I have always been proud of my participation in protests during the late '60s and early '70'. I was growing up in, of all places, Berkeley which was of course a center of student unrest. There was a sense that we were changing the world. Peace and love could be the order of the day. Clearly we were part of a sea change in the culture and moved all future political discussion to the left.
I have similarly always been proud of being born and raised in Berkeley and re-locating here for most of my adult years. I married and raised two children in this incredible city.
I have not been proud, however, of the actions of tree sitters and others who have sought to stop the construction of the sports training facility adjacent to Memorial stadium on the Cal campus. They have made fools of themselves and Berkeley and cost the university literally millions of dollars. Their protest was not in the spirit of the '60s. It was more akin to a bad satire of real democratic protest. Imagine what the tree sitters could have accomplished if they had employed all that energy to help people in need. (True that would have meant hard work and without nearly as much publicity.)
Today the trees have started to come down. The university has prevailed in court and construction can begin. Finally! Meanwhile if anyone wants to march against the Iraq, an unfair tax structure or cuts in education, count me in. Oh yes and...Go Bears!
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