2007 Practical Activism Conference at UCSC featuring Angela Davis

Hundreds of students crowded into the College Nine-Ten Multipurpose Room on October 27th for the 5th annual Practical Activism Conference at UC Santa Cruz. The room's capacity was maxed out when Angela Davis spoke and approximately 175 students heard the speech through speakers setup outside the Multipurpose Room. Activist organizations based on campus and in the community were tabling, food was provided and the workshops were very well attended.

Angela Davis spoke about many topics, including solidarity with the antiwar demonstration in San Francisco and those around the United States taking place at the same time, the meaning of "Practical Activism", growing up in Birmingham, Alabama during Jim Crow segregation, the importance of imagination in activism, a brief history of her persecution, organized resistance in the 1930s and 1960s, prisons, the juggernaut of privatization, attacks on education and the ongoing plans for the privatization of the University of California, the racist theories of James Watson, connecting the issues, the plan for a Blackwater training camp in Potrero, the role Blackwater wants to play in repression along the US / Mexico border and the need for global solidarity.

Angela Davis 38:33 minutes

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Crossposted at Indybay.org.