NEO•GRIOT

Kalamu ya Salaam's information blog

February 8, 2011

INTERVIEW: Puerto Rican student striker Gamelyn Oduardo > www.socialism.com

Voices of Color Interview

Gamelyn Oduardo:

labor support and women’s leadership are key

Interview by Yuisa Gimeno

Student striker Gamelyn Oduardo, right, engages with puertorriqueños at UCLA about how the
UPR strike succeeded and next steps in building the movement. Photo: Yuisa Gimeno

More photos

Gamelyn Oduardo, a law student at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Rio Piedras campus, is
a member of the student coordinating committee that led the shut down of 10 UPR campuses
from April 21 to June 17, 2010. The successful strike stopped devastating cuts, tuition hikes and
privatization. Puerto Rican feminist Yuisa Gimeno interviewed him.

http://blip.tv/file/4320376

What conditions motivated the strike?

The government imposed neoliberal policies that were crippling all state-owned schools and
public services like water and electricity and laid off over 20,000 workers. UPR’s budget was
reduced by $300 million in the last 10 years.

Maintenance and clerical workers, and faculty suffered reductions in benefits and salaries and
lay-offs. For students, this meant worse conditions and less courses available. The administration
was still being paid six digit salaries.

Students mobilized with the support of a 24-hour general strike of all organized sectors. The
administration “locked out” all of the campuses for a week, as a “security measure.” As the union
leadership backed out from the idea of a more prolonged strike, the student movement turned to
itself.

What factors and groups made the strike successful?

Our occupations received massive support from labor unions, LGBT and women’s organizations,
parents, religious groups and local and international artists. Action Committees were the building
blocks of our strike. Internally, radical democracy was the only way in which we kept united. It
is horizontal in structure, deliberation, and the discussion of ideas.

UPR faculty, maintenance and clerical workers unions and the Teacher’s Federation helped us
shut down the campus and the off-site central administration office. The more radical union,
UTIER (electrical workers), set up a 24-hour campsite outside the campus, provided security,
brought food and water and helped keep the picket lines going.

Women were the core and vanguard of the movement and on the front lines. In many cases they
were braver than the men. Women were on the coordinating and negotiating committees and held
public speaking roles. The next strike is going to be the strike of the women.
As California’s eyes were on UPR, our eyes have been on California. Support from organized
students and workers in California was of special importance. Rallies in solidarity throughout the
world let us know that we are not alone in the struggle for public education.

What challenges does the movement face now?

The Board of Trustees still insist on imposing a “fee” of $800 to every student, while reducing
worker’s benefits and services. Federal Pell grants or loans of students involved in the strike
have not been released. We haven’t been able to buy books we need for school, single mothers
haven’t been able to pay tuition or the rent. The Legislative Branch has enacted laws to impose
restrictions on student assemblies, and propose to prohibit work stoppages at UPR.

We are organizing for another possible strike to defy the administration and take to the streets to
fight the neoliberal establishment. Most students are convinced that only through radical reform
can the university be fully autonomous.

How can Puerto Rican and U.S. activists work together to build solidarity?

Student activists can play an integral role in bringing people together and raising consciousness
of the actions that need to be taken, but we can’t do it alone. We need rank-and-file union
members. We can’t stop the capitalist offensive by ourselves. The labor movement moves the
machinery of the system and they can stop it — not just for 24 hours but for a long time.

We must exchange ideas and build solidarity in person. Students in California have an open
invitation to come and strike with us.

Related story: Puerto Rican student striker tours California

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48514834/10-12-10-Puerto-Rican-Striker-Tours-California