You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Politics’ category.
The sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War was marked on Saturday by a 5000-person Washington march, smaller by an order of magnitude than the last antiwar march on DC two years ago.
Calling the protest “a congregation of the radical Left,” The Sitch examines the splintered state of antiwar organizing today, and explores the decision by liberal groups to sit this march out.
The last few months have seen a wave of campus organizing in Britain, with students at more than two dozen colleges and universities staging protests and sit-ins. Now student organizers are calling for a national meeting of campus activists to discuss where the new movement goes next.
Here’s a write-up of the meeting plans from the group’s Facebook page:
After the wave of occupations against Israel’s war on Gaza and the national demonstration against fees; as Vice Chancellors and the government declare their intention to double fees; as cuts and redundancies rip through our campuses; and as the NUS fails to relate to any of these issues or give leadership to students – it’s clear that the student movement is at a turning point.
The thousands of students who are being drawn into campaigns need to co-ordinate our actions nationally: we need a national, fighting student movement!
A group of activists from the university occupations, student union officers and activists from a range of groups including Education Not for Sale have called a national meeting on the 18th of April to discuss the way forward and co-ordinate our actions.
We will hear speakers from the student movements in Europe and a speaker from the UK workers’ movement – but this meeting won’t be about listening to endless top table speakers: we want an open discussion from the floor, between student activists, to decide on what to do next and hopefully create a permanent co-ordination, network or federation of fighting student unions and activists.
We want the organising process to be open and transparent – all are welcome to take part! Get in touch
at studentcoordination@gmail.com studentcoordination@googlegroups.com
Watch this space for updates; and check the blog: http://studentcoordination.wordpress.com/
“Biologists and anthropologists now agree that dividing humanity into different races is fabricated and fraudulent; racial categories are scientific fictions. Yet scientific fictions can become social facts with deadly consequences. Malcolm used to say that racism was like a Cadillac, they make a new model every year. Just as it is impossible to fix a 1990s Cadillac with a 1960s owner’s manual, we will not address the racism of the 1990s and beyond with a 1960s philosophy and approach. Our challenge is to develop a civil rights vision appropriate to our own time, to the challenges presented to us by the injustices inscribed in our everyday lives through racial inequality.”
— George Lipsitz, “Libraries and Memories: Beyond White Privilege 101.”
France was hit by its second general strike of 2009 today, with millions of French workers leaving work and hundreds of thousands taking to the streets. Many schools and universities closed as teachers and professors joined the strike.
Thousands of students marched through Paris on Tuesday night in the latest protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic policies and proposed changes to the country’s university system. Bottles were thrown, property was damaged, and four students were arrested, but there were no reports of violence. French universities have been wracked by demonstrations and occupations in recent months.
As the weather grows warmer, French leaders are said to fear the possibility of a repeat of the massive student-worker protests that toppled the French government in May 1968.
Update: Here’s a background article on the current situation in France’s universities.
Late Update: Here’s a slideshow of today’s protests.
Washington governor Christine Gregoire is considering allowing the state’s universities to impose a temporary tuition surcharge.
The governor’s proposed budget for higher education already includes a seven percent tuition hike and a thirteen percent budget cut, but campuses are bracing for more bad news in light of the economic downturn.
A tuition surcharge would be up to each university to impose, and it would expire after two years. Money from the surcharge would go directly to the campuses rather than into the state’s general fund.
studentactivism.net 
Recent Comments