| Nov. 17-20 Campus Protests Roundup |
| Written by The Organizer | |
| Monday, 23 November 2009 | |
|
IN THIS MESSAGE:
1) Introduction: Summary of Nov.
17-20 Actions in Defense of Public Education
2) Rally Against UC Repression on
Monday, Nov. 23 @ UC Berkeley!
3) Videos, Photos and Articles on
Nov. 17-20 Campus Protest Actions
4) Letter from UC Berkeley AFT
President Denouncing the UCB Administration
5) How to Win this Struggle: Strike
on March 4 to Defend Public Education!
********************
Introduction
Last week's protests in defense of
public education have captured the attention of the whole country. A
quick summary balance sheet of the November 17-20 actions: Given the
last-minute organizing, the turnout at all campuses was very
significant, testifying to the deep anger: 2,000+ at UC Berkeley, 2000
at UCLA, 500+ at UCSC, 200+ at UC Davis, 80 at CCSF, 150 at SFSU, 100+
at Fresno State, etc. The energy at the protests was extremely high,
and people understood that this struggle was not going to be won this
week.
What next? The most immediate step is to organize against the massive police repression deployed and win amnesty for all the protesters throughout the state. See below for information about the Rally Against UC Repression Monday at UC Berkeley.
Most important, it is necessary to
seize the moment and channel the momentum and energy into a mass
democratic movement by students, workers and faculty on every school,
in every sector of public education.
Our main task remains to channel
this anger and momentum into an effective statewide strike on March 4.
We must immediately begin discussion with the trade unions and student
organizations to get them to strike on March 4. We must move
immediately to set up Strike Committees at each school. We need to
build the December 5 regional meetings (San Jose, Central Valley, and
LA) and get as many organizations -- unions in particular -- to sign
onto the March 4 call. The fact that UTLA, the LA teachers' union, has
adopted the March 4 call is a huge development. Likewise, there is now
talk of trying to organize to make March 4 a national day of
action. -- E.B.
*********************
Rally Against UC Repression on
Monday, Nov. 23 @ UC Berkeley!
Why is the UC administration
repressing those who are fighting to defend public
education?
Last Friday dozens of students and
workers were brutalized by the police, with the complicity of the UC
administration. Come rally in support of the victims. This is not just
about police brutality; it is an important step toward deepening the
struggle against the fee hikes, cuts and layoffs.
12 p.m. rally on Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley 1:30 p.m. gathering at the Oakland Courthouse 661 Washington Ave (near 12th st. BART), Oakland, Room: 112, Time: 2 p.m.
The students, faculty and workers of
this campus spoke on Friday, and our voices were heard around the
world. We must stand in solidarity with those charged unfairly, and it
must play a central role in how we move this movement
forward.
The charges against 3 of the
occupiers (those arrested early in the day) are for FELONY BURGLARY.
The irony of the situation should be mentioned; that we are being
charged with burglary (though we burglarized nothing) while the
administration is stealing all of our futures. We would really
appreciate any and all support.
p.s. The charges for the rest of the
occupiers is misdemeanor trespassing, and that court date will occur
December 23.
********************
Videos, Photos and Articles on
Nov. 17-20 Campus Protest Actions
Here below are the best, most
detailed, most graphic videos, photos, and articles available online
so far concerning the Nov. 20 (and earlier) actions at UCB, and UCLA,
UCD, UCSC, SF State, and CSU Fresno. (Many other schools also held
actions; please send out reports/links!). Let's use this growing
momentum to deepen and broaden local actions and build up to a
statewide strike of all public education on March 4!
Nov. 20 at UC Berkeley:
Video of Police Brutality at UCB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
KTVU -- Very good TV coverage -- Strong Images of Police Brutality http://www.ktvu.com/news/ The Daily Cal -- Good Article and Footage of Protest/Chanting in Rain http://www.dailycal.org/ San Francisco Chronicle - Good article http://www2.sfgate.com/cgi- The Daily Cal- Great Photo Slideshow http://www.dailycal.org/ NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2009/ Indybay.org coverage http://www.indybay.org/ Nov 18-20 Protests Throughout the State: UCLA Video Coverage (Check out poll: 79% of public are against fee hike!): http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/ UCLA Indymedia Coverage: http://la.indymedia.org/ CSU Fresno Library Study In: http://www.indybay.org/ UCSC Occupation of Kerr Hall: http://www.indybay.org/ UC Davis Protests after 52 Arrested: http://www.youtube.com/watch? UC Davis - Good Student TV coverage of Occupation http://www.youtube.com/watch?
SF State Nov. 18 Action -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
********************
Letter from UC Berkeley AFT
President Denouncing the UCB Administration
Subject: Re: Wheeler Hall Protest Ended Peacefully From: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Date: Sat, November 21, 2009 11:49 am To: "Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor" < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it >
Dear Chancellor
Birgeneau,
I would like to respectfully
disagree with your statement that "[t]aking over our classroom
buildings is not a productive way in which to advance our shared
interests in gaining support for public higher
education."
When I think of the time and effort
that students, staff, and faculty have spent over years trying to
bring their grievances and constructive suggestions for remedies to UC
administrators, and the way in which their concerns have been ignored
and sidelined, I think that an action such as the student occupation
of Wheeler Hall is highly productive if, as it seems to have done, it
brings awareness of UC's dire situation to the general public, and
exposes the incompetence, non-transparency, and cronyism which characterize the UC administration's
decisions.
In April 2005, you called a meeting
of leaders of all the campus unions in the conference room in
California Hall. We shared our concerns and hopes with you, and at the
end of the meeting you said you had found the session productive and
planned to do it again every year. To my knowledge, you have never
followed up on that plan. You have occasionally met instead with
representatives of single unions, and have heard student concerns only
in public fora in which your office carefully controls the flow of
events. This has not established the relationship of trust which
seemed possible after that April 2005 meeting. The result is all too
obvious. When you ask all of us to go forward together, we see that as
disingenuous, even a co-optation and dilution of all the organizing we
have done and the sacrifices we have made in recent years.
In the minds of many of our campus
community members, the administrators of the University of California
are taking over far more than a building. You are turning the public's
greatest educational asset into a huge research park increasingly
controlled by private interests. During the Great Depression of the
1930s, Woody Guthrie sang that "Some will rob you with a
six-gun/Some with a fountain pen." The students who occupied
Wheeler Hall used no weapons except the power of their convictions and
willingness to take the consequences of their actions. You and your
administrative colleagues, on the other hand, most assuredly continue
to wield your "fountain pens" in a cynical, hypocritical,
and greedy way as you use your power to bypass the intent of the
charterers of the University of California and the formulators of the
Master Plan for Higher Education.
Respectfully yours, Kathryn A. Klar Lecturer in Celtic Studies 6303 Dwinelle Hall Campus 642-4484 (message only; no office phone due to budget cuts) K-12 education in California public schools. A.B. (1971), M.A. (1973), Ph.D. (1977). All from the Department of Linguistics, UC Berkeley. Lecturer at Berkeley since 1980. President, UC-AFT Local 1474 (Lecturers and Librarians) ********************
How to Win this Struggle: Strike
on March 4 to Defend Public Education!
Statement by The Organizer
Newspaper
Momentum is building. The will to
resist the destruction of public education has been expressed in the
inspiring September 24 walkouts, the massive October 24 Statewide
Mobilizing Conference at UC Berkeley of over 800 activists, and the
November 18-20 UC and CSU actions across the state.
These are great first steps. But what will it take to win this struggle?
We in Socialist Organizer are
convinced that nothing short of a statewide strike of UC, CSU, CC,
Adult Education and Pre-K-12 students, workers, and faculty will be
enough to stop the cuts, layoffs, and fee hikes -- and roll back the
racial segregation of public education.
No school can function without
teachers, students, and workers. We make these institutions run -- and
we can and must shut them down until our demands are met.
March 4, 2010 was chosen by the October 24 Statewide Mobilizing Conference to be a statewide Strike and Day of Action. We must begin organizing now to win as many students, teachers, workers, and their unions as possible to strike on this day. Here's what it will take.
Stop "Lobbying" the
Democrats
We must convince our peers,
co-workers and organizations that "lobbying" the Democrats is a
dead-end. What have been the results of this strategy? Cuts, cuts, and
more cuts -- by both the Republicans and Democrats, parties funded and
controlled by the ruling rich. Sacramento and the bureaucrats will
only cede to our demands if we force them.
Parallel to this, UC President Yudof
and the other bureaucrats try to wash their hands of any
responsibility for the cuts -- they tell us that instead of organizing
on campuses we should "go pressure Sacramento." But the UC
currently has enough money in reserve funds and executive salaries to
prevent any cuts! And if the CSU, CC, and K-12 administrators were
serious about defending education, they would do everything possible
to promote -- rather than prevent -- a strike on March 4.
Organize the Majority
People are ready to fight back, but
we have not yet involved the majority in this struggle. People are
overwhelmingly opposed to the cuts -- but too many think that nothing
can be done or that there "is no alternative" to the
cuts.
We must explain that this is a
crisis of priorities not a "budget crisis" -- and that this
struggle is winnable. We must build a broad, inclusive, mass
democratic movement, open to all individuals and organizations that
want to fight the cuts. General Assemblies should be organized at all
schools. We must involve and champion the demands of students and
workers of color, who have been the most affected by the
crisis.
Build Student-Worker-Teacher
Unity Across the State
The ruling class relies on the strategy of "divide and conquer." They will pit UCs against the other sectors of public education, workers against students, and unions against other unions. We must begin to build unity among students, workers, teachers and their organizations; unity among the different regions of California; and unity with other public sector organizations and community groups.
Students have for the moment taken
the lead in this struggle, but a real strike is not possible without
tapping into the power of the workers (including teachers) and their
trade unions. Workers can literally shut down any institution just by
refusing to work -- that's real power.
We must do everything possible to organize rank-and-file workers and union activists to push their unions to strike on March 4. Organizing a strike among workers won't be easy: There exist many reactionary laws preventing strikes, and most of the labor leaders are tied to the Democrats and the power structure. But given the depth of the crisis, a strike is both possible and necessary.
Start Organizing for March 4
Now!
While the protests this fall have been important, most have been organized with only a few weeks' notice. None have been real strikes of all workers and students. To build toward such a huge strike takes time - and there is no time to lose. Every school and workplace should immediately set up March 4 strike committees to start publicizing, organizing, and mobilizing. March 4 can be an historic turning point not just for the fight in public education, but for the broader struggle in defense of public services, for immigrants' rights, for single-payer healthcare, against the wars, and beyond.
* All out for a strike on March
4!
* Stop the fee hikes, cuts,
layoffs, and segregation of public education!
* Tax the rich!
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