ASA Lecture Series Extra Credit #3: "Third World Solidarity Struggles"

Extra Credit #3

Melissa Elizalde

Section A01

May 6th, 2014

    A Response to "Third World Solidarity Struggles"

Lecture by: Greg Morozumi

           For today's Vietnam War lecture we had the opportunity to have Greg Morozumi join us to detail his life experiences being an activist, curator and Director of Oakland's Eastside Arts Alliance. Mr. Morozumi first began by detailing his experience during the Vietnam War. Though not directly involved in the Vietnam War, Mr. Morozumi did express that he didn't want to be drafted to fight against people who were Asian; a sentiment also held by our first lecturer Professor Hamamoto. The guest lecturer then went on to discuss his work with the Third World Liberation Front and his involvement in developing the ethnic studies department at San Francisco State. I thought it was awesome to have someone that was actually involved in the strike to tell us first hand experiences of one of the most prominent activist movements we've studied in this class. Mr. Morozumi then talked about his participation in the Asian militant group, the Red Guard. I had never heard of any Asian militant groups so it was awesome being able to learn about the Red Guard. I might even do more research on this group as a part of my research paper! He discussed how this group was inspired by the teachings of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers and how he personally believed in Malcolm X's teachings because they transformed how minorities viewed themselves. Other tidbits of information that Mr. Morozumi discussed were his ideas on imperialism and the Patriot Act. He described imperialism as the highest level of capitalism in that you have to take over other markets as a means to obtain more capital. He also discussed his opinion on the Patriot Act and how he was strongly opposed to the legalization of increased surveillance. Overall I enjoyed Mr. Morozumi's lecture and enjoyed being able to learn from an individual who was involved in the movements we have studied in this class. I have enjoyed this lecture series so far and I'm looking forward to the fourth and final lecture!