Solidarity with U of California faculty

To the UC Faculty:

We at the Rouge Forum applaud, admire, and support your efforts to respond to tuition hikes, enrollment cuts, layoffs, furloughs, and increased class sizes, which are indeed, complicit with the privatization of public education.

The Rouge Forum is a group of 4500 educators, students, and parents seeking a democratic society. We are concerned with questions like: How can we teach against racism, nationalism and sexism in an increasingly authoritarian and undemocratic society? How can we gain enough real power to keep our ideals AND teach? Whose interests do schools serve in a society that is ever more unequal? We want to learn about equality, democracy and social justice as we simultaneously struggle to bring those into practice. (http://www.rougeforum.org/, http://www.therougeforum.blogspot.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouge_Forum).

In the German Ideology, Marx submits, “The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas.”

The connection and simultaneous control of this material and mental production comes into ever-sharper relief anytime we are confronted by our corporate media. The level of discourse is less than satisfying. And, frankly, frightening. Pick the issue: health care, immigration, worker’s rights, war, education. While all of the issues are truly critical, the last is particularly problematic since control of schools is a final domino to fall in the imperial quest to completely (re)fashion our reality. Remove critical thinking, make children compete against each other for perceived scarce resources (standardized tests), use the results to reify hierarchies based on social constructions like race and gender and class status, make teachers compete against one another for perceived scarce resources (merit pay), boil dissent down to participation in (mostly) corrupt unions, excuse and/or cover-up the school to military and prison pipelines, monitor and make impotent our schools of education through if-it-wasn’t-so-sinister-it-would-be-comical accrediting bodies like NCATE, and regulate truth. This has been the agenda. And, it has already buried itself deep into our educational psyche.

Your willingness to confront this reality on September 24 is an illustration of the work we will all have to do to protect public education toward the creation of a more whole and healthy society. Where Rouge Forum members are affiliated with the UC system, we have encouraged them to join you. Where Rouge Forum members are unaffiliated with the UC system, we have encouraged them to take part in campus wide discussions relative to the status of higher education, academic freedom, and the importance of public education.

We stand in solidarity with you and offer the graphic, created by Rouge Forum member, Bryan Reinholdt, an elementary performing arts teacher in Louisville, Ky.

Sincerely,

the Rouge Forum Steering Committee

Rouge Forum Update—UC walkout, Grenanda 17, unions and more

Rouge Forum Update

Dear Friends,

The main thing in the brief period ahead: Spreading the September 24 University of California walkout to campuses of all kinds, all over.

We need to do all we can to spread the UC walkout which so far, has not linked the massive attacks on the UC system to the wars and bankster bailouts.

From what I hear back, other than at Berkeley, the sponsors of the walkout are worried about turnout in the UC system as a whole. It may well be that more students will walk out than profs, which would be ok, even fine if the campuses are shut down.

Since the UC profs called for this, it is going to be used as a measure of what all kinds of resisters can do, by all sides. We have a big stake in trying to make this succeed.

Besides, schools closed by strikes or civil strife, matched by some kind of freedom school where people actually discuss why things are as they are, are much better than open schools.

Why is the UC system, with help of AAUP, able to have this walkout while the huge CSU system just sits still, after taking even more egregious hits than the UC?

Because the UC tenured profs have no union contract.

The CFA/NEA which represents the CSU has a bargained contract–sold out as it may be. That contract includes a no-strike clause, the traditional union trade-off for guaranteed dues collection, the check-off. That contract means the CFA union bosses are duty bound to halt official strikes for the duration of the contract. That is, unless they are real unionists in the best sense of the word, and that they are not. The practice of the union as a bank rules over the idea of the union as an agent of direct action solidarity. In other words, union has not meant union for many years.

Of course, one might ask just what kind of a union is that? And the answer would be, just like all the rest of them—corrupt to the core. That is what every major union in the US does.

Now, to be fair, the UC lecturers are represented by AFT. They did not have to take some of the cuts that the tenured profs did, but they started out in a deep hole anyway. To go further, the reason the UC profs do not have a union is not because of their leftist critiques.

The Education Agenda is a War Agenda. That connection needs to be made in the walkout. It is not made now, not in the formal publications I have seen.

The likely to be $3 trillion plus wars are part of the reason the education system is under attack at every level. Another is the $12.9 trillion given to finance capital, no strings attached, and the untold billions given to industrial capital which continued to dump workers. But the president of GM was fired, finalizing the move to the corporate state behind the demagogue, Obama.

20,000 teachers lost their jobs in California this year, and every school just got notified of another $900 per child cut—as well as further structural cuts that are, right now, hard to add up.

There is a direct line: regimented curricula=high stakes exams= militarization=merit pay=perpetual war. And the other way around too. Maybe someone can make a graphic of that logic.

Related News

In the schools:

U. of Cal system proposed to hike “fees” by 32%

The public option and closed schools–a cartoon

One Million Homeless Kids Hit the Schools

Stim Money Does Not Stop Massive School Cuts California Lays Off 20,000 teachers. What does CTA do? Nothing.

Oakland University in Michigan went on strike for two weeks. The strike is over now. Note that they are represented by AAUP, far less likely to destroy a strike from within than NEA or AFT.

Suggested video: Judgement Day, Intelligent Design on Trial—With this episode, the popular “Nova” series examines the trial of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, a controversial legal battle sparked by a group of science teachers who refused to comply with an order to teach intelligent design. Through scene re-creations, interviews and expert testimony, the program presents the arguments of both sides and illuminates the conflict that thrust the people of Dover into the worldwide spotlight.

Class comment of the week from a Marine Afghan war vet, “I had a choice, either dealing drugs and killing people in a street gang or the Marines and Afghanistan.” The real choice is community or barbarism.

Banksters, Industrialist, and Their Economy:

Daniel Yergin: Why Oil has a Future

Baker: Reverse Bank Robbery

Americans are Poorer and It’s Going to be Worse

How Did Bernie Steal $50 Billion? Thank the SEC

One More Time on the Terror Wars:

US Terror Bomb Kills 70 Afghan Civilians

TomDispatch: Measuring the Terror Wars, Afghanistan by the Numbers

Free at Last!

The last seven of the Grenada 17 were released from prison on Saturday, September 5. While in prison, they set up an education program that competed favorably with the nation’s best schools.
Photos here.

And Wither the Unions?

AFL-CIO Boss Abandons EFCA as the bankrupt body meets in Pittsburgh as they prepare to give up on single payer. Maybe a refund from Obama?

Thanks to Adam and Gina, Tony H., Bob (happy release from the hospital and speedy recovery), Joe L, The Susans, Donna, Kate, Sue H, Sandy H, Kim B. Good luck in BC to OR and I. More thanks to Wayne and Abraham, George, Jack G., Don A, David R, Kenny and Cheri, Mark, Sheila, Bryan, the newly forming RF Steering Committee, Amber and the gang of courageous teachers.

Good luck to us, every one.

r

Call for manuscripts: Critical Education

Critical Education is an international peer-reviewed journal, which seeks manuscripts that critically examine contemporary education contexts and practices. Critical Education is interested in theoretical and empirical research as well as articles that advance educational practices that challenge the existing state of affairs in society, schools, and informal education.

Critical Education is an open access journal, launching in early 2010. The journal home is criticaleducation.org

Critical Education is hosted by the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia and edited by Sandra Mathison (UBC), E. Wayne Ross (UBC) and Adam Renner (Bellarmine University) along with collective of 30 scholars in education that includes:

Faith Ann Agostinone, Aurora University
Wayne Au, California State University, Fullerton
Marc Bousquet, Santa Clara University
Joe Cronin, Antioch University
Antonia Darder, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
George Dei, OISE/University of Toronto
Stephen C. Fleury, Le Moyne College
Kent den Heyer, University of Alberta
Nirmala Erevelles, University of Alabama
Michelle Fine, City University of New York
Gustavo Fischman, Arizona State University
Melissa Freeman, University of Georgia
David Gabbard, East Carolina University
Rich Gibson, San Diego State University
Dave Hill, University of Northampton
Nathalia E. Jaramillo, Purdue University
Saville Kushner, University of West England
Zeus Leonardo, University of California, Berkeley
Pauline Lipman, University of Illinois, Chicago
Lisa Loutzenheiser, University of British Columbia
Marvin Lynn, University of Illinois, Chicago
Sheila Macrine, Montclair State University
Perry M. Marker, Sonoma State University
Rebecca Martusewicz, Eastern Michigan University
Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles
Stephen Petrina, University of British Columbia
Stuart R. Poyntz, Simon Fraser University
Patrick Shannon, Penn State University
Kevin D. Vinson, University of the West Indies
John F. Welsh, Louisville, KY

Online submission and author guidelines can be found here.

HAW (Historians Against The War) recommended articles on torture, Afghanistan/Vietnam, Honduras, My Lai/Lockerbie, and the drug war in Latin America

Below are a collection of current articles available on the web that provide historical background on issues relevant to concerns taken up by Historians Against the War, as recommended by the HAW Steering Committee.

“Our Laws Condone Torture”
By Juan Cole in Salon.com, posted September 8

“The Phoenix Program Was a Disaster in Vietnam and Would Be in Afghanistan–And the NYT Should Know That”
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network, posted September 7

“These Colors Run Red!: The U.S. Follows the Soviet Union into Afghanistan”
By Andrew J. Bacevic, The American Conservative, October 1, 2009 issue

“Battle for Honduras—and the Region”
By Greg Grandin, The Nation, August 31 issue

“From My Lai to Lockerbie”
By Nick Turse, TomDispatch.com, posted August 30

“Saigon 2009: Afghanistan Is Today’s Vietnam. No Question Mark Needed.”
By Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, foreignpolicy.com, posted August 20

“Lesson of Vietnam Lost in Afghanistan”
By Stanley Kutler, Truthdig, posted August 20

“Is Obama Aware of the History of Failure that Marks Our Drug War in Latin America?”
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network, posted August 17

In addition, this week’s “Life during Wartime” cartoon by Josh Brown, posted on the HAW home page, offers a chilling parallel between Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Rouge Forum Update–The Phony Labor Day

Dear Friends,

http://richgibson.com/RFupdate090709.html

This week’s update got a little long but there are bullet headlines and notes on current job actions (Oakland U strike, UC strike, etc) early in this link, followed by a continuation of the discussion of Education vs Capital, why that is and what to do.

Our friend Susan H got arrested in Seattle (not guilty as charged) for protesting the Torture Memos that came out of John Yoo and the Bush administration, the ones that Obama would like to sweep away. So, You Go Susan!

Steering committee members will be contacted this week.

Here is a link and good luck to us, every one.
r

AAUP endorses walkout by University of California faculty set for Sept 24

UC Faculty Walkout 9/24
Update: AAUP Endorses Walkout

To support this action, please send your name and affiliation to this addresss: ucfacultywalkout@gmail.com

Hundreds of UC professors, from all divisions and campuses, wrote in support of the 9/24 walkout during the first two days of the call. With that support, and more that is now pouring in, the letter posted below will be recirculated to faculty throughout the UC system shortly. Student organizations throughout the UC system have begun mobilizing in solidarity.

For more on the budget cuts at the University of California and California State University see the Workplace Blog

Texas state school board continues assualt on reason

The right-wing wing assault on reason in schools has intensified with the appointment Gail Lowe as the chair of the Texas State Board of Education. Lowe recently criticized the inclusion of US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez in the social studies curriculum because, according to Lowe, Marshall and Chavez are are “not particularly known for their citizenship.”

Governor Rick Perry appointed Lowe to the position after the Texas state senate rejected Perry’s attempt to have Don McLeroy appointed for a second term as board chairman. In his role as chair of the Texas State Board of Education, McLeroy championed creationism and lobbied to have Texas science curriculum focus on the “weaknesses” of evolutionary theory. In a January 2009 editorial, The New York Times described the McLeroy’s board as “scientifically illiterate” for their efforts to create a science curriculum that reflects conservative Christian beliefs about creation, rather than  scientific evidence.

Under Lowe, the Texas Board is not likely change its tune. According to the Houston Chronicle, Lowe, a small town newspaper publisher,  is “unapologetic about her conservative Christian views.” In an interview with the Associated Press, Lowe said “This country was founded on Judeo Christian principles and to say otherwise is to deny what is very unique about our country,” and she believes that believes students should be taught “biblical motives of the country’s founding fathers.”

Lowe has been a member of the Texas board since 2002 and has consistently voted with the panel’s ultra conservative faction—opposing inclusion of contraception information in health textbooks, attacking evolutionary biology as part of the science curriculum, and rejecting the inclusion of two of the most towering civil rights figures of the 2oth century in the social studies curriculum,  Marshall and Chavez .

Lowe’s comments on Marshall and Chavez were in response to comments from members of  board appointed advisory-panel who have argued that Marshall—who argued the Brown v. Board racial desegregation case in the 1950s and who later became the first African American US Supreme Court Justice—and Chavez—the Mexican American farm worker, labor leader,  and civil rights activist—should be deemphasized in the social studies curriculum because they lack “the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others.”

Marshall and Chavez are “not particularly known for their citizenship,” Lowe told the Houston Chronicle. “Figures we use to represent those character ideals (citizenship, patriotism and community involvement) and the type of persons we want your students to emulate should be politically neutral.”

Hmmm, what kind of logic is that? Well, it’s racist logic of course. Can you even find one figure in a US history textbook who is “politically neutral”? Even a white person?

Thanks to Tony’s Curricublog for the heads up on this (and many other stories).

The new pyramid of the capitalist system

pyramid-1

Inspired by the old I.W.W. “PYRAMID of CAPITALIST SYSTEM”, this poster is a portrayal of class society as it appears to us today. The whirlwind of market forces encircle and shape society, operating through our activity, yet behind our backs. People at different levels of the modern capitalist pyramid enjoy it or defend it or cope with it or fight it or get drunk to forget about their place in it. This poster was designed in collaboration by wapiti.se and prole.info.

Download a print quality PDF of the new pyramid of the capitalist system here.

Order the Rouge Forum version of the original IWW pyramid of the capitalist system here.