27 Apr The Return
We are facing the end of our contract, we unionized TAs and RAs. I worry (as i’m apt to do).
I am discovering, the longer i’m in this process as a grad student, that i am far more tolerant and mellow than i ever expected i’d be capable of being. What this has meant has been to find and hear the myriad voices of dissent – the dissent against the dissent – the dissenting dissent of dissenters. It’s a cacophony of dissension.
“All right stop. Collaborate and listen.”
Maybe it’s time for Vanilla Ice to make a visit by the department. The frustration and the frustration over the frustration means that people are not communicating. There is a lot of yackity-yack-yack going on. A lot of blustering and hand-wringing. How do we make people communicate? I worked this week to bring in undergraduates who could speak to graduate students and union reps who could talk to grad students. Not very many showed up. Even after all of the discussions i’ve had over the past few days talking to people about their concerns.
Well, luckily, i finally feel much better informed. I feel much better and more ready to handle the strikes next week. Although, it doesn’t look the union will call a strike, there has been a call from FADU. Unfortunately, FADU has been blustering so much that they’re coming off as “fringe” – which is unfortunate.
I often cringe when i hear the judgment and frustration coming from what are supposed to be the vanguard. The point of the vanguard is not to re-create or re-enact hierarchical structures that mimic class structures through judgments based on their own self-conceived line of knowing, rather is to act as the line of communication and encouragement – the point of reference that explains the need for action. The failings of the Communist party, particularly under the likes of Lenin, came from that sensibility of “we know best and better” – the false RE (not DE) construction of class. Be patient, FADU. Be gentle. Do outreach that does not expect the rank and file to add to their already-over-loaded plates of work. You cannot expect everyone to have the kind of fervor over working conditions that you have just because you happen to have them at this moment.
One of my favourite quotes of all time is a Gramsci quote:
“Permanent passion is a condition of orgasm and of spasm, which means operational incapacity.”
Yes, i think some of us recognize that now is the time for passion – but it has to come through a medium of rationality. No matter how hard we try to recognize these as a false dichotomy, they still work this way in many people’s minds. Recognize your audience.
Recognize and respect your audience right where they are. This moment is not the time to lash out unproductively because others don’t see your viewpoint. Did we learn nothing from the last 10 years? Nothing? The more we alienate each other, the less we work together. The less we work together, the more we recreate the society that has been constructed around us. You do not build community through derision, judgment, and frustration. You build it through common cause and communication. You do it by putting away egos and stepping forward in humility.
Yes – put away the ego and let’s try working together…
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