampering behind us, tripping on our discarded flags & banners as they went. i was on the first lift up to the 7th floor. when we arrived it was scary. there were only 10 of us trying to overpower the security guards & storm the building. furthermore, we didn't know what was happening with our comrades downstairs. understandably we were hesitant as we thought the police were coming up the stairs to our floor. we blocked the lifts with office chairs so the police wouldn't be able to come back up. finally the police downstairs (after using force) decided to retreat because they were outnumbered. my comrades chanted "fuck off pigs!" behind them, as they scurried away from all the protesters like wounded dogs. we then unblocked the lifts so our comrades could join us on the 7th floor. it was such a relief when the lifts full of my comrades appeared! we chanted & cheered & hugged each other & it was euphoric. we all broke through the admin door together & occupied the offices, forcing the vice chansellor, security guards & office workers out & barricading the doors & stairwells behind them.
we stayed there for hours, demanding that the RMIT council votes against the increase of hecs fees next week. we totally trashed the offices, ripping furniture off walls to use as barricades. at first the entire floor was just stripped bare as all the desks & cabinets were use to block the doors. but pretty soon it was a total mess; papers & books strewn everywhere, & of course (temporary & easily removeable) graffiti by us decorating the otherwise mundane walls. the greens & democrats sent us faxes of support. we negotiated with the vice chansellor of RMIT over the speaker phone but she was totally unreceptive to anything we had to say so we soon abandoned this attempt, instead utilizing the media to voice our demands - no 25% increase in fees. there was no toilet on the floor so we had to use a communal bucket. i held a piss for hours but eventually used it too, being in full view of all the windows of the surrounding buildings as i tried to gracefully squat! some guy walked in on me when i was pissing. it was awkward but i didn't care too much. none of the windows on the floor opened (a suicide prevention technique) so we couldn't smoke, as lots of our comrades have asthma. we eventually established an office room especially for smoking, using the pencil tins as ash-trays. i wrote an apology note for the person whose office it was - i felt bad ashing all over their contemporary office containers! we ate all their food (mostly just coffee & unappetizing biscuits) & used all their office stationary to voice ourselves, sticking "fuck you & your fees" post-its all over the walls of the offices & making signs to stick on the windows for the media downstairs to read. we wanted to drink their expensive booze too but decided against it as there was a news crew there to film us the whole time & we didn't want to give them ammunition to use against us. we quickly ran out of food, & everyone was starving. the bastard cops refused to let our comrades downstairs take up food for us. i was so excited when everyone on the floor used my chant: "you have donuts, why shouldn't we?" in retaliation to this. the pigs also turned off the ventilation for the air vents & the rooms became steamy really fast.
we all watched the sun set over the city from the office windows & it was fucking beautiful. it was so nice to lean pressed up against the glass & look down at the neon blur of evening traffic. somehow the buzz of city life seemed nothing compared to what was happening up on the 7th floor - it may as well have been in slow motion. we negotiated every decision we made democratically, everyone who wished had the chance to give input. most of us voted to stay there overnight but unfortuantely we weren't prepared for this situation, as we had no food, toilet or medical supplies & were running out of water also. we intended this to be a media stunt, & had no idea it would be so huge. we were sort of taken aback by how successful it went, & unprepared for such success.
the cops were passive for most of the occupation. there were only about 10 outside, & they rarely tried to break down our barricades (partly because our barricades were impossible to destroy, & partly because the media was there & the cops didn't want to look bad infront of them). unfortunately our remaining comrades downstairs, still rallying in the foyer, didn't experience the same level of pacificism. many were hurt in the struggle, although none were seriously injured. the comrades downstairs were so fucking great, making passing cars honk to inject us with energy, & taping various banners around the building walls to inspire us. without their solidarity, i don't think we'd have been so adament about staying as long as we did. comrades in other cities, particularly sydney, experienced police brutality also. in sydney the police used capsicum spray on students, & also used force on a pregnant woman.
finally at around 10.30pm the police threatened violence against all those who chose to stay. we refused to leave so they broke down the barricades & stormed the offices. they grabbed the first guy they saw & tried to hurt him but we restrained them til they stopped. "leave us alone. we're leaving peacefully!", many of us screamed. although i knew it was highly unlikely, i was scared of being arrested, as were many others around me. to stop the pigs arresting anyone we all linked arms, & marched our way out of the building chanting. we looked like a stream of paperdolls, our arms merged together making us into one strong mass rather than a number of seperate individuals.
we then marched down through the streets, stopping traffic along the way. we were all high on the euphoria of the day's events & cared little that we had no audience to hear our politicized slogans. we marched to the RMIT library. our comrades downstairs had occupied it whilst the police were trying to force us out. we debated over whether to try & occupy the library too, but we were all tired, & an hour later the comrades occuping the library decided to leave. the day finally came to an end at a nearby bar, where shared cigarettes & beer united us all even further.
nobody was arrested. although our demands weren't met, this action achieved what we originally set out to do - raise awareness through the media, & force people to think about this issue. it was the longest uni occupation in australia since 1997. in short it was very exciting. it feels so good to have a campaign i have worked so hard for actually achieve something. socialist alternative put so much effort into this action, & it was so exciting to see it pay off with such a mobilising action.
this is a very brief & half-assed account of what happened as i'm too tired to go into proper details. if you're lucky i'll post videos tomorrow. goodnight everyone xx.