WE CAN WIN!, SI SE PUEDE!–In today’s, January 7, 2010, New York Times, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, Susan Kennedy said, “Those protests on the UC campuses were the tipping point. Our university system is going to get the support it deserves.” Kennedy made these comments immediately after Republican Governor, Schwarzenegger proposed a California Constitutional amendment, cutting spending for California prisons and putting the money saved into higher education. Right now, 11% of the California budget goes to prisons, and only 7.5% goes to higher education. Schwarzenegger proposed that at least 10% of the state budget go to California universities and colleges, and no more than 7% be used for prisons. This shows the value of the militant protest and the student movement with faculty and staff and community support in California leading to the growing possibility of stopping and reversing the budget cuts.
Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing to privatize more prisons rather than cut the prison population. Hopefully, this growing and important movement will continue to demand more money for and more access to quality and affordable higher education, while also demanding a reduction in the CA state prison inmate population which is almost equal in numbers to the entire population of the city of Tacoma. Let us in Washington State learn from our brothers and sisters in California and fight back! Let us also link the fight against budget cuts in higher educations to the fight against budget cuts for programs that benefit poor people and workers such as the Basic Health Plan.
Come here two leading activists in this movement, Ali Tonak and Tim Simons, Wednesday., January 13th!
OCCUPY EVERYTHING!
Fighting Austerity on California Campuses
Wednesday January 13, 2010
The Evergreen State College, Seminar II, E1105 )
10:00am Presentation to Political Economy and Social Movements; Race, Class and Gender (all are welcome)*
1:30pm Public Presentation (also in Sem 2, E1105)
California is the tenth largest economy in the world and one of the states hardest hit by the current financial crisis. Although the effects of the crisis continue to be felt in real terms by those living in the state, there has been little to no resistance against the financial system responsible for the crisis and the concurrent austerity regime that is decimating social programs including public education.
The public universities of California have emerged as a possible front for confronting the restructuring that has arrived with the crisis. Faced with a 32% student fee increase, thousands of layoffs and pay cuts, students and workers have begun to organize on a mass scale to fight back. Amongst the repertoire of tactics, occupying buildings has shown to be one of the most effective, providing a fresh praxis for a new and contagious movement that has quickly spread across the state.
Come hear stories from this important struggle and watch video from some of the pivotal moments during the last months of 2009. We will focus on lessons learned and future strategies as well as provide space for discussion of possible connections with local organizing efforts connected with budget cuts and tuition increases at TESC.
Ali, a graduate student of environmental science at UC Berkeley, and Tim, a collective member of Inkworks Press, are both active participants in the California student/worker movement and are currently organizing in the Bay Area.
*Followed by a presentation from John Duda about the Wobblies’ Free Speech campaign in Spokane, WA in the early 20th Century