The woodsy
and serene Student Center seems an unlikely place for a political
collective. Yet there’s an important piece of UCSD
history tucked between the UCSD Bike
Shop and Grove Caffe. The Groundwork Bookstore, which is celebrating
its 30th
anniversary, was founded as a collective in Solana Beach in 1974
and was relocated to the new Student Center at UCSD in 1975.
Groundwork’s activist goals have remained
constant over the years. The
co-operative bookstore presents itself as a “political collective
and non-profit bookstore working towards social change” and
operates and advocates accordingly.
For example, potential workers first must volunteer and study the “Red
Docs,” which explains the socialist mission of the collective,
before joining the bookstore’s staff. All decisions are made
on a collective-opinion basis.
Students may only know Groundwork as the “other” bookstore
where they can pick up assigned texts. But besides doing brisk textbook
business, Groundwork stocks literature on everything from film theory
to “herstory” (as opposed to history), and media to art
criticism.
According to collective member Adriana Guajuardo, a master’s
student
in Latin American studies, faculty and community members frequent
the aisles year-round.
Manuals such as Guide to Affirmative Action, How to End Sweatshops,
and Songs
of Protests are available for borrowing on
the small “Groundwork Library” shelf. Groundwork also
sponsors a “Books for Prisoners” program, in which
customers can donate old books to benefit the incarcerated, and
actively champions
anti-corporate control and social justice ideals. It recently organized
a week of educational events on the history of indigenous resistance
in Mexico, based on the Zapatista ideologies.
Says collective member Veronicah House,“It’s
about a socialist consciousness... it becomes a space where we
can work
together
and empower each other.”
Last fall, Groundwork and the other co-operatives
on campus became mired in disputes with the administration over
the renewal of
their leases and were faced with the threat of contract termination
and
even eviction. A definitive agreement has yet to be determined,
although the co-ops are now to deal directly with the administration,
with
input from the respective
student representative bodies. For more information, visit http://groundwork.ucsd.edu.
Contributors to Cliff Notes:
Karla Devries, '04
Evelyn Hsieh, '05
Jessica Megill, '05
Darren Posey, '05
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