Mario Savio on Sproul Hall steps (2 December 1964)

[struggle4progress]

Savio's full speech

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!

[LoisB]

1. This is a speech I wish everyone had heard (or read).

[lastlib]

2. Sixty years later, it's still relevant.

To end the madness of the current regime, we have to grind the machine to a halt--put our bodies on the gears, and chock the wheels. I could almost advocate for a general strike, but I don't think it's likely to happen.