Somewhere, Abbie Hoffman is Crying.

I just stumbled across this little bit of painfully sad video that's been circulating the internet. Apparently, some students down at NYU decided to have a good, old fashioned takeover of the Food Court. Not a sit-in the President's Office, but a takeover of... yeah, that's right- the food court.

Their demands are OK- some of them make sense, some of them don't- I don't know why you'd lead off with a demand for an amnesty for all those involved. Yeah, way to be martyrs for your cause. Way to put your ideals on the line... 'we want to protest, but we demand NOT to get in trouble for it!' It's like they were going for civil obedience instead of civil DISobedience. And demand number 2? That workers be compensated for fiscal losses suffered during the occupation. WHY ARE YOU PENALIZING THE UNDERPAID FOOD COURT WORKERS? Come on NOW! This is why you take over some place that matters, like the President's office. You take over the Food Court, you're going to piss off students that want food and penalize some of the lowest paid workers (I would guess anyway) on campus. Yeah, up with the proletariat. They can do without a paycheck or two while you attempt to push your demands on people who could care less. The President makes, well, lots and LOTS of money- disrupt his work environment to make your point, not the cooks in the Food Court.

Second of all: wow, do you people not know how to protest. Have you ever seen a documentary on the 60s? Do you not get how to build barricades? And who sends negotiators OUT to meet with authorities? I mean DUH. Of course they're going to be detained! And kids- let's learn how to build a barricade and make some homemade teargas. When a cop just starts shoving your barricade aside as you're in the middle of your revolutionary harangue, it should be a clue that the supposed ramparts of your revolution are not up to the task. And why are you running around trying to have a group therapy session? Do you need facilitators? Why? Why haven't you figured this out before you get to this point? You know- like sit down and say hey, if the police bust in, this is what we're going to do!

The Flower Power of 60s Radicalism just died somewhere. Somewhere, Abbie Hoffman is crying. Shit, somewhere Ayn Rand is crying. Somewhere Gandhi is crying. It doesn't matter what your ideological standings and beliefs are- any way you slice it, this is just sad.

If you're going to takeover a building. DO IT RIGHT! And I would have voted for taking over the President's Office and staging a sit-in for your demands- and practicing non-violent resistance as you did so. I remember when Students Against Sweatshops was emerging on the University of Iowa Campus- they were radical, passionate- and I didn't entirely agree with them. But did they take over the IMU food court. Nope. They took over the President's Office. And FRONT PAGE the next day was shots of them being carried out by police officers. It was peaceful, well-organized and although it was disruptive, it got their points across very, very well.

If you're going to protest, then do it right.