On June 16 a wave of students, workers, and teachers covering more than 20 blocks of Alameda Avenue in Santiago, Chile, flooded towards La Moneda presidential palace; they demanded the reconstruction of the Chilean public education system and an end to education policies based on profit. To fund public education, the students call for the … Continue reading Massive student upsurge in Chile
Category: Education & Schools
Teachers Ba-ad!
by Mumia Abu-Jamal Have you noticed that politicians flit from boogey-man to boogey-man, a process of demonization that is usually little more than misdirection from more pressing problems? According to a number of new governors across the country, the newest boogey-men (and I guess boogey-women) are teachers, who are portrayed as greedy, selfish, and overpaid. … Continue reading Teachers Ba-ad!
Canada: Universities just for the rich?
by Tyler MacKinnonThe first-year university student is typically bright and energetic, ready to embrace a whole new world of ideas that allegedly can be grasped only by the cream of the intellectual crop. The student worked for months, pulling up high school grades, working on countless essays and tests, still recovering from a lack of … Continue reading Canada: Universities just for the rich?
March 4 Day of Action for Public Education
UC Students Walk Out!
BERKELEY, Calif. — On Sept. 24, the first day of classes, University of California students and faculty across the state walked out against fee hikes, cutbacks in services and classes, increased class sizes, and faculty and staff layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts.Out of the 10 UC campuses statewide, Berkeley had the largest walkout by far; … Continue reading UC Students Walk Out!
YSA Free Speech Fight in Connecticut
There is an important free speech fight going on at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT. The short version of the story can be found in the petition below and the fact sheet that follows the petition. For more information and many key documents, you can visit http://freespeechcentral.wordpress.com. If you would like to … Continue reading YSA Free Speech Fight in Connecticut
Worker & Student Uprisings of May 1968
Why Mass Action?
The broad outlines of Socialist Action's views on the centrality of mass mobilizations in building an irresistible antiwar movement have been published in previous issues of this newspaper (see Jeff Mackler's article in our November 2007 issue). But some additional elaboration can be helpful at a time when activists are today discussing concrete measures to … Continue reading Why Mass Action?
Northland College Students Fight Campus Worker Layoffs
by Adam Ritscher / December 2006 issue of Socialist Action Newspaper ASHLAND, Wis.—Last year, the Northland College administration attempted to replace the college’s night watchmen with a private, contracted security firm. Student outcry was so strong and immediate that the administration backed down. The victory, though, proved to be short lived. Beginning this summer, the … Continue reading Northland College Students Fight Campus Worker Layoffs
Quebec Students Win Funding Battle
by Aaron Donny-Clark / May 2005 issue of Socialist Action University and college students in Quebec, after more than a month of intense struggle, including demonstrations, occupation of buildings, and a lengthy boycott of classes, agreed to an offer by the provincial government. At stake was $103 million cut from the student … Continue reading Quebec Students Win Funding Battle
Sonoma High Schoolers Hold Anti-War Walk Out
by Mark Ostapiak– February, 2005 SANTA ROSA, Calif.—History shows that youth often provide the spark for social and political awakening. They have been in the forefront of this country’s greatest past struggles for civil rights, women’s rights, independent Black and Chicano political parties, and an end to global capitalism. Many of today’s youth … Continue reading Sonoma High Schoolers Hold Anti-War Walk Out
Science vs. Creationism
by Mark Ostapiak The latest episode in the long struggle between the ideas of evolution and creationism was marked by a Dec. 14 federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State on behalf of 11 parents in Dover, PA. They insist that the … Continue reading Science vs. Creationism
Youth in Action
JAMS 4 JUSTICE By MARK OSTAPIAK Ask most people what rock music means and you could expect to hear such answers as "sex," "drugs," big hair," "loud guitars," "a driving rhythm," etc. Furthest from his/her mind is the idea of rock n' roll as a political tool. However, many attempts have been made to silence … Continue reading Youth in Action
Vouchers: Supreme Court Ruling Fails Test of Public Education
By JOE AUCIELLO On June 27, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck a blow against an already ailing public school system when it upheld the voucher system in Cleveland. Parents in Cleveland can receive up to $2250 in taxpayer money for private schools, and 96 percent of them send their children to religious … Continue reading Vouchers: Supreme Court Ruling Fails Test of Public Education
Revolutions Brought Gains in Education and Health Care
By PAUL SIEGEL Following is the third chapter of a new pamphlet by Paul Siegel on the theory and practice of socialism. It is available from Socialist Action Books for $3. It is noteworthy that the Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam all made great strides forward after their revolutions in the vital fields of health … Continue reading Revolutions Brought Gains in Education and Health Care
Youth in Action
Students Attend Regional Antiwar Conferences By DAVID BERNT CHICAGO-On Nov. 10 and 11, student antiwar activists gathered in the Midwest and the West and East Coasts to participate in three regional student antiwar conferences. The three conferences-in Chicago, Berkeley, and Boston-were attended by a combined total of over 1000 activists. Each conference included educational workshops … Continue reading Youth in Action
Students Mobilize Against War
By ADAM RITSCHER The bombings of Sept. 11 sent the entire population of this country into shock, both young and old. On high school and college campuses across the country there has been a mass outpouring of sympathy and mourning for the victims of the World Trade Center attack. If you were to watch … Continue reading Students Mobilize Against War
Student Anti-Sweatshop Conference
CHICAGO-Hundreds of students from across the country gathered here on Aug. 2-5 for the second annual national conference of the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). The conference discussed ways of continuing student involvement in the fight for workers' justice, both here and abroad. The conference began with a mobilization in support of local workers. Students … Continue reading Student Anti-Sweatshop Conference
Youth in Action
Student Militancy Pressures UC to Repeal Ban on Affirmative Action By MARC LISPI and JULIA WALLACE SAN FRANCISCO-On May 16 nearly 400 students rallied at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to protest the meeting of the UC board of regents and to demand that they repeal SP-1 and SP-2. SP-1 and SP-2 … Continue reading Youth in Action
No on School Vouchers!
By CAROLE SELIGMAN SAN FRANCISCO-California public schools, having sunk to the bottom in national indicators of school quality (such as student-teacher ratio, per-pupil funding, etc.), now face another attack in a war to dismantle public education entirely. The attack is called Proposition 38. Because California's initiative process has been usurped by ultra-right-wing capitalists, the … Continue reading No on School Vouchers!
US Cool to Fidel’s Teaching Offer
The Clinton administration evidently does not wish to have publicized Castro's offer to have Cuba teach medicine to college graduates from underserved U.S. minority communities. Juan Gonzalez, the New York Daily News reporter and co-host with Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now" program, reports how the State Department refused a visa to Ricardo Alarcon, … Continue reading US Cool to Fidel’s Teaching Offer
Youth in Action
Prospects for the new youth movement By ADAM RICHTER This last year has seen a virtual explosion of youth activism across the United States and beyond. This is a very important development; thousands of young people are searching for how to best fight the evils of capitalism and build a better world. A major component … Continue reading Youth in Action
Youth in Action
By PAUL M. HAVANA-"I was really inspired by the amount of heart and emotion that people have for the revolution," stated Julia Wallace, a member of the Los Angeles branch of Youth for Socialist Action (YSA), who participated in that organization's trip to Cuba last month. Many other members of the YSA delegation had similar … Continue reading Youth in Action
Youth in Action
U.S. youth go to Cuba By PAUL M. Youth for Socialist Action (YSA) is sponsoring its first ever trip to Cuba this month. Twenty YSA members from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Minneapolis, and Ashland, Wisc., will be participating. YSAers have been planning the two-week visit, scheduled for July 17-31, for over a … Continue reading Youth in Action
Mis-Education of African American Youth
Commentary By Kwame M.A. Soburu The May 18 San Francisco Chronicle had an article titled "A Soldier's Life." It was about eighth-graders from a low-income area of California on a field trip to San Francisco's Presidio-a former military base-to learn about the "Buffalo Soldiers, the Black troops who protected settlers as they traveled West." The … Continue reading Mis-Education of African American Youth