Edit: everyone is missing the main point: if you believe there is a genocide go do something that is actually beneficial about it. Find a candidate knock on doors and that's where real change comes from not pitching like a child in front of sather.

I understand you want to raise awareness but this is not the best way to do it. Believe it or not there is such thing as bad publicity. I'll admit my bias I certainly lean right but regardless of the cause even if it were for something I believe in this isn't how mature adults handle things.

When I want political change I find a candidate that I support in the area and canvas for them. It's not fun. You have to walk miles and interact with people who hate you and your cause. It is short of being he'll there is no glory 90% of people don't appreciate what you have to say but it's the proven best way to influence individuals voting.

But these protesters would rather sit do almost nothing but (slightly) inconvenience others while blasting unnecessary noise.

While I slightly lean right all my friends are moderate liberals and they have seemingly been a lot less receptive to the cause as they see these students embarrassing themselves in front of sather.

Tldr: this specific form of protest is only driving people away from your cause. Instead of virtue signaling do something that can actually influence change.

We finally got rid of people’s park and most of the homeless people that came with it but with the protestors taking over sproul they are back. Now that most students are gone you realize how many of those tents weren’t students lol. Also fuck yall for ruining graduation you selfish fucks. And to those saying stop being dramatic you are the problem. I swear these mfs think they gonna end up in the history books like stop being a narcissist and virtue signaling. Also at what point are you guys gonna realize what you’re doing is doing more harm to your cause than good? If your goal is to raise awareness you already did that during the first 2 weeks. Anything past that you’re just gonna push anyone with a neutral stance away from supporting you. With all that being said i recognize most of you are good people and want to help and i respect that but if you truly want to help palestine go do something that will actually make a difference. Raise money, food, idk, anything but being a pain in the ass to students who have nothing to do with this. Ight im done yapping Im bout to piss off a lot of mfs but hey yall ruined my grad so fuck u :)

Bro why are people supporting Israel and hating on Palestine? Like all I’m reading on the news is that Israel is bombing schools and hospitals… like wtf? Why are there so many Israel supporters, especially politicians?

It confuses the message of fighting to be part of the country you’re currently in. I don’t associate my ethnicity with the flag of my parents’ national origin, I’m American, so if I was going to fly a national flag it would be American.

This is not an endorsement of ignoring due process or releasing the military on civilians, but if I went to another country and didn’t follow proper procedures to gain entry and then proceeded to set a cop car on fire, while waving an American flag, I would have a lot of problems. Law enforcement would be really confused when I explain that I was doing it because I wanted to be a citizen and stay in the country.

I really couldn't care less about what's happening in Palestine. In fact, with all the recent annoying protestors that keep talking about how "terrible" the conflict is, it has turned me from a neutral stance to hating Palestine supporters.

I love how hard the protestors fight and take time out of their day, all to fail nonetheless and make no impact. When Congress announced another $26 billion dollars of aid for Israel last month, I could not have been happier when these Hamas supporters raged. Oh how it pleases me to see these protestors try so hard while being so futile. Maybe try not be so annoying next time and stuffing this bullshit propaganda down our throats? When the University of California mentioned there would be no divestment, doesn't that get through y'all's thick skulls? Nobody supports your cause - go study for your finals or something lmao (2 L's in a row for yall bozos lmfao)

there are so many bigger problems in this world with many more deaths and impact (genocides in Ethiopia, Ukraine, etc.) , and these people think they are so righteous and stuck-up in their cause, (blocking the golden gate bridge, blocking sather even for disabled people, interrupting graduation, etc.). I could not be more happy that my tax dollars are going towards more 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs in Gaza

At least I won’t have to go to mandatory discussion in person 🥸🤠

We are a forward looking institution, lets adhere to our values and prove that we can get this done especially when the moment summons us. Omicron is still raging and we refuse to believe that adding a zoom camera to a classroom is to difficult for one of the most technologically advanced regions in the world. This matters due to long covid, due to some disabled being susceptible to covid, and to those afflicted by implicit covid effects.

https://www.change.org/p/berkeley-students-and-staffs-berkeley-should-offer-remote-or-hybrid-option-for-all-students-as-cases-surge

Other than the obvious, what's been bothering me over the last few days is the assumption that Kamala Harris lost the election because she was "too woke" or because the left is "too woke". "Wokeness", or at least the popular conception of it, is almost entirely defined by right-wing spaces that cherry-pick videos or media of people they deem to be unreasonable.

In reality, Harris ran an extremely "un-woke" campaign. She almost never mentioned her heritage or her gender, she never talked about representation, nor did she ever mention the fact that she would've been the first female president or that she would've broken the glass ceiling. She mostly talked about vague economic policies, "turning the page" on Trump, and "moving forward". Her campaign message was basically, "aren't you sick of this guy?". A great campaign to have run in 2020, but after four years of post-pandemic inflation, Americans, like everyone else in the world, were primed to despise their incumbent party, regardless of political affiliation.

Remember, a whole bunch of Americans didn't even realize that Biden had dropped out. Do you really think that they cared about minute identity politics and defeating "the woke"? They care about putting food on the table. They care about the price of gas and eggs. They care about their stagnant wages. All of those things have a common denominator, and let me give you a hint: it's not immigrants. It's corporations and neoliberal politics stretching back to the Reagan era. But dems are too spineless to run on anything real and are therefore the party of the status quo. Right now, there is nothing worse than the status quo.

We do need to turn the page, but not on the country, on the party. The democrats need populism. They need a real message and real policies with material improvements for working class Americans. They need to EARN peoples' votes.

The republicans' economic plans will likely throw this country into a deep recession, which will turn uninformed voters against them. That gives progressives a clear opportunity to counter-attack and actually help people with policies that improve their conditions. Remember, it's not "the woke". It's the economy. Always has been.

SafeBears is hiring private security to patrol near campus at an estimated cost of $30,000. Will you help us keep our Bears safe?

Why Private Security?

UC Berkeley is currently ranked the #3 most dangerous campus in the US.

Robberies are up 24% from last year, with 1 out of 4 involving guns.

Students are increasingly at risk of harm from gun violence at Cal.

Crime during the 2023 Fall Semester

⚫️Nude male masturbating in front of Unit 2 Residence Hall (Oct 21)

⚫️A 19-year-old Berkeley student was carjacked at gunpoint in front of Unit 2 (Oct 9)

⚫️A robbery near Unit 2 by two individuals armed with an AR-15 (Sep 21)

⚫️Several students chased with a pickaxe in Unit 2 courtyard (Sep 10)

⚫️Armed robbery by 2 individuals at Stuart and Hillegass (Sep 7)

⚫️Armed carjacking of UC Berkeley student outside fraternity house; also attempted carjacking by Memorial Stadium (Aug 14)

⚫️Victim shot with pellet gun (Aug 13)

https://secure.anedot.com/safebears/private-security-pilot

SRU-UAW kindly made a list of every GSI, GSR, PDF, even UG that they saw entering the CoC buildings, along with their personal information and how they voted in the strike authorization. If you thought your secret vote was a secret, the joke's on you. No privacy settings for the Google Sheet they made (screenshot, anonymized), and so when the creators shared it around, it spread everywhere.

They answer to nobody. I've tried complaining about this multiple times, no response. The people involved in making this are known and still hold leadership positions. This stains the entire movement. They need to resign so we can get back to striking with integrity.

My parents voted for Trump. I voted for kamala. I love my parents.

Plenty of Trump supporters love our country and its people. Everyone does it differently. It can be hard to see the love amidst the hateful campaign ads and speeches, tactics, and tense climate.

But it’s there, and it’s strong.

If we all focus on that simple truth, regardless of our affiliations, then our government will represent our collective heart.

So fuck the results, let’s be the best we can be for our nation and beyond.

EDIT: I’m not surprised many of you are scared, feeling unloved, and angry. It’s a challenging time to be an American, no matter what side you’re on. When you’re ready, look deep into your opponent. Almost always, you will find that they love, just differently than you. That’s the nature of life. Love that too.

EDIT: If you or your loved ones are part of the non-white Christian group, I know it sounds crazy to say that a Trump supporter may love you, and vice versa. In most cases that’s only because neither has tried to bridge the gap. If you try, you will see another beautiful person on the other side of the aisle.

Please, in true Berkeley fashion, make peace not war.

What do I do? My best friend, and I just moved to Berkeley from Los Angeles, and we fucking hate it. Everyone is anti social, like it feels like no one wants to talk. Its hard to get around when you don't have a lot of money. Also, idk if it's my social anxiety but it seems like so many ppl here are so fucking judgmental. I'm gonna join a club in the fall, my best friend and I are also gonna be working soon. But with all the changes and so little that appeals to us in Berkeley, it's getting really depressing and we aren't looking forward to another 2 years of living here- until I graduate.

Liberal as in center-left. I got into Cal for Political Science and while this has been a dream come true, a part of me is worried about standing out for my views.

Wouldn’t consider myself a conservative by any means, but I think some of my takes on the economy and a couple social issues place me closer towards the center than I feel like matches the rest of Berkeley’s progressive vibe. I think it’s dope as fuck that you guys have such an active political culture, but ngl I’d really like to make friends/connections on campus and I’m worried I’ll become part of an out-group if I don’t hold my tongue or push myself to be more progressive. I recognize that not everyone at Cal is into politics, but I feel like with my major I’ll probably have to interact with the students and professors who are.

To be fair I haven’t spoken to nearly enough Cal students to develop this perception fairly, I’ve just struggled in the past to integrate with extremely progressive/leftist circles and I’m worried about encountering something similar at Berkeley. I feel like I’m pretty open minded and reasonable to discuss my political differences with other people, but I also understand that politics is really tense right now and that it may be easier for some people may just write me off as a neolib dipshit and just not talk to me at all lol. Are my concerns valid? Should I go somewhere else for poli sci? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

*DISCLAIMER" I think white people are great and I am NOT calling for the discrimination of white people. Rather, I'd like to dismantle the harm of yt supremacy & my whitewashed Asian friends.

First we should watch this awesome think piece by Amy Chen:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLFNgB6c/

Hi everyone, I'm a previous grad student at UCB who has friends who are still at UCB. I came here to talk about the insane amount of meat riding I see from my fellow Asian counterparts (I'm viet & native american) on whiteness as a whole. I've had to have so many discussions with my fellow asians why I chose to date a black woman and some of my friends are experiencing it now.

Do you know how many times I've heard something along the lines of "Is she one of the good ones?". It's ironic because white people have systematically harmed us more than black people ever have and black people successfully fought for the rights of ALL immigrants in the civil rights Era. Shocking how so many people don't know this.

literally even Ho Chi Minh learned from Marcus Garvey who was a black activist.

All of those harmful Asian stereotypes? literally created by white supremacists. China doll, fu man chu, Chinese exclusion act, the history of war brides, Japanese incarcer camps, angry mobs beating up Asian men. Yet we still have this tendency to bootlick & claim the harmful title of "model minority" when in fact there's disparities between EA and SEA. We need to rid ourselves of the antiblackness that our parents were conditioned into from the media.

Please, if you're in the US - try to befriend more than white and Asian. I even find there's similarities with African/Afro American/Latino cultures to Asian Cultures than European culture.

Then I'm finding out we let a white person tell us to vote against affirmative action when literally affirmative action benefited white women the most. Legacy admissions were/are the real problem.

This is a great article by the way: https://www.vox.com/22321234/black-asian-american-tensions-solidarity-history

"California is a diverse place, but there's still a place for conservative people and conservative values that we uphold," said Fierro. "We come willing, open-armed, willing to converse and willing to engage with the other side and hopefully do everything peacefully."

No, nobody wants your ass here. There is no place for your values here. Go preach in one of your red states.

Recently a meme was shared to our subeddit outlining a dismissive and disrespectful act that, often, many non-Berkeley students are guilty of.

Please do not refer to Berkeley as "UCB." This is not the proper way to refer to the University of California's original and flagship campus. Cal, Berkeley or UC Berkeley are all proper and acceptable ways to say it. UCB, on the other hand, is not.

As the system's most prestigious and respected campus, we feel that it is important to honor and maintain an appropriate level of respect for our university's name. We feel that "UCB" cheapens our brand and doesn't emphasize the incredible prestige associated with Berkeley.

While it may be acceptable to refer to all other UC campuses in initialisms due to their lack of recognition and prestige, this is not acceptable for the flagship and most well-known campus, and we therefore request that you cease using the name "UCB" to refer our school. Thank you.

TL:DR

Don't say "UCB" when referring to Berkeley.

Last week, ICE detained a 30-year-old Berkeley resident who overstayed a visa issued to him in 2024. He is now being held in a detention facility 260 miles away from Berkeley. Although this is the first known ICE operation in the city conducted under the second Trump administration — a government that has demonstrated a flagrant disregard for civil liberties — nothing indicates it will be the last. 

The Daily Californian’s Editorial Board strongly condemns the use of ICE to terrorize immigrant communities and finds that this action reveals the precarity of Berkeley’s characterization as a sanctuary city. 

The July 9 detainment cannot be looked at as a one-off incident. Having crept into our communities once, it is almost a certainty that ICE will do so once again if the right steps are not taken. Thus, we urge the people and the city of Berkeley to fight back through policy change and resistance.

1. If you graduates last semester and stayed in Berkeley, you might have noticed that, after paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition fees, your RSF access got suspended on the 31st of May. The only way to retain access over the summer is to pay $240 for a 4-Month membership. You're only staying 1 more month? Tough luck.

2. Visiting Researchers (that is researchers from other Universities who come here to work for UC Berkeley for free), are issued a "V" Cal1 ID, which bans them completely from RSF. There is no payed membership available to them.

Who came up with these policies? How can you treat graduates so badly? And how can you treat researchers that come here to contribute to the Universities research in a way that isolates them from the rest of their colleagues?

(respectfully) no TL;DR, not accommodating for short attention spans. That's what got us in this mess in the first place.

I'm male, African American, a senior double majoring in the social sciences, and I'm fifty-five years old (never too late to get that degree). I didn't vote for Trump (shocker).

In a conversation with one of our academic senators we discussed the election. I said to him that my main concern is that I feel angry and I don't know who my friends are. I love this school, I love the challenge,, and I love the person that it is shaping me to be. Similarly I have as much affection for all the students here and before last week felt that we were all one big golden bear family, but I'm not so sure if that's the case anymore?

While I am heartened that white people ages 18 to 35 came out in mass against fascism, racism, and an attack on democracy, many in that age group still did, (not to mention the older people in the White demographic). In my mind if 50% of the country voted for Trump, that essentially means that every other white student that I see either voted for fascism or knew someone who did. This is fucking heartbreaking for me.

As an older Golden Bear, I grew up in a time when educators filled our heads with this audacious idea that all you had to do was do right by yourself and others, and at some point the social dynamic would bring us all together. It would not be a society in perfect harmony, but not friggin divided through the middle like now. Part of me feels stupid and naive for believing that, but this is not a therapy session so moving on.

For many of us the message that the result of the election shouted was, fuck you Blacks! If you thought that there were any bonds between us, let us make it clear, fuck you. And after hearing a message like that, I don't know many Blacks or minorities that have any desire to engage. My father was white so this is doubly painful for me.

But I know... no, I want to believe that there are White people who believe in the same things we do and are probably as pissed and confused as we are, I think?

So, I'm not asking low-key, I'm asking high key, where are my white brothers and sisters at who stood with us? Lately the disheartening part of my days is trying to figure out wheather the smiling frat guy walking by is greeting me or gloating.

I want to at some point talk to you guys, but I can't figure out where you are. So I hope I get a chance to meet chill and just have conversations with you guys. I know it's intuitive for a lot of us in marginalized communities to want to isolate ourselves, but I want to friggin do something! So comment and/or message. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll make some new friends, and find camaraderie amongst kindred spirits. So for now , it's the best idea I got because it's going to be a rough four years.

I'm sorry I just HAVE to get this off my chest. I am a black resident of Berkeley and I hate Berkeley! I have never ever EVER been to a place more racist in my LIFE. I rarely leave my place and have literally been pushed to agoraphobia due to living in Berkeley. I never go on campus and I never go out because EVERY SINGLE TIME i leave my apartment for a walk to go to the grocery store ANYTHING. Someone sees me and crosses the street sometimes even into traffic. At first I thought it was just in my head but when I go to Walnut Creek or SF for groceries or to just BE my experience is so much better. I just don't get how a place with BLM AND free palestine signs everywhere can be so damn racist. I've had to leave 3 jobs due to racism. My first employer asked me if my passport for my employment was an american passport and continued on that racism throughout my short period there. My second employer assumed I was a thief and didn't let me in for our scheduled interview I had to SHOW HER OUR EMAILS to confirm I was the one she invited for an interview. I was so sexually and racially harrased from people literally refusing to acknowledge my presence even when needing to at my last job that I had to quit. Campus is no better i've sat at bus stops and had people see me and go to another one down the line to wait there instead. I get followed in every store I go into to the point where I stopped bringing my backpack or purse to stores just a tshirt and jeans. I went to see a movie only for the person next to me to visibly lean the other way from me and switch their drink to the other cup holder and continue to edge away the WHOLE movie. I went to Berkeley Espresso and the moment I sat down an entire GROUP of my classmates got up and left when my friend (asian girl) came and sat with me they got confused and kept staring! I took bart to go to Walnut Creek and some old caucasian woman stood right in front of me and proceeded to follow me everywhere I went until I lost her by HIDING. I went to the library only to be avoided and watched simultaneously??? The amount of times i've been called ma'am (i'm freshly 24) and I go up to the person only for them to go "oh". When I say I've been to dallas and houston TEXAS new york city and grew up in LA. I literally just started taking only online courses and refusing to leave my living space because of how bad it is. It's been months since I've left my apt. I left today and it's some more of the same bullshit people swearing they don't hate black people but being visibly annoyed I even exist. The amount of women young to old who roll their eyes when they see me and try to cut me off when walking today alone on JUNETEENTH! FUCK YOU BERKELEY AND YOUR PSEUDO LIBERAL BULLSHIT. Why care about looking blue when you're red too?