DAILY KOS: Pulaski WI Marching Band Plays "Union Maid" in Rose Bowl Parade

January 3, 2012

By:

AnnieJo

Pulaski WI Marching Band 'Sticking to the Union' in Rose Bowl Parade

The Pulaski High Marching Band, of Pulaski Wisconsin, made an awesome statement in yesterday's Rose Bowl Parade.

It was quite an honor for the Red Raiders from this small town (pop. approx. 3000) northwest of Green Bay to be marching in 80-degree weather in Pasadena, while their proud community looked on from windy 18-degree Wisconsin.

The TV coverage started as they marched along playing "On Wisconsin," looking properly Badger-like in their red uniforms.

And then they got to the grandstand, at about 1:15 in the YouTube ... listen to what happened.

There once was a union maid, She never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks
And the deputy sheriffs who made the raid
She went to the union hall, When a meeting it was called
And when the company boys came round
She always stood her ground

Listen to the announcers -- they have no idea what's going on, what the tune is, what statement is being made here. "They just stopped in the middle, this band, and they're gettin' down!" says the announcer. Oh yes, they're gettin' down -- to Union Maid, written by Woody Guthrie!

Oh, you can't scare me,
I'm sticking to the union
I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union
Oh, you can't scare me,
I'm sticking to the union
I'm sticking to the union
till the day I die

The cheers as they finish the song are great. I bet there were more than a few people in the crowd who realized what had just happened. "The crowd likes them!" declares the announcer, blissfully unaware.

I hope it was the musicians themselves who selected this song, who planned this action. It would be reminiscent of the students from East High in Madison who determinedly marched out of school down East Washington last February to swell the protests at the Capitol.

My favorite verse of the song is one that was added in the 1980s, and is included in the Solidarity Singalong songbook.

You women who want to be free
Just take a tip from me
Break out of that mold we've all been sold
You got a fighting history
The fight for women's rights
With workers must unite
Like Mother Jones, bestir them bones
To the front of every fight!

The struggle continues here in Wisconsin. Two more weeks to get those recall signatures -- rumor has it that we're over the top with the Walker sigs, but we're not stopping now! Onward to a million!

State-by-State Information

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News

Hostile Takeover: Turning MI Cities Over to "Managers" Who Can Sell Off City Hall, Break Union Contracts, Privatize Services—and Even Fire Elected Officials

February 15, 2012

By:

Paul Abowd

Mother Jones

When the city of Pontiac, Michigan, shut down its fire department last Christmas Eve, city councilman Kermit Williams learned about it in the morning paper. "Nobody reports to me anymore," Williams says. "It just gets reported in the press." This was just the latest in a series of radical changes in the city, where elected officials such as Williams have been replaced by a single person with unprecedented control over the city's operation and budget.

Republicans Extend Open Enrollment To Unleash Market Forces On School Districts

February 13, 2012

By:

Matt DeFour

Wisconsin State Journal

Wisconsin's public school open enrollment period begins Monday, and for the first time, families will have three months to decide whether and where to enroll their students outside of their home school district.

For the Madison School District, the extra time could mean more families choosing to leave for other districts or virtual schools, though Superintendent Dan Nerad said it's too early to know what the affect will be.

"By the nature that there's an open window, that's likely to happen for us as well as other districts around the state," Nerad said.

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor

February 9, 2012

By:

Sabrina Tavernise

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Education was historically considered a great equalizer in American society, capable of lifting less advantaged children and improving their chances for success as adults. But a body of recently published scholarship suggests that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.

Take Action

Aug. 10, Benton Harbor Michigan: March to protest corporate takeover of city

From:

Rev. Edward Pinkney, Benton Harbor, Michigan

What's happening:

Tuesday, August 10, 2010, 11:00 am

City Hall, 200 E. Wall Street (49022)

All will march to Jean Klock Park to
protest Harbor Shores and Whirlpool's
hostile takeover of the city.

Everyone is invited. For info contact
Rev. Edward Pinkney, 269-925-0001,
banco9342@sbcglobal.net

Background: Benton Harbor, Michigan, is the center of a fightback against corporate power and control as the people of the city organize to oppose a corporate takeover of public land, their much-beloved Jean Klock park, for conversion to a privately owned golf course and lakefront development called Harbor Shores. Executives of the Whirlpool corporation, which is based in the city, are behind the effort to redevelop the land over strong public opposition. The struggle has been led by the Rev. Edward Pinkney, who has continued to speak out despite efforts by city officials to silence him, including a local judge's sentence of 3-10 years in prison that was later overturned as a violation of Rev. Pinkney's free-speech rights.

March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education

From:

California students, staff and faculty

What's happening:

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 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!

Sign the Declaration: UNITED FOR EDUCATION!

From:

International Student Movement

What's happening:

We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, parents, and concerned citizens worldwide stand united across all divisions of nationality, race, religion and field of studies to declare our support for the aims and objectives of the "Education is NOT for - Global Week of Action" called for by the independent "International Student Movement".

We are united in working to ensure that:

Public education is accessible to all and recognized as a fundamental right; NO to tuition fees!

Public education is free from exploitative corporate practices and state interests which conflict with those of the individual and the public interest.

Public education primarily serves democratic and public interests, instead of private, business, state and/or labour market interests.

Public education empowers individuals to become emancipated and autonomous people, able to critically evaluate themselves and their environment, and thus be actively involved in a genuinely democratic society.

If we are to have such a society we need general public discussions on the role of public education systems: Whose interests do they - and should they - primarily serve?

Help defend higher education in Tennessee

From:

United Campus Workers/CWA Local 3865

What's happening:

Despite weeks of students, labor, and community protests, Middle State Tennessee University (MTSU) President Sidney McPhee continues to move ahead with plans for major program cuts, outsourcing and layoffs, and other cuts that will have drastic effects on the campus community.

The current cuts being considered include the dismantling of Physics, Philosophy, Geosciences, Criminal Justice, all of which constitutes an attack on the academic core of the University; the closing of a beloved community resource in WMOT Jazz 89 as well as the closing of the June Anderson Woman's Center; and the further outsourcing of more of our campus's hardest working employees.

These cuts have been hastily proposed with minimal justification and despite Governor Bredesen's acceptance of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid meant to offset deep and lasting cuts to the state's education systems, and are being considered prior to a state budget being introduced, let alone passed. Read more.

Publications & Talks

Teleconference on the Global Wave of Resistance

October 12, 2011

Liberty Tree

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, the Liberty Tree Foundation convened a special briefing, the Teleconference on the Global Wave of Resistance. This global conference featured over 100 participants, and updates from leading organizers of the global wave of student and labor strikes, occupations, and revolutions. Panelists include core organizers from the UK, Germany, Israel, and Chile, as well as Wisconsin, Boston, Oakland, Washington D.C., and Wall Street, among others. This was the second such teleconference on corporatization and austerity org

Additional Information:

Panelists included Nicolas Valenzuela, Uri Gordon, Mo Gas, James Sevitt, Adam Porton, Sarah Manski, Nadeem Mazen, Elaine Brower, Matt Nelson, plus moderator Ben Manski.

General

MANSKI: The Protest Wave: Why the Political Class Can’t Understand Our Demands

October 3, 2011

Ben Manski

Common Dreams

The protests that began in Wisconsin this year, and which now also fill the streets of Manhattan, Boston, Chicago, and this week, Washington D.C., have gotten the attention of the American political class. And how could they not? 2011 is becoming a remake of the 1999 Battle of Seattle, except this time the protests are ongoing, national and global, and the target is not just the World Trade Organization, but the entire edifice of corporate capitalism.

General

BADER: Review of The Lost Soul of Higher Education

June 1, 2010

Eleanor J. Bader

Ellen Schrecker, a history professor at New York City's Yeshiva University, starts "The Lost Soul of Higher Education" with a blunt assessment: "In reacting to the economic insecurities of the past forty years, the nation's colleges and universities have adopted corporate practices that degrade undergraduate instruction, marginalize faculty members, and threaten the very mission of the academy as an institution devoted to the common good."

Additional Information:

Original article here... http://www.truth-out.org/the-lost-soul-higher-education-corporatization-...

EDUCATION FOR ALL COALITION: Resources for March 4 Day of Action to Defend Public Education

February 21, 2010

Resources provided by Education For All Coalition members and coordinating affiliates. We’ve also included flyers, and with each flyer you’ll find a BLANK TEMPLATE version for you to utilize for your own specific purposes.

Free Speech Organizing Toolkit – A helpful handbook on your Free Speech Rights with an emphasis on educational institutions, provided by The Center for Campus Free Speech.

Guide To Occupying Buildings – A help informational guidebook on how to make occupying a building a success.

Organizing Resources

CCFS: Free Speech Organizing Toolkit

June 19, 2009

The Free Speech Organizing Toolkit is designed to provide campus leaders and free speech supporters with the tools to work with higher education leaders to remove impediments to a marketplace of ideas on their campus.

This valuable toolkit was produced by the Center for Campus Free Speech. The Center acts as a clearinghouse of information, provides specialized support to campuses, and connects concerned educators, administrators, lawyers and students into a national network. The Center draws advice and guidance from a group of leaders in the higher education and legal communities.

Democratizing Education Charter

June 16, 2009

Adopted at the 2005 Democratizing Education Convention in Madison, Wisconsin:

Full Public Funding for Public Higher Education
Free Access to Higher Education and Abolition of Tuition
Affirmative Action to End Institutionalized Racism and Sexism
Full Recognition of the Right of Students and Workers to Organize
Democratic Self-Government of Higher Education
Service to the Public Welfare, Not Corporate Profits
Free Speech and Academic Freedom
Debt Forgiveness of Student Loans
Civic Education for a Democratic Society
Education, not war. Schools, Not Jails

CENTER for CAMPUS FREE SPEECH: Guide to Student Activity Fees

March 31, 2009

The Center for Campus Free Speech releases there Guide to Student Activity Fees - a primer on the legal issues involved in creating and managing a student activity fee system.

Student fee systems are used by students across the country to provide the resources for a wide variety of out-of-classroom activities.

Students fund everything from service organizations to advocacy to educational forums and guest speakers. They debate and learn about critical issues like multiculturalism, the environment, education policy, conflicts in the Middle East and religion. They learn new skills and create change on major problems the world faces.

Student activity fees give involved students the resources to create a vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus.

CEPR: Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns

March 9, 2009

This report, by John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, updates an earlier report from January of 2007, which found a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It updates the index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign, using published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It also takes into consideration the increase in card-check organizing campaigns that began in the mid-1990s and adjusts the index for this factor.

Areas of Focus

Affirmative Action

Books not Bombs

Campus Democracy

Civic Education

Corporatization

Debt Forgiveness

Free Speech

Full Funding

Right to Organize

Tuition Abolition