Mario Savio | "bodies upon the gears" | Dec 2, 1964

"bodies upon the gears"

Mario Savio

excerpt from address at Sproul Hall

University of California at Berkeley

December 2, 1964

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus - and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who operate it that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.

full text and audio: Sproul Hall December 2, 1964

 

 

Note:

 

The Berkeley Free Speech Movement developed on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley in 1964 when the Board of Regents banned student activism on and off of campus subsequent to press reports of student participation in off-campus political protests and activities.

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