Strike (1969), UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front's Demands for Educational Self-Determination and Racial Justice

[Radical Activism] [Latino, Chicano] [African American] [Counterculture] Rare and powerful student protest pamphlet issued by the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) during the landmark 1969 strike at the University of California, Berkeley. This publication documents one of the most significant multiethnic student-led movements in American higher education, in which Black, Chicano, Asian American, and other marginalized students united to demand institutional recognition, self-determination, and community control of education. Strike 1969. Third World Liberation Front. Berkeley: Third World Liberation Front, 1969. Scarce. 20 pages. Illustrated with political (truncated) cartoons, timeline, and protest photography. Original stapled self-wrappers. The pamphlet features a cartoon cover by Berkeley underground artist Roger Ashe, depicting a porcine police figure sprawled before Sather Gate, beneath the ominous quote from Chancellor Heyns: “Sather Gate will be kept open by any means necessary.”

The TWLF strike began on January 22, 1969, as a coordinated campaign to compel the university to establish a Third World College, with departments in Black, Chicano, and Asian Studies, led and staffed by members of those respective communities. As the pamphlet declares, “The fundamental issue of this strike is the right of Third World people to determine the structure and content of the Third World programs on this campus.” It criticizes the university’s paternalistic posture: “We don’t need to be told what to think or how to do it; we are capable of determining on our own what kind of education we want and need.” The demand for autonomy is inseparable from a critique of white liberalism and institutional racism: “The racist power structure does not give up power willingly. Rights are not given; they must be won.” The chronology details escalating confrontation between students and administration, from early demands submitted by the Afro-American Student Union in April 1968 to the full mobilization of TWLF in January 1969. In February and March, the university deployed the National Guard and police to violently suppress protests, leading to mass arrests, injuries, and academic discipline. The pamphlet exposes these tactics as deliberate repression: “The TWLF wants to make it clear that the so-called legal system cannot get away with this type of terror tactic.” It calls for amnesty, asserting: “All disciplinary charges against cited students be dropped. Academic amnesty will be granted to all striking students.” On the final page, a clenched fist graphic accompanies the colophon: “Written and distributed by the Third World Liberation Front.” Staple rust and light toning to edges; minor handling creases to wrappers. Unbound. Overall very good condition. A critical primary source from one of the most important student strikes in American history, Strike 1969 captures the voice and vision of a generation of radical students of color fighting for educational sovereignty and racial justice at the height of the Black Power and Chicano movements. (Inventory #: 22110)