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title: Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall
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tags:
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- exclude-from-word-count
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- type/media/speech
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creator:
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- type: speaker
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text: Mario Savio
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date: 1964-12-02
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description: >
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Address delivered by Mario Savio 2 December 1964,
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at The University of California at Berkeley,
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prior to a sit-in protesting the university's ban
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on political activities on campus.
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The address is often called the "Bodies Upon the Gears" speech,
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in reference to Savio's second mode of civil disobedience.
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url: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mariosaviosproulhallsitin.htm
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---
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# Sit-in Address on the Steps of Sproul Hall
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%%
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Transcriber's Note:
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The transcription is largely copied from the URL,
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with changes made based on my own listening
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and my preference for formatting.
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%%
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You know, I just wanna say one brief thing
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about something the previous speaker said.
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I didn't wanna spend too much time on that
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'cause I don't think it's important enough.
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But one thing is worth considering.
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He's the---He's the nominal head of an organization
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supposedly representative of the undergraduates.
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Whereas in fact under the current director it derives---
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its authority is delegated power from the Administration.
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It's totally unrepresentative of the graduate students and TA's.
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But he made the following statement (I quote):
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"I would ask all those who are not definitely committed to the FSM[^1] cause
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to stay away from demonstration."
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Alright, now listen to this:
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"For all upper division students
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who are interested in alleviating the TA shortage problem,
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I would encourage you to offer your services
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to Department Chairmen and Advisors."
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That has two things: A strike breaker and a fink.
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[^1]: Free Speech Movement
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I'd like to say---like to say one other thing about a union problem.
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Upstairs you may have noticed they're ready on the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall,
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Locals 40 and 127 of the Painters Union
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are painting the inside of the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall.
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Now, apparently that action had been planned some time in the past.
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I've tried to contact those unions.
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Unfortunately---and \[it\] tears my heart out---
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they're as bureaucratized as the Administration:
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It's difficult to get through to anyone in authority there.
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Very sad.
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We're still---We're still making an attempt.
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Those people up there have no desire to interfere with what we're doing.
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I would ask that they be considered and that they not be heckled in any way.
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And I think that---you know---
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while there's unfortunately no sense of---no sense of solidarity at this point
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between unions and students,
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there at least need be no---you know---excessively hard feelings
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between the two groups.
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There are at least two ways
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in which sit-ins and civil disobedience and whatever---
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least two major ways in which it can occur.
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One, when a law exists, is promulgated,
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which is totally unacceptable to people
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and they violate it again and again and again till it's rescinded, appealed.
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Alright, but there's another way. There's another way.
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Sometimes, the form of the law is such as to render impossible
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its effective violation---as a method to have it repealed.
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Sometimes, the grievances of people are more---extend more---
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to more than just the law,
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extend to a whole mode of arbitrary power,
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a whole mode of arbitrary exercise of arbitrary power.
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And that's what we have here.
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We have an autocracy which---which runs this university.
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It's managed.
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We were told the following:
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If President Kerr actually tried to get something more liberal
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out of the Regents in his telephone conversation,
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why didn't he make some public statement to that effect?
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And the answer we received---from a well-meaning liberal---was the following:
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He said, "Would you ever imagine the manager of a firm
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making a statement publicly in opposition to his Board of Directors?"
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That's the answer.
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Well I ask you to consider---
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if this is a firm,
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and if the Board of Regents are the Board of Directors,
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and if President Kerr in fact is the manager,
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then I tell you something---
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the faculty are a bunch of employees
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and we're the raw material!
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But we're a bunch of raw materials
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that don't mean to be---have any process upon us.
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Don't mean to be made into any product!
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Don't mean---Don't mean to end up being bought
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by some clients of the University,
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be they the government,
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be they industry,
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be they organized labor,
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be they anyone!
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We're human beings!
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And that---that brings me to the second mode of civil disobedience.
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There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious,
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makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part!
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You can't even passively take part!
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And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels,
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upon the levers, upon all the apparatus---
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and you've got to make it stop!
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And you've got to indicate to the people who run it,
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to the people who own it---
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that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!!
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That doesn't mean---and it will be interpreted to mean, unfortunately,
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by the bigots who run _The Examiner_, for example---
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That doesn't mean that you have to break anything.
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One thousand people sitting down some place,
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not letting anybody by, not letting anything happen,
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can stop any machine, including this machine, and it will stop!
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We're gonna do the following---
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and the greater the number of people,
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the safer they'll be and the more effective it will be.
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We're going, once again, to march up to the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall.
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And we're gonna conduct our lives for a while in the 2nd floor of Sproul Hall.
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We'll show movies, for example.
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We tried to get _Un Chant d'Amour_.
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Unfortunately, that's tied up in the court
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because of a lot of squeamish moral mothers for a moral America
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and other people on the outside.
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The same people who get all their ideas out of the _San Francisco Examiner_.
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Sad, sad.
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But, Mr. Landau---Mr. Landau has gotten us some other films.
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Likewise, we'll do something---
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we'll do something which hasn't occurred at this University in a good long time!
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We're going to have real classes up there!
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They're gonna be freedom schools conducted up there,
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we're going to have classes on the 1st and 14th amendments!
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We're gonna spend our time
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learning about the things this university is afraid that we know!
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We're going to learn about freedom up there,
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and we're going to learn by doing!!
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Now, we've had some good, long rallies.
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\[Rally organizers inform Savio that Joan Baez[^2] has arrived.\]
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[^2]: [Joan Baez - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Baez)
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(Just one moment.)
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We've had some good, long rallies.
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And I think I'm sicker of rallies than anyone else here.
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She's not going to be long.
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I'd like to introduce one last person---
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one last person before we enter Sproul Hall. Yeah.
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And the person is Joan Baez.
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