STOP PANDA EXPRESS

Please be
on SPROUL STEPS
at 7:30pm
THURSDAY March 6, 2009!!!!!!!

We as REACH!, and as UC Berkeley students need to stop panda express from coming onto our campus. We do not need these big corporations and businesses to infect our campus that we hold so dearly. we want a campus that will not buy into the mainstream media and commotions. but for this to happen we need to DEMAND it.

keep fighting. let our voices be heard.

michelle wong


Below is from one of the ASUC Senators, Christina Oatfield, please read and at the very end there are links to learn more:

Hello everyone who has supported the No Panda Express campaign,

*Panda Express Representatives are coming to Berkeley this Thursday!! This
is HUGE! *This is* our opportunity to show them the opposition to Panda
Express at UC Berkeley and drive them away!!* The Store Operations Board has
been voting by a slim majority to continue contract negotiations with Panda,
but *there is still no finalized contract and it is definitely not too late
to stop the plans, especially because Panda has not seen our opposition yet
and if Panda saw how we're able to mobilize against them they might think
twice before spending all that money to come onto our campus.*
They have a private meeting scheduled with members of the SOB and ASUC
elected officials only this Thursday at 8pm in the basement of Sproul Hall,
behind the security of UCPD, but that can't stop us from exercising our
rights to free speech and protesting outside!!

At the last SOB meeting, several dozen students came out and spoke about the
*environmental sustainability, health* and *cultural concerns* they had with
the plans to bring Panda Express into Lower Sproul. *This kind of
mobilization is unprecedented in the history of the Store Operations
Board.*I think the Board was pretty impressed and intimated by our
presence last
time, now let's see if we can scare Panda away from signing the contract.
We need to tell the SOB and Panda Express that we *will not stand for a
large, unhealthy, unsustainable fast food chains that will bring a
commercialized atmosphere to our student union area and misrepresent Chinese
cuisine*. The vacant space in the student union should be used as a student
space, not a commercial space. *We could use it for a student run food
co-op, a bike maintenance shop, space for performing arts, meditation/prayer
space* or other benefits to the local community, rather than a large
nation-wide chain that will suck money out of our local economy.
*Come march in front of the Panda Express meeting in Sproul Hall this
Thursday night at 7:30pm.* Join the Asian-American, Co-op, environmentalist,
progressive, socially conscious and other communities to say no to cultural
imperialism and environmental degradation.

More information about the No Panda Express campaign at UC Berkeley is
below:
*
Daily Cal article about a recent SOB meeting:*
http://www.dailycal.org/article/104095/plans_and_protest_continue_for_panda_express_on_lo

*Opinion piece written by two students*:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/104172/panda_express_lacks_berkeley_s_hallmark_sustainabi

facebook group with *lots of general info* about why you should oppose Panda
Express: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=33790440915&ref=ts

link
to *petition *against panda (in case you haven't signed it yet):
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ksDkJITQycLuKOuei9cIqw_3d_3d

in solidarity with those fighting for environmental and social justice
around the world,

Christina Oatfield
christinaoatfield@gmail.com

Recently, Dr. Jim Yong Kim was elected the new president of Dartmouth. Full article about his election here.

However, Dartmouth students wrote a racist email, apparently meant to be a joke, but executed in poor taste. Here is the email.

"Yesterday came the announcement that President of the College James Wright will be replaced by Chinaman Kim Jim Yong. And a little bit of me died inside.

It was a complete supplies.

On July 1, yet another hard-working American's job will be taken by an immigrant willing to work in substandard conditions at near-subsistent wage, saving half his money and sending the rest home to his village in the form of traveler's checks. Unless "Jim Yong Kim" means "I love Freedom" in Chinese, I don't want anything to do with him. Dartmouth is America, not Panda Garden Rice Village Restaurant.

Y'all get ready for an Asianification under the guise of diversity under the actual Malaysian-invasion leadership instituted under the guise of diversity. It's a slippery slope we are on. I for one want Democracy and apple pie, not Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen. I know I sure as shit won't ever be eating my Hop dubs bubs with chopsticks. I like to use my own two American hands."

Then the Dartmouth Pan Asian Council (PAC) issued an apology-

"Hello everyone,

Tonight the PAC interns and Elaine met with Sylvia Spears, Molly Bode, and representatives from the Inter-Community Council, Diversity Peer Advisor interns, and a member of General Good Morning Message (not the writer) to discuss the blitz that was sent out this morning.

As you now know, a blitz intended to be satirical and humorous was executed in poor taste and offended many people in our community, as well as in the entire campus. It has been made clear that no one on any level thinks what happened this morning was in any way acceptable, GGMM writers included. All 7 writers of the GGMM realize the gravity of the statements made in the blitz, regardless of intent, and are taking internal measures towards a resolution. The blitz from this morning will no longer be circulated.

Immediate updates:
- Tomorrow, the author and the members of GGMM will send out a campus-wide blitz apologizing to the Asian & Asian-American community, as well as Dartmouth as a whole, acknowledging not only the lack of oversight on GGMM's part, but also the deeply offensive nature of the blitz's contents.

-The author will be utilizing OPAL's resources to address underlying and perhaps subconscious biases that led to the blitz being composed and sent out.

-Upper level members of the Administration will be meeting tomorrow morning to assess the situation. This issue is being taken very serious. More information to come after President Wright and administrators meet.

In the near future:
-Students will collaborate to organize a reception for President-Elect Kim. We hope to demonstrate to Dr. Kim that all of campus is very excited for his arrival.

-The author will compose a formal apology to President-Elect Kim. [sic]"

More comprehensive cover of this issue here.

What do YOU think? Should satirical comments be taken at face value? Or are there deeper issues that spur these remarks but are not addressed? How do you feel about the writer of the racist email generalizing President-Elect Kim's Korean ethnicity to include Chinese racial slurs? More specifically, notice the remark about "Panda Garden Rice Village Restaurant." Such a generic name is only MORE REASON TO PROTEST AGAINST A PANDA EXPRESS ON CAMPUS that will further misrepresent Chinese cuisine!

P.S. Rally tomorrow against Panda Express coming into Berkeley! 7:30 on the Sproul steps!