this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
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[–] norimee@lemmy.world 191 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And to think that you guys pay to be there. Imagine loading yourself with massive student debt for a place that stocks up on weapons as if its at war with you.

They are right. I can't wrap my head around it.

[–] Omgarm@lemmy.world 62 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I am glad my biggest worries as a student were if I wasn't failing any classes and not how many weapons the university was buying to control the student body.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Hey Jones! If you fail one more test, I'll have you taken out the back and shot!

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 131 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

I'm an Indiana University alum and my dad was a professor there. During the protests there, they had a fucking sniper on the roof. The protests were in a park next to the student union which had been used for protests since the Vietnam War. I was there in middle school in a shanty that was protesting the 1990s Gulf War. Now the new semester has started and there's a chain link fence around the whole thing.

The president just got a raise.

Makes me fucking sick.

Here's the sniper:

I used to climb up to that roof where that sniper is with friends when I was in high school to smoke weed, so that was a trip to see.

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[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 112 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

European here. "Pepper munitions" aren't military weaponry as they're banned for use in war by the Chemical Weapons Convention. This all reads like riot control stuff. The only weird thing is that american universities have their own police departments.

[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Private railroad companies also have their own police departments.

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[–] ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place 91 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

How is a private entity allowed to buy military grade weaponry to use against their students?

Oh right... 'Merica. You guys have a problem with weapons, a problem no civilized country has. But then again, we're not talking about a civilized country but a capitalism ruled country.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 34 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are plenty of capitalist countries where this sort of shit doesn't happen.

[–] ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.place 41 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Because none of them are ruled by capitalism. Capitalism is their economic system, not their government system.

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Because none of them are ruled by capitalism.

I with you were right...

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[–] HamsterRage@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 weeks ago

Don't say, "against their students", say, "against their customers". Which makes it sound even more ridiculous.

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[–] cheddar@programming.dev 57 points 2 weeks ago

"to escalate its warfare on its students"

Yep, my mind doesn't understand this phrase at all.

[–] ManuLeMaboul@lemmy.world 54 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

The french gendarmerie recently received a new vehicle, it's a tank equipped with a machine gun and 40mm grenade launcher. They're deployed in our colony, Caledonia, to enforce an apartheid. They were also used against ecology protesters recently. Last year, a racist cop murdering a kip sparked revolts, anti-terorism units were deployed and shot kids with 12 gauge shotguns. It's not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.

The timing is so weird to me. Like they've been amassing riches and power for decades...why did they decide to escalate the conflict now? Do they really believe that a revolution is coming or something? They are continually winning a bloodless propaganda battle to keep accumulating wealth and let everyone else starve, yet they keep escalating things. It's bizarre to behold.

[–] WaxedWookie@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

The inequality is worse than it has been in over a century, people are living closer to the edge than ever, employers are taking the piss at this point, and climate change is beginning to sting. All this is to say that it's not just the workers feeling the pinch - it's the petite bourgeoisie too. That scares capital enough to arm themselves more, but not enough to start making concessions.

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[–] SSJMarx@lemm.ee 47 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

Americans live in one of the police states of all time. Capitalism can only produce this result, there is no alternative, because the ruling class knows just as well as the socialists do that the contradictions will only keep getting worse and the protests will only keep getting bigger but of course instead of wanting to change the equation to produce a different result like the socialists do the capitalists want to cling to power by any means necessary.

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[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 46 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"American universities turn into concentration camps" was not on my bingo card for 2024.

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[–] Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 31 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Not American so not up to speed on what’s going on…

Are these students that are protesting doing it with tanks, machine guns, grenades, planes? Are they being at all non-peaceful? Has anyone been killed?

Aren’t they protesting about the arms supplied to Israel and being used against Gazans?

[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You don't understand, they have signs. Signs. And they shout. Better buy some bear spray.

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[–] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago

All paid by every increasing tuition

[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

RIP to all of the Freshmen.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

May the odds be ever in their favor

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[–] N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 2 weeks ago

PR rules the world. Can’t allow free speech and protest if it might draw attention.

Better to show overwhelming military force on domestic college students at the first sign of protest. Keep it from spreading.

[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

UC Merced annual training required only 7 rounds, while UC San Francisco used 7000 and UC Santa Barbara used 9000 🤔

Shoutout to UC Davis for having the only police department on the list who "did not use any military equipment during this timeframe".

For some reason the linked PDF varies from the screenshot in several ways, though most of the numbers are the same. (UC Riverside's number of rounds of .556-range ammunition used in training is 3000 in the screenshot but 6000 in the PDF now.)

I was curious how much this launcher costs:

screenshot of PDF linked by OP, saying Requests For Category 14 – Kinetic Energy Weapons and Munitions • UCLA is requesting to purchase (4) FN Herstal 303 launchers, (4) Pepper Ball VK-SBL, (3,000) FTC Pava Capsaicin Rounds, (100) Rounds of Def-Tec 40mm munitions (Model #6320) and (300) rounds of Def-Tec 40mm munitions (Model #6325).

... over here I see this glorified paintball gun is normally $2400 but currently on sale for just $1850.

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[–] EgoNo4@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Fucking excuse me?

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

All protests should be armed protests.

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[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Guess campus protests require AR-15s now. If the cops don't like it they're free to cut the shit.

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[–] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

LRAD is some fucked up shit, btw. (Part of the large family of sonic weapons)

An LRAD can thus emit a targeted "beam" of sound at very high volume, up to 160 dB at one meter from the device. This is louder than standing behind a jet engine taking off, or a nearby gunshot.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_acoustic_device

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[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you think you fire the 40mm munitions out of?

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[–] Apprehensive_Crab@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Do we think part of why this is happening is because Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are in bed with academia

[–] Draghetta@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

When the university buys an f35 we can talk about it, this is small arms.

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