Crapitalism Election Brief 2006

By Albert Wang

Today marks the start of the 2006 election for the Associated Students of the University of California, UC Berkeley's student government. With CalSERVE, the campus's major opposition party, not running candidates for executive positions this year, the victory of campus monolith Student Action seems a foregone conclusion. However, the potential consequences of a Student Action sweep cannot be ignored.

Student Action portrays itself as a service-oriented party that dedicates itself entirely to serving the student interest. Thus its rampant favoritism and avarice are all the more onerous. In November, Student Action closed down the city's only arcade to make way for the fifth location of an ice cream chain located a block away from campus, and then congratulated itself for it. The significance of this action cannot be understated. In a time of unprecedented ASUC prosperity, Student Action proceeded, in the face of protest, to destroy a community for the sake of some extra revenue. Nor is this the first time such greed has victimized a part of our campus; several years ago, the campus bowling alley was closed down in order to furnish the ASUC bookstore with a more favorable location. UC Berkeley can no longer avoid the unpleasant truth that Student Action, far from "fighting for students," cares only for the most popular or lucrative interests, to the exclusion of all others.

All those who believe in a diverse experience for UC Berkeley students, all those who do not feel represented by Student Action's self-aggrandizing bread-and-circuses politics, and all minority organizations who recognize the threat posed to their existence by such, should all vote against Student Action. UC Berkeley cannot take another year of hypocrisy, money-grubbing and the elimination of minority interests.