To The Editor:

An Open Letter to the New School 

by micah murphy | 13.3.09 

Recently Professor Arato was quoted calling New School protests “pathetic vanguardism” (New School Free Press, 2 Nov.). That's an unfortunate choice of words. Personally, I prefer these protests to the politics of “let’s-play-pretend” (so appropriate to the age of Obama, I must admit!): let’s pretend the university is paying over a half million dollars a year for a president who’s not president, let’s pretend a temporary provost is the real president, let’s pretend passing motions and sending emails are real democratic action, etc.

Unfortunately, millions of job losses and home foreclosures, hundreds of thousands killed in wars, the selling out of the university, etc. are not pretend events. Nor did they just magically happen. They can’t even be blamed solely on some abstract “system” or on the “commodity-form.” Not to be too Arendtian about this, but they came about because certain persons decided and acted, persons who can be judged and held responsible. I hope I don't have to point out that the worst culprits are the ones who pushed for war in the Middle East, for letting Wall Street run wild, and for turning education into a business and the New School into Neocon U.

Others can continue their politics of make-believe – apparently they think it’s working, even after eight years of disaster! If they’re not ready for tactics of civil disobedience and direct action in the year 2009, during a singular crisis, at the New School, where certain actors can and should be held responsible, then obviously they will never be ready.

Sincerely,

Micah Murphy
PhD Candidate
NSSR