March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education

[Communist]

_________________________________________

March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education


As people throughout the country struggle under the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, public education from pre-K to higher and adult education is threatened by budget cuts, layoffs, privatization, tuition and fee increases, and other attacks.

http://www.edu-factory.org/edu15/images/stories/day-of-action.jpg (http://www.defendeducation.org/)

Budget cuts degrade the quality of public education by decreasing student services and increasing class size, while tuition hikes and layoffs force the cost of the recession onto students and teachers and off of the financial institutions that caused the recession in the first place. Non-unionized charter schools threaten to divide, weaken and privatize the public school system and damage teachers’ unions, which are needed now more than ever. More and more students are going deep into debt to finance their education, while high unemployment forces many students and youth to join the military to receive a higher education. And all of the attacks described above have hit working people and people of color the hardest.

In California, students, teachers, workers, parents, and faculty have taken action against these attacks. They took to the streets in a one-day strike on September 24th, organized strikes and actions across the state during the University of California Board of Regents meeting from November 18th to 20th, and have called for a state-wide day of action on March 4th.

These actions have created a broad mass movement in California, drawing in students from all over the state to create a powerful struggle. As the effects of the economic crisis continue to spread into the education system nationally, it’s time to join our voices with students and workers in California and draw inspiration from their example.

We support each group or coalition organizing in the manner and for the duration of their choosing. In solidarity with those in California, we the below-signed individuals and organizations call on students, teachers, workers, parents, faculty, and staff across the country to join together on March 4th to Take A Stand For Education! Visit the Web site for more details by clicking on banner above.

Endorse the call at the bottom of the page or by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction(AT)gmail.com ([email protected]) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=213637229312.

To join the national discussion, please visit the March 4th Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/march4thaction.

ENDORSED BY:

Organizations

All Nations Alliance
Animas Students for a Democratic Society (Durango, Coloardo)
Bail Out the People Movement
Chicago Students for a Democratic Society
College Park Students for Democratic Society (University of Maryland)
Community Organizing Center for Mother Earth (Columbus, Ohio)
Connecticut Students Against the War
CUNY Campaign to Defend Education
Education For All, San Diego
Fight Imperialism, Stand Together
Georgia State University Progressive Student Alliance
Graduate Student Employees Union (SUNY Stony Brook)
Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society
National Assembly to End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars & Occupations
New School in Exile
NYC Anti-War Coalition
Peoples Video Network
Progressive Democrats of America-Ohio
Radical Student Union (Bard College)
Recreate ‘68 Alliance
Socialist Organizer
Socialist Party of Connecticut
Solidarity
SPEAK (Students Promoting Engagement Through Activism and Knowledge) at Georgia State University
Student/Farmworker Alliance
Students for Educational Rights (City College of New York)
Students Taking Action to Reclaim our Education (University of Maryland)
UNC-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society
UW-Milwaukee Education Rights Campaign

Individuals (*all organizations listed for identification purposes only)

Frantz Mendes, President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston School Bus Drivers Union*
Steve Gillis, Vice President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston School Bus Drivers Union*
Susan Massad, Associate Professor Framingham State College*
Ed Childs, Chief Steward UNITE/HERE L. 26 (Harvard Univ.)*
Phebe Eckfeldt, Harvard Union Rep., Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers (HUCTW)/AFSCME L. 3650*
Eleanor J. Bader, writer and adjunct faculty member, Brooklyn, NY*
Peter Cook, Boston Teachers Union, Local 66 MFT AFT, AFL-CIO*
Heather Cottin Adjunct Lecturer, History, LaGuardia Community College, PSC member*
Susan E. Davis, National Writers Union, United Auto Workers Local 1981*
Mike Gimbel, Local 375, AFSCME delegate to the NYC-CLC & Chairperson of Local 375, AFSCME, Labor/Community Unity Committee*
Martha Grevatt, Chair, Civil Rights Committee, UAW Local 122*
Andy Griggs, United Teachers Los Angeles; Co-chair, California Teachers Association Peace and Justice Caucus; Steering Committee, US Labor Against the War*
Dr. Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples Video Network*
Imani Henry, Playwright/Performer*
Dan La Botz, Spanish teacher, Cincinnati Waldorf School, Cincinnati, Ohio*
Julia La Riva, member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)*
Robin McCubbin, professor, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA*
Minnie Bruce Pratt, Professor, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse University*
David Sole, Prof. of Chemistry, Wayne Co. Community College, Detroit.*
The Most Rev. Filipe C, Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of Saint Francis of Assisi*
Billy Wharton, National Co-Chair, Socialist Party USA*
Todd Vachon, Low Society Music*
Christopher Hutchinson, General Strike Comics*
Robin Anderson, Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) at UMass-Amherst, Part of UAW local 2322*
Others who are supporting March 4th Actions:
California Coordinating Committee
US Labor Against the War

http://www.defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/)

[Communist]

____________________

Students, youth pick up banner of struggle (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/students_youth_0218/)
By LeiLani Dowell (http://search.workersworld.net/local-cgi/search.cgi?m=all&s=D&q=LeiLani+Dowell+)
Published Feb 15, 2010

http://a.images.blip.tv/WorkersWorld-OnTheMarch4DefendEducationNationalMobilization693-913-287.jpg (http://blip.tv/file/3188055)
Click to view talk.

Following are excerpts from a talk given Feb. 6 at a Workers World forum in New York City commemorating Black History Month.

Feb. 1 marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the sit-ins at so-called “whites only” lunch counters in Greensboro, N.C., a struggle that effectively launched the student movement for African-American civil rights. On that day, four Black students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter at 4:30 pm and ordered coffee. When they were refused, they remained in their seats until the counter closed at 5:30.

Five days later more than 500 students packed the Woolworth’s, as well as Kress, stores. In just two months, the sit-in movement had spread to 54 cities in nine states.

These actions led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later, the Black Panther Party, with militant youth leaders like Fred Hampton, who was assassinated by the FBI at the age of 21.

In the 1970s, campuses rocked with protests to demand the inclusion of the histories, literature and other contributions of Black people and other people of color in school curricula.

So it is fitting that we discuss the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education, as it continues the legacy of the struggles of Black and other oppressed students and youth in the 1960s and 1970s. The ruling class today is attempting to use the economic and political crises to roll back the gains won by those struggles.

They’re trying to make students and youth pay for the instability of the capitalist system by raising our tuitions and slashing school budgets. Here in New York, they’re closing at least 19 K-12 [kindergarten through 12th grade] schools and raising tuition at the City University of New York and State University of New York schools. CUNY has historically been the college system for working youth of color, one that was once free after students fought for and won the right to education.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority wants to cut the free student MetroCards that K-12 students use to get to and from school each day — here in New York the subways are the equivalent of school buses in other parts of the country. The MTA uses students as pawns to negotiate for more money from the state. High school students have been protesting in the hundreds in demonstrations across the city.

In places like Arizona, they’re whipping up racism to eliminate ethnic studies programs. The ruling class knows all too well that these are programs that ultimately teach us our legacy of resistance to oppression and repression.
We learn these legacies to steel ourselves for future struggle, so that we can see where we’ve come from, how we did it, and where we have to go.

We honor these legacies not by remembering them, but by continuing them.

March 4 is where we’re going next. Like the student civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which was about so much more than rights for students, the March 4 demonstrations are also about more than the right to education. March 4 has really become a nationwide mobilization against the economic crisis. It’s becoming an action against all the budget cuts, in schools and other social services.

The demonstrations will challenge the increased privatization of K-12 schools — which President Barack Obama is trying to push with the drive for charter schools — as well as budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs, tuition increases and student loan debt.

March 4 actions are being endorsed by unions across the country — the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, with 20,000 faculty and adjunct lecturers, recently endorsed. The Transport Workers Union had a meeting to build support for the event. In California, the executive board of the San Francisco Labor Council has endorsed, as has the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, the California Faculty Association, the United Educators of San Francisco and the California Teachers Association. Many student organizations have also endorsed throughout the country.

In Baltimore, students with the Algebra Project are planning to march to a youth detention center to challenge “the school-to-prison pipeline.” In Baltimore, $300 million is slated to refurbish youth prisons. The Algebra Project is demanding that $100 million of that money go to youth jobs.

Here in New York, feeder marches are being planned throughout the city that will converge for a major march from Gov. Paterson’s office to the MTA. K-12, as well as college and university students, teachers, parents and families are all expected to participate.

The youth group FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/about/) was instrumental in initially raising the idea of a nationwide protest to defend education, and has been equally instrumental in the organizing of that effort. All of us — whether you’re a youth or student, educator, parent or ally — have to seize this moment and join full force in the effort to make March 4 a success.

_____________________


Articles © 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

_________________________

Michigan tour builds support for
National day of student & worker actions (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/march4_0218/)

By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Detroit
Feb 15, 2010


In an effort to help mobilize actions in Michigan for the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education, organizer and FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/fist-program/) (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/video/)) leader Larry Hales engaged a diverse range of student-workers at numerous locations during an exciting tour of the state Feb. 1-4 (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/michigan_0211/index.html).

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/michigan_0218.jpg (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fist-youth)
Larry Hales, left. WW (http://www.workers.org/) photo: Bryan G. Pfeifer

The tour, organized in conjunction with Detroit FIST (http://www.youtube.com/user/FISTDetroit), kicked off Feb. 1 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at the William Monroe Trotter Cultural Center, a building originally won in the early 1970s by Black students and their allies on that campus by protests, occupations and a strike led by the Black Action Movement.

“While students are on the move nationally, which is evident in the growth of the March 4 National Day of Action, it is the linkage of the student movement with workers that is imperative,” Hales said at the Ann Arbor meeting.

Students at Mumford High School in Detroit heard Hales at a Black History Month Forum on Feb. 2. Mumford, once known nationwide as a stellar school, has been devastated by budget cuts, the defunding of public education and the elimination of affirmative action in Michigan. Many seats in the auditorium where Hales spoke were broken and unusable and students had to enter the school through metal detectors, have their backpacks searched by private security guards and their bodies searched with electronic wands.

Hales engaged the students with a wide scope of revolutionary Black history. He called for the students to join in the organizing for March 4, to resist their oppressive conditions and to protest the military recruiters in their school.

“I follow in the footsteps of Denmark Vesey, John Brown, Gabriel Prosser, Malcolm X and Fred Hampton. I’m a political activist, a revolutionary,” Hales told the Mumford students.

He added, “You should not have to go to a school with metal detectors, with chairs in this auditorium that don’t work or to join the military to kill people that look just like you. We’re sick and tired of being treated like criminals. We can win but we have to fight and struggle for human needs.”

On Feb. 3 Hales joined the student organizations Alleft, the Undergraduate Alliance and the Michigan State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society at a rally at the East Lansing campus. Activists gathered at the MSU administration building to protest education cuts and then marched five miles to the state Capitol building in Lansing.

All along the march route the students and their allies were menaced by cops but stood their ground chanting and hoisting their placards and banners. A March 4 banner declared, “Jobs and Education: Not War and Jails! Bail Out the Students — Not the Banks!”

Upon entering the state Capitol grounds, the students were welcomed by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, which was having a rally at the Capitol to demand that Gov. Jennifer Granholm issue an immediate state of economic emergency in Michigan and declare a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility cutoffs. Granholm was inside giving her final “state of the state” address as governor.

Members of the student organizations and Moratorium NOW! (http://www.moratorium-mi.org/) joined forces to directly confront the racist Tea Party members who had been given a permit to rally on the Capitol steps. Directly confronting the racists and then the state cops who formed a line between the two groups to protect the Tea Party, students and their allies chanted “Power to the students! Power to the workers!” and other slogans.

After the Capitol actions, a meeting organized by SDS took place at MSU. As at the Ann Arbor meeting, students discussed possible actions for March 4 in East Lansing and statewide and shared literature and contacts for mobilizing purposes.

On Feb. 4 Hales addressed a noon class at Wayne County Community College in downtown Detroit, where a lively conversation about contemporary economic, social and political issues took place. Leaflets were given to the students and discussion ensued about possible March 4 organizing activities in Detroit.

Wrapping up his tour at an evening meeting on Feb. 4 at the Detroit FIST and Moratorium NOW! office, Hales described his tour and encouraged the audience to build March 4 activities in Detroit and statewide. Other speakers included members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center-United and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition. A multinational group of labor, community and student activists from various cities in Michigan participated in the meeting.

Said Hales at the Feb. 4 meeting: “Detroit is a city with boarded-up schools, shuttered factories, boarded-up homes, no grocery stores and closed businesses. The children of Detroit and their families have long been neglected and abused by the conditions of the system. The prospect of linking the struggle of the unemployed and underemployed and the attacks against workers, which include foreclosures and evictions and the attacks on public education, with the student struggle is greatest in Detroit. This points the way for the direction of the struggle that is needed to win worker and student power.”

For more information on March 4 organizing, visit defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/) or fistyouth.wordpress.com (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/).


_____________



Articles © 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Rusty Shackleford]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked :D

[Kassad]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked :D

What's going on on the 22nd?

[Rusty Shackleford]

What's going on on the 22nd?
March 22nd is a capitol rally. at sac. the 22nd is the ASCCC's date to march in sacramento to protest education cuts. on my campus were having a teach inon the 4th and were trying to get people to go to the march on the 22nd.

apparently there is a mach on a campus on the 16th (http://media.www.lavozdeanza.com/media/storage/paper911/news/2009/03/09/News/Increased.Support.For.March.In.March-3665789.shtml)

[Communist]

. F.I.S.T.



http://fistyouth.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/cropped-img_0004_3.jpg (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/fist-call-organize-to-smash-tuition-hikes-and-budget-cuts/)

FIST Statement: Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts
Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/fist-program/)) calls on all students, teachers, faculty and staff to help organize for the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education.

This March 4 is an opportunity to mobilize against the ruling class’ coordinated assault on students and education workers, including:


Tuition hikes
Budget cuts
Privatization of K-12 schools
Cuts in student transportation assistance
Layoffs and furloughs of education workers

Education in the U.S. is under attack. Students and workers are organizing to fight back.

Enough is enough. Students and teachers in California know that, and they made a stand this past Fall with actions around the state.

California students took bold action and occupied a number of universities, including the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

California activists issued a call for statewide actions on March 4, 2010 coming out of an October conference of students, faculty and teachers. Since that time organizers in California and around the country have expanded the call to include a nationwide day of actions.

Actions will be taking place around the country. FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/about/) will be helping to organize in many of those cities from New York to Raleigh to Miami.

Fight Imperialism Stand Together will mobilize in full force for the March 4 effort to fight back against the attacks on education. Will you join us?
Whether you organize for March 4 with FIST, another organization or on your own–the most important thing is to organize.

Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/fist-call-organize-to-smash-tuition-hikes-and-budget-cuts/)

For more information on organizing for March 4 with FIST check out the website here (http://www.fistyouth.org/).


No to the cruel tuition hikes! No to the war on the poor! Education not incarceration! Jobs for all! Education is a right!

[which doctor]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked :D
What's happening on the 20th?

[Rusty Shackleford]

March 20th (http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=M20_homepage)

Kassad was kind enough to link me this. there is an event in LA and SF and other cities and DC

[Kassad]

What's happening on the 20th?

March 20th, as Vacant said, is the National March on Washington with coinciding marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The event is organized by the ANSWER Coalition and endorsed by over 1,000 individuals and organizations.

[Communist]

_________

S T R I K E S!

W A L K O U T S!

R A L L I E S!

M A R C H E S!

--Tax the Rich, Reverse the Layoffs, End the Fee Hikes--

If you are near any of these cities, towns, villages on March 4 in the
Golden State...show up!

MARCH 4 REGIONAL EVENTS

List will be updated frequently as more events and details are finalized

LOS ANGELES REGIONAL MARCH/RALLY
4 pm Assemble at Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A. March to the
Governor's office (300 Spring St.) for 5 pm Rally. Sponsored by the Southern
California Public Education Coalition (includes UTLA, CFA, CFT, CTA, CSUEU,
community college groups & others). Participants from: Cal State Los
Angeles,
CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, LA City College & more.
Contact: Marla Edy (UTLA) 213-305-9310 or Blanca Castaneda (CFA)
626-379-7380.


SAN FRANCISCO REGIONAL RALLY
"Rally for California's Future"
5 pm Rally at San Francisco Civic Center Participants from: San
Francisco State,
CSU East Bay, California Maritime Academy.
Contact: Matthew Hardy (UESF) 415-513-3179 / [email protected] or Kat General
(CFA) 415-728-8927.


SACRAMENTO/STATE CAPITOL REGIONAL RALLY
"Educate the State"
11 am-1 pm Rally at State Capitol, North Steps * Theater * Music * Speeches
Action includes holding classes for legislators on importance of public
education to California with lectern, desks, chalkboard on North Steps of
Capitol. Participants from: CSU Sacramento, CSU Chico, California Maritime
Academy, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, local community colleges and K-12
schools.
Sponsored by the California Faculty Association.


SAN FERNANDO VALLEY REGIONAL MARCH/RALLY
"Unite for Public Education: Stop Layoffs, Fee Hikes, Cuts to Education &
Community Services."
3:45 pm gather at CSU Northridge Sierra Quad * 4:15 pm March * 5 pm
Hands around
CSUN * 5:30 pm Rally at Sierra Quad. Participants from: CSU Northridge, CSU
Channel Islands (Camarillo), United Teachers of LA, Cal. Teachers Assoc,
Cal.
Federation of Teachers, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor & more.


MARCH 4 CAMPUS EVENTS
List will be updated frequently as more events and details are finalized

CSU BAKERSFIELD - Rally for Student Access "Keeping the Doors Open."
11:30am-1pm at the Student Union Patio (rain: Stockdale Room in Runner Caf?).


CSU CHANNEL ISLANDS - CFA members will go to the San Fernando Valley to
participate in Regional Action at CSU Northridge. See regional listing
above.


CSU CHICO - Ride the Bus with "Charlie" to "Educate the State." Campus
community holds an 8 am sendoff for buses bound for 11am rally at the State Capitol.
Puppet of CSU Chancellor Reed will hop on the bus. See regional listing
above.


CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS - CFA members will go to Wilson High School Long
Beach and Los Angeles Regional Action. See Long Beach details below or regional action
listing above.


--ALSO: "All Aboard the Fast Track to Graduation" Students hold a fair
on CSUDH
East Walkway 11 am-1 pm. Games to learn about public education costs,
access and
quality.


CSU EAST BAY - Campus Walkout and Open Mic/Speak Out to "Defend Public
Funding for Public Education" at Agora Stage at Noon; delivery of demands to campus
President Qayoumi, then travel to San Francisco Civic Center for
regional action at 5pm.


FRESNO STATE - "March & Rally for Public Education" starts at NW corner of
Blackstone and Shaw and goes down Shaw to Fresno State where the
marchers will join a rally in the Peace Garden. Start time is 10:30 am, Noon-1pm rally on
campus.

CSU FULLERTON - CFA members will travel to Los Angeles' Pershing Square
to join the Los Angeles Education Coalition on a march to the governor's office.

HUMBOLDT STATE - "Fund Public Education" Rally in front of Humboldt County
Courthouse-Eureka with CSU and K-12 faculty and students. 3-5pm.

CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - Students and CFA faculty will go to downtown Los
Angeles Regional March & Rally (see regional event listing above). Contact Anthony
Francoso (sociology faculty) 626-353-6116 or Blanca Castaneda

CSU LONG BEACH - "Unite for Education" & "Stop Clowning with Our Education"
Noon-1 pm rally at South Campus, Upper Quad, Music, performers,
speakers, aerial
banner. * 1-2 pm Parade * 4 pm Rally with K-12 and Community college
(see below)
Contact: Teri Yamada, 562-229-2066

--ALSO: "Long Beach Unite for Education" rally, 4:15 pm at Wilson High
School Gymnasium, 4400 E. 10th St., Long Beach. Speakers from CFA, Teachers
Association of Long Beach (K-12), Long Beach City College. Music by Tom Morello, The
Nightwatchman.

CALIFORNIA MARITIME ACADEMY - CFA members will head for regional actions
in San Francisco (5 pm SF Civic Center) and Sacramento (11 am, State Capitol North
Steps).

--ALSO: "Stop the Bleeding" action, Noon in Maritime's main quad. Street
theatre, mock "Die-In." Sponsored by CSU Employees Union and student groups.

CSU MONTEREY BAY - Walkout and Teach-In by students followed by a campus
march, 11 am - 1 pm. Followed by car pools to Community Rally for Education at
Colton Hall, 570 Pacific Street (between Madison & Jefferson) in Monterey at 4 pm.


CSU NORTHRIDGE - CFA faculty plus student groups will host a regional march.
3:45-5 pm. Sierra Quad. See details in regional listing above.

CAL POLY POMONA - Send off Rally "Fight Back- No Program Eliminations-
Keep the Doors Open!" 1:30-2:30 pm as students and CFA members board buses at for
regional rally at Pershing Square Los Angeles. Signs, banner, speakers.
SACRAMENTO STATE -- "Educate the State" Rally. CFA at CSU Sacramento hosts
regional rally at the State Capitol, 11 am. See regional listing above for
details.

CSU SAN BERNARDINO - "March In on March 4." March for student access to
the CSU.
11:30 am March begins at Marquee entrance (NW corner of University Pkwy and
Northpark Blvd). March through campus to Pfau Library for Noon rally. Music,
signs, speakers.

--ALSO: Advance Action Sat, Feb 20, 10 am: Coalition meeting of parents,
students, school employees, and educators from CSUSB, UC Riverside and local
public schools at San Gorgonio High School, 2299 Pacific Street, San
Bernardino.


SAN DIEGO STATE - "Vent at the Tent: How is San Diego State important to
you, your family, and the community?" Collect video testimonials from students,
campus community. Peak time 11:30-12:30 pm next to Aztec Center. Large
"scoreboard" showing the loss of students, teachers and classes at SDSU
due to budget cuts. Contact: David Berman - 707-616-1387

--ALSO: Student march through campus will culminate at the "Vent at the
Tent."
Currently planned for Noon. Go to "Tent" by Aztec Center by 11:30 am to
connect with CFA faculty contingent.

--ALSO: Education for All Coalition rally 3 pm at Balboa Park, march to
governor's office and rally 4 pm in downtown. CFA members from SDSU will
participate. More information to come.

SAN FRANCISCO STATE - CFA members will join rally at SF Civic Center 5
pm. See details in regional listing above.

SAN JOSE STATE - "Keep the Doors Open: March-In for Higher Ed" 11 am
Gather at
San Jose City Hall * 11:45 am March to San Jose State Tower Lawn (7th Street
Plaze entrance) * Noon Speakers on keeping the CSU open for current and
future students. Three "box" pyramids representing: 1) missing students
(access), 2) missing faculty, 3) missing class sections. Participants will include
teachers and students from K-16,and community leaders.

CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO - "Rally in Support of Public Education" 3:30-5
pm at Office of state Senator Abel Maldonado, 1356 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo.
Sponsored by: Central Coast Education Coalition (CFA, CCFT, CSUEU, APC).

CSU SAN MARCOS - "Public Funded Higher Education: Why Does it Matter?"
10:30-11:30 am Teach-in on State Budget at Academic Hall (ACD) 102,
simulcast to other classrooms * Noon-1 pm Public Rally at the Kellogg Library. 500
silhouettes will be placed around campus with fact pages attached to them.
Sponsors: CFA, Save CSUSM, CSUEU, ASI.

SONOMA STATE - "Fund the CSU, Fund the Future" 11:30 am Student walk out *
11:30-1:30 pm Rally near Stevenson Hall quad. Speakers. Later, student
action at Salazar Hall.

CSU STANISLAUS - "Rally for Education" at the campus Quad from 11:30am -
1pm.

OTHER EVENTS

March 4 events being put on by other organizations

SANTEE HIGH SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES
March 4 Walk Out. ALSO: February 26 plans for sit-ins with other high
schools in the LA area. Sponsored by Students Enforcing Educational Demands,(S.E.E.D)
Contact: Julia Wallace LA March 4th Committee, 310-404-6729 UCLA Actions
All Day 6 am - 5:30 pm * Including 11:30 am Walk Out * Noon Rally at Bruin
Plaza. Learn more at 'save ucla!' on facebook.

UC RIVERSIDE
March & Rally * Market and University in downtown Riverside. 1 pm Meet
at UCR Bell Tower * 2:30 pm March to downtown * 3:30 pm Rally at University Ave and
Market St. Participants include: students and faculty from UC Riverside,
Riverside Community College, and San Bernardino Valley College, community
members, workers, and teachers.

UC SANTA CRUZ
The March 4 Strike Committee of Santa Cruz announced likely closure of
campus and traffic jams at the entrances to campus. Contact information not
provided.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Planning protests on March 4 * nobudgetcutsuw.blogspot.com/

[Communist]

___________
Protests defend public education, support March 4 national action
By Bill Bateman
Providence, R.I.
Feb 18, 2010


Attacks on public education in Rhode Island are coming one after another.

Gov. Donald Carcieri proposed $125 million in cuts to education and services this year and proposes to cut $162 million next year. Providence, with the state’s largest school system, has lost $5.8 million in state funding for its 24,000 students in the last two years and will lose $7.1 million next year.

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/ri_0225.jpg (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/rhode_island_0225/)
High school student tells 200 supporters he wants his school kept open.
WW (http://www.workers.org/) photo: Bill Bateman

The Providence School Department unveiled a proposal to close seven schools. In a series of six public forums in January and February, 500 parents, students, teachers and concerned community members turned out. One hundred people took the microphone and spoke to oppose the school closings. Not one person supported the idea.

Hope High School’s turnaround and progress since being put into receivership in 2005 — through hiring more teachers and advisors, and going to 90-minute class blocks — are now in jeopardy of being reversed.

The closure plan is seen as a way to keep students packed into oversized classes. Teachers from various schools explained that more students per school will also deprive students of the spaces needed for physical education and the special areas needed for quality music and art classes.

The Rhode Island Unemployed Council (http://www.abc6.com/news/82719792.html) pointed out that Providence has an official unemployment rate of 14 percent, and that some of the 11,000 unemployed should be put to work fixing the schools. It said that federal stimulus money is explicitly targeted for repairing schools and hiring more teachers.

The school superintendent (http://www.cfschools.net/) of the city of Central Falls presented an ultimatum list of six demands to the teachers union. The teachers said they were willing to sit down and talk but they would not be forced into anything by bullying tactics. The superintendent then said all teachers and staff would receive layoff notices and only 50 percent would have a chance of being rehired next year.

In response to these attacks, the S.O.S. — Save Our Schools — Coalition was formed. Its goal is to defend public education in Rhode Island and fight for safe, secure buildings, up-to-date books, quality resources and equipment, smaller class sizes, and appropriate and specific spaces for art, music, science, etc.

On March 4 — the National Day of Action to Defend Education — the S.O.S. Coalition together with the Rhode Island Unemployed Council will march for jobs and education. A rally will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Providence School Department headquarters at 797 Westminster Ave. A march downtown will start at 4 p.m. and end with a rally at 5 p.m. at Providence City Hall.

_______________



Articles © 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.workersworld.net/wwp/pmwiki.php/Main/Background).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Communist]

http://bailoutpeople.org/images/bopmlogo-js-green.gif (http://bailoutpeople.org/)




Bail Out the People Home (http://bailoutpeople.org/) | Donate (http://bailoutpeople.org/donate.shtml)


Thursday
MARCH 4
NATIONAL DAY of ACTIONS to DEFEND EDUCATION

The Bail Out the People Movement endorses the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education.

Across the country, students, teachers, faculty and other workers, along with concerned parents, community activists and organizations, will be using the week of March 4 to strike decisively to defend public education and the right to pursue higher learning.

The effects of the economic crisis have been felt in all sectors. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.

The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; defunding education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.

There has been an accelerated push to privatize public education under the guise of “school choice,” using the crumbling infrastructure of inner city schools as an excuse. This crumbling is due to decades of systemic underfunding.

Parents and their children are wooed by for-profit and even nonprofit charter schools as a way out. But the charter schools offer a clear and present danger to teachers’ unions and are not bound to provide English as a Second Language or special education services. Charters can be granted to companies or a group of individuals who ultimately select the students and control the curriculum and budget.

Besides the above, corporations and financial institutions would like to get their hands on the $800 billion a year spent on education.

The Obama administration has contributed to the race to privatize public education. It has dangled $4 billion in front of strapped state governments to compete for by devising a new plan for education. This “Race to the Top” program calls not only for diminishing or eliminating altogether the cap on charter schools, but also calls for the tying of teacher pay to performance, opening the door for the firing of teachers at “underperforming schools.”

The state budget crisis, which grew out of the general economic crisis, has provided state governments across the country a pretext for further attacks on public education. As of December, 36 states have made higher education budget cuts, resulting in tuition increases and reductions in faculty and staff. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have cut aid to K-12 schools. Additional cuts across states are expected to be widespread in 2010.

In this climate of severe and relentless education cuts, March 4 is just the beginning of a movement to unite students, educators and other workers against the attacks on public education. That is why the Bail Out the People Movement is proud to stand up for public education on March 4 and raise the demand: “Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Incarceration.” As the struggle continues to grow post-March 4, it will be critical to link together the movements for jobs and education with the movement to stop the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more information on the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education:


Visit the Web site for more details at http://www.defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/).
Endorse the call by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction(AT)gmail.com ([email protected]).
Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=213637229312.





Bail Out the People Home (http://bailoutpeople.org/)

[RedScare]

On my campus we're gonna soft occupy a building.

[Rusty Shackleford]

On my campus we're gonna soft occupy a building.
if this movement hangs on and grows(as it is right now) there will be more occupations ^^

i have yet to take part in ANY action like this. but march will surely be taking my activism virginity.

Also, i was looking at the california gubernatorial campaign and saw 3 people on the PFP ticket. one from SPUSA, PSL, and i guess a non party member. the primaries are set for june 8 but after a candidate is selected... my hopes are this student movement may get behind a candidate.

[Antifa94]

This looks great! We need occupations! If only I were a university student.

[Communist]

.
February 22, 2010
Arts lose out in Metro school cuts (http://detnews.com/article/20100222/SCHOOLS/2220332)
Music, drawing, theater slashed in budget crisis

MICHAEL H. HODGES
Detroit News Arts Writer

Kids bob like small boats around Carrie Fonder as she tries to navigate the halls of Detroit's Edison Elementary School. "Miss Carrie!" they call, tugging on her sleeve. "Are we coming to art class today?" Fonder isn't a Detroit Public Schools teacher. She's a visiting artist whose salary is paid by a nonprofit group.

In that regard, Edison's 375 children are luckier than they know. Only 40 percent, or 69, of the 172 DPS schools have an art teacher, down from 80 percent 10 years ago. And just 30 percent of Detroit schools -- the engines that powered Motown -- offer music instruction.

Detroit's public schools have been in crisis mode for far more than a decade. But suburban schools may not be far behind. In October, all public schools suffered a $165 per pupil cut in state aid -- some suburbs lost even more -- leaving even wealthy-by-comparison systems contemplating cuts to programs once regarded as indispensable.

Student achievement in core subjects like English and math gets tested yearly under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams, to which state aid is tied. So when budgets shrink, art or music -- which are not tested -- are often the easiest to drop.

"The pressure to improve math and reading scores is so great that the fear response has been to get rid of everything else," said Ana Luisa Cardona, a fine arts curriculum consultant at the Michigan Department of Education. "So administrators eliminate the arts, even though research tells us they help engage a student and turn an entire school around."

Fine arts decimated

Karen Roney, a Detroit mother of three, adored art classes in the Detroit schools years ago, giving her a lifelong affection for Picasso and abstract art. But her daughters don't seem to have gotten much art exposure from kindergarten to high school.

"They'd bring home drawings and whatnot when they were in Head Start," Roney said, "but that was the end of that."

Detroit's public schools have been whiplashed by budget cuts, crashing test scores and a rapidly shrinking student population. In 1992, DPS boasted 160 visual arts teachers.

Now there are 68. As a result, over the years some parents yanked their kids out of Detroit, enrolling them in resource-rich charter or suburban schools, which only made the problem worse.

Benjamin L. Pruitt Sr., head of fine arts for DPS, said that as enrollment declined, so did fine arts offerings in Detroit schools. "The fine arts program has been decimated over the past 10 years," Pruitt said. "What bothers us is that the fine arts declined faster than enrollment."

Yet countless studies link arts instruction to lower dropout rates, improved academic performance and more socially responsible behavior in adulthood.

Edison Principal Beverly Green put it this way: "When you've got $10 and need groceries, you buy staples first. That's what happened in Detroit."

The situation is so extreme that a charitable group has chipped in to help.

Edison Elementary hadn't had a DPS art teacher since 2000. But a tiny nonprofit called Art Road approached Green and proposed funding a visiting artist one day a week.

Green jumped at the chance. And that's how Fonder came to spend every Friday at the little school in the city's Rosedale Park neighborhood.

High-tax districts hit hard

For high-schoolers, playing Carnegie Hall, as the Troy High School band did in 2004, is about as good as it gets. But an invitation to the band from Queen Elizabeth to march in the 2007 London New Year's parade topped even that.

Troy has long been admired for music and performance. But hacking millions in withdrawn state aid from the budget -- with more cuts expected next year -- risks sabotaging the very excellence the district is so proud of.

"The arts are very important to us and our board," said district spokesman Tim McAvoy. "But the cuts are so severe that it gets more difficult to protect programs."

Bad enough to lose the $165 per child that Lansing cut last fall, but some suburbs also lost "20-J" funds -- doled out to certain high-tax districts after Proposition A passed in 1994 -- making their total per-pupil hit far bigger than Detroit's.

Proposition A aimed to equalize per-pupil funding across the state, but high-tax districts -- the 20-J towns -- complained it would punish them by slashing what they spent per student to bring up poorer districts. In a compromise, Lansing granted 42 districts statewide an extra annual allowance.

Until this year. Troy, which has 12,060 public school students, lost $248 per child in 20-J funds. Added to the $165 per pupil cut, that's a perilous drop of $413 per student, or nearly $5 million, in just one district.

School administrators are still in the thick of developing proposals for next year, but it stands to reason that something -- obviously subjects not covered by standardized tests or No Child Left Behind -- will have to go. And because Michigan's recession started right after Sept. 11, 2001, school administrators have, in effect, been trimming for years.

Birmingham, which also has well-regarded arts programs, has lost 20 percent of its music teachers to attrition over the past five years.

The district has rejiggered elementary school music from 30 minutes twice a week to 45 minutes every four days, and expanded some classes like band and orchestra at the higher grade levels.

Berkshire Middle School Principal Jim Moll is hopeful his Birmingham school will be able to hold onto art, music and theater.

"I greatly value the performing arts for kids of this age in particular," he said. "It's a place where they can belong."

Plymouth-Canton, the state's third-largest school district and famous for its marching band, held onto teachers but also expanded class size.

And Southfield, which faces a $20 million deficit in the coming school year, retained teachers but clipped their hours -- often by 20 percent.

Every Southfield elementary school offers vocal music, said Deputy Superintendent Kenson Siver, but instrumental music is present in only three of the nine schools. "And I don't know how much longer we'll be able to hold onto that," he said.

Arts benefit kids

"Disastrous" is the term Shirley Woodson Reid applied to the lack of art and music instruction in most Detroit elementary schools.

"The arts are an initial way of communicating," said Woodson Reid, who headed DPS fine arts until last year. "Little children explain everything with their images and creations."

Such creations foster eye-hand coordination. "But our kids can be in the third or fourth grade," she said, "and still don't know how to hold scissors."

Antonia Caretto, a Farmington Hills clinical psychologist, said it all boils down to mental development.

"The more we can develop both sides of the brain," she said, "the better the long-term implications for creative problem-solving," which might be key to keeping this country competitive in a globalized world.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, James S. Catterall in the 1990s tracked 12,000 California students from eighth grade to age 26. He found that kids who took band or orchestra in middle school and kept at it did 50 percent better in 11th-grade math than peers who never played an instrument.

"That's one of the big stories," said Catterall, who chairs the University of California-Los Angeles education department. "Kids in arts-rich schools who didn't participate in those subjects still did better than children at schools without arts programs."

His results suggest the payoffs reach well into adult life, particularly for children from poorer families. Almost 40 percent of disadvantaged kids in arts-rich schools went on to college, he said, compared to 17 percent from schools without art or music. As adults, Catterall found that those students from art-rich schools volunteered, registered to vote and participated in organized religion at much higher rates than their arts-poor peers.

Legendary programs

Downsizing or killing school arts programs strikes Rick Sperling as nothing short of tragic. The Detroit schools were legendary for music and performance, said the founder and CEO of Mosaic Youth Theatre.

Indeed, every Detroit student was required to audition for at least one of the performing arts in a mandatory class called "Auditorium." While the city does boast standout programs like those at Renaissance, Cass Tech and Martin Luther King high schools, only 55 percent of city high schools even have a music teacher today.

Sperling worries this wholesale abandonment is cheating kids and jeopardizing minority representation in the arts. "One of the reasons Motown happened in Detroit was because of the public schools' incredible music programs," he said.

In one positive move, DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb announced last week that 31 art and music teachers who had been pink-slipped will be reinstated, owing in part to parental protest.

Still, that does nothing for Detroit schools that haven't seen an art or music teacher in years.

For DPS' Pruitt, the worst part of his job is dealing with all the violins, trumpets and drums now gathering dust at schools without music programs.

"I'll have the instruments lined up in the hall waiting for the truck, and kids walk by with wide eyes," Pruitt said.

"At first they think I'm their new band director. And I have to tell them, 'No. I'm here to take your instruments away.' " ****

-------------(end)
______________________________


March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education (http://www.defendeducation.org/)

Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/fist-call-organize-to-smash-tuition-hikes-and-budget-cuts/)
Education is a right!

[Communist]

_________________

DETROIT / March 4

FUND EDUCATION, NOT BANKS & THE WAR MACHINE

Students, youth, educational workers and community activists are all joining together to participate in the National Day of Action to Defend Education on Thursday, March 4 2010.

The politicians and administrators say that there is no money for education and social services. They contend that there is no alternative to the massive layoffs of teachers, clerical workers, custodians, social workers and counselors.

However, everyone knows that there is plenty of money and resources for wars, bank bailouts, mass incarceration of people of color and the poor. We must take a stand to demand that local, state and federal governments fund education, not military occupations and wealthy financiers.

We must demand the end to privatization of public education and the usurpation of local control and self-determination. Education is a fundamental human right, not a privilege for the rich and powerful.

Join us on March 4 for a march and rally from Wayne State University to the New Center area where we will demand:

-- Full funding of public k-12 education and the restoration of music, arts and sports programs;

--The reduction of class sizes to 16 students in all schools;

-- A halt to all tuition hikes in higher education and the rolling back of recent tuition increases;

-- Increased funding for breakfast and lunch programs in all K-12 educational institutions;

-- Stop the privatization and charterization of public schools;

-- Restore state funding for the Michigan Promise Scholarship, not a phony tax credit;

-- Increase funding for state universities and community colleges and university workers;

-- Stop layoffs of secondary school, community college and university workers;

-- Rehire all workers laid off in the current crisis;

-- Hands off unions and student organizations;

-- Fire the DPS Emergency Financial Manager; restore local control to Detroit Schools;

-- Increase African-American, [email protected], Middle Eastern and Native American enrollment in higher education

Rally at Gullen Mall on the Wayne State University Campus in Detroit, MI -- 4 p.m.

March to Cadillac Plaza and Detroit Public Schools Headquarters -- 4:30 p.m.

Picket and Rally Outside Cadillac Plaza and the Fisher Building (Grand Blvd. & 2nd Ave.) -- 5 p.m.


Sponsored by FIST Detroit, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition To Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs. Endorsement list in formation.

For more more information:

313-671-3715;

313-559-7074;

248-990-0275;

email: fist.detroit(AT)gmail.com ([email protected]);
or see: www.defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/).

[which doctor]

On March 4th, there will also be a rally in Chicago at the UIC Quad at 2:00pm, more details to come soon.

[Communist]

.
Please note: The people of Michigan will pay $18.7 billion for Total Defense Spending in FY2010. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:




1,924,702 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
7,037,020 People with Health Care for One Year OR
338,748 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
3,372,216 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
150,871 Affordable Housing Units OR
264,394 Elementary School Teachers for One Year



See http://www.nationalpriorities.org/ for more ways that your money is wasted on war.

For more more information:
313-671-3715;

313-559-7074; 248-990-0275;
email: fist.detroit(AT)gmail.com ([email protected]);
or see: www.defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/).




_______________________________________________

[Communist]

__________________

The attached PDF is of the flyer shown here. The PDF is scanned virus-free.



http://web.mail.com/30746-111/mmc-2/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.28315669&folder=Inbox&partId=5

_____________________

[Communist]

.
March 4 protests coast to coast

Fund education, not banks & war (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/fund_education_0304/)

By Larry Hales
Feb 24, 2010

On March 4 students and workers from all around the country will take action to defend education against increased privatization of pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools, budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs and tuition increases at college and universities — especially the public institutions.

Workers and students have shouldered the brunt of the capitalist crisis, while bankers and corporations have been given hundreds of billions of dollars of public monies in order to be bailed out of a crisis that was made by the capitalist system, not the masses.

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/education2_0304.jpg
Michigan State University students, workers
rally and march on Feb. 3. WW (http://www.workers.org/) photos: Bryan G. Pfeifer

Young people in particular are faced with a grim future — one where well-paying jobs with benefits are becoming scarcer — and where the educational system is being increasingly privatized, teachers’ unions busted and curriculums dumbed down to prepare future generations for the current and emerging social order of worldwide competition for low-wage jobs.

Colleges and universities are getting further out of reach, and those who are able to attend must mortgage away their futures.

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/education1_0304.jpg

It is the current political climate, on top of drastic measures being taken by state governments across the country, that helped give birth to the idea of having a national day of action to defend education.

California students and faculty, teachers and other workers first called for March 4 to be a statewide day of action at their conference on Oct. 24.

California students have taken bold action, occupying a number of universities — University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco State, to name only two. The action and energy from California has piqued the interest of many across the country, who began reaching out to California students to make the statewide day of action national.

Both the California Coordinating Committee and activists, students, educators and other workers from across the country released complementary statements agitating for a national day of action March 4.

The statement from the ad hoc group reads:

“As people throughout the country struggle under the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, public education from pre-K to higher and adult education is threatened by budget cuts, layoffs, privatization, tuition and fee increases, and other attacks. Budget cuts degrade the quality of public education by decreasing student services and increasing class size, while tuition hikes and layoffs force the cost of the recession onto students and teachers and off of the financial institutions that caused the recession in the first place. Non-unionized charter schools threaten to divide, weaken and privatize the public school system and damage teachers’ unions, which are needed now more than ever. More and more students are going deep into debt to finance their education, while high unemployment forces many students and youth to join the military to receive a higher education. And all of the attacks described above have hit working people and people of color the hardest.

“In California, students, teachers, workers, parents, and faculty have taken action against these attacks. They took to the streets in a one-day strike on Sept. 24th, organized strikes and actions across the state during the University of California Board of Regents meeting from Nov. 18 to 20, and have called for a statewide day of action on March 4th. These actions have created a broad mass movement in California, drawing in students from all over the state to create a powerful struggle. As the effects of the economic crisis continue to spread into the education system nationally, it’s time to join our voices with students and workers in California and draw inspiration from their example.

“We support each group or coalition organizing in the manner and for the duration of their choosing. In solidarity with those in California, we the below-signed individuals and organizations call on students, teachers, workers, parents, faculty, and staff across the country to join together on March 4th to Take A Stand For Education!”

Planning for March 4 is underway in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, and it will no doubt grow.

Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/) (FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/about/)) youth group, along with many different student and community groups, socialist parties and unions, has been involved in planning and organizing for what could be a resurgence of a national student movement at a time when workers’ organizations, antiwar and community organizations are becoming enraged at the loss of jobs, imperialist war and plunder, racism and police brutality, attacks against immigrant workers, and the other ills of U.S. capitalist society.

Hales is a leader of FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/fist-program/), which is a national endorser of March 4.

_________________________________




copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.workers.org/wwp/).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Comrade Ian]

In Santa Cruz we're going to organize a real student strike, picket lines shutting down campus starting at 6am in the morning and going untill we have a mass assembly at 5pm. Me and my ISO comrades have done a ton of work in the March 4th Strike Committee which we helped found and have succeeded in getting the movement to collect the signatures of ~2,000 students who've pledged to strike on that day. I would expect either the strike to continue through Friday or for some sort of mass occupation to take place coming out of that general assembly. It's actually been very impressive, the SF labor council sent out an email about March 4th pointing to the great example our Strike Committee managed to set and the regional University Labor United coalition have all been really excited about what and how we've managed to go about doing here.

[StalinFanboy]

It's really, really important that this struggle becomes generalized. There are parts of this movement that do not want this, and they should be denounced as counter-revolutionary. The crisis that is creating the problems in the university is part of the same crisis that is fucking with every other working person.


Strike//Occupy//Takeover!

[Rusty Shackleford]

It's really, really important that this struggle becomes generalized. There are parts of this movement that do not want this, and they should be denounced as counter-revolutionary. The crisis that is creating the problems in the university is part of the same crisis that is fucking with every other working person.


Strike//Occupy//Takeover!
i agree. if by generalization you mean to include the working class, the dispossessed, and the oppressed then FUCK YES.

there are some people on my campus that would love to work with the homeless(which i think is a GREAT first step). they dont care about working class politics but they do care about the homeless which is good enough for now :)

[Communist]

.
Universities brace for another grim budget year (http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/universities_brace_for_another.html)

By Paula M. Davis
Kalamazoo Gazette
February 2010

At Senate hearing, WMU president says tuition likely to rise again.

KALAMAZOO — There are some likely realities Michigan’s public university students face next school year: a rise in their tuition bills and no additional state funding — or possibly even cuts to their schools.

Universities are “going to be lucky to get what their getting now,” state Sen. Tom George, R-Texas Township, said in an interview with the Gazette about the prospect for state dollars for universities in what is shaping up to be another bleak budget year for Michigan.

Led by Sen. Tony Stamas, R-Midland, the Michigan Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee met Monday at Western Michigan University. George is vice chairman of the subcommittee, which is making stops around the state, taking testimony from university presidents.

The budget realities that are likely to hit students next school year are already known to university leaders.

University of Michigan-Dearborn Chancellor Daniel Little testified that he anticipates tuition at his campus will rise and that state dollars for his school’s general fund will not increase. He asked senators to “minimize further cuts in funding for operations or scholarship support for our students.”

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s budget, released earlier this month, proposes no funding reductions for the state’s 15 public universities but it also provides for no increases, either.

The House and Senate still must present their own budget plans for a fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Early projections show that the budget already has a $1.7 billion shortfall.

George told presidents at the hearing that “education used to be the single biggest piece of the budget” but health care is one of the culprits eating up more of the state’s resources, edging out obligations like public education.

He said in an interview that while Granholm’s budget doesn’t call for cuts to universities, her plan is based in part on a proposal to extend the sales tax to some services, a move that George said he doubts will be adopted.

WMU President John M. Dunn testified of the challenge students face scrimping dollars for college today. Afterward, Dunn told the Gazette that Western’s tuition will likely rise next year, too.

“The biggest driver on ... student tuition is state support and I guess one question I would ask all of us is that we not try be vague about that. It is what it is,” he told the senators.

Dunn noted that in the past, the state provided 70 percent of the university’s general fund. Today, state money accounts for about 30 percent, meaning students carry the load that state funding previously did.

“There really has been a generational change that’s taken place,” Dunn said of the funding switch.

WMU’s 2009-10 tuition rate, up 5.7 percent from the previous year, is $8,382 for a full-time freshman or sophomore, ranking the university 10th out of the state’s 15 public institutions, according to statistics Dunn shared with senators.

The cost for in-state juniors and seniors who are full-time students is $9,184.

Dunn said another issue is the recent loss of some student financial aid.

With the elimination of the Michigan Promise scholarship and other state aid this school year, students have fewer sources to offset tuition and living expenses.

Last year, WMU students received more than $5.7 million in state financial aid compared to the about $844,000 the university officials expect students to receive this school year.

As a result, students do “a lot more borrowing,” Dunn said. The average WMU student in his or her college career takes out $19,000 in loans to pay for expenses.

[Liberateeducate]

March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education


On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education – Pre K-12, Adult Education, CC, CSU and UC – to "decide on a statewide action plan capable of winning this struggle, which will define the future of public education in this state, particularly for the working class and communities of color."


After hours of open collective discussion, the conference democratically voted, as its principal decision, to call for a statewide Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. The conference decided that all schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics – such as strikes, walkouts, march to Sacramento, rallies, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. – for March 4, as well as the duration of such actions.


We refuse to let those in power continue to pit us against each other. If we unite, we have the power to shut down business-as-usual and to force those in power to grant our demands. Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services.


We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations across the state to endorse this call and massively mobilize and organize for the Strike and Day of Action on March 4.


Let's make this an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and educational segregation in California.


To endorse this call and to receive more information, please contact [email protected] and consult
www.defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com

_____________________________________
Endorsers:
Oct. 24th Mobilizing Conference to Defend Public Education
Statewide Coalition of University Employees
Statewide UPTE
Solidarity Alliance at UCB
General Assembly at UCB
CFT: CA Federation of Teachers
United Teachers Los Angeles: the largest teachers local in CA
AFSCME Local 444: East Bay Municipal Utility District
AFT 1021: part of United Teachers LA, represents over 10,000
California Labor Federation, which has over 2 million workers in unions
California Faculty Association [CFA]: CSU Faculty Union,representing the 23,000 professors, librarians, etc.
Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) - the SSCCC endorses a march 4th day of action
Carpenters Local 713 passed AFSCME Local 444's
CDPH Inter Union Organizing Committee: SEIU 1000, Stationary Engineers 39, CAPS, PEGS, and others have joined the March 4th Strike Call
Oakland Education Association- 2,800 teachers,counselors and librarians
Association of Raza Educators
San Francisco Labor Council
California State University Employees Union
California Teachers Association
Coalition for Equal Quality Education, Boston, MA
United Educators of San Francisco
Third World Assembly at UCB
SWAT at UCB
7th Generation Nation at UC Davis
California College Democrats
_____________________________________

MARCH 4 Strike and Day of Action REGIONAL EVENTS (http://thirdworldjournal.co.cc/?p=140)
List will be updated frequently as more events and details are finalized.

Regional Events

Los Angeles Regional Rally
• 3 pm Rally @ Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A.
• 4 pm March from Pershing Square to the Governor’s office
• 5 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (300 Spring St.)

East Bay/Oakland Regional Rally
• 12 pm-4 pm Rally @ Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front of Oakland City Hall, 14th & Broadway)
• March to the Ogawa Plaza Rally from:
-UC Berkeley: 12 pm Rally @ Bancroft & Telegraph, followed by March
-Laney College: 11 am Rally, followed by March
-Fruitvale BART: Assemble @ 11 am, March @ 11:30 am
• Travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing below)

San Francisco Regional Rally
• Rally at Civic Center @ 1:30 – SF State Students will be marching to meet here
• Rally @ 3 pm 24th and Mission – K-12 march to Civic center with CCSF,
SF State
• 5 pm Rally @ San Francisco Civic Center
• *Other K-12 schools planning morning events and march to Civic Center 1:00-3:00

Sacramento/State Capitol Rally
• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)

San Diego Regional Rally
• 3 pm Rally @ Balboa Park, followed by March to governor’s office
• 4 pm Rally @ Governor’s office (downtown)

San Fernando Valley Regional Rally
• 3:45 pm gathering @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad
• 4:15 pm March
• 5 pm Hands around CSUN
• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad

Local Events

Oakland Unified District (OEA)
• 7:30 a.m. Informational picketing in defense of public education and against cuts
• 9:15 a.m. Districtwide mock “Disaster Drill” (as in “California’s budget is a disaster!”)
(San Francisco, San Lorenzo, Dublin and other districts are holding mock drills.)

UC Berkeley
• 7 am-12 pm Pickets
• 12 pm-1 pm Rally/Action @ entrance to Sproul Plaza (Telegraph & Bancroft)
• 1 pm-3 pm March from UC Berkeley to Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

UCLA
• 10 am Pickets
• 11:30 am Walk Out
• 12 pm Rally @ Bruin Plaza
(UCLA invites high schools and community colleges in the Westside area to join)

UC San Diego
• 11:30 Walk-out & Rally @ Gilman Parking Structure
• 12:30 pm March from Gilman to the Silent Tree outside Giesel Library and Rally there
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

UC Santa Cruz
• 6:00 am Picket at the entrances to campus
• 9:00 am Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)
• 12:00 pm Rally @ main entrance to the campus (Bay and High)
• 5:00 pm General Assembly @ main entrance to campus (Bay and High)

UC Riverside
• 1 pm gathering @ UCR Bell Tower
• 2:30 pm March from UCR to downtown
• 3:30 pm Rally @ University Ave and Market St. (Downtown Riverside)

DVC
• 12pm Walkout : Other events on campus TBD
• Meet up with rally in Oakland’s Ogawa Plaza

City College of SF
•12pm (main campus) Rally and events all day on campus
•12pm (Mission campus) – on campus events – meet up with 3:00 rally @ 24th & Mission

Skyline/Cañada/Peninsula College
• Walkouts @10:00am other campus events

Ocean HS
• Teachers and students to march and rally along California Highway 1

De Anza CC
•12pm to walk out and rally in SF at 5 p.m..

Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo
•12pm-3pm- Rally @ Flagpole Quad
•3:30pm- Rally @ Senator Abel Maldonado's office

Skyline CC, San Mateo County,
• 11 a.m. Rally
• 12pm Walkout at Noon, carpool to SF 5 p.m. Rally.

San Francisco State
• 7 am Campus Shutdown; Pickets from morning till 1pm; all day campus events TBD
• 1pm Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)

Sonoma State
• 11:30 am Student Walk Out
• 12:00 pm-1:30 pm Rally near Stevenson Quad

CSU Bakersfield
• 11:30 am-1 pm @ the Student Union Patio (rain: Stockdale Room in Runner Café)
CSU Channel Islands
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to the San Fernando Valley to participate in San Fernando Valley Regional Rally @ CSU Northridge (See regional listing above)
CSU Chico
• 8 am sendoff for students, faculty, workers and campus community traveling to State Capital Rally (See regional listing above)
CSU Dominguez Hills
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Wilson High School Long Beach and Los Angeles Regional Rally (See Long Beach details below or regional listing above)
• 11 am-1 pm students hold a fair on CSUDH East Walkway (Games to learn about public education costs, access and quality)
CSU East Bay
• 12 pm Rally/Open Mic/Speack Out @ Agora Stage
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally (See regional listing above)
Fresno State
• 10:30 am March from NW corner of Blackstone and Shaw, go down Shaw to Fresno State
• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Peace Garden
CSU Fullerton
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)
Humboldt State
• 3 pm-5 pm Rally @ Humboldt County Courthouse-Eureka with CSU and K-12 faculty and students
Cal State Los Angeles
• 9:30 am Rally @ the USU area (Free Speech area)
• 2 pm March to Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)
CSU Long Beach
• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ South Campus, Upper Quad,
• 1 pm-2 pm Parade
• 4 pm Rally with K-12 and Community College (see below)
Long Beach: Wilson High School
• 4 pm Rally @ Wilson High School Gymnasium (4400 E. 10th St.)
• Music by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, The Nightwatchman)
California Maritime Academy
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Francisco Regional Rally and Sacramento/State Capitol Rally (See regional listing above)
• 12 pm Street Theatre/Mock “Die-In” @ Maritime’s main quad
CSU Monterey Bay
• 11 am-1 pm Rally/March
• Followed by car-pools to Community Rally
• 4 pm Community Rally @ Colton Hall (570 Pacific St. between Madison & Jefferson)
- Contact: Kat General, 415-728-8927
CSU Northridge/San Fernando Valley Regional Rally
• 3:45 pm gather @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad
• 4:15 pm March
• 5 pm Hands around CSUN
• 5:30 pm Rally @ CSU Northridge Sierra Quad
Cal Poly Pomona
• 1:30 pm- 2:30 pm Send off Rally @ – as CFA members, students and campus community board buses for Los Angeles Regional Rally (See regional listing above)
Sacramento State/Sacramento/State Capitol Rally
• 11 am-1 pm Rally @ State Capitol (North Steps of Capitol)
- Contact: Kevin Wehr, 916-541-2125
CSU San Bernardino
• 11:30 am March @ Marquee entrance (NW corner of University Pkwy and Northpark Blvd)
• 12 pm Rally @ Pfau Library
San Diego State/San Diego Regional Rally
• 11:30 am-12:00 pm collect video testimonials from students and campus community next to Aztec Center (Large “scoreboard” showing the loss of students, teachers and classes at SDSU due to budget cuts)
• 12:00 pm Rally by Aztec Center
• Students, faculty, workers and campus community will travel to San Diego Regional Rally (See regional listing above)
San Jose State
• 11 am gather at San Jose City Hall
• 11:45 am March to San Jose State Tower Lawn (7th Street Plaza entrance)
• 12 pm Rally @ San Jose State Tower Lawn
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• 3:30–5 pm Rally @ Office of state Senator Abel Maldonado (1356 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo)
CSU San Marcos
• 10:30 am-11:30 am Teach-in on State Budget @ Academic Hall (ACD) 102 (simulcast to other classrooms)
• 12 pm-1 pm Rally @ Kellogg Library
CSU Stanislaus
• 11:30 am-1pm Rally @ campus Quad



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[StalinFanboy]

i agree. if by generalization you mean to include the working class, the dispossessed, and the oppressed then FUCK YES.

there are some people on my campus that would love to work with the homeless(which i think is a GREAT first step). they dont care about working class politics but they do care about the homeless which is good enough for now :)
That is exactly what I mean by generlize. I am so tired of seeing activist groups talk about this crisis as if it only exists in the university. Or that this is JUST about public education. This is just another attack on working people, and every attempt should be made to link this to the housing/foreclosure crisis, job crisis, etc. These aren't seperate issues that need to be addressed, but different faces of the same problem.

On one of the campuses I was involved with, the people there had no idea how to get working people outside of the university involved in the strike. This was because they were not thinking of this as the generalized crisis that it is.

[Pawn Power]

That is exactly what I mean by generlize. I am so tired of seeing activist groups talk about this crisis as if it only exists in the university. Or that this is JUST about public education. This is just another attack on working people, and every attempt should be made to link this to the housing/foreclosure crisis, job crisis, etc. These aren't seperate issues that need to be addressed, but different faces of the same problem.

On one of the campuses I was involved with, the people there had no idea how to get working people outside of the university involved in the strike. This was because they were not thinking of this as the generalized crisis that it is.


Surely there is value in students organizing student?

If we are honest we ourselves we would definitely recognize students organizing against the Crisis in Education understand that there are crisis effecting all other parts of society. Hell, anyone with ears or eyes recognize this-- the housing crisis has no shortage of media coverage (albeit poor coverage with no class analysis), the environmental crisis has tremendous prominence particularly on campus, the jobs crisis, etc.

It clearly isn't that students don't see these crisis or see how they are related (budget cuts, neoliberalism, etc.) but that they are organizing against the crisis that strikes closest to home and the one which they get exhibit the most power. Now the only thing you can blame them for in doing this is good STRATEGY.

[StalinFanboy]

Surely there is value in students organizing student?

If we are honest we ourselves we would definitely recognize students organizing against the Crisis in Education understand that there are crisis effecting all other parts of society. Hell, anyone with ears or eyes recognize this-- the housing crisis has no shortage of media coverage (albeit poor coverage with no class analysis), the environmental crisis has tremendous prominence particularly on campus, the jobs crisis, etc.

It clearly isn't that students don't see these crisis or see how they are related (budget cuts, neoliberalism, etc.) but that they are organizing against the crisis that strikes closest to home and the one which they get exhibit the most power. Now the only thing you can blame them for in doing this is good STRATEGY.
I'm not talking about students. I'm sure most or all of them see the connections. I'm talking about activist groups that are making a point to only address this as an issue of public education.

Any attempt to go further than this, to include workers outside of the university, or to even question the role of the university it's self is met with resistance, by activist groups.

[Pawn Power]

I'm not talking about students. I'm sure most or all of them see the connections. I'm talking about activist groups that are making a point to only address this as an issue of public education.

Any attempt to go further than this, to include workers outside of the university, or to even question the role of the university it's self is met with resistance, by activist groups.

I don't think this is true. Maybe with the groups you are exposed to but here where I am students activist groups are actively organizing with workers both on campus and off campus.

And if it is not the case where you are, you should organize with them-- not lambaste them because they are not using your organizing model.

[Communist]

_____________


Education is Under Attack!
Organize! Fight Back!



Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) statement on March 4 (http://www.frso.org/about/statements/2010/march-4-frso-statement.htm)

Today education is under attack. Tuition and fee hikes are closing the doors to higher education. Working class and even many middle class college students are being forced out or are taking on crushing debts. Cuts in financial aid and student services and extra fees for undocumented students are limiting access. Furthermore, programs won through past struggles such Ethnic Studies and campus Women’s Centers are coming under attack. We say Education is a Right, Not a Privilege!

Across the country students are fighting back. Mass protests and building occupation rocked the University of California in opposition to tuition hikes. Workers, teachers, and their unions have joined with students to fight for their jobs and for education. The recession and financial meltdown have led to the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Lay-offs, foreclosures, and budget cuts are hitting our communities while the government bails out the big banks and corporations. March 4 is a national day of action to fight these cuts on campuses and schools across the country.

Fifty years ago, on February 1, 1960, four African American students sat in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina. This protest unleashed a wave of direct action against Jim Crow, and ushered in a new, militant phase of the Civil Rights Movement led by Black students in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Many white students who were involved joined the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the antiwar movement on college campuses. Today, students are again marching in the forefront of the people’s fight back.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) would like to put forward the following three slogans in the fight for education:

Chop from the Top!
While students are seeing fewer and fewer classes, top administrators are earning CEO salaries. Across the country the number of administrators and their pay is growing, while they claim that there is no money to keep paying teachers and staff. Many schools are laying off their own workers and outsourcing jobs to lower-paid, non-union workers. This corporate approach to education is making the bad budget situation even worse. Lay offs, outsourcing, no way! Cut the administrators’ pay!

Tax the Rich!
State government and local schools across the country have less tax revenues due to the Great Recession. Many governments are raising their sales tax, which falls the hardest on low-income families. While both Republican and Democratic politicians say that they can’t raise taxes on the rich, the people of Oregon showed them how by raising the tax on corporations and high-income households!

Money for Education, Not Occupation!
The Federal Government is sending tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Each soldier costs more than a million dollars per year. While military spending is reaching new highs, the Federal Government is proposing to freeze domestic spending, including education. We say the Federal Government should cut military spending and spend more on education! We need books, not bombs!



----------------
Printable PDF flyer version of this statement (http://www.frso.org/about/statements/2010/march4frso.pdf)


Freedom Road Socialist Organization <www.frso.org (http://www.frso.org/)>


For news and views of the people’s struggle: Fight Back Newspaper <www.fightbacknews.org (http://www.fightbacknews.org/)>
_______________________

[which doctor]

http://uicsoc.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/march4thdayofaction0021.png

http://uicsoc.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/march-4th-day-of-action-at-uic/

[Communist]

.
JOIN MARCH 4--NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST


Across the country, students, teachers, faculty and other workers, along with concerned parents, community activists and organizations, will be using the week of March 4 to strike decisively to defend public education and the right to pursue higher learning. What began as a movement in California, is now sweeping the country.


The effects of the economic crisis have been felt by all. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.


The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; decreasing funding for education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.

IN BALTIMORE--The Algebra Project is leading the way!
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS--COLLEGE STUDENTS--YOUTH
COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS, PARENTS, UNION MEMBERS COME OUT

Students & Youth need our support!

MARCH TO END THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE.
DEMAND $100 million for YOUTH JOBS, NOT JAILS

On March 4, Thursday, Meet at Camden Yards -- 10 A.M.
March to 300 Gay Street AKA "Baby Bookings".

Inside "Baby Bookings" students and their supporters will be participating in civil disobedience to demand that $100 million of the $300 Million that is going to be spent on building and rehabilitating 3 new youth jails instead be diverted to youth jobs and education.

The Bail Out the People Movement will be participating.
For more information call: 443-909-8964

We will be putting signs together on Wednesday night--right after Karate at 8 P.M. at 2011 N.
Charles St. Lower Level. Help is needed!

[Communist]

.
SDS Builds for March 4 Education Rights Protests (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/3/1/sds-builds-march-4-education-rights-protests)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/education_rights.JPG (http://sds-mke.blogspot.com/)

By Kati Ketz

Students across the country are mobilizing for a nationwide protest against tuition and fee hikes and in support of staff and faculty facing pay cuts and layoffs. Tens of thousands of students and workers across California participated in demonstrations and building takeovers in November.

They were protesting the University of California Regents proposal to increase already skyrocketing tuitions. These protests are inspiring students across the country to take action to demand that universities chop from the top and stop balancing their budgets on the backs of students and workers.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS (http://newsds.org/)) is one of the many groups participating in the March 4 day of action. The SDS call to action says, “SDS supports the national call to action for actions on March 4 and is calling on all SDS chapters to take up the call to fight back and be a part of the nationwide resistance movement that is saying enough is enough - no more budget cuts on the backs of students and workers! While this country is continuing to spend millions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and giving our money to rich bankers, state universities are cutting scholarships for oppressed nationality and working students and eliminating funding for women’s and cultural centers that focus on Black and [email protected] programming and education.”

The call goes on to state, “We in SDS call on students across the country to stand up and take action against budget cuts at your university. Protest proposed budget cuts, sit-in at administrator or board of trustee meetings, call for walkouts, host a teach-in, chalk or table on campus to educate your fellow students. Get out and make your voice heard against budget cuts and for accessible public education.”

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is organizing a speakout to demand a tuition freeze and demanding the chancellor and high-level administrators take at least a 5% pay cut. Jacob Flom from SDS at the UWM says, “SDS helped put together a strong coalition of 20 organizations, including faculty and graduate student unions, to demand more accountability and to stop cuts that affect students and staff. We have been talking to students and getting petitions signed, talking to classes and professors, doing banner drops and blanketing the campus in fliers.”

Tracy Molm from University of Minnesota SDS (http://www.sua.umn.edu/groups/directory/show.php?id=1480) said, “SDS is organizing students to participate in what is going to be a large rally and march for education rights. We are demanding smaller class sizes and no tuition hikes, as well as no forced furlough days for both staff and faculty. The students on campus are energized and ready to fight back against the cuts.”

At the University of North Carolina-Asheville, SDSers are trying to raise awareness about education rights struggles throughout the country, both past and present. Rachel McLarty of UNCA SDS (http://uncasds.wordpress.com/) says, “We’re showing the movie Walkout [a movie about the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkouts] during the week of March 4. We are also bringing UCLA [University of California-Los Angeles] SDS activist Charla Schlueter to campus later in March to speak about the current situation in California, including the March 4 protests. We are trying to raise awareness around education rights on campus and are standing in solidarity with students across the country fighting back.”

Big administrators are trying to convince us students that everybody has to ‘feel the pain’ of the financial crisis in the form of tuition hikes, cuts to services such as cultural centers and library hours and cuts to the lowest paid staff - while chancellors and administrators continue to enjoy six-figure salaries. Students are not fooled by this and are standing up and fighting back against tuition hikes and cuts to pay and jobs to pay for big-figure salaries. SDS is demanding, “Fund education, not war and occupation! Chop from the top!”

To learn more about March 4 please visit defendeducation.org (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=2c0b4bbfd0&e=9a48d3712b)

[Communist]

.
SDS Call to Support and Take Action on March 4th (http://newsds.org/?q=node/215)


On March 4th, student groups and others across the country will be taking action to defend the right to education at all levels, from pre-K through 12, adult education, community colleges, to the university level. Budget cuts affect all, but especially the working class and oppressed nationality students that will be hit the hardest by further budget cuts that attack our right to education.

SDS supports the national call to action for actions on March 4th and is calling on all SDS chapters to take up the call to fight back and be a part of the nationwide resistance movement that is saying enough is enough – no more budget cuts on the backs of students and workers! While this country is continuing to spend millions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and giving our money to rich bankers, state universities are cutting scholarships for oppressed nationality and working students, and eliminating funding for women’s and cultural centers that focus on Black and [email protected] programming and education.

SDS works for the democratic transformation of education in this country through its national campaign, Student Power for Accessible Education. The goals of this campaign are:

1. Universal, free, equitably-funded schools at all levels

2. Schools run democratically by students, workers, teachers, and the local community

3. Debt cancellation of all student loans

4. Affirmative action and a focus on anti-oppression to end all forms of oppression in our schools and communities

We in SDS call on students across the country to stand up and take action against budget cuts at your university. Protest proposed budget cuts, sit-in at administrator or board of trustee meetings, call for walk-outs, host a teach-in, chalk or table on campus to educate your fellow students. Get out and make your voice heard against budget cuts and for accessible public education.

The national March 4th call states “Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education.

This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010.

All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions. Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.”


To get involved, check out www.defendeducation.org (http://www.defendeducation.org/)
To learn more about SDS, check out http://www.newsds.org (http://www.newsds.org/)
To learn more about the SDS Student Power for Accessible
Education campaign, email spfae(AT)googlegroups.com ([email protected]) for more information

[Communist]

.
Action Plans (http://www.arizonaea.org/politics.php?page=506)

The AEA March4Schools Day of Action is gaining momentum throughout Arizona. Find an activity in your community and get involved! If a contact is not listed, please contact the appropriate AEA Regional Office (http://www.arizonaea.org/about.php?page=4) for more information.

East Valley and Mesa Locals


Casa Grande Elementary EA: Informational picketing at Casa Grande City Hall, to highlight the plight of education in our state. Teachers will be emphasizing the need for citizen participation in government beginning with voter registration and applying for vote-by-mail ballots.
Address: 510 E. Florence Blvd, Casa Grande
Contact: Lisa Flores at lkf1122 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])q.com ([email protected]), Kim Batina at kjmba ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected]) or Theo Jordan at subdudext6 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected])
Coolidge EA: Phone banking to legislators to express the approval or disappointment voters feel regarding how much their legislators support or don't support public education.
Contact:Deidra Danielsatdloudan ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])msn.com ([email protected])
Mesa EA: Rally in the Park - a picnic, rally and phone-in where 2,000 phone calls will be made to legislators.
Address: Mesa's Riverview Park, Loop 202 & Loop101 in northwest Mesa.
Contact: Will Moore at will.moore ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])arizonaea.org ([email protected])
Mesa ESPA: Joining with Mesa EA for the Rally in the Park.
Chandler EA: Rally at Tumbleweed Park - parents, staff and administrators will get together to share information about current legislative actions, and special guest Penny Kotterman, candidate for Superintendent of Public Schools, will be speaking.
Address: 745 E. Germann Rd, Chandler
Contact: Bob Harpur at bharpur ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])hotmail.com ([email protected])
Tempe: Rally at Kiwanis Park - a celebration of public education that will help increase awareness about what the legislature is doing.
Address: 6111 South All-America Way, Tempe
Contact: Lara Bruner at larabruner ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])gmail.com ([email protected])
Kyrene EA: Joining with Tempe for the Rally at Kiwanis Park.
Higley EA: Voter education efforts will be conducted by helping people register to vote, passing out voting records of current legislators and presenting new candidates.
Contact: Dan Lawrence at dantheman12_99 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected]o.com)yahoo.com ([email protected])

Phoenix Metro Locals


Phoenix Union High School CTA: Light Rail Ride - participants will wear their March4Schools t-shirts and strike up conversations with other light rail riders to discuss the impact the legislature is having on public schools.
Address: Phoenix Union HS District Office at 4502 N. Central Ave, Phoenix
Contact: Ed Bufford at edwardbufford ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])aol.com ([email protected])
Phoenix Union High School CEA: Joining with Phoenix Union CTA for the Light Rail Ride.
Contact: Tom Oviatt at toviatt ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])gmail.com ([email protected])
Madison District CTA: Madison March for Education Awareness - members, friends and families will be marching through the Madison community to help raise awareness about how cuts to education funding are affecting public school students and employees.
Contact: Cheryl Allen at showme76 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])cox.net ([email protected])
Glendale Elementary EA: Unity Rally - a rally designed to bring the Glendale community together to support public education.
Address: Murphy Park, 7010 N. 59th Avenue, Glendale
Contact: Gil Romero at gromero12 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected])
Glendale Union EA: Phone banking to call parents, community leaders and legislators to discuss the current and future status of school budgets.
Address: Cortez High School, Faculty Dining Room, 8828 N 31st Ave Phoenix
Contact: Estevan Carreon at estevancarreon ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected])
Cartwright EA: Door to door walks to educate voters about the importance of contacting their legislators.
Contact: Theresa Trujillo at thetruji ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected])
Washington District EA: Door to door walks to educate the community about the impact the legislature is having on public schools.
Contact: Darrin Squire at ladrs2000 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])yahoo.com ([email protected])
Creighton EA: Phone bank and share information in neighborhoods to share information about the cuts with members and call legislators to tell them to support public schools.
Contact: Alys Casperson at acasper2 ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])qwest.net ([email protected])
Osborn EA: Send cards signed by members to state representatives to help members get in contact with their legislators.
Contact: Judith Geil at w.geil ([email protected])(AT) ([email protected])att.net ([email protected])
Phoenix Elementary CTA: March on 7th Street - to inform parents and the community about current legislative actions.
Address: 1817 N. 7th St, Phoenix
Contact: Rosalinda Ramirez at rosez39(AT)yahoo.com ([email protected])
Roosevelt EA: Calls to legislators to ask them to support public schools.
Contact: Sajael Fairbairn at sajaeldf(AT)yahoo.com ([email protected])
Isaac District EA: Social at Garcia's Mexican Restaurant - to bring awareness to the community.
Address: 35th Ave. and Encanto Blvd, Phoenix
Contact: Marisol Garcia at solitag(AT)aol.com ([email protected])

North Central Locals


Dysart EA: 100 members and friends marching to promote the override at three different key locations.
Addresses: Bell and Grand, Olive and El Mirage, Cotton Lane and Bell
Contact: Nikki Frye at njmfrye(AT)cox.net ([email protected])
Peoria EA: Planning at every school site to work on strategies for getting the override passed.
Contact: Trina Berg at trinapacstuff(AT)q.com ([email protected])
Nadaburg Employee Associaiton: Letter writing campaign where letters will be composed that explain the needs of rural school districts to legislators.
Address: 21419 West Dove Valley Road, Wittmann
Contact: Liza Green at liza_green(AT)cox.net ([email protected])
Paradise Valley EA: Each school site will be doing something different, such as handing out legislative voting records to parents or at door to door neighborhood walks, or hosting meetings where participants will share the effect budget cuts are having on their students, or calling legislators to tell them their actions will have an effect on voters in the primaries, or holding vigils for education at the school flagpole.
Paradise Valley SEA: Joining with Paradise Valley EA to do individual school site activities.
Deer Valley EA: Joining with Paradise Valley EA to do individual school site activities.

Maricopa West Locals


Littleton EA: Joint meetings of district administrators and PTA groups to discuss school budgets and current legislative actions.
Contact: Jamie Morris at jamiemorrisx(AT)yahoo.com ([email protected])
Agua Fria District EA: Public event at Skyway Church where information about current legislation will be handed out as well as contact information for legislators. Legislators from districts 12, 13 and 23 will be invited to attend.
Address: 14900 W. Van Buren, Goodyear
Contact: Juanita Jamison at jamison.juanita(AT)yahoo.com ([email protected])
EA of Avondale: Joining with Agua Fria District EA for the public event at Skyway Church.
Litchfield District EA: Joining with Agua Fria District EA for the public event at Skyway Church.

Southern Locals


Tucson EA: Rally at Reid Park - promoting the role of public schools in the community.
Address: Gene C. Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way, Tucson
Contact: Beth Slaine at emslaine(AT)gmail.com ([email protected])
Sunnyside EA: Joining with Tucson EA.
Amphitheater EA: Rally at Rillito Park and River Walk and Rally at Coronado K-8 School - rallies to support public education.
Contact: John Fife at rbunch2k(AT)msn.com ([email protected])
Flowing Wells EA: Joining in the rallies with Amphitheater EA and Tucson EA.
Contact: Teri Bohr at teribohr(AT)mac.com ([email protected])
Sierra Vista CTA: Movie Premier - a movie will be shared with the community that is made up of teachers' responses to questions about the impact the legislature is having on public schools.
Contact: Barbara Williams at bswms(AT)cox.net ([email protected])
Marana EA: March4Marana - rallies at eight polling sites to display positive messages about Prop. 400.
Contact: Deb Larned

Northern Locals


Prescott EA: March at Town Square
Contact: Michael McCrady
Sedona EA: March in front of Basha's in West Sedona & March in front of IGA Grocery Store in the Village of Oak Creek to help get the word out about how the legislature is affecting public schools.
Addresses: 89A in West Sedona & 179A in the Village of Oak Creek
Contact: Heidi Thorne at hthorne07(AT)gmail.com ([email protected])

Western Locals


Crane EA: Rally at Knox School to relay approval/disapointment to legislators regarding their support of public education. Lynn Pancrazi and Russ Jones have tentatively aggreed to attend.
Address: Gary A. Knox Elementary, 2926 S. 21st Dr, Yuma
Contact: Alexis Brokaw at alexis.brokaw(AT)arizonaea.org ([email protected])
Yuma Elementary EA: Joining with Crane EA for the Rally at Knox School.

[Communist]

.
March 4 Day of Action in Defense of Public Education

Schools in state fired up over Day of Action (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/27/BA2L1C6QNT.DTL)

SFGate
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
February 28, 2010

March 4th has gone viral.

The upcoming Day of Action to Defend Public Education -
rallies, marches, teach-ins, even political theater -
began as an idea on the UC Berkeley campus last fall
and has caught fire up and down California, from
elementary school to graduate school, and across two
dozen states.

On the surface, Thursday's Day of Action seems likely
to be an unprecedented show of unity among public
education advocates at all levels who are angry that
politicians and university officials with fingers on
purse strings are letting the system decay.

"Everybody's coming together," said Callie Maidhof, a
student at UC Berkeley, where students have protested
tuition hikes, budget cuts and layoffs since last fall.

But some say the event is already scorched by the
threat of violence. At an outdoor dance party early
Friday, a crowd of Berkeley campus protesters seized a
building, torched trash cans, threw bottles and got
into an angry confrontation with police. Hostilities
unwanted

Students said protesters occupied the building in part
to call attention to March 4th, and don't expect the
hostilities to be repeated Thursday.

"It's important not to inject that level of damage into
every action, or you'll alienate lots of people who
don't want to act that way," said Xander Lenc, a
student at the dance party that got out of hand.

A major goal of Thursday's Day of Action is to draw
attention to education woes not only in California, but
all over the country, Maidhof said. "We want public
education to be open and free to all."

Instead, college tuition has been climbing steadily in
most states and in California, despite a state master
plan calling for tuition-free colleges.

At UC, next year's base tuition of $10,302 will be more
than double that of six years ago. Recent tuition hikes
of more than 30 percent at UC and at California State
University have forced students to shoulder more of the
cost of their education as state lawmakers have cut
back on funding to the universities in response to the
state's epic budget crisis. Schools are offering fewer
courses, cutting wages, laying off employees and
reducing enrollment.

At community colleges, course cuts will close the door
to 21,000 students next year.

In the lower grades, thousands of teachers will get
layoff warnings by March 15. Holding the Day of Action
in time to highlight those pink slips is one reason
students and teachers say they chose the date March 4.

"We hope to educate our politicians that the system
they have for funding schools is not equitable and
needs to be changed," said Megan Caluza, who has taught
special-needs students at El Dorado Elementary in San
Francisco for two years and expects to be laid off.

She'll march with colleagues and parents through the
Mission District after school, then head to a 5 p.m.
rally at Civic Center - one of many sponsored by labor
unions and faculty.

"Everyone agrees that education should be a right, not
a privilege," said Joan Berezin, co-chairwoman of the
social science department at Berkeley City College and
an organizer. "This is our state, our education. If we
don't defend it, who will?"

All 23 campuses of California State University are
holding events. A sense of humor

Rachel Kerns, a sophomore at San Francisco State,
recently put final touches on a 12-foot papier-mache
"Draculator." It's one of four huge, in-your-face
puppets that students, theater Professor Carlos Baron
and artist Colette Crutcher are creating for Thursday's
rally.

The group is building a traditional Mexican weeping
figure called "La Llorona" to cry for students,
dinosaur bones to signify the extinction of education,
and a huge skeleton in a graduation cap.

"It's a student who's still paying college loans even
after he's dead," Crutcher said with a laugh.

"March 4th, I hope, will give the students a feeling of
accomplishment," Baron said. "If we make noise, and if
we're heard - if people laugh at our work - then we'll
have achieved something very positive. We're not there
to scream at people."

March 4th was born on Oct. 24, when hundreds of
students and employees from dozens of schools met at UC
Berkeley to decide how to keep momentum alive after a
major statewide campus walkout a month earlier to
protest the fee hikes and cuts in the works.

Since then it seems everyone is planning something for
that day.

"We wanted to get involved with the national call by
California students who are facing the same crisis as
we are," said Chris Persampieri, a student at Massasoit
Community College in Brockton, Mass., one of several
schools in dozens of states holding rallies.

Will it make a difference?

"I don't think March 4th is going to do anything," said
UC Berkeley student Yana Pavlova. "We don't have the
tangible power to change the law. So at the end of the
day, we're back where we started, paying $30,000 for a
'public' education."

A Day of Action: Events planned in the Bay Area and
Sacramento. C3

A Day of Action to Defend Public Education

Events planned Thursday in the Bay Area and Sacramento:
Sacramento

-- 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: State Capitol rally on the north
steps. The purpose is to feature lessons on
California's public education system, focusing on
history, political science and economics. Speakers
include Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico,
D-Fremont, and UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff.

-- Two-minute testimonials from faculty, alumni and
public college students will follow. San Francisco

-- Daylong: San Francisco public schools will host
teach-ins, marches, rallies and letter writing starting
at 7 a.m. Many will host rallies and marches, including
El Dorado Elementary from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.; George
Washington High from 11:20 a.m. to noon; Feinstein
Elementary at 1 p.m.; and Miraloma Elementary at 2:15
p.m.

-- 7 a.m.: San Francisco State University campus
action.

-- 3 p.m.: March from 24th and Mission streets to Civic
Center.

-- 4 p.m.: March to State Building on McAllister
Street.

-- 5 p.m.: "Rally for Our Future" at Civic Center, with
speakers and performances. Oakland

-- Daylong: Oakland public schools will offer
activities highlighting the impact of school funding
cuts. Activities include leafleting and picketing
before class.

-- 11 a.m.: Laney College rally, followed by march (via
Fruitvale BART) to Oakland City Hall.

-- Noon-4 p.m.: Rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front of
Oakland City Hall, 14th and Broadway).

-- 4 p.m.: Oakland school officials hold press
conference at 1515 Clay St. UC Berkeley

-- 7 a.m.-noon: Pickets on campus.

-- Noon-1 p.m.: UC Berkeley rally at Bancroft and
Telegraph, followed by a march to Oakland City Hall.
Cal State East Bay, Hayward

-- Noon: Rally, walkout and open mike/speak out at
Agora Stage at noon; delivery of student demands to
campus president. California Maritime Academy, Vallejo

-- Noon: Street Theatre/Mock Die-In at Maritime's main
quad. San Jose State

-- 11 a.m.: March from San Jose City Hall to San Jose
State Tower Lawn.

-- Noon: Keep the Doors Open rally at San Jose State
Tower Lawn Sonoma State

-- 11:30 a.m.: Student walkout

-- Noon-1:30 p.m.: Rally near Stevenson Quad

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov(AT)sfchronicle.com ([email protected]).

===

[berlitz23]

I will attend my local rally, but my question is what is the prescription for this problem? Also is this going to be one day and the subsequent days are we going to return back to our lives and institutions so we can enable them to subsist?

[berlitz23]

No replies?

[Communist]

I will attend my local rally, but my question is what is the prescription for this problem? Also is this going to be one day and the subsequent days are we going to return back to our lives and institutions so we can enable them to subsist?

Are you in a party or an organization? They would be the ones to ask about the next course of action taken in your area. This and other issues are constantly being fought against - March 4 is a mobilization in which the demands will receive media attention on a large-scale because of the thousands involved on one particular day and by many organizations working together. Whether you continue the struggle isn't up to anyone but yourself, and most communists will continue the fight way beyond tomorrow and on many different fronts.
Socialism is the answer.

[Communist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkozY0LTxs

[berlitz23]

the student demonstration I attended was extremely and grossly disappointing by all measures. Student Representatives embodying all characteristics of the classic polician with their farrago of cant and veneer, state representative promising to work bilaterally with student organizations, and unfortunately students believing that change will be implemented. There were a few dissidents in my crowd, like myself and a few other, hollering and jeering these politicians but to no avail did it persuade the whole crowd. Tomorrow, inevitably students will attend class and feign of any concern for the future, so I don't know personally this day was unsuccessful.

[Communist]

the student demonstration I attended was extremely and grossly disappointing by all measures. Student Representatives embodying all characteristics of the classic polician with their farrago of cant and veneer, state representative promising to work bilaterally with student organizations, and unfortunately students believing that change will be implemented. There were a few dissidents in my crowd, like myself and a few other, hollering and jeering these politicians but to no avail did it persuade the whole crowd. Tomorrow, inevitably students will attend class and feign of any concern for the future, so I don't know personally this day was unsuccessful.

The disappointment and frustration over all of this that you feel is what is needed and necessary in the movement. It's building. I hope you're in an organization, if not, please look into them.

[Communist]

Thursday
MARCH 4
NATIONAL DAY of ACTIONS to DEFEND EDUCATION (http://www.defendeducation.org/)

The Bail Out the People Movement (http://bailoutpeople.org/) endorses the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education.


Gather in Los Angeles at Pershing Square (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=bec&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=Pershing%20Square%205th%20Between%20Olive%20%26% 20Hill&aql=&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl) 3 PM at 5th Between Olive & Hill (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=bec&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=Pershing%20Square%205th%20Between%20Olive%20%26% 20Hill&aql=&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl)


Across the country, students, teachers, faculty and other workers, along with concerned parents, community activists and organizations, will be using the week of March 4 to strike decisively to defend public education and the right to pursue higher learning.

The effects of the economic crisis have been felt in all sectors. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.

The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; defunding education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.

There has been an accelerated push to privatize public education under the guise of “school choice,” using the crumbling infrastructure of inner city schools as an excuse. This crumbling is due to decades of systemic underfunding.

Parents and their children are wooed by for-profit and even nonprofit charter schools as a way out. But the charter schools offer a clear and present danger to teachers’ unions and are not bound to provide English as a Second Language or special education services. Charters can be granted to companies or a group of individuals who ultimately select the students and control the curriculum and budget.

Besides the above, corporations and financial institutions would like to get their hands on the $800 billion a year spent on education.

The Obama administration has contributed to the race to privatize public education. It has dangled $4 billion in front of strapped state governments to compete for by devising a new plan for education. This “Race to the Top” program calls not only for diminishing or eliminating altogether the cap on charter schools, but also calls for the tying of teacher pay to performance, opening the door for the firing of teachers at “underperforming schools.”

The state budget crisis, which grew out of the general economic crisis, has provided state governments across the country a pretext for further attacks on public education. As of December, 36 states have made higher education budget cuts, resulting in tuition increases and reductions in faculty and staff. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have cut aid to K-12 schools. Additional cuts across states are expected to be widespread in 2010.

In this climate of severe and relentless education cuts, March 4 is just the beginning of a movement to unite students, educators and other workers against the attacks on public education. That is why the Bail Out the People Movement is proud to stand up for public education on March 4 and raise the demand: “Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Incarceration.” As the struggle continues to grow post-March 4, it will be critical to link together the movements for jobs and education with the movement to stop the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.



_____________________________________________

[Communist]

.
Education Struggle Heats Up (http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/3/2/education-struggle-heats)

By Eric Gardner

Los Angeles, CA - As the March 4 Day of Action draws closer, campuses across California are getting restless.

The latest series of struggles began Feb. 24, on the campus of UC Irvine. That morning, a group of about 20 students and workers took over the campus administration building. The action began as a sit-in, but by noon students had locked down the building and barricaded the entrances with dumpsters. Their list of demands included a revocation of the 5% furloughs imposed on service workers, financial aid for undocumented students and greater investment in ethnic, queer and women's studies programs. Police dismantled the barricades by the afternoon, and students were released after being briefly detained.

The following day, Feb. 25, students at UC Santa Cruz, Cal State Fullerton, and San Francisco State University conducted banner drops urging students to strike on March 4.

That night, some 250 students at UC Berkeley took over Durant Hall, a building which used to house the East Asian Library, and more recently became the site of one of the administration's ‘capital projects.’

In a statement, the occupiers linked the expansion of capital projects which serve only the administration with the rapidly rising student fees: "As we now know, the UC administration has used not only students' tuition, but also the promise of future tuition increases, to secure the bonds and bond ratings necessary to channel ever increasing resources into construction projects. They will always need more money, and it will always be our money. A general concern that changes the way we see the campus that surrounds us. But if there is one building in particular that exemplifies this process, it is Durant Hall: its renovation was halted in 2008 for lack of funds, and only started up again after the administration sold $1.3 billion in construction bonds last May backed by our fee hike as collateral. Its melancholy fate is to become yet another administration building. Durant Hall will be inhabited by deans and staff of the College of Letters and Science, but it has already been occupied by a bloated administration with private capital on its mind."

Students occupied the building for several hours before beginning a rowdy march down Telegraph Avenue, the heart of Berkeley's downtown. Demonstrators scuffled with riot police before dispersing and at least two were arrested.

On Feb. 26, students led by the Black Student Union at UC San Diego and the Afrikan Student Union at UCLA staged sit-ins at the offices of their respective chancellors. Several hundred students mobilized, demanding that the administrators take action to improve the conditions on campus for non-white students. The actions were prompted by a string of racist incidents at UC San Diego, but protesters also drew connections between the ongoing budget cuts and the plight of students of color. Students at UCSD occupied their chancellor's office for more than six hours before leaving.

On March 1, the UC Berkeley Black Student Union organized a silent protest in solidarity with the San Diego action. Students blocked one of the main gates on campus, dressed in black, with black cloth tied over their mouths.

On March 2, members of UCLA's Afrikan Student Union and allies took over a major campus walkway with linked arms and megaphones, chanting at the passers by and denouncing hate crimes and a lack of diversity in the UC system. At Berkeley, another series of banners urging students to strike have gone up.

We can only guess what tomorrow will bring.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Tomorrow! god i cant tell you all how excited i am. even though i will only be assisting with a teach in.

i really wish i had an iphone to watch headlines roll in.

[Communist]

.
Rally to stop NYC education cuts! (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/education_cuts_0311/)

4-6 p.m., Gov. Paterson’s office, 633 3rd Ave.(betw. 40th & 41st)
Then march to the MTA hearing at FIT (27th St & 7th Ave.)

Statement of Bail Out the People Movement (http://bailoutpeople.org/)

The New York Governor’s Office has proposed a new budget that slashes education funding and reduces aid to local municipalities.

State school aid will be cut by $1.1 billion. This amounts to a $469 million cut to New York City’s Department of Education. It is estimated that as many as 8,500 city teachers could be laid off as a result. This would come on top of the decision by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to close 19 public schools.

Funding to State University of New York schools could be reduced by as much as $212.4 million. City University of New York faces an additional $84.4 million cut. The budget would also free both SUNY and CUNY from state oversight of tuition hikes, paving the way for regular tuition increases as politicians and administrators see fit.

The state’s Tuition Assistance Program is also expected to be hard hit by the budget proposal.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has threatened to eliminate student Metrocards that provide more than 500,000 K-12 students with the public transportation they need to get to and from school.

Join Bail Out the People Movement this March 4 as we support the educators and students who will be marching from Gov. David Paterson’s office to the MTA to demand:

• Stop school closings and privatization of public education!
• Stop the cuts to K-12 and higher education!
• Keep the free student MetroCard!
• Full funding for all educational needs!
• Education is a right — free, high-quality education for all!

_____________________________




Articles copyright 1995-2010 Workers World (http://www.workers.org/wwp/).
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved.

[Martin Blank]

WPA Signs for March 4 Day of Action: http://www.workers-party.com/members/protest-signs20100304.pdf
(made to be enlarged to fit on an 18 x 24 sheet and placed on posterboard)

WPA Leaflet for March 4 Day of Action: http://www.workers-party.com/lit/publiced-leaflet.pdf
(print double-sided on letter-size paper and cut in half)

===============================

Defend Public Education, Teachers & Workers!
Kill the RaTTT!
Stop Obama’s Race to Privatize!

http://www.workers-party.com/images/ppoimages/killtherattt-color214x300.gif

Brothers and sisters! The Workers Party is proud to join with you today in this day of action to defend public education. These protests and actions could not have come at a more crucial time.

While today’s events were originally called in response to budget cuts and tuition hikes affecting working-class students at public colleges and universities, they have taken on a broader and more urgent concern.

The recent attacks on public school teachers in Detroit and Central Falls, R.I., have brought into focus what Obama’s White House means by education “reform.”

Obama’s “Race To The Top” (RaTTT) plan, sold by the White House and corporatist media as a way to improve public schools and rekindle young people’s interest in learning, is in fact a brutal blueprint for dismantling public school districts, privatizing and selling them off for charter schools.

Part and parcel of this RaTTT plan is the breaking of the back of organized public school teachers and workers. As both the Detroit and Central Falls cases have shown, Obama’s so-called “race to the top” is in fact a race to the bottom for working people.

Indeed, Obama’s not-so-backhanded support for the attacks on public school teachers in these two cities is the most blatant support for unionbusting coming from the chief executive of American capitalism since Ronald Reagan’s firing of the striking PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981.

Across the country, from Central Falls to Los Angeles, New York to Chicago, Detroit to Oakland, public schools at all levels are coming under attack. Like all other workers, young people from working-class backgrounds are being forced to pay for the mismanagement and clean up the messes of the exploiting and oppressing classes.

While states cut billions of dollars from K-12, community college and public university funding, affecting millions of working people of all ages and their futures, billions more are freely handed out in the form of tax breaks, incentives and corporate welfare.

On top of this, Washington continues to pour billions of dollars into its occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, bribes Wall Street with “stimulus” and “bailout” money, and keeps “middle class” professionals, managers and business owners afloat with subsidies and other artificial financial support.

In other words, working people are expected to subsidize and prop up the exploiting and oppressing classes of corporatist capitalism at the expense of their own futures!

This is an especially brutal and callous agenda, given the current economic crisis.

Working people have a right to quality education, free from interference by private capitalist interests. The Workers Party advocates the abolition of all privately-run educational institutions, including the so-called “charter” schools that have proven to be a failure as an alternative to public education.

In addition, we support abolition of all tuition and fees at all publicly-funded educational institutions, full stipends for all students and nullification of all existing student loan debts, as well as the inclusion of occupational and vocational training in all academic curricula, in order to give young people the practical skills needed to put their education to use for the good of society.

For Workers’ Control of Public Education!

When it comes to the question of public education, no amount of reform, including those we advocate, are enough to establish a genuinely high-quality educational system for working people in the 21st century. Indeed, what is needed is a revolutionary working-class solution to the crisis in public education. In our view, that means working people organizing and taking the lead in the fight to wrest control of education from the exploiting and oppressing classes, as part of a broader fight for a future that works for working people.

The Workers Party advocates that public education be placed under the control of democratically-elected councils or assemblies of educational workers, parents and students. These councils, elected school by school, would oversee all aspects of the organization and education of education, from the hiring of administrators and school employees to the specific classes in the curriculum to the allocation of funding.

Democratic workers’ control of public education would begin to immediately resolve many of the largest issues of contention facing public schools today: shared responsibility and accountability by parents, teachers, school workers and students in the care and success of schools; democracy and transparency in the functioning and administration of public school districts; meaningful oversight of resources; etc.

In addition, workers’ control would allow districts to work together on programs that enhance and improve the educational experience of students, such as exchange and open enrollment programs that allow young workers from inner cities to study in suburban districts and vice versa, or adding programs to classes that make learning more relevant or personal for students, such as teaching what John Henrik Clarke called “the other half of history” — the “unofficial” history of Africans in America, of women, of Latinos and Asians, of radical movements, of the working class.

But workers’ control of education is only part of the overall battle for a better world. The Workers Party advocates workers’ control in all aspects of society, including the economy and in politics, through the defeat of capitalist rule and the establishment of a working people’s republic, based on the organization of One Great Union of all working people controlling the economy through workplace committees and governing through elected workers’ councils.

This is what the Workers Party stands for. As the only political party organized and led by workers — by your neighbors, your co-workers, your friends and family — we are unique among those who call themselves revolutionaries or communists. If you like what we have to say, let us know. If you want to know more, talk with us. Better yet, join us. Help to build your party and fight for your future.

###

[Communist]

Live from the day of action
full report here (http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/04/live-from-the-day-of-action)

March 4, 2010

Today, students, teachers, faculty, campus workers and community members are making their voices heard--in California and around the country. They're taking a stand against the ongoing attack on public education at every level, from pre-K through to colleges and universities.


10:20 a.m.: Across the state of California, public schools are holding mock disaster drills to draw attention to the disaster that's currently facing public education. Some schools organized rallies and teach-ins, some are marching, and some are walking out.

Due to safety concerns because of major construction at Oakland High School, teacher Jessie Muldoon said that they had disaster drills in their classrooms, followed by classroom discussions on the crisis. Here, we reprint an excerpt from a statement, written by Oakland Education Association member and special education teacher Payton Carter, which was read over the intercom:
The recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile remind us of the potential devastation that could happen if an earthquake strikes again in Oakland, and the dangers of living close to active fault lines...However, we are taking this time to address another statewide disaster that is destroying our public school system, slowly crumbling the walls of our once exemplary institutions, and shaking the very foundations of our society.
Today, every school in the state is holding a mock fire drill to protest the cuts to education at all levels. This simultaneous fire drill symbolizes the state of emergency currently affecting public education.

Oakland High School is facing $1.1 million in cuts, which will affect staffing in all areas of the school. We will potentially have bigger class sizes, less security, secretaries and custodians. Students and staff protested before school today, holding picket signs and passing out flyers.

If anybody listening would like to participate in large-scale protest actions after the school day, you are encouraged to join thousands of other students, parents and teachers in attending the Oakland Education Association sponsored rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland which will run from 12-4 p.m., march en masse to the state building, and then BART to the Civic Center in San Francisco for a massive regional rally and protest starting at 5 p.m.

Every school in the state of California is holding disaster drills as I speak, but elementary, middle and high school students are not the only ones affected. Every CSU and UC in the state is also holding huge rallies to protest the cuts and tuition hikes on their campuses....

On September 24, 2009, a student strike at UC Berkeley planted the seeds of this now nationwide action. Students tired of cuts and tuition increases felt it was time to demand that California fulfill Article 9 of its constitution, which declares that public education is a fundamental right of its residents.

This means increased funding! It is time for corporations and wealthy Californians to pay their fair share! It's time for all of us to get involved and fight for what is every Californian's right. This is not just about your future; it is about all of our future.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10:10 a.m.: Every state in the U.S. is struggling to balance its budget--and according to the National Governors Association, the worst is yet to come.

That's the excuse that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state lawmakers and school officials use to justify their cutbacks, fee hikes at the universities, layoffs and demands for concessions from union workers--there just isn't any money for our schools.

But a graphical feature by Eric Ruder in the current paper edition of Socialist Worker makes it abundantly clear that the money could be found for public education if the politicians wanted to act.

Ruder points out that cuts from last year's budget in California, agreed to in a deal between Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders of the state legislature, totaled a little over $15 billion. But that pales in comparison to the income last year of the richest 50,000 Californians--a total of $175 billion.

These super-rich residents of the state paid $17 billion in state taxes (income, sales and other taxes combined)--that is, less than 10 percent of their income. In other words, a one-year tax hike on 50,000 of the super-rich would close the California budget gap in one fell swoop.

Overall, the estimated total budget deficit for all 50 states in 2010 is $180 billion. Cutting the U.S. military budget by less than 10 percent would cover the entire budget gap, saving funding for schools, social programs and more. Just the annual spending on the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan would nearly amount to the total deficits.

That's the reality of the misplaced priorities of U.S. political leaders. The money is there to save our schools--if the politicians would tax the rich and end U.S. wars halfway around the world.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://socialistworker.org/files/imagecache/330/files/images/photo%20of%20picket%20at%20UC%20Berkeley.jpg
Demonstrators block Sather Gate at UC Berkeley (Suzy Babb)

9:35 a.m.: Picket lines have been up at the entrances to UC Berkeley since early morning.

Last September, more than 4,000 students, faculty and campus staff took part in protests and walkouts against the budget cuts in the first big day of action in California. The movement spread with occupations and other actions on campus. And Berkeley was host to the October 24 conference that made the call for a day of action on March 4.

Ahead today at Berkeley are a Noon rally at the entrance to Sproul Plaza, followed by march starting at 1 p.m. from the Berkeley campus to Oakland's Ogawa Plaza, where students, faculty, staff and the campus community will participate in the East Bay regional rally--and then the San Francisco protest starting at 5 p.m.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9:10 a.m.: At San Francisco State, Alex Schmaus reported that the day of action was just beginning, with some 40 people protesting at the school entrance. They held a banner with a slogan that matches the mood of many campus activists: "SF State United--Shut It Down like '68." Students were awaiting the faculty association pickets that will begin at 10 a.m.
The Ethnic Studies Building has already been shut down, and MEChA students marched in front of the building.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9:05 a.m.: Activists fighting to defend public education in the U.S. are getting solidarity from around the world.

Democracy Now! reports that the Congress of South African Students called on students to boycott classes at nine campuses. A protest in in Johannesburg calling on the government to provide free education for the poor was attacked by police, who used water cannons to disperse demonstrators.

Earlier today at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, police fired water cannons on students who were demanding the government provide free education for the poor. The South African Students Congress called on students to boycott classes at nine campuses today.

A group of students and professors at Moscow State University sent the following statement of support to the demonstrators in California:
We support your struggle against privatization of education, cuts, fee hikes and layoffs. Each person should have access to quality education. State money should go not on war or indemnification of the losses of big banks and corporations, but on development of human potential.

Besides, we are revolted by repressive actions of administration of University of Berkeley and police against the well-founded protest of citizens. We consider protests of students, teachers and educators to be legal, and attempts by authorities to prevent those activities inadmissible.

We express you our solidarity and we wish you success in your fair demands.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://socialistworker.org/files/imagecache/330/files/images/x2_c9bf70-santacruzblockade.jpg
Students blockade an entrance at UC Santa Cruz

8:40 a.m.: The UC Santa Cruz campus has been shut down, reports Rachel Cohen. Pickets started at 5 a.m., with around 300 people showing up at both of the main entrances to campus. Right now, there are around 500 people on the blockade, and the numbers are growing.

Most of the staff on campus has been given the day off. When campus members who are members of AFSCME got clearance to have the day off, many came back to join the picket line. They and some faculty members have joined students at the entrance to the campuses.

For the first half hour, the administration was letting emergency vehicles go through the picket lines at the campus entrances. The purpose of this was to allow other cars following the emergency vehicles to slip onto campus.

When picketers refused to allow this to go on, two of the cars rushed the picket line, and one protester was struck by a car, suffering a minor injury.
The administration tried about a half dozen times to gather up dining hall workers and slip them onto campus in vans. So students and activists organized mobile picket lines--they think have so far been successful in turning away the vans.

UC Santa Cruz students and activists are looking forward to two rallies during the morning, and a General Assembly meeting at the end of the day to discuss the way forward.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://socialistworker.org/files/imagecache/330/files/images/4403446929_f8298b369c_o.jpg
Activists at Laney College in Oakland (TheBlackHour.com)

7:30 a.m.: A day of strikes and actions is getting underway across California and around the U.S.

The California protests have been building since last September (http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/26/battle-for-californias-future), on one of the first days of school for UC campuses, when students organized for demonstrations to coincide with a one-day strike by a union for campus workers, the University Professional and Technical Employees.

The success of rallies and walkouts that day led to an October conference in Berkeley, Calif., attended by 800 students, teachers and education workers, representing every level of the public system, grade school through to the colleges. The Berekely conference set March 4 as a statewide day of action.

The protests continued to build in the meanwhile. Beginning with September, student activists began to carry out a series of building occupations. That development hit a high point in November with a coordinated series of actions across the state when the UC Board of Regents were meeting at UCLA to consider--and ultimately pass--a proposal to increase fees (the equivalent of tuition in the UC system) by 32 percent next fall.


According to a list compiled by members of the follow-up committee for the October 24th conference (http://socialistworker.org/2010/03/01/march-4-in-california), there are seven regional rallies across the state and nearly 50 universities, colleges, high schools and school districts where events of all kinds--rallies, protests, walkouts and job actions--are taking place throughout the day. And March 4 has been taken up in other states by activists and unions fighting their own budget battles.

[Communist]

==========

Student Protests and the Threat to Public Education (http://www.blackcommentator.com/365/365_lm_student_protests.php)

By Carl Bloice
Black Commentator
March 3, 2010


They've started sending the pink slips to teachers and other
employees in San Francisco. In all, almost 900 of them will
get layoff notices over the next couple of weeks because the
city can't come up with the $113 million needed to cover the
expense of educating its children and young people. The
education workers are being told that at least some of their
jobs could be saved if some proposed "reforms" can be
enacted. These include increasing class sizes, early
retirement and cuts in pay and benefits for those employed
in the school district.

I know some of these teachers - especially some of the
younger ones who are slated to be the first to go. They are
the kind of bright, eager, resourceful and dedicated ones
that we read so much about these days as being needed to
improve education. Some of them are at that age where they
start hooking up and raising the next generation. That after
working to acquire their credentials they suddenly find
themselves on the streets sucks. But the real victims here
are the kids.

The good news is that the students are fighting back, as are
their parents. Even the usually staid PTAs are protesting
and mobilizing. This week thousands of them have taken to
the streets.

Let's pause here and ask a question. What does it mean that
in the richest country in the world, in the biggest state in
the union, in this sophisticated and liberal city - a
Pacific Rim financial center - we can't find enough money to
properly educate the young?

Don't get the idea I'm writing about a local phenomenon or a
just about grades K through 12.

It's happening all over the country. At a February 20
meeting of the National Governors Association Education
Secretary Arne Duncan said, "I am very, very concerned about
layoffs going into the next school year starting in
September. Good superintendents are going to start sending
out pink slips in March and April, like a month from now, as
they start to plan for their budgets."

Meanwhile, because of ongoing student protests - certainly
not due to political leadership or a diligent media - most
of us are aware of the threat to education at the university
level. Let's face it, at a time where higher education is
being touted as the answer to everything from unemployment
to the nation's economic competiveness in the world
marketplace, the chances of young people getting within
striking distance of an advanced degree are being reduced.
Here is California what has been the state's crown jewel,
the University of California system is being hammered by
facility cutbacks and increased tuition costs.

Hardly a statement out of the Obama Administration about
education these days fails to mention the importance of
community colleges. Meanwhile, state officials say that
community colleges in California will enroll 21,000 fewer
students this year as a result of the financial squeeze. In
some schools student are finding it impossible to get into
the classes they need to graduate or, in some cases, to
qualify for student loans or aid.

Thousands of students are finding it impossible to even get
into community colleges. The enrollment decline "is a result
of a lack of resources," state Chancellor Jack Scott
recently told reporters." We're on the road to a disastrous
decline in college enrollment in California."

"Really, all of us ought to be concerned," Scott added. "We
really need to find a way to educate more students, not
fewer."

"Some of my classes, people have to sit on the floor," a
student Alex Pristinsky, recently told the Contra Costa
Times. "Every class has to have a waiting list and even the
waiting lists are full," said another student Kelsey Wise, a
first-year psychology major who couldn't get into an
introductory psychology course because there was no room.

It hardly needs to be pointed out that the weight of this
crisis falls disproportionately upon African Americans,
Latino and other students of color and their communities.
Lectures about getting an education start to ring hollow
when it becomes increasingly difficult to do so for those
who try.

By now we've heard all the explanations - or excuses - for
the education crisis. It's the recession, state tax revenues
are doing and the states are required to balance their
budgets. Here is California much of the onus is but on the
legacy of the dreaded Proposition 13. That's the ballot
measure passed by voters almost exactly 10 years ago,
sponsored by rightwing tax activist that severely limited
the ability to finance expenditures from property taxes.
It's all true but it avoids the fundamental question: why
can a nation and a government that can raise $1 million each
to send young men and women to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan
not find the recourses to adequately educate young people
here at home.

We hear a lot of talk these days about educational reform. A
lot of attention is given to the virtues - or lack thereof -
of No Child Left Behind or the relatively minuscule number
of charter schools. Secretary Duncan himself is full of news
about "grants" for this and "grants" for that for
educational innovation. It seems to me the real danger here
is the evolution of a two-tiered educational system with
some students perhaps getting a better education (the jury
is still out on the charters) while a larger number get
fewer opportunities. In any case, talk about school reform
seems a bit unseemly when students are trying to learn
sitting on the floor.

The White House proposal to grant $900 million to states and
education districts that, in the words of the Associated
Press, "agree to drastically change or even shutter their
worst performing schools" doesn't address the problem that
prompted this week's protests.

There is something peculiar about the people who hold most
of the wealth and pretty much run this country. They don't
seem to be able to act in their own self interest, in ways
that keep the "free market" economic system going. This
educational crisis is not being duplicated in Brazil or
China. In those countries they are doing their utmost to
prepare for the future.

So this week, students, teachers, administrators and campus
worker unions are in the streets demanding action. It
shouldn't be necessary but it's commendable and encouraging
and it should be received as a serious wakeup call.

___________

[BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member Carl Bloice is
a writer in San Francisco, a member of the National
Coordinating Committee of the Committees of Correspondence
for Democracy and Socialism and formerly worked for a
healthcare union.]

_____________________________________________

[Communist]

Day of education protests (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/04/BAC41CAAM1.DTL&tsp=1)

by Nanette Asimov & Justin Berton
San Francisco Chronicle - March 4, 2010


03-04 SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of students
rallied today at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University
and many other schools across the Bay Area, expressing
frustration over the decline in funding for California's
beleaguered public education system.

The protest, dubbed the March 4th Day of Action in Defense
of Public Education, was aimed at sending a simple message
to Sacramento: Students are suffering because of budget
cuts. Similar rallies and protests were planned in other
states that have also experienced funding cuts.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but there has been
anger, tension and some isolated reports of vandalism.

At UC Berkeley, political science student Luis Reyes, 21,
kicked off a noon rally on Sproul Plaza by telling a crowd
of several hundred people that "March 4th is just the
beginning."

"Today we march!" he shouted. "Today we strike! Today we
show solidarity with workers! Today the crisis has brought
us all together. Public education is a human right we'll
fight for to the death!"

After the rally, about 1,000 people moved along Telegraph
Avenue in a 6-mile, peaceful march toward Oakland City Hall,
where they planned to meet up with hundreds of students from
Laney College and other schools. Many planned to attend a 5
p.m. rally in San Francisco's Civic Center.

One protester was detained, a Berkeley police spokesman
said, but only because the person matched a description in
an unrelated case.

"It was the peaceful protest we had hoped for," Officer
Andrew Frankel said.

Meanwhile, at UC Santa Cruz, Provost David Kliger urged
students, employees and others not to come to the campus
today. He said officials had received reports of protesters
carrying clubs and knives and smashing one car windshield
with a metal pipe.

"Behavior that degrades into violence, personal
intimidation, and disrespect for the rights of others is
reprehensible, and does nothing to aid efforts to restore
funding to the university," Kliger wrote in a message to the
campus community. "These actions should cease."

At San Francisco State University, hundreds of protesters
formed a picket line at the main entrance to campus at 19th
and Holloway avenues this morning, urging students not to go
to class. Before noon, they began blocking the intersection,
backing up traffic temporarily before police officers slowly
moved the protestors out of the street.

Earlier in the morning, demonstrators blocked the entrance
to the ethnic studies and psychology building, booing
students who entered. And a fire alarm was pulled inside one
building, disrupting classes.

Student organizer Anastasia Gomes of SFSU United said her
group wanted to shut down the campus with picket lines. "Why
march to Civic Center and protest empty buildings?" Gomes
asked, referring to a planned protest in downtown San
Francisco tonight.

Anthropology lecturer Sheila Tully was among those
protesting, although she said she would teach her class this
morning.

"Students are paying 31 percent more," Tully said. "I should
be there to teach, even if only one kid is in class."

This morning, at UC Berkeley, about 100 protesters gathered
at Sather Gate in a peaceful rally, although they blocked
students from passing through the campus' main entrance. The
rally was being monitored by university and city police, who
were caught by surprise early Friday when a campus protest
spilled onto city streets, leading to a riot and clash with
officers on Telegraph Avenue.

Police made clear today that they would be monitoring the
situation carefully.

"We are hoping for the best and preparing for any
contingencies," said Berkeley police Sgt. Joe Okies.

Protesters said they were hoping to shut the campus down
entirely. An informal survey of classrooms this morning
showed that they were having some success; the campus
appeared far less populated than usual. A university
spokesman said few, if any, classes were canceled but that
some professors had relocated or rescheduled.

One of those not boycotting classes was Arianna Deane, 19.
"I support the strike, but I still have to turn in my math
homework," said Deane, adding she also had a physics lab to
attend. "If you miss it, you have to make it up on your own
time."

At Wheeler Hall, the site of a raucous protest in November,
biology lecturer David Presti wasn't talking about molecular
structures. Instead, he discussed a ballot initiative
crafted by UC Berkeley linguistics Professor George Lakoff
that would change the way the state Legislature passes
budgets and raises taxes.

Groups of protesters beating drums and shouting, "Today we
strike! Tomorrow go to school!" ran through campus
buildings, interrupting classes.

They startled students and the professor teaching an Italian
class in Dwinelle Hall, when the protesters threw open the
classroom door and shouted, "Out of the classrooms, into the
streets." The professor smiled and shouted in Italian to get
out.

The protesters also interrupted classes in history, Chinese,
and medieval Latin as they continued through the hallways.
The classrooms were mostly empty, but who chose to attend
classes refused to take the bait.

"I'm supporting them - mentally," said Andrew Pai, 20,
looking up from the Japanese textbook he was studying in the
hallway with a group of students.

In another hallway, Min Song, 23, tapped at a laptop as the
protesters crowded past, shouting at him to get going. Song
sighed, pressed his earphones deeper in, and, ignoring them,
said, "Berkeley."

At the corner of Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue,
unionized university workers were protesting and chanting,
"You say furlough, we say, 'Hell no!' "

The rally prompted UC President Mark Yudof to release a
statement saying he supported the peaceful protests. "The
university is an investment," he said, "not only in an
individual's well being, but also in the public good."

High school students also participated in the day's events.
Among them was Oceana High School in Pacifica, where instead
of attending regular classes, students went to workshops and
traveled off campus to collect signatures calling attention
to budget cuts, said Principal Caro Pemberton. Some students
formed an "SOS" on the beach near the Pacifica pier.

Education officials across the state urged teachers and
parents to keep children in school and to take to the
streets only after school let out for the day.

"We're expecting people to use good judgment," said San
Francisco Unified spokeswoman Gentle Blythe.

Yet across the Bay Area, teachers, parents and local
administrators made their own judgment calls. In San
Francisco, more than 50 Commodore Sloat Elementary fifth-
graders boarded a Muni bus to the state building, each
wearing handmade sandwich board signs protesting budget cuts
to schools.

Teacher Libbie Schock said the "field trip" was in line with
social studies curriculum and was a real life lesson in
civics. "Students need to know that they have a voice and
that voice can be heard if we speak together," she said.

The students were well prepared to make their voices heard.
"Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The budget cuts have got to go," the
students yelled as passing cars honked.

With colored construction paper signs asking for more
education funding slung across her front and back, 10-year-
old Darla Sorensen said she'll need a good education to
fulfill her dream to be a brain surgeon.

"I'm just here because I don't think the budget cuts are
right," she said. "I don't want bigger classes."

The protest - in what some are calling March Forth! - began
as an idea on the UC Berkeley campus last fall and spread
quickly to college campuses in dozens of states, where
activists also protested dramatic cuts to their own public
education budgets.

California faces a $20 billion budget gap this year, on top
of $60 billion last year. The state has cut millions of
dollars from education budgets at all levels to help make
ends meet.

The result is soaring tuition at the University of
California and California State University. Courses are
jammed, and many students can't get in at all. Lecturers
have been laid off, and employees furloughed. CSU wouldn't
let new students enroll at all this semester.

More than 20,000 students will be turned away from community
colleges next fall because there won't be enough classes for
them, Chancellor Jack Scott said.

School districts across the state have issued nearly 19,000
pink slips to public school teachers, warning that they may
lose their jobs at the end of the semester, the California
Teachers Association reported.

University students began protesting Sept. 24, as UC and CSU
were poised to raise tuition by 32 percent. UC had just
raised tuition by 9.3 percent the previous May.

The protests continued during the fall semester, growing
increasingly angry and occasionally violent, as students
seized buildings at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and San
Francisco State University.

In the middle of all this, hundreds of students, faculty and
employees from several schools convened at UC Berkeley on
Oct. 24 to decide how to keep the momentum alive in the
spring semester.

The result was March 4, the Day of Action. Students set up
listserves, Web sites and Twitter and Facebook pages. They
formed committees to connect with high schools, community
colleges, union leaders, teachers and workers. And the event
went viral.

"It is our chance to make a clear stand for transparency,
solidarity, and to demand full funding and equal access to
quality public education in California," says one March 4
missive from students on the site ReclaimUC.org.

It's unsigned because students have avoided anointing any
leaders or organizers. They say they want to focus attention
on their movement rather than individuals. They may also
want to avoid disciplinary action for being linked with
violent or destructive actions.

[Chronicle staff writers Demian Bulwa, Matthai Kuruvila,
Henry K. Lee and Jill Tucker contributed to this report.]

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/04/BAC41CAAM1.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0hG6YhlhK

[Communist]

Round-up of March 4 Actions

Slide Show: Students Protest Education Cuts

http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/20100315/student_slideshow

With the economy struggling to recover, funding for public
higher education has taken an inevitable hit. To close
billion-dollar gaps in statewide funding, governors have
asked their university systems to cut their budgets, causing
ripple effects detrimental to students' lives. All options
are on the table--tuition hikes, furloughs, job cuts,
eliminating majors, eliminating student programs--and all
options mean less money for education and less investment in
students. In the slideshow that follows, The Nation offers a
window into some of the states making those calls--and the
student response. In Washington state, students are seeing
double-digit tuition increases. In Nevada, students are
petitioning the legislature to prevent financial exigency.
In Minnesota, students are seeing their protests make actual
change. Around the country, be it a protest or a walk out,
the argument is the same: Think twice before depriving us,
and your state, of our futures.

==========


What's March 4 Looking Like So Far?

StudentActivism.net - March 4, 2010

http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/04/whats-march-4-looking-like-so-far/

Reports from the field are still scattered and incomplete,
but a picture of the March 4 Day of Action is beginning to
come into focus.

Dozens of campuses are reporting rallies and actions, and
dozens more have announced plans for forums, teach-ins, and
other events. I've learned of a number of actions that
weren't on my national map as of last night, and there are
surely more I haven't heard about yet. This is big.

California is clearly leading the way, as it has since this
movement began to bubble up last semester. The biggest,
best-organized, and most dramatic actions reported so far
are all happening in the Golden State.

In part that's a reflection of the depth of the crisis
facing California higher education right now, but it's also
a reflection of the head start that California's campus
organizers have compared to the rest of the country. Almost
every campus reporting huge demonstrations today has seen
multiple rallies and protests over the last few months. (The
California schools that have not been active before today
are generally reporting actions that resemble those taking
place in the rest of the nation.)

This gap between the ten or fifteen most active California
campuses and the hundred or so others taking part in today's
events suggests that for many activists today is a beginning
rather than a culmination, and indeed students at more than
a few campuses have portrayed today's rallies as kickoff
events for upcoming campaigns.

Students are looking to jump-start their local movements
today, and with some traditionally quiet campuses reporting
participation measuring in the hundreds of students, they
may have done just that.

Last September's coordinated protests at the ten campuses
of the University of California system were followed by a
statewide lull that lasted for several weeks - it was not
until November that the state's organizing began to pick up
momentum. But I will be surprised if the aftermath of
today's protests follows a similar pattern.

Students from coast to coast are feeling their power today.
They are envisioning themselves as part of a movement, many
for the first time. The next few hours will no doubt be very
interesting, but I expect that the days and weeks that
follow will be too.

==========

Roundup of the Day So Far

StudentActivism.net - March 4, 2010

http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/04/roundup-of-the-day-so-far/

It's almost noon in California, and closing in on mid-
afternoon on the East Coast. I'll be posting a review of the
events of the first half of the day here ... starting now.

* University of California Santa Cruz | Students blocked
both entrances to the campus to vehicular traffic early this
morning, prompting the university to send out an alert
urging staff and students to stay away. Administrators are
passing along reports of intimidation and property damage by
students, while students have claimed that two cars
attempted to break through the throngs of protesters,
injuring one.

* Hunter College, New York City | Multiple accounts on
Twitter suggest that hundreds of students have been rallying
at Hunter College in Manhattan, and it's been reported that
one arrest has been made.

* Sacramento, California | An estimated two thousand people
are already gathered at the State Capitol building.

* California, Statewide | Student demonstrators are entering
classes to urge students to walk out at several campuses.

* University of Maryland College Park | Students have hung a
huge banner from a campus building reading "March Forth:
Life Sucks, Let's Change."

I'm seeing reports on Twitter and elsewhere from dozens of
different campuses across the country, but details are
scarce for most of them - students are out marching, not
home blogging, and the ones who are updating on Twitter are
often posting short cryptic messages. I'm going to go gather
some more info, and report back later.

==========

March 4 Map Updated, With Much More to Come

StudentActivism.net - March 3, 2010

http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/02/march-4-map-updated-with-much-more-to-come/

http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=studentactivism.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fmaps%2Fms%3Fhl% 3Den%26ie%3DUTF8%26msa%3D0%26msid%3D10069918353549 3605143.0004803150149ba47807d%26ll%3D38%2C-94%26spn%3D10%2C70%26source%3Dembed

The above map, an ongoing project charting all of the events
in tomorrow's March 4 Day of Action, currently includes well
over a hundred actions in some thirty-two states, with more
being added all the time.

If you click on any "pin" on the map, you'll be taken to a
short description of the action, along with links to further
details and contact information for the folks involved.

For new readers, the March 4 Day of Action to Defend
Education is a grass-roots event in which students, faculty,
and others are coming together around the country to speak
and act. The Day of Action was originally conceived in
California as a response to the current crisis in higher
education in that state, but it has since grown to encompass
students and others at educational institutions at all
levels in all parts of the country - from Berkeley and San
Diego to Portland, Maine and Montgomery, Alabama.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Next up, March 22nd at the Capitol.

So, i helped organize and run a teach in on my campus. it actually went pretty well. we had roughly 30-40 people atching, at its highest over 60 and at its lowest 20 people. the BEST topic was war spending versus all other budgets. im actually pretty happy with how it turned out. also, i met a man who was a marxist in his youth. he was also very supportive of the black panthers though he didnt join. got roughly 80 people signed up from the teach in to go to sacramento on the 22nd. so that was a bit of a success. thats already 4 times the amount of students that went to the march in march last year from my school.

when i heard on NPR that some students got shot at(with pellets) by police today i was rather pissed. though trying to block I-80 was not the smartest of moves, if it weere organized properly and planned out, we could have a possible greek style highway blockade :)

over all though i think this was a great victory for the club on my campus, and for students across the state and country. now, ON TO MARCH 22nd!

[MolotovLuv]

http://cbs5.com/education/California.students.protest.2.1537092.html

"Among the major Bay Area demonstrations were a march down Telegraph Ave. from Berkeley to Oakland. Demonstrators later climbed onto I-880 in near Broadway, where they blocked the evening commute for much of the 5 p.m. hour. Officers in riot gear were seen pulling handcuffed protesters from the freeway. More than 100 people were taken into custody. At the same time, thousands converged on San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza for a 5 p.m. rally featuring dozens of speakers."

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2010/03/04/640_100_4554.jpg
Protesters storm on ramp into traffic, shutting down traffic on both sides.

I am still waiting for information on the man who was either pushed or fell off of the freeway, hearing about this incident really shook me up but watching my comrades march onto the freeway with flares lighting their way brought tears to my eyes. I'm still in awe of what I saw, not just this action but the "student movement" moving beyond the conflict over tuition hikes and finally looking at what the educational system is in relation to capitalism. I'd love to see pictures from different actions today.

[Rusty Shackleford]

is there any way that after all of this march madness is over with that there will be more to come? im really hoping for a May 1st celebration WITH students supporting Immigrant and Workers' rights. im trying to get the people who were with me at the teach in to do something about May 1.

realized i put march 1st instead of may 1st.

[Communist]

Vacant, glad to hear this comrade, great work. Yes there will be a lot more happening
- no doubt. :)

[Communist]

.
Hales hits ‘University of Capitalism’

Mar 4, 2010


http://www.workers.org/2010/us/hales_0311.jpg (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/hales0311/index.html)

Larry Hales of Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/fist-program/)) facilitated a workshop entitled the “University of Capitalism” at the Black Student Activism Conference held at New York University on Feb. 27.

The workshop’s stated aims were to “discuss the ways in which we can turn our profit-seeking corporate educational institutions into organizations that train students for community activism and investment.”

Hales discussed plans for a national day of protest on March 4 on educational issues, including the privatization of education from kindergarten to graduate school. About 15 of the 100-plus students at the conference contributed to a lively and informed discussion of the issues.

Their comments integrated the students’ personal experiences with an overall view of the capitalist drive to privatize education and restrict it to a narrow elite group of students. They particularly protested this policy’s harmful impact on the African-American community.

- Report and photo by John Catalinotto

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[Communist]

.
Country-wide struggle unites students, workers, community

Mar 7, 2010

Hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and other education workers demonstrated, rallied, sat in and marched across the United States on March 4. Protesting cuts in education budgets and layoffs, they raised the powerful demand that education is a right of the working class. A national leader of this action is Larry Hales of the youth organization Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (http://fistyouth.wordpress.com/fist-program/). Hales had mobilized for the national action and co-chaired a rally of 2,000 people outside New York Gov. David Paterson’s office in midtown New York City. Hales spoke with Workers World (http://www.workers.org/) managing editor John Catalinotto and explained the issues propelling this new movement, how the mobilization grew and what’s next.

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/lh_0318.jpg (http://www.workers.org/2010/us/hales_0318/)
Hales co-chairs Nedw York rally March 4. WW photo: John Catalinotto

Workers World: What were the issues driving this massive student-led demonstration?

Larry Hales: The movement to defend education comes at a critical time. Youth unemployment, at depression levels for a long time among young people of color, has again spiked drastically. In inner city areas the buildings are dilapidated. Functioning schools are being closed and privatized. Young people know they need education to get jobs. The education crisis combines with the economic crisis to compel this struggle.

People in the streets are questioning the system. They raise “education is a right” and they see they are being denied that right. Unemployed youth believe going to school will help them get a job. In New York’s City University [CUNY], enrollment has actually grown as much as 40 percent. Now that right to education is being attacked. This is the main motivation.

How much of the country was involved in the movement?

We have reports of 126 actions in 33 states. There might be more we haven’t heard from yet. There were hundreds of thousands in California alone. In New York 2,000 people rallied outside Gov. Paterson’s office, including a good contingent from the Professional Staff Congress, representing the city university workers and teachers. Most marched to the Fashion Institute of Technology to join an action the Transport Workers Union had organized. Thousands took part.

What was behind the dramatic action of Baltimore high-school students who besieged the detention center?

The Baltimore Algebra Project called this action. The group is a peer-to-peer tutoring organization with a political component. It promotes the interest of students and young people, like fighting school closings and for funding for student and youth jobs.

I had attended a meeting where BAP planned to demand the government take the funds they use to lock people up and use it for jobs. We gave out flyers for March 4. They invited me to meet with them and I did, along with a Workers World Party comrade from Baltimore, Stephen Ceci.

They were pushing a national student bill of rights. A week after we met, they told me they would organize a meeting in front of the Juvenile Detention Center, demanding $100 million to create jobs for young people.

A thousand mainly high-school youths marched on the center; 13 pushed inside and occupied the building. There were no arrests. The youths made their point in this courageous and militant way for jobs, not jails.

This struggle had opened up in California last fall after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced drastic cuts. How did it become a country-wide action?

It piqued interest when people saw large numbers of California students willing to fight. When education workers joined this struggle it provided the push needed to call out people from other parts of the country to defend their rights to education. It couldn’t have happened without the young people in California, where this struggle is most advanced.

We first raised the idea of a national demonstration at a Workers World Party conference in November, at a FIST workshop with 75 students and youths. We had to win people over to the idea, but by the end of the workshop activists there from other organizations picked up the idea with enthusiasm.

We talked to students from CUNY, from Students for Educational Rights at CCNY, the CUNY Campaign to Defend Education; to national leaders of Students for a Democratic Society; to Students Taking Action to Reclaim Education at the University of Maryland and Connecticut Students Against the War.

From then it grew toward a national conference call with 42 people in December. We had found out before that California had planned to call a March 4 statewide action and we successfully motivated that same date for a national action, which was in solidarity with the California action and complementary to it. It was clear that the action had potential.

What role did FIST play in building the demonstration?

FIST mobilized actively behind the March 4 national action, playing an especially strong role in New York City, North Carolina, Detroit, Cleveland and Boston. Connecticut SAW took on building a Web site, and we used the Internet to spread the world. But you can’t build an action like this with the Internet alone.

We issued a national call when the California organizations issued their statewide call, making both calls public around the same time.

I personally traveled and spoke to college and high-school students and other youths in Boston, Michigan, North Carolina, Baltimore and around New York. Everywhere I went, the high-school and college students and their parents were all for it. There was a mood to struggle and a need to do it based on the cuts they all were facing.

What was the role of teachers, other workers and the community?

The Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, K-12 organizations like Teachers for a Just Contract and Grassroots Education Movement in New York; and other organizations of community leaders and educators, like Coalition for Public Education, also were enthusiastic and did a lot of organizing. The powerful Transport Workers Union here had demands that complemented those of the high-school students.

Many students and youth, who may not now be working, come from working-class families and know their future is as workers — if there are jobs. Most youths value their teachers. They don’t want their teachers to lose their jobs or get pay cuts. There was a lot of mutual solidarity.

FIST encouraged this solidarity in our literature and organizing, but the economic crisis was the objective basis for solidarity. Teachers saw the rebellious students as allies. There is even more reason for there to be mutual solidarity as the attacks continue and the movement grows.

In New York, for example, the move to eliminate student passes on subways and buses creates a basis for solidarity between the youths and the workers in the Transport Workers Union, who are threatened with layoffs.

Police tried to pen in the marching youth as they approached the TWU rally at Fashion Institute of Technology. What happened then?

Even as we marched along Lexington Avenue, police tried to confine the marchers to the sidewalk. There wasn’t enough room. We stopped and said we would stay there if we didn’t get the streets. The marchers started shouting, “Whose streets? Our streets.” The police negotiator decided to cede the streets to the marchers.

Near FIT, the youths chanted, “We want unity” with the TWU. The police tried to surround the marchers. Some TWU workers began arguing with the police, saying they wanted the students with the workers. Finally we suggested the students go around the barricades and across the streets to the rally at FIT. Some, who the police blocked with mopeds, managed to cross Seventh Avenue and then cross back to rejoin the rally. They refused to be penned in.

What’s next?

Since March 4 we’ve gotten lots of email messages saying we need to keep the momentum up and call for another day of national action. That’s under discussion.

The May 1 Coalition had participated in our last three meetings in NYC.

Many students look to that action, not only to support the initiative of the workers and especially the many immigrant workers in the coalition, but also to include demands from the student movement in the May 1 protest at Union Square.

The students see the need to join with the workers. The May 1 Coalition workers saw the strength of the student movement. We are hoping that the upsurge of the student movement will give a further push to May 1 in 2010, along with the immigrant and other workers.

There may be lots of local actions too. In some states there were lots of arrests — in University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, in California, some in New York, in Texas — and there will be actions in solidarity with the arrested students.

Our next conference call will decide the exact next step. What we saw on March 4 is the desire of young people to revitalize a movement of young students and workers. We plan to go forward in the militant spirit of the March 4 actions to the next steps in the struggle for education and jobs — for youths and for all workers.


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