Category Archives: Rouge Forum Update

Dear Friends,

A quick reminder of the upcoming Rouge Forum Conference in Louisville, March 14 to 16. Check out the remarkable schedule.

The rebel Puerto Rico teachers union, conducting an illegal strike for about a week, came under police attack in a recent demonstration and, today, the union was officially “decertified” by the Governor. The illegality of the strike (nearly all school strikes are “illegal,” but really the only illegal strike is one that fails) demonstrates both the partisan role of the government and, perhaps, the power of working people when we act, withdraw our labor, in solidarity, where we have the most power—at our workplaces. The teachers union has been under assault, not only by the police and the governor, but by both US union federations, the AFL-CIO, and the Change To Win coalition, both following in their traditions of seeking to crush nearly every major rank and file job action in union history, from the Great Flint Strike at GM forward. Here is some video.

And, last week, students at Garfield New Jersey High walked out following a 9 a.m. fire alarm in support of their teachers on strike. The teachers have been without a contract since June.

The multidimensional decay involving war, rising oil prices, and stagflation, produces demands for school cutbacks. After thirty years of witnessing labor leaders claim that concessions save jobs, we know that making concessions to bosses (wage or benefit cuts, agreeing to increased class size, etc) does not save jobs but, like feeding blood to sharks, it makes them want more. When they say Cutback, we need to say Fightback.

Here is California educator Joe Lucido writing on “Democracy is Not A Spectator Sport” and Alan Scher asking, “When will no Child be Truly Left Behind?”

Will those on this list who are in California please email Calcare’s Susan Harman and tell her your city and school? Check out the Calcare web site here. Calcare is providing key leadership in the test opt outs this year.

We close with this blithe exchange between George Bush and a reporter:

“Curry: You don’t agree with that? Has nothing do with the economy, the war? The spending on the war?
“Bush: I don’t think so. I think actually, the spending on the war might help with jobs.
“Curry: Oh, yeah?
“Bush: Yeah, because we’re buying equipment, and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses.”
— George W. Bush interviewed by NBC’s Ann Curry 2/25/08

Thanks to Sean, Adam, Gina, Tommie, Alan S and S, Sally, June C., Della and Jim, Dana Allan, Sandy, Sipho, Candy, Amber, Mike A, Michael, MrJ, and George.

All the best, r

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Dear Friends,

The Rouge Forum No Blood for Oil page is updated.

There you will find the latest details about the Rouge Forum Conference, March 14 to 16, in Louisville. It promises to be our biggest and best ever. Thanks, especially, to Adam Renner.

For those who cannot attend the conference, we urge your participation in the many community demonstrations that will take place that weekend and the coming week against the continuing oil wars. Following those demonstrations we believe educator groups and anti-war groups need to convene together to examine the analysis, strategy, and tactics of what is, sad to say, a pair of movements in need of new life. Rouge Forum members have been critical participants in the many anti-war coalitions, as this piece shows. When the anniversary of the war is over, and the demonstrations had, we need to make new and better plans.

Puerto Rico’s school workers are still on strike for wages, benefits, smaller class size, supplies, and in opposition to the privatization of their schools. According to strike leaders quoted today, about 84 percent of children are not attending classes. About 23,000 educators are honoring the strike, 8,000 scabbing. More than half the nation’s schools are closed. Police have repeatedly attacked striker demonstrations but have not been able to halt the massive job action which not only must take on the government but also the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win coalition, the two US labor federations that are, not surprisingly, trying to help smash the strike, in line with their entire histories.

The Puerto Rican teachers’ union plans a major demonstration tomorrow, Tuesday.

Check this LA Times story on massive school cuts projected in California and this current AP story showing there is going to be no pullback in Iraq, in fact the troop numbers will be higher than before the surge began.

As the impact of the empire’s wars comes home in the form of $100 a barrel gas, stagflation, and a massive debt crisis, and school cutbacks, the sanctions set up by NCLB will ratchet up the consequences for school workers, kids, and communities. While it is common for politicians to hype coming school cutbacks in order to set the stage for regressive taxes (as those supported now by the California AFT), the cuts will come and it is reasonable to foresee the collision of booming class size (and the absence of books, supplies, aides, etc) and the NCLB’s preposterous demands for rising test scores.

It is surely possible that government will turn a blind eye to the NCLB sanctions, or a selective eye, when it becomes clear that far too many schools are under the gun, including schools in wealthier areas, but it is equally possible that teachers will be targeted for layoff based on kids’ test scores, simply by closing schools and churning the work force. And, we know in New York City, the AFT already agreed to pay-for-test-scores plans.

The upshot of that over time will be a more divided, and less powerful, work force. Teachers in rich areas will do ok, teachers in poor areas will not. And, as the AFT and NEA both refuse to recognize that an injury to one only goes before and injury to all, school and government bosses will simply slice away until all teacher health benefits are evaporated.

What can be done? Well, surely it is now easy to see a connection between imperialist war and the blowback on the empire’s workers, including its school workers who, for the most part, sold their consciences to NCLB and collaborated actively with the child abuse that it is.

And it is equally easy to see the role that the union leadership played in supporting the wars, and the NCLB. Perhaps now, as the effects of war and the regimentation of knowledge hit people’s pocketbooks, action will be more possible.

However, no one can suggest that the union leadership, mired in the racism, hierarchy, and opportunism that structures the unions, is going to play a progressive role. The best thing the union leaders could do would be to initiate targeted, rolling, strikes during test season, and set up freedom schools to serve the kids who could actually learn something important in a freedom school.

That, of course, will not happen. The unions could demand that no administrator’s salary exceed, say, the top teacher pay—and demand cuts accordingly. But they will not do that. Nor will the unions adopt a plan that their early founder, Dorothy Healy, described as “tax the rich, tax inheritance, tax profits.” Late in life Healy said she did all she could but did not take class war seriously enough. Almost a hundred years later, we should learn from her.

One thing that can be done is to simply nullify the test scores by boycotting, opting out of the tests. Calcare and the Rouge Forum are calling for those opt outs which are hardly premature, but long overdue. We have experience in opt outs in Michigan, Florida, and around the USA. One thing people can do to build awareness is to go to school board meetings, in groups, and speak openly in support of the legal and reasonable right to opt kids out of these tests. Walk away. As in the military, nearly nothing is being done to awols.

But justice demands organization. Let us try to see one another, face to face, friend to friend, in Louisville.

Thanks to Sean, Wayne, Gina, Collie, Duke, Tommie, Bob, Susan(s), George and Sharon, JK in Chicago, Dennis C., Sandy and Sally, Candace, Evan and Ethel, John D (write the book), Alan S, Amber, Perry, Kev, Steve F, Ido and Ofira, Jan Cadwell, Kathryn, the Carlsons, Dennis B., Gil, Alfie, Joe Cook, Isa, Bill, Greg, and Connie Lane.

all the best,
r

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Dear Friends,

This week we highlight the schedule of the Rouge Forum Conference coming up on March 14 to 16 In Louisville. The conference schedule is linked here.

This promises to be our best and biggest Rouge Forum to date, drawing education activists, artists, community organizers, students, parents, professors, and independent researchers together in an honest, earnest, quest to connect reason to power. Check out this schedule for a convincer on why it is you should be there and participate.

The wars are still on And the growing debt crisis, in part the result of the military adventures which create nothing of value for most people, hence fanning inflation’s flames, now hits tens of thousands of people whose incomes pose them on the brink of homelessness. Here is Chalmers Johnson on the debt debacle.

And here is Michael Klare demonstrating the central role of oil in these crises.

Meanwhile, the election circus continues with renewed ferocity. There is considerable debate inside the Rouge Forum as to the efficacy of capitalist democracy, elections, and voting itself. Many of us are liberal reformers, perhaps to the left of Clinton and Obama, while others are libertarians, often to the left of Paul, and still others are Greens, or look forward to another Nader run.

Still others see this government as little more than an executive committee of the rich, and their armed weapon. Inside the committee, elites work out their petty differences, then allow the rest of us to pulverize each other over secondary issues like abortion, immigration rights, etc., while the central issues of exploitation, imperialist war, and the connections of inequality and capitalist development go unquestioned. In that context, voting just deepens alienation, serves as yet another quest for a savior when nobody will save us but us.

In good friendship, we will discuss the election and the “What is to be done?” question at our March conference.

Whatever the case, we share a common concern about education and the destruction of reason that we see everywhere, education undermined by regimented curricula, racist anti-working class high stakes exams, and the militarization of schools.

In California, Rouge Forum members, combined with Cal Care led by Susan Harman, plan direct action organized legal opt outs for the coming exam season. Suggestions on how to build the base to do that are always welcome. And you are welcome to join us.

Thanks to Sean, Amber, Wayne, Kev, Elvira, Steve, Perry, Marc, Curry, Sue, SM, Kerry N, Sharon A, Z mag, George and Sharon, Greg, Bill, M and J, Shelly, Alan S, MM, Connie and Doug, Ofira, Candy, RC, :LAM, Maddie, Randy Matthews and Don Alcorn.

All the best, r

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Dear Friends,

The Rouge Forum No Blood For Oil page is updated.

Of particular interest is the most recent piece from one of the few reporters in the Middle East who has a grasp of the “why” of these wars, Robert Fisk: http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/153837

Tonight (Sunday) on CNN, at 10 p.m. ET, the network promises a piece on Chicago’s school closings and the firing of teachers based on student test scores. Chicago teachers’ union president Marilyn Stewart is to be featured in the segment. The best way to begin to uncover the truth behind the CTU-AFT’s support for NCLB, and the disastrous results for not only its members, but kids and communities too, is to read Substance News now on the web at http://www.substancenews.net/

The wreckage of the United Autoworkers Union and the subsequent sellout of UAW members’ health benefits will reverberate on every person in the US who must work to live—especially school workers who are among the last people in the country who have fairly good health benefits. The UAW’s boss Ron Gettelfinger will be at the Detroit Athletic Club luncheon speaking to auto exec’s next Thursday, January 31 at noon. Rank and filers who are unlikely to ever be allowed to see the inside of the place might want to greet him. And here is some background on what happened to the once-mighty UAW http://clogic.eserver.org/2006/gibson.html

In California, education activists will meet on February 2 in Fresno to plan a spring opt-out of high stakes exams campaign. Time and place to follow next week. Here is one of many pieces on the NCLB demonstrating the schools to war pipeline from Rouge Forum activists
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rgibson/High-StakesGibsonRossCounterpunch.htm

Lots of friends of the Rouge Forum will be meeting and presenting at the Chavez conference in Fresno, March 28 and 29. Here is a link:
http://education.csufresno.edu/CesarChavez2_08.htm

And book Louisville, March 13 to 16, for the Rouge Forum conference, “Reform or Revolution?” with details updated at this link:
http://www.rougeforumconference.org

Thanks to Sean, Adam, Amber, Wayne, Gil, Penny, Jim, Perry, Marc, Susan, Ginger, Thatcher, Eric, Steve, Bob S., Rick, Theresa, Kelly, Sharon A, Kerin, Victoria, Bob, Dr K, Dave, Cal, and Carol.

All the best,

r

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Dear Friends,

Nearly all of us are back to school now. Here is to all those hard-working and persevering school workers who are proving that kids, curiosty, and reason can be reclaimed from No Child Left Behind.

As we await the opening of the financial markets on Tuesday, let us take note of James Baldwin’s speech to teachers, linked here.

The Rouge Forum No Blood for Oil page is updated here.

Below is a note from Dr Adam Renner about the upcoming Rouge Forum Conference, March 14 to 16, in Louisville. It will be our biggest and best ever. Please plan to join us in building a social movement for equity and justice, in schools and out. Whatever the state of the economy, whatever the state of the wars, it is clear that justice demands organization.

That organization will need to go well beyond unionism. We note that the boss of the United Federation of Teachers, the AFT’s New York bellweather local, hid from her members the fact that individual New York educators are being monitored on their kids’ test scores. See the link here It’s an incident that should worry every teacher in the USA.

Earlier, the California Teachers Association shut down the Eliminate NCLB web site that was initiated by Visalia eductors. The site remains down.

You can help the test resistance and the struggle for peace. Subscribe to Substance News (www.substancenews.net) and pass along a sugestion to sign on with the Rouge Forum to a friend.

Thanks to Adam, Sean, Bonnie M., Jean and Jennie, Amber, Kerry, Sarah, Wayne, Perry, Steve, Sharon A., David, Colleen, Tallie, Nancy S and T, Susan, George and Sharon, Dr K, Bill, Greg and Katy, Doug, Jill, Dan H., Bob, Tommie, Linda, Sue W., Michael, Hallie, Jakmet, Victoria, and all those who worked hard to build our work at NCSS.

All the best in the New Year.

r

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Dear Friends,

The Rouge Forum web page is updated at www.rougeforum.org

Of special interest is our upcoming Rouge Forum Conference in Louisville, March 14-16, 2008. Check out the web page to see the many presenters addressing the question, “Education Reform, or Revolution?”

Substance News, the hard-copy voice of the education resistance in the US and North America covered the Bush press conference in Chicago on Monday, claiming “mission accomplished,” on NCLB. Subscriptions to Substance are just 16 dollars a year, perhaps 5% of what many people pay in union dues, to unions that do not represent the rank and file.

We need to write letters to editors of the corporate press, articles in journals, books, for magazines, online, but we also need a commonly understood hard copy voice not controlled by profiteering where the many views of the education resistance can find a space to unite and debate.

Please, subscribe to Substance and help connect reason to power. www.substancenews.net

The wars continue. Even if NCLB is stalled, it is re-authorized in effect if nothing is done. In California, we plan a meeting on February 2 2008 to help build direct action resistance, opt-outs, to the high-stakes exams that strangle freedom in education now. Please try to join us.

Good news. The Rouge Forum motion opposing the Iraq war passed the k-12 section of the National Council for the Social Studies assembly. Wayne Ross has the details, and a great cartoon on the Price of Your Soul, on his blog at
http://migrator.rab.olt.ubc.ca/ross

There is resistance everywhere: 70,000 uprisings in 2007 in China, requiring repression from the “Red” Army. A two week sit-down strike in Leningrad’ Ford Plant was settled just before the holidays, and in another strike in Siberia in BEK plants workers have erected blockades around the factories, demanding an end to privatization and workers’ control of the work place. Mutinies, while limited, began in the US Armed Forces. The direct action of workers in San Diego finally won the right, or reaffirmed it, to picket and hand out literature in San Diego. Iraq War veterans plan to duplicate the 1971 Detroit “winter soldier” investigation in Washington DC in March.

Cultural resistance is alive. Here is our colleague Chalmers Johnson, author of the Nemesis Trilogy, discussing Charlie Wilson’s War: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174877/chalmers_johnson_an_imperialist_comedy

The education resistance, meaning our lives and the lives of our kids, depends on us.

Utah Phillips, troubadour against tyranny, needs our help. His health fades and his insurance is very limited. Perhaps you could buy a Utah CD, or attend a benefit concert.

And remember, you can join the Rouge Forum discussion list here.

Next week, a discussion on capitalist democracy and the fetish of democracy on the left.

“It is not because things are difficult that we don’t dare….it is because we don’t dare that things are difficult.”…….. Seneque

Thanks to Susan, Amber, Cindee, Candace, Nancy, Sue W., Greg and Katy, Bill, Wayne, Beau, Ron, VP, Sherry. Marc and Bonnie, Tom S, Bob, Wayne, Marc, Curry, Dave H., Perry, Kevin, and to all those who helped out at NCSS.

All the best in the new year,

r

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Just a reminder to urge you to come to Louisville for the Rouge Forum Conference. I can say with confidence that there are no other conferences of this kind in the US, nothing close. We will bring together educators, activists, community people, students, and unionists from the U.K, India, South Africa, the US, Venezuela, and Grenada (and more to come) to celebrate ten years of struggle to, as our logo above says, connect reason to power.

No other group has matched the research,writing, and direct action that members of the Rouge Forum have conducted in schools and out. And, we are fun. Please join us for our best conference yet. Go to the web site and see how you can participate. www.rougeforumconference.org

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NCSS/CUFA VOTES To Oppose Resolution Against Iraq War

On November 29, 2007, the assembled members of the College and University Faculty Association of the National Council for the Social Studies voted to reject a motion raised by members of the Rouge Forum opposing the Iraq invasion and war. The vote was 58 “No” to 46 “Yes” with 17 abstentions. As we go press, the final tally had not been reconfirmed by Cufa officials. This was a very small turnout for a Cufa meeting but the vote was a hand count and the ultimate result cannot be disputed.

This is the motion CUFA members, who had earlier heard former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day Oconnor say the US, “is moving toward fascism,” rejected:

Whereas the Iraq invasion and reason have nothing in common and,

Whereas the Iraq war has invaded our education system with military recruiters who defy reason with unkept promises and who unfairly take advantage of economically deprived and oppressed students, and,

Whereas the invasion has intensified the regimentation of curricula and,

Whereas the invasion escalated the use of high-stakes testing as a weapon which sorts youth along lines of race and class, having little to do with intellectual achievement, serving as a pipeline to what is in fact a war for empire,

Wheras the war is an extension of the international war of the rich on the poor, destroying all semblance of democracy in its wake,

Be it resolved that CUFA notify NCSS, the President of the US, Congress, and the press that we think the US should get out of Iraq now.

Among those voting against this motion were social studies luminaries like Linda Levstik, Walter Parker, David Hicks, and Jeff Passe.

CUFA is the university faculty wing of the National Council of Social Studies. As noted above, CUFA members had, earlier in the day, heard Sandra Day Oconnor, former Supreme Court Justice, say, “Fascism is rising in the USA.” Then, in the CUFA meeting, prior to the vote on the war, members voted in favor of a motion urging NCATE retain the term “social justice,” in their by-laws.

There was no debate on the Iraq resolution, as has been the case in nearly every similar motion brought by the Rouge Forum to CUFA. Debate inside this group of PhD’s who choose to stand aside like mandarins as their claims to democratic education evaporate around them, is quite rare. In one session four years ago, a CUFA chair person urged that debate on an antiwar motion be cut off before it began on the grounds that snacks were already being served in another room.

In the past, CUFA voted to oppose the war or its conduct. It may be that the smaller numbers at the NCSS convention shifted this vote. The loss of attendance could be due to cuts in social studies education where there are few, if any, state tests. The NCSS response? Demand a Social Studies test–that will invariably hide the terms ” capitalism,” and “imperialism,” and measure, not knowledge, but subservience and parental income. In any case, several NCSS members reported that their travel funding was cut because of the low status of social studies but they came anyway. It’s no stretcher to guess that costs kept many people away.

CUFA and NCSS believe they are the bulwarks of education for democratic citizenship in the US. Contrary to that belief is the fact that top CUFA members, including leading multiculturalist professors, voted against a Rouge Forum motion favoring affirmative action in 2003, on the grounds that such action might cost profesors money from their pay.

Last year, CUFA was addressed by the founder of a million dollar institute, and tenured professor, who spoke for an hour, claiming that the reason people in what he called the Third World suffer from the conditions of their daily lives is because they are not sufficiently “cosmopolitan.” Only Rouge Forum members were laughing.

At the NCSS conference in San Diego this year, no session would have mentioned the war in Iraq if they session had not been proposed and organized by Rouge Forum members. This, in a conference which listed 80 pages of sessions.

Many CUFA and NCSS members, especially grad students and younger teachers unaccustomed to NCSS’ undemocratic and reactionary ways, expressed dismay that such an august group could be such an autocratic muddle. But in the course of the conference, nearly 100 new people joined the Rouge Forum, enjoyed long discussions at our booth and social activities.

If is is the case that fascism now emerges around us, and I think it does, the educational work and direct action, of groups like the Rouge Forum would seem to be vital. Justice demands organization. Absent the Rouge Forum at NCSS: Nothing.

Thanks go to many, many Rouge Forum activists who made a great weekend possible. Amber, Beau and Noi, Wayne, Greg and Katie, Tommie, Steve and Perry, Marc, AK, Steve, Chris (write that letter), Cynthia M (great salad! and thanks for your patience) Sandy, Sally, Molly, Sean, Bill B and the Blanks, Bob A., Susan, Cheir, Ken, Kimi, Matt and all who are not forgotten.

Clever fundraising appeal number two: NCSS cost a lot of money. The low attendance hurt our ability to sell material and recoup our costs: about $2700.00. If you can spare any cash at all, please send some. Or, visit the Rouge Forum web page (www.rougeforum.org) and get some of those terrific good-for-the-rest-of -your-life anti-war posters for holiday presents. And, we have Rouge Forum tshirts on sale as well. Ten bucks plus postages. Images online soon.

All the best, r

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Dear Friends,

As a reminder:

The Rouge Forum will be hosting a booth, a party, and several sessions at the upcoming National Council for the Social Studies Conference in San Diego, this weekend. Here are three presentations that might interest you.

*FRIDAY (8:30 – 10AM) International Assembly: Is It Possible or Desirable to Teach for Democracy Today?

*FRIDAY (5 – 6 PM) World History SD Convention Center 30B
Overcoming High-Stakes Tests: Keeping Our Ideals and Still Teaching

*SATURDAY (2:45-3:45) Experienced k12 Teachers at SD Convention Center 30D
How We Keep Our Ideals and Teach:Progressive Teachers in the Classroom.

Come visit and go on the record abot NCLB and the wars for our video at our booth.

The party is Saturday night. Please rsvp if you wish to attend.

It is easy to witness the madness of our times, the spectacles that lure more than a million people a week to attend NFL gams, Judge Judy tormenting volunteer fools, Reality TV becoming “Not Reality But Actuality TV,” (formerly Court TV) the glaring contradiction of the moment as in 800,000 millionaires in New York City matched by one person in six in the same city going to bed hungry, wars around the world going unreported—and to miss the fact that people do resist.

The Paris uprisings of late run parallel with, and intersect each other. Students protesting the French government’s moves to create a two-tier privatized education system (a la the UC and CSU systems in California) initiated the battles, quickly joined by striking workers. Now the same police that attacked the students are attacking immigrant communities, and being met with a ferocious counterattack. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/world/europe/29france.html?hp

In Russia, workers demanding wage increases and a six hour day have seized a Ford plant outside St. Petersburg (Leningrad).

In schools, educators around the country seek to drive military recruiters off their campuses and to halt the high-stakes exams that strangle freedom and learning. Ethical school workers have nearly reached the limit of their tolerance. Our task is to make sense of resistance that must occur.

On December 8, at Fresno State there will be a meeting of education activists trying to organize testing boycotts. Watch the coming updates for time and place. Our task is to connect reason to power, to try to build a mass based class conscious movement of people prepared to take the risks and make the sacrifices necessary to fashion and sustain an equitable world== toward the consciousness of freedom; the same project of centuries that our great-grandparents took on, that we should pass on to the kids. You are welcome to join us in Fresno.

Meanwhile, the California Teachers Association (NEA) and the California Federation of Teacher (AFT) battle each other to the tune of hundreds of thousands of lobbying dollars. CTA opposes CFT’s proposition 92 which would reduce costs at community colleges and guarantee some cc funding. This cannot be a new low in unionism as the UAW’s recent contract still holds that rank, but it is a highlight in demonstrating that US union executives have nothing but opportunism as a guide. CFA fears that funding community colleges might cut into their k12 teacher pay while CFT’s membership is heavily in the cc’s. To their credit, the United Teachers of L.A. rejected CTA-NEA’s position.
http://www.prop92yes.com/

Our friends in the AFT-D.C. local asked to spread the word about where their dues went, via the criminal AFT president Barbara Bullock. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/04/AR2007110401865.html

Justice in schools and communities demands new kinds of organizations.

Remember the Rouge Forum conference March 14-16 in Louisville. This is the call for papers: www.rougeforumconference.org

best, r

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Dear Friends,

The Rouge Forum No Blood For Oil web page is updated at www.rougeforum.org

Please take note of the call for papers for the upcoming Rouge Forum Conference in Louisville, March 14-16, 2008. The theme for the 2008 Rouge Forum Conference is: “Education: Reform or Revolution?” and will be hosted by Bellarmine University. The Call for Proposals and Registration information can be found at: http://www.rougeforumconference.org/

The Rouge Forum will be hosting a booth, a party, and several sessions at the upcoming National Council for the Social Studies Conference in San Diego, at the end of November. Here are three presentations that might interest you.

*FRIDAY (8:30 – 10AM) International Assembly: Is It Possible or Desirable to Teach for Democracy Today?

*FRIDAY (5 – 6 PM) World History SD Convention Center 30B
Overcoming High-Stakes Tests: Keeping Our Ideals and Still Teaching

*SATURDAY (2:45-3:45) Experienced k12 Teachers at SD Convention Center 30D
How We Keep Our Ideals and Teach:Progressive Teachers in the Classroom

The party is Saturday night. Please rsvp if you wish to attend.

It is still nearly impossible to get comprehensive news on the student/worker struggles in France. Students now fight to occupy university buildings throughout the country and transportation workers remain out, though it appears their union is urging people back to work. The possibility for a general strike in France is quite real, a strike initiated by students. Their chances for victory, if they continue to fight for the combined demands of no privatization of education, for pension benefits for workers, health care, the right to strike, and the rights of immigrants, seem good. Perhaps the French break the bonds of their own postmodernism: religion in disguise.

By contrast, in the US, 81% of the UAW-Ford membership voted to build their own scaffolds in the form of massive wage cuts, the nearly certain destruction of their own health benefits, and a two-tier wage system, impoverishing their own children. The leadership of the AFT adopted a merit pay plan in their key local in New York. NEA still insists it will fight merit pay, but not NCLB nor its curricula regimentation nor high stakes exams. But stage hands and Hollywood writers are out on strike–a bizarre statement about the impact of de-industrialization and the lack of left leadership in the US which has misled the antiwar movement into a series of cul-de-sacs, each one denying the central roles of class struggle and class consciousness.

Direct action can answer some of this. There are answers in struggle. With CalCare and others, the Rouge Forum is backing the call for boycotts of high-stakes exams. We are also planning for massive demonstrations against the empires’ expanding wars on March 20, the anniversary of the invasion.

On this war, and the ones to come, Michael Klare writes on the centrality of oil: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18742.htm

This is the anniversary of the death of the great poet and songwriter of the Industrial Workers of the World, Joe Hill, murdered by the authorities in Utah after a Kangaroo trial in 1915. Hill’s last word to his firing squad: Fire. Here is his hopeful take on the future, from his song The Preacher and the Slave.

Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we’ll sing this refrain
You will eat, bye and bye,
When you’ve learned how to cook and how to fry;
Chop some wood, ’twill do you good
Then you’ll eat in the sweet bye and bye

Thanks to Bill T, Bob A, Amber, Wayne, Beau, Bill, George (subscribe to Substance) Schmidt, Susan, Sharon A., Sally, Sandy, Colleen, Jim Wolin, Alexander, Victoria, Ileana, Marc, Bonnie, Christopher, William, Erin, and Tommie.
all the best, r

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