Activists Benefit from Cooperation

A long-standing problem for the activist community (not just here at Harvard, but all over the world) is our failure to embrace one another and to realize that "their" issues, are "our" issues, that those of us who feel strongly about trying to improve our society, and our world, are on the same side. Thus it is supremely logical that we should have had three groups work in solidarity at the rally on Tuesday, each of which shares an ideal vision of a world in which people live with safety, comfort, health and dignity. We are proud to share in such a vision, and we were thrilled to see so many people here willing to work toward and support it.

Initially, there were doubts among many of us as to whether we could really make a case for a relationship between our three campaigns. There is substantial overlap between the two labor campaigns, and many were unsure as to where the Coalition Against Sexual Violence fit it. But we have a lot more in common with the coalition than any of us thought. Gender is a crucial element in labor issues; thus virtually all codes of conducts acknowledge specifically the abuse and discrimination to which women in sweatshops (not to mention decent workplaces) are subjected. What it boils down to is that each of our campaigns has a serious human rights dimension. We ultimately realized that our dissatisfaction with Harvard's conscious and widespread violation of or inattention to human rights is not too vague of a platform.

And as we worked together, we all realized that it is not enough to demand that Harvard do right by its students. Harvard must do right locally, nationally, globally--by its students, its employees and workers in other countries who contribute to Harvard's global prestige by making its propaganda. Like it or not, we are part of this community. That makes us some of the most privileged, fortunate people in the world: I believe there is no means of empowerment more potent than education. We thus have a responsibility for our community's behavior in not only the educational but the global arena. To not believe this is to fall into the delusion propagated by the administration, that we are only here for four years, so we can make no difference.

Obviously, the 400-plus students who attended the rally on Tuesday disagree. Those same students were thrilled to hear President Rudenstine's statement that full disclosure would be a part of any Harvard anti-sweatshop policy. What the students didn't hear, which is also in that statement, is the two or three times in which the president graciously acknowledged the work that has been done with students this year on the sweatshop issue and the hopes of the administration that the relationship with us will continue to be fruitful and productive. As a member of the anti-sweatshop campaign, I was both very appreciative and very thankful for that acknowledgement. I would like to hold it up as the model that must prevail for both the Living Wage Campaign and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence.

The demands of both campaigns are vitally important. The tragic incident at Byerly Hall Tuesday night is a frightening reminder of how desperately urgent the coalition's demands for rape education, resources and prevention on this campus are.

Similarly, some workers at Harvard-the same ones who are not unionized-are currently facing a pay reduction. By not paying them the $10 an hour that Harvard can afford and that would put those employees over the poverty line and by actually lowering their wages, Harvard stands to make its human rights record worse, not better. I am sincerely hopeful that Harvard will act in as enlightened a manner with respect to these other two campaigns as they have with the anti-sweatshop students. I know that I, at least, plan to keep watch until they do so.

I made the dartboard quote of the week in the Independent yesterday, saying "this is not just a rally, it's a social event." Permit me to say that those hundreds of us who gathered together on Tuesday to raise our voices in united diversity, have re-defined what it means to be social at Harvard--you can laugh, sing make music, and have fun and use those tools to advance social justice. Pleasure and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive.

However, I caution those of us who were there that fighting for justice rarely comes as easily or with as much joy and pleasure as it came on Tuesday. And I caution us as well that the battle has not been won and that the war is far from over. But we know now that we can do it, as long as we keep in mind what the real achievement was on Tuesday: our strength, our unity, our voices, our convictions and our joy. We came together on Tuesday to fight serious social problems, from rape, to poverty, to the denial of dignity. Unexpectedly we discovered something to be thankful for and to enjoy in this world--each other.