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Chicago Teachers Union: President Karen Lewis' Statement on Board's Decision to Close 50 Schools

“Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school board, acting at the behest of a mayor who has no vision for improving the education of our children. Closing schools is not an education plan. It is a scorched earth policy. Evidence shows that the underutilization crisis has been manufactured. Their own evidence also shows the school district will not garner any significant savings from closing these schools.

“This is bad governance. CPS has consistently undermined school communities and sabotaged teachers and parents. Their actions have had a horrible domino effect. More than 40,000 students will lose at least three to six months of learning because of the Board’s actions. Because many of them will now have to travel into new neighborhoods to continue their schooling, some will be victims of bullying, physical assault and other forms of violence. Board members are wishing for a world that does not exist and have ignored the reality of the world we live in today. Who on the Board will be held responsible? Who at City Hall will be held responsible?

“Members of the Board of Education, the school CEO, the mayor and their corporate backers are on the wrong side of history. History will judge them for the tragedy they have inflicted upon our students; and it will not be kind.

“Our fight for education justice has now moved to the courts, but it must eventually move to the ballot box. The parents are amazing leaders in their school communities and because of this administration’s actions we have all become closer and more united. We must resist this neoliberal savagery masquerading as school reform. We must resist racism in all of its forms as well as the escalating attacks on the working class and the poor. Our movement will continue.”

Click here to download photos from today’s board meeting. 

05.23.13 ♥ 14
Zoom Marching near the Chicago Board of Education building yesterday as the board was having it’s final hearing and vote on school closures in the city. The board ultimately voted to close 50 schools in the city, which is the largest school closure any US city has ever seen. Photo and report by Jenna Pope

Marching near the Chicago Board of Education building yesterday as the board was having it’s final hearing and vote on school closures in the city. The board ultimately voted to close 50 schools in the city, which is the largest school closure any US city has ever seen.

Photo and report by Jenna Pope

05.23.13 ♥ 6
Support NYC anarchist jailed for refusing to speak to grand jury

From Andrew Battle:

NYC anarchist Gerald “Jerry” Koch was taken into federal custody
yesterday after a civil contempt hearing where he again refused to
answer questions in front of a grand jury investigating a 2008 crime.
The whole story can be found at http://jerryresists.net/

but in a nutshell, Jerry was called in front of the grand jury in 2009
and refused to speak to them at that time. Prosecutors told his
lawyers they believed he had overheard something in a bar related to
the 2008 attack on the army recruitment center in Times Square, which
broke a window but injured no one. Jerry says he has no information
about the 2008 incident and does not recall any bar situation
prosecutors seem to be referring to. Nothing came of it until he was
subpoenaed again this year.

This situation is similar to the one in the pacific northwest where
anarchists were hounded and jailed at the end of last year
(http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/). The grand jury is
ostensibly investigating a 2008 case but this has the hallmarks of a
vindictive and politically motivated prosecution.

Jerry has become something of a public face for NYC anarchists through his extensive legal work on behalf of people arrested during demonstrations or otherwise targeted by the state, particularly during the recent OWS-related events in New York. We believe his imprisonment is simultaneously a scare tactic meant to intimidate radicals and a fishing expedition for prosecutors to glean information on his family, friends, and political associates.

It is important to note that Jerry is not a target of the investigation and is not charged with any crime. Nonetheless he is in prison for as long as the grand jury continues, which could be more than a year from now. He can get out by agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors but he is refusing to be made an accomplice to red scares and witch hunts.

There is plenty more on the case and a list of ways to support Jerry
on the website listed above. Those of us supporting him are eager to
spread the word about this so please feel free to be in touch and
thank you for listening.

Gerald Koch

# 68631-054
MDC BROOKLYN
METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER
P.O. BOX 329002
BROOKLYN, NY 11232

Jerry is in immediate need of letters, cards, and photographs. He is currently being held in the special housing unit and, as far as we know, at this time has no access to his commissary. He needs our support and our strength as a community.

05.23.13 ♥ 29
“ This sickening atrocity in London is exactly what we are paying the same kind of people to do in Syria.

—

George Galloway via Twitter

At first I was going to reblog Galloway’s quote without comment. But while drawing attention to what imperialism is doing to Syria is great and correct, from what I can see, there is no reason to assume the two men (said to be from Somalia) are Islamists of the sort the U.S. and Britain are arming in Syria. Somalia has been devastated by U.S. drones and decades of imperialist intervention. - FYML

05.22.13 ♥ 10
Beheading in Woolwich, UK - British Soldier Dead

May 22st, 2013 -PERSON DEAD WITHOUT A HEAD CONFIRMED FOR BRITISH SOLIDER. TWO SOMALIANS CRITICALLY INJURED.

One man is reported dead and two others injured amid reports of a shooting incident close to the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich this afternoon.One witness reported seeing a man beheaded in the street in an attack by two men.

The report also said that police officers opened fire after the attack in John Wilson Street in Woolwich.

There were reports that shots were fired after an apparent sword attack near the army base.

Pictures posted on Twitter appear to show two men lying on the road in Woolwich.

The air ambulance landed at the scene and paramedics treated victims in the street.

David Dixon, the head of Mulgrave Primary School, told the BBC that he walked out of the school gates and saw a body lying in the street. “We shut all the gates and made sure all the children were inside,” he said.

Mr Dixon also confirmed hearing gunshots.

The Metropolitan police would only say officers had been called to reports of ‘an assault’ on John Wilson Street.

Wellington Street has been sealed off and an air ambulance has arrived on the scene.

John Wilson Street is currently shut in both directions between Artillery Place and New Ferry Approach.

05.22.13 ♥ 6
Chickens come home to roost: Brit soldier killed in London attack

A man has been killed in a machete attack and two suspects shot by police in Woolwich, south-east London.

Prime Minister David Cameron said there were “strong indications that it is a terrorist incident” and the UK would “never buckle” in the face of such attacks.

Footage has emerged showing a man wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and making political statements.

There are unconfirmed reports that the dead man was a soldier.

Both French President Francois Hollande and MP Nick Raynsford said the dead man had been a soldier at Woolwich barracks.

The footage shown on the ITV website shows a man, speaking to the camera, saying: “We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”

He added: “I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don’t care about you.”

05.22.13 ♥ 32

Chicago: Security pushing protesters back after others had forced their way through the doors to the Board of Education to stage a sit-in in protest of the proposed 54 school closures that the board is voting on today. May 22, 2013

Photos and report by Jenna Pope

05.22.13 ♥ 7
Zoom Raleigh, North Carolina: “Moral Monday #4, the people’s mass resistance at NC General Assembly! Three buses for arrestees! Let’s keep escalating!” May 20, 2013 Photo and report by Dante Strobino

Raleigh, North Carolina: “Moral Monday #4, the people’s mass resistance at NC General Assembly! Three buses for arrestees! Let’s keep escalating!” May 20, 2013

Photo and report by Dante Strobino

05.20.13 ♥ 45
Red Brigade confronts India sex abuse

Usha Vishwakarma, a 25-year-old teacher in a slum area, started Red Brigade after her colleague tried to rape her. She managed to escape, but when she tried to report th incident, she was told by her school and the police to stop making a fuss. She later found out that almost all her students had been sexually abused. They faced anything from daily harassment, like cat calls and molestation, to rape. She realised that the community preferred to remain silent, and the police weren’t interested in taking any action.

Instead the victims’ parents would pull their daughters out of school to keep them “safe”.

The Red Brigade started off as a group that enforced its own vigilante style of justice. If a girl or a woman was assaulted in any way, the group would confront the perpetrator. If he didn’t respond, they would tell his parents and family, and if that didn’t have any impact, they would use physical intimidation. All the Red Brigade girls are trained in martial arts.

05.19.13 ♥ 25
Zoom Chicago: South side march for education justice begins, May 19, 2013. Photo by Jenna Pope

Chicago: South side march for education justice begins, May 19, 2013.

Photo by Jenna Pope

05.19.13 ♥ 63