Free Speech Movement 50th Anniversary (FSM 50) Rally at UC Berkeley

Today, at noon, a rally took place at Sproul Plaza, University of California, Berkeley, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Free Speech Movement.

Twitter tree decorated the Sproul Plaza:



So did a mock Guantánamo Prison Cell:



The Rally took place in front of the administrative Sproul Hall:













Shortly after the rally started, demonstrators marched onto the steps of the Sproul Hall:



Marchers with signs in support of ...



Palestinian rights:



and pro-democratic protest in Hong Kong:



At one point, Edward Snowden's message to the rally was read:



And one speaker commented on the racially-charged events in Ferguson, Missouri:



Near the rally, people dressed in yellow to support Hong Kong protest:



Hong Kong protest supporter on the left contrasted to the indifferent students from Chinese Student Association on the right (picture below).



I chatted with those two Chinese students and they were obviously uncomfortable when Hong Kong was mentioned.  They claimed that though they had friends from Hong Kong and Taiwan, amongst international students, they didn't talk about politics, said they emphatically. Really? It was not the case when I was an international student in the U.S. many years ago.  How time changed!

Interestingly, or sadly, one of them majored in media.  Free media with Chinese characteristics?


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