NYC Area Protests -Anti-Trump and Other Issues As Well

Don't Mourn. Agitate, Educate, Organize! --Not just on January 20 and 21, but before and after. Anti-Trump issues and other issues:

(Click each listing for an event description.  Find newer event announcements at NYPROTEST listserv archive:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/nyprotest)

Monday, Jan. 16
*de Blasio Step Down! rally:  1/16
*PROTEST MACY`S FUR:  1/16 P.
Met Council outreach:  1/16
Art As A Weapon Conf.: 1/16

Monday, Jan. 16
Printed Legacy of 70s Radical Left: from 1/16
*People`s Monday for Renisha McBride: 1/16

Tuesday, Jan. 17
*Protest Trump-Goldman Sachs gov`t: from 1/17 NYC
*Camp out at Goldman Sachs from Tues 1/17 NYC
Preserving Diversity and Inclusiveness:  1/17
Write to U.S.-held political prisoners: 1/17
CODEPINK NYC Gathering:  1/17

Wednesday, Jan. 18
*Protest, concert, campsite vs. inauguration: from 1/18 ?
Rick Wolff:  1/18, Brooklyn
Save CHARAS Community Ctr.: mtg 1/18
Fossil Fuel Divestment mtg.:  1/18
War Resisters League Mtg.: 1/18  WRL
Action Corps Happy Hour:  1/18
Re-purpose electronic waste:  1/18

Thursday, Jan. 19
National Women's Liberation Mtg.: Thurs 1/19
Community Garden Coal. mtg. 1/19
Food & Water Watch mtg.: 1/19 Food & Water Watch mtg. 1/19
History Making, Peoplehood & Right to the City: 1/19
Films, `Point of Attack` + `Profiled`: Thurs 1/19
Police Reform Organizing Project:  1/19
*Protests vs. FERC petro shill scam:  1/19 IN DC
Peace Ball: Thurs 1/19 in DC
Event for tolerance 1/19 BAYSHORE, NY

Friday, Jan. 20
*PROTEST TRUMP:   1/20 5:00 PM FOLEY SQ.
*Pro Trump event:   1/20 7:00 PM W.59th
*PROTEST INAUGURATION: 1/20 Trump FOLEY SQ
*Protest Trump-Goldman Sachs gov`t: thru 1/20 WEST ST.
*Staten Is. anti-inauguration rally or event: 1/20 PLS. CONFIRM
*Black, Brown & Indig. Mobilize vs. White Nationalism: 1/20 NYC
Inauguration Night w/ Randy Credico & Karaoke: 1/20
Black, Brown & Indig. action vs. White Nationalism: 1/20
*Socialist Feminist Contingent 1/20 inauguration protest
*March vs. White Supremacy: 1/20  (d12 Mvmt.) BROOKLYN
Anti-Inaugural Ball at Silent Barn:  1/20 BROOKLYN
Dr. Strangelove: from  1/20 at IFC
*March vs. Trump:  1/20 NEWARK
DC ACTIONS 1/20 incl. some duplicate listings…
Women`s Rights and Politics: 1/20 NR. DC
*Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans:  1/20 DC
*PPA bus to DC, 1/20
The Anti-Inauguration: 1/20 talk DC
*Not My President:  , 1/20 NOON, DC
*#DisruptJ20 protests at inauguration:  1/20  DC
*NYC bus to inauguration protests 1/20 IN DC
*J20Resist March:  1/20 IN DC
*Inauguration Day Protest: Friday 1/20 IN DC
*PROTEST TRUMP AGENDA:  1/20 IN DC
*Human Freedom, Animal Rights:  1/20 IN DC
*Occupy Inauguration: 1/20 IN DC

Saturday, Jan. 21
*WOMEN`S MARCH ON NYC:  1/21 11:00am UNION SQ
*Justice for Kyam Livingston  1/21, Brooklyn
*Women's March on NYC: 1/21  Women`s NYC: 1/21
*Actions vs. Trump? 1/21
*Socialist Feminist Contingents 1/21 women’s march
*North Manhattan Marches Against Trump:  1/21 (a.m.)
*Make Fascists Scared Again! Rally:  1/21, Queens
*NYC bus to Women`s March on DC: 1/21
*Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans: 1/21 DC
*Women`s March on Washington: 1/21 W. 10:00am? DC

Sunday, Jan. 22
¡Pa`lante, Siempre Pa`lante! :  1/22 film
Recycle electronics:  1/22 on Lex. Av.
Challenging Trumpism, Wars & Militarism: AFSC Conf. 1/22 DC
Democratic Socialists of America inauguration plans:  1/22 DC

Monday, Jan. 23
CryptoParty  1/23 w/ Soc. of Environmental Journalists
The German Revolution: Mondays from 1/23
WeiMar. Germany: False Hope or Missed Chance?  1/23
Thanks for Fighting Racism! Dinner: 1/23
Nigeria LGBT equality struggle: 1/23 film, panel  N.

Tuesday, Jan. 24
*Actions vs. Trump? 1/24
*LOBBY NYS TO END AIDS: 1/24 ALBANY

Wednesday, Jan. 25
Re-purpose electronic waste: 1/25
350NYC mtg.  1/25
SECRET PATH: Native film, talk,  1/25
Brooklyn Human Rights Film Fest: 1/25

Thursday, Jan. 26
*March 4 Affordable Housing 4 All Rally: 1/26 BROOKLYN
Finally Got the News: 1/26 Opening
Film, RIKERS:  1/26
New York Paid Leave Coalition dinner:  1/26
Printed Legacy of the U.S. Radical Left: from 1/26
Heather Ann Thompson on Attica:  1/26
Navigating the New Normal: 1/26 at NYSEC
Brooklyn Human Rights Film Fest: 1/26
RIKERS:  1/26 film & panel

Friday, Jan. 27
*Demand No-Kill Shelters: sleepout  1/27
FUREE mtg.:  1/27

Saturday, Jan. 28
CryptoParty  1/28 at NYC Resistor
Art fundraiser for Standing Rock:  1/28
FUREE Leadership Training:  1/28
Urban Permaculture: All-Day Introduction 1/28

Sunday, Jan. 29
ACLU hockey fundraiser:  1/29
Theater of the Oppressed:  1/29 workshop

Monday, Jan. 30
Intro to Marxism:  1/30
Intro to Marxism: Mondays from 1/30

Tuesday, Jan. 31
Engels on forces of nature: from Tues 1/31
Health Care for All:  1/31 film, panel

Thursday, Feb. 2
African Lit - Colonialism, Liberation, Disillusionment: 2/2

Saturday, Feb. 4
African Amer. Cooperative Economics:  2/4 NEWARK

Saturday, February 4
*Protest & dabkeh vs. Batsheva Dance Co. 2/4 at BAM
Pamahikan:  2/4 film at CUNY (CLAGS)
FIDEL: The Legacy Continues -  2/4
Trans Identity and Body Horror: 2/4

Wednesday, Feb. 8
Divided in a Diverse City:  2/8
Eco Imperialism, Settler Colonialism, Indig. Resistance: from 2/8

Wednesday, February 8
Eco Imperialism, Settler Colonialism & Indig Resistance 2/8

Saturday, Feb. 11
*FUR PROTEST:  2/11
*MARCH AGAINST FUR:  2/11, Columbus Cir.
Permaculture Business Ideas: 2/11 at The Commons
After Marriage Equality in Ireland:  2/11

Thursday, February 16
2/16 Hortense Spillers: Women in the Time of Revolution W.

Saturday, Feb. 18
Conf. vs. NYC Fascism & Police Terror:  2/18
Audre Lorde B-Day: Thurs 2/18 (CLAGS)

Sunday, Feb. 19
Film, ``Hustlers Convention``:  2/19

Saturday, Feb. 25
Queer People of Color and NYC Gentrification: 2/25

Friday, Mar. 3
Beyond the Bars Conf. from 3/3

Tuesday, Mar. 7
*Quarterly ``No Separate Justice`` Vigil:  3/7

Saturday, Mar. 11
*9-day intercity walk to Indian Pt. f/ Fukushima Day events: 3/11
Fukushima, Indian Point , Pipeline: 3/11

Sunday, Mar. 18
BAYAN USA Assembly:  3/18

Friday, Mar. 24
*Remember Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:  3/24

Saturday Mar. 25
Conf. to normalize U.S. - Cuba relations: from 3/25

Sunday, Mar. 26
Conf. to normalize U.S. - Cuba relations: through 3/26
*National Rally to Support Palestine 3/26 DC

Thursday, Apr. 6
Becoming an Organizer: Narrative, Identity & Social Action, 4/6
Narrative, Identity and Social Action:  4/6  N.

Friday, Apr. 14
LGBTQ Scholars of Color Conf.: from 4/14

Thursday, Apr. 20
I N V I S I B I L I T Y conf.: Apr. 20

Friday, Apr. 21
I N V I S I B I L I T Y conf.: Apr. 21

Thursday, Apr. 27
White Privilege Conf.: from  4/27

Saturday, Apr. 29
*CLIMATE MARCH: 4/29 IN DC

Wednesday, May 3
Labor Film Activist Conf. from May 3
Radical Film Network Global Gathering: from 5/3

Friday, May 5
W. Workers Unite Film Fest from  5/5 NYC
MOVE Conf opens 5/5/2017  M. M. PHILA

Friday, Jun. 2
Left Forum opens Jun. 2

Saturday, Jun. 10
*Philadelphia Dyke March:  6/10

Saturday, Jun. 24
*March for Reparations:  6/24
 

MTA Repeats Its Pattern of Racial and Class Neglect with New Second Avenue Subway

Nothing shows classism and racism like the new Second Avenue and where it goes and where it does not go. There are two philosophies of providing transit: provide it to the car-oriented people to wean them away, or provide it to the people who depend on it. Clearly they Metropolitan Transit Authority is practicing the philosophy of build the train for the affluent who use taxis more.

The new line goes to possibly the wealthiest neighborhood of the nation, the Upper East Side, 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street. The definitive divider between the rich and white Upper East Side and the working class and more Latino area is 96th Street, where the Metro-North leaves the tunnel and becomes an elevated railroad. And 96th Street is where the subway ends.

Notice the area served by the SAS today: very rich

 Upper E Side

This Upper East Side serving new route of the Q train is a bitter contrast against the trains of the past.
In the past the Bronx was white and when the elevated was built in Manhattan, Harlem, central and east, was white.
Until the 1970s there was a Third Avenue Elevated in the middle of the South Bronx. And when the far upper reaches of the East Side were transitioning from suburban to urban, a transit company built to 129th Street. Service on the Manhattan section of the Third Avenue Elevated was terminated in 1955. The city dithered for years and there was no action taken to build the promised subway replacement.

The transit system in the bus division is under mighty strain because they are serving trajectories that are not served by subways or elevated lines. In sections of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens buses are impossibly crowded. Drivers routinely pass waiting commuters when the buses reach crush capacity. Even the new accordion or "articulated" buses are stuffed. So, the city needs better connectivity to the upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

The crush capacity platforms and trains on the Lexington Avenue 4, 5, and 6 lines are strained and these issues will not be resolved by the stub subway to 96th Street. There is no connection for people in Harlem, in the Bronx. And there are no discussions of relief for the hapless commuters in the outer borough who have to suck in their guts and move further back in the bus, only to continue to be sardines.

And did you notice the mini art gallery look of the stations? All for the Upper East Side super-rich. The trains are so far below the surface. There's no need for that. Existing pines and utilities are not that far below. This is patently a sop to the richest percents, so that they will never feel the vibrations. Seriously, can you see such care if the MTA ever does care about the people that already are transit dependent? We cannot expect to ever see a Utica Avenue line or a Fordham / Pelham Parkway line. Can you really expect deep bore tunnels for a Utica Avenue subway, and so protecting Ocean Hill from subway vibrations in the same way the Second Avenue's deep bore protects the Upper East Side.

Others have recognized the strain and have called out the neglect since the 1970s. See this blog's critique of the MTA's neglect of the Bronx.

The MTA needs to match up with 1929-1940 ideas. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/1939_IND_Second_System.jpg/250px-1939_IND_Second_System.jpg 

New York City, with more billionaires and millionaires than ever. Yet no provisions for express tracks. And there are no plans to address the transit corridors that need to be built in the outer boros.
A cross-Bronx line along Fordham Avenue/Pelham Parkway, a cross Queens line from Whitestone to Jamaica, an extension of the F to the Nassau border, a Brooklyn line to the Belt in Flatlands, and a new Utica Avenue line. These are neighborhoods where new lines are desperately needed. The most comfortable New Yorkers should be taxed, so that New Yorkers can move as easily as the uber rich can move from 86th Street to midtown Broadway with its theatres.

We can just wait til more New York gets gentrified if we're going to expect lines in places like Central Bronx or a line to La Guardia Airport. When the neighborhoods in question get the political clout then we'll see a line.

Maybe the MTA will find the funds when the upper five percent move into East Harlem. Notice the hype for neighborhoods that New York Magazine added.

The MTA will probably add a line when the class with clout, those over five %, move into East Harlem, and when the city media decide to hype the need for a new subway to serve the East Side.

 (First problems with this map: even under the rosiest scenario, Phase 2 would not open until the late 2020s. For the rest of the line, maybe it would open in the 2040s.)
Maybe we'll need to rethink building all the way to the Financial District anyway. Here is what a 2.5 meter rise in the seas will do to Lower Manhattan.

The city will have a greater conflict: trying to convince the modest income New Yorkers to build giant sea walls to protect the millionaires' lower Manhattan, while the truly vulnerable New Yorkers will be in the tens of thousands in Staten Island, and southern Brooklyn and Queens at the Atlantic Ocean's edge. If you are concerned with the issue of rising sea levels, download the data before January 20. The incoming Donald Trump presidential administration may not keep such data on government sites any more. Some links to NOAA and NASA sites are at my other blog.

Classism and the Installation of WiFi in NYC MTA Stations & Dangers in MTA Hacks of Your Phone

DNA Info ran a story today claiming that the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority will have WiFi in all subway stations by New Years' Eve, so that means by tomorrow.

This is another big case of I'll believe it when I see it. WiFi has been a big marker of how "respectable" the neighborhood is. So, Chelsea was one of the first to get WiFi. A few express and local stations in Forest Hills were among the first to get WiFi as well. But I realized this was the race and class privilege as usual with the MTA when I noticed that there was hardly any WiFi in the Bronx, Harlem or the A and C train sections in Brooklyn.

And notice how subway frequency on the L and the F are so much better than the C and the E trains. (Maybe toss in the A train above 168th Street, as many trains end there.) The schedules are misleading.

Maybe they mean New Year's Eve, the night before 2018 ushers in.

And be sure to avoid charging your phone or other devices in public places. So that means do not plug your devices into the new USB plugs on the MTA buses.
Read these articles "Travelers, beware! Hacking lurks in plugs and ports"
and "Beware public mobile charging points - your phone can be hacked in minutes."

Does De Blasio Care More About Sustaining Ed Deform Attack on Teachers Than in Sustaining His Mayoralty?

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio is seriously on the ropes. Every day, seemingly, there are scandal stories published in the city's daily tabloids. (The New York Times largely ignored his mounting scandals until this fall, when the troubles grew too large to ignore.) Just Google <de Blasio donations scandals>, and you will see innumerable stories on what looks like pay to play, with real estate developers.

So, de Blasio is in trouble. He is highly vulnerable to a challenge. You would think that he would value having support from the city's unions. Yet, de Blasio has done little to part from Mike Bloomberg's war on teachers. He did slow down Bloomberg's closing of schools, but in terms of the working conditions for teachers, the Department of Education is continuing its attack on teachers posture.

In fact, the New York Times, once reticent to acknowledge his financial impropriety (or appearance thereof) issues, suggested that city unions might consider a challenger. From "For Unions and New York City Hall, an Open-Door Relationship Turns Complex":

In the case of 1199, which represents 220,000 workers in New York City, the union figures prominently in two health care deals under investigation as well: a federal inquiry into the sale of Long Island College Hospital to developers in 2014, and the lifting of a city-imposed deed restriction on the Lower East Side nursing home, known as Rivington House, which was subsequently sold to a developer planning to build luxury condominiums.
Now, with Mr. de Blasio’s approval numbers sagging below 50 percent and the possibility of a re-election fight next year, the city’s powerful public and private unions — which apart from 1199 did not rally around him in the fractious Democratic primary last time — are beginning to consider whether to stick with an embattled mayor or risk abandoning their champion to back a challenger.

Teachers see from many examples that they know of first hand in their schools, and now on the ICE blog. The latter carries a report, "Randi Holding Fundraiser for Mayor de Blasio While AFT Members in NYC Including My Wife Suffer under Mayor," (referring to American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's sponsorship of a de Blasio fundraiser) of administrator harassment of a teacher at the Campus Magnet complex in Cambria Heights, Queens. The harassment is suspect because the teacher is a seasoned veteran. The blog says that the UFT is helping, but the DOE and its administrators get away with this; teachers see that the admins get away with this scot-free, and this all sends a chilling message to the teachers witnessing the attacks-- that there are no standards of admin decency, and further that they can get away with attacks on activists. Clearly, the admin attacks on Ms. Eterno are also an attack on teachers' workplace advocacy, as she has been a chapter leader at the school. The UFT needs to make a more serious effort against the abusive administrators. Ironically, under Weingarten the union ran a column in its paper on Administrators in Need of Improvement. The UFT under successor Mulgrew needs to end its concern for making nice with its supposed "sister" union, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA); it needs to put the welfare of its own members before its relationship with the CSA admin union.

De Blasio first ought to recognize that these attacks make for an unhealthy environment. (The Campus Magnet situation, with its principals Ateyiwa and Cruz in need of improvement, is not alone. Note these other cases in the Queens high schools alone.) But for his self-survival he ought to be concerned, very concerned. The teachers see very clearly that he has hardly been an improvement over the previous mayor. De Blasio secondly needs to be concerned that he is living in a new environment. Not only do teachers read in the blogs of the harassment that his admins get away with; but now he needs to realize that in this era of social media every Facebook user is virtually a micro-blogger --that the story of administrator venality tolerated by the mayor will snowball through "Likes" and "Shares" into wider negative publicity and will hurt his popularity.

Bill de Blasio is seriously suffering. His poll numbers are sinking. Potentially challengers are appearing. The scandal stories are so serious that even the Times is paying attention.
The imbecilic UFT leadership will support him no matter how bad things get. But other municipal union leaders see through his insincerity.

“There is a self-righteous hypocrisy about de Blasio,” said John Samuelsen, the president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents city subway and bus workers. Mr. Samuelsen criticized the mayor for, among other things, his support for bringing a Wegman’s grocery store to Brooklyn Navy Yard, even though the chain does not use union workers. (He also clashed with the mayor over the plan to restrict horse carriages to Central Park and ban pedicabs in the process.)

He needs all the friends he can get. Bill, keep tolerating Farina and her minions' attacks on teachers and you will be a one term mayor. Your affinity for sustaining the Bloomberg era attack on activist teachers and teachers approaching full pension years suggests that you are just another pro- neoliberal education reform Democrat. You need to make a decision: will you side with the reformers or do you seriously want to get reelected.

Support the Chicago Teachers in their Upcoming Strike! -- Statements by NYC's MORE Caucus and the Chicago Teachers Union

MORE Caucus of the UFT's solidarity statement for Chicago teachers.
Read and follow through by showing your support for the Chicago Teachers. There are so many parallels between the Chicago teachers' conditions and the New York City teachers' conditions. Show your solidarity on October 14! Read details below, on the statement by NYC's MORE Caucus.

MORE Statement of Solidarity and Call to Action for the Chicago Teachers Union

On September 28th, 95.6% of Chicago teachers voted to go on strike. They have been negotiating since 2014 for a just contract on top of non-negotiable items for the public schools and students they serve.

There are some striking similarities to NYC public schools, in the kind of attacks they have faced: disastrous budget cuts that have had effects on the equitable allocation of resources and professionals for mandated services in special education, libraries and other programs, such as arts and physical education.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, under the advisory of Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist who is leading the way for the charterization of Chicago’s schools, has withheld and cut funding to the public schools.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union want something very simple- the assurance that public school educators and students have what they need in order to have thriving public schools in Chicago. If an agreement cannot be made, teachers could go out on strike as soon as October 11. In 2012, Chicago teachers led the national educational justice movement when they went on a successful strike that gathered the help of communities and parents to fight for the schools that Chicago students deserve.

Now they need support from everywhere across the country!
Here are some of the core issues for CTU:
– No more budget cuts
– Restore the jobs lost (1,000 teachers laid off without recall rights)
– Keep salary steps and lanes

To learn more details, go to the Chicago Teachers Union site


ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE:

• Join the CTU Social Media THUNDERCLAP

• Sign on to this Solidarity Statement

• In addition to the above, to show our solidarity, organize folks to wear CTU red, make a banner in support of Chicago’s Teachers and Students, and take a photo to post on their social media pages.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Don’t forget MORE’s Facebook page and Twitter feed

• MORE is planning continued days of action every Friday, starting October 14th until the contract is settled! Make sure your school joins in.

• Come to the UFT Executive Board on Monday, October 17th, to pressure our union leadership to pass the resolution below for direct support for the CTU.

Taking these actions of solidarity is also an important opportunity to draw parallels to the $3.9 billion dollars owed to New York public schools, exposed by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. NYC is under similar influences that are set on weakening our union and underfunding our schools. This is all done through top down decision making under mayoral control, Fair Student Funding and allowing for charter co-locations. We too must fight with the same principled positions and actions as the Chicago Teachers Union.

Draft Solidarity Resolution with the Chicago Teachers Union in their Struggle for the Schools that Chicago Students Deserve

MORE is suggesting the following draft resolution for the October 17th meeting of the UFT Executive Board – we hope that entire UFT will join in supporting it
WHEREAS the Chicago Teachers Union has been negotiating since 2014 for a just contract, and
WHEREAS Chicago students, teachers and parents have faced strikingly similar attacks as we have experienced in New York, including disastrous budget cuts, sweeping closings of schools that have dislocated teachers and students, and growing charter colocations, and
WHEREAS the multimillionaire Mayor Rahm Emanuel has threatened to eliminate city pension contributions for CTU members, which would effectively cut their pay by 7 percent, and the near-billionaire venture capitalist Governor Bruce Rauner has pushed through budget cuts that hamstring Chicago’s education system, and
WHEREAS in 2012, Chicago teachers led the national educational justice movement when they went on a successful strike and mobilized communities and parents to aid their fight for the schools that Chicago students deserve, and
WHEREAS by articulating the simple demand that educators and students get what they need in order to have thriving public schools in Chicago, CTU has also provided an example of how to fight for equitable funding for all, such as the two billion dollars owed New York City school students under the CFE settlement, and
WHEREAS on September 28th, 95.6% of Chicago teachers voted to authorize a strike, in response to Emanuel’s and Rauner’s refusal to provide additional funding to the schools, and
WHEREAS, CTU has released a report, titled “A Just Chicago: Fighting for the City Our Students Deserve”, which, as the union puts it “demonstrates that challenges in housing, employment, justice and health care relate directly to education; solutions require a narrowing of the opportunity gap brought on by poverty, racism and segregation,” making CTU’s fight for a contract a touchstone for a wider struggle against austerity and for economic and racial justice, therefore be it
RESOLVED that the UFT will encourage its members to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Chicago by all available means, including social media and by making donations to the CTU strike fund, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT initiate a “Red Friday” action in our chapters where members wear CTU red in solidarity with Chicago teachers every Friday until the strike is over, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT hold solidarity meetings in New York to organize supporters of the strike and mobilize further actions, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT call upon and mobilize its retirees, who have always demonstrated great passion and energy in political campaigns in the past and present, to support CTU picket lines, and provide transportation costs for those retirees who answer the call, and be it further
RESOLVED that the UFT will work with AFT leaders to ensure interest free loans to CTU members to alleviate financial hardship during the strike, and be it further
RESOLVED that, if needed, the UFT will provide significant financial assistance to ensure the successful operations of our sister union.

          *        *      *

Latest CTU blog update, yesterday :


LATEST FROM THE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION BLOG

Check your email first, then our website and social media, and listen to the news Monday evening. Unless you hear otherwise, the strike begins Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Tuesday morning, you should report to your school for picketing at 6 a.m.
After Tuesday, your school’s Strike Captain (usually the delegate) will sign up several members to set up picket lines at 6 a.m. before any employees arrive. Other members will picket from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Strikers should picket in front of their schools (unless otherwise instructed) from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. every morning.

Every member needs to picket every day in order to demonstrate our collective unity and determination. Sign in with your Strike Captain when you arrive and when you leave. Larger rallies with other supporters will happen later each day either downtown or elsewhere.

Citywide paraprofessionals: Report to picket lines at either Zenos Colman (4655 S. Dearborn) or Garfield Park (2651 W. Washington) network offices from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sign in at picket lines at these offices each day. Assignments may change during the week as needed.

Clinicians: Report to Chicago Public Schools, 42 W. Madison, and sign in at the picket line. There will be two shifts each day. Psychologists, speech and occupational therapists report to CPS from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; social workers, nurses, physical therapists and itinerants report to CPS from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Assignments may change during the week as needed. (Exception: Clinicians who work at Garfield Park should picket there from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

All CTU members and supporters are urged to visit the CTU website daily to receive updates on contract negotiations and strike solidarity.

Democrats Will Remain in Charter Schools' Camp if Clinton is Their Party's Nominee

From Common Dreams "How Long Can Big Money Keep Democrats In The Charter School Camp?"
This change won't happen if Hillary Clinton is the Democrats' Choice.

The record in the past generation has been that the Clintons and the Demoocrats have been steadfastly in favor of the charter schools.

It will stay this way as long as Democratic politicians think along with the Clintons that anything is necessary to keep their funders happy.

It’s obvious 2016 is an election year when Democratic candidates need to draw a bright line to differentiate themselves from Republican opponents.

With Donald Trump leading the GOP ticket, and most leaders of his party getting in line behind him, it’s doubtful Democrats will find urgent need to “meet in the middle” on issues such as civil rights, women’s reproductive health and equal pay, immigration, minimum wage, gender equity, and climate change.

There may be some issues that still tempt Democrats to collude with conservatives in order to woo mythological “swing voters.” But the number one fear among top Republican strategists is that Democrats will run “a base campaign, directed toward liberals, maximizing that vote, and electing a devastating ticket.”

How then, do you explain the results of the recent California primary?

A Toxic Mix

As Harold Meyerson recently wrote in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, while the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ran on populist platforms denouncing “the corrosive role of money in politics” and “condemning the plutocratic consequences of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision,” many Democratic Party candidates down ticket funded their campaigns with big money from two corporate interests.

One interest flooding the election with campaign donations is hardly new to the scene. For decades, the petroleum industry has stuffed the coffers of candidates in both parties to ensure legislation continues to favor oil consumption, stall alternative energy sources, and ensure lax environmental regulations.

The other source of corporate cash in Democratic politics is much newer: charter schools.

As Meyerson explains, in the California Democratic Party’s primary race – where only the top two candidates, from either party, move on to the general election in the fall – many Democratic Party candidates relied on money from the petroleum industry and “education reform” advocates backing charter schools to win their contests over “more progressive” candidates.

According to Meyerson, the combo of big oil and education reform mustered at least $24 million in donations to back candidates who opposed “Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to halve motorists’ use of fossil fuels by 2030” and who supported “expanding charter schools.”

Meyerson spotlights a number of races around the state where candidates who benefitted from the big oil-education reform combo defeated more progressive Democrats.

Across the Golden State, reports LA School Report, “Education reformers spent big ahead of California’s primary … The millions paid off with all of the candidates they supported advancing to November’s general election.”

That article cites a source stating, “State campaign finance records show that about one-third of a record $27.9 million spent … by independent expenditure committees in legislative races statewide came from three groups supporting education reform.”

How did the charter school industry get mixed up with big oil to gets its way in Democratic Party contests?

Big Money Behind Charters

As education historian Diane Ravitch explains on her personal blog, “Public education in California is under siege by people and organizations who want to privatize the schools, remove them from democratic control, and hand them over to the charter industry.”

Ravitch points to Eli Broad, who made his money in the home building and insurance industries, Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, and Michael Milken, of junk bond industry fame, as members in a group of “billionaires” who push legislation to expand charter schools and limit regulation of the industry.

The big money, top down campaign to expand charter schools in California is well documented in a recent series of articles by Capital & Main. One article in the series adds the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropy related to the family that owns the Walmart retail chain, to the list of charter “power brokers” who invest billions in creating and expanding these schools.

Big money from these foundations and philanthropists, according to the report, pours into the charter industry to direct fund charter schools, pay for “academic studies” that promote charters, and create “grassroots” organizations that make charter school advocacy look like a parent-led movement.

To influence policy, these same organizations finance “powerful political lobbies such as the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) and “contribute millions of dollars to school board elections in order to replace those perceived to be anti-charter with pro-charter board members, as seen in recent elections in Los Angeles and Oakland, two cities where charter-expansion partisans have been particularly aggressive.”

Democrats Vs. Democrats

In California and beyond, charter school advocates also team up with big finance to influence Democratic Party candidates in state and local elections.

According to a report from the Center for Media and Democracy, an organization calling itself Democrats for Education Reform has been effective in a number of states at getting Democratic candidates to team up with traditionally Republican-leaning financial interests to defeat any attempts to question rapid expansions of unregulated charter schools.

According to the CMD study, DEFR is a PAC “co-founded by hedge fund managers” to funnel “dark money” into “expenditures, like mass mailings or ads supporting particular politicians, that were ‘independent’ and not to be coordinated with the candidates’ campaigns.” The organization and its parent entity also have ties to FOX’s Rupert Murdoch and Charles and David Koch

Colorado is another states where local elections often pit “Democrat versus Democrat” in campaigns where the interests of big money oppose progressive candidates who question the need to expand charter schools and exempt them from transparency laws.

In Tennessee also, the interests of right-wing organizations such as Americans for Prosperity often overlap with Democratic government officials intent on expanding charter schools.

Even in traditionally liberal states such as Massachusetts, progressive Democrats assailing the state’s conservative Republican governor for his push to “privatize” education with more charter schools are opposed by DEFR and other big money interests who declare support for charters, because these schools have had the backing of the Obama administration and, well, it’s about “kids.”