mastodon.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

Administered by:

Server stats:

380K
active users

Miguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉

The European mind cannot comprehend this:

“The University of California just announced a list of military weaponry it wants in order to escalate its warfare on its students:
3000 rounds of pepper munitions
500 rounds of 40mm impact munitions
12 drones
9 grenade launchers

Read the full list here: regents.universityofcalifornia

@Migueldeicaza there's definitely a strong "the call is coming from inside the house" mentality across much of USA

@lyricismist @craignicol @Migueldeicaza The problem is, cake is super cheap now, so we're all eating it. We can't afford housing or medical care, but the cake is delicious! So we hardly notice.

@earthtoneone @lyricismist @craignicol @Migueldeicaza depends on the definition of cake. Cake can also mean the leftover shit that is stuck to the inside of the pots and baking pans. Which is the interpretation that most scholars use when she said, "Let them eat cake." Literally, let them eat the shit caked into the pans.

@Migueldeicaza
I've lived in the US for 55 of my 57 years and I can't comprehend it either

@kims @Migueldeicaza Born, raised, and have lived in California my whole life, and it’s utterly bonkers.

I mean, come on, Davis. You’re not going to kill any students that way.

@gknauss As a UC Davis alumna, I'm not sure whether to be proud or what. I guess UCD doesn't have time for military weapons, being too busy with fistulated cows & the musical ensemble that calls itself "Hell, yes, we're the Cal Aggie Marching Band - Uh!"

@Gorfram Davis prefers the more artisanal, hands-on approach to student cruelty.

@Gorfram Also, in 1986 they didn’t admit me, and I’m still bitter.

@gknauss In 1979, they did admit me; & I've had some reasons to be bitter about that.

@gknauss @kims @Migueldeicaza it’s like that scene from Robin Hood where the sheriff asks “But why a spoon, m’lord?” It’s to make it hurt more, ya twit.

@Migueldeicaza I disagree - ask any French student from the late 1960s about crackdowns on their protests

@dcm
Yeah, Germany as well. But that's 60 years ago.

@Migueldeicaza

@stehgeiger @dcm @Migueldeicaza
Yes, but that did not happen by forces operated by the universities themselves.

Outside police. Sure. They were kind of rebelling against the status ante.

@Migueldeicaza As a French student, I can only disagree. Here in France, the use of weapons by the police against anyone who opposes the government, and that includes students, is very wide-spread. We unfortunately know this too well.

@Migueldeicaza This is chilling, but really the only difference is that in the US policing the campus is university responsibility, whereas in Europe the university leadership calls the regular state police.

@DetersHenning @Migueldeicaza Good nuance. Violent clearing of university building in Europe was and is certainly not uncommon. All done by police.

@Migueldeicaza "...one hundred dollars in rubles, one hundred dollars in gold..."

@Migueldeicaza frenchies can unfortunately comprehend it too much since that’s pretty much what Macron has been doing against his own people protesting his politics…

@metacosm @Migueldeicaza
Last week Macron ordered for 4 millions in cop metal bats...

@wakame @Migueldeicaza that's not the case for University of California, which is a public institution. That is the exception, though

@endrift @Migueldeicaza

They have college football, doesn't that mean they make a lot of money that way?

@Migueldeicaza

Pretty much anyone alive in the 1960s can comprehend it — no matter what continent.

@Migueldeicaza Governor Ronald Reagan would be proud.

@Migueldeicaza ah yes, this liberalism we hear so much about.

@Migueldeicaza What is meant by "building takeover"? Robbery with hostages taken, or some kind of terrorism?

@Migueldeicaza here in Costa Rica we abolished army in 1948, for me it's completely crazy that a University can even think of the possibility of military supplies for its internal security against students.

@Migueldeicaza Well, universities are different here.

E.g. while the buildings for some universities in Vienna are clustered somewhat in the cities, most of them don't have what Americans would call a campus.

Nor their own police.

🤷

So who exactly would be using all the weapons?

@Migueldeicaza
California minds aren't comprehending it either. We are in a bad way.

@Migueldeicaza
This might just be another one of my radical leftist takes, but I think the number of grenade launchers a university should own (that they are ready, willing, and able to use for violence) is 0.

Edit: My wife has a good counterpoint - there could be legitimate research purposes that would involve a grenade launcher, so I've amended my statement.

@jargoggles in America we call this “hating freedom”

@Migueldeicaza The government is cracking down harder on student protesters than literal Nazi riots in Ohio.

@Migueldeicaza

It's a UC tradition.

“If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with, no more appeasement.” -- Ronald Reagan in 1970 speaking about how to handle student protests at the UC.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_P

en.m.wikipedia.org1969 People's Park protest - Wikipedia

@Migueldeicaza That is a scary list indeed. I must say though, that you probably refer to the "civilised european mind". In my part of Europe the antiriot police has been allowed several times inside universities with use of violence including shooting rubber-coated bullets. I have been there myself dodging them and seeing them hitting random people with batons.
elpuntavui.cat/imatges/45/34/a

Random facts: this is the faculty of philosophy and used to be the local HQ of the spanish inquisition.

El Punt AvuiEl Punt Avui
@Migueldeicaza The University of Cambridge has a police force. However their weaponry amounts to “a halberd or partisan (dating from circa 1580), long and short linstocks, a 'butter measure' and two ceremonial truncheons”

@Migueldeicaza wtf is a remotec andros f6a robot, and why do they want to give it a 40mm grenade launcher

@Migueldeicaza I think everybody is looking at this all wrong, the university is only trying to set an example of how to protest effectively. If you’re protesting something that you think is important you need to show up with riot shields and gas masks too, how do you expect them to take you seriously. Like what are chemistry departments for if you’re not home brewing your own teargas to lob at the national guard. C’mon kids, University is a time to apply what you’ve learned.

@Migueldeicaza As a Canadian I am not in the least bit surprised.