National Call: March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education

[Estudiante Insurgente]

http://www.defendeducation.org/

As people throughout the country struggle under the worst economic
crisis since the Great Depression, public education from pre-K to
higher and adult education is threatened by budget cuts, layoffs,
privatization, tuition and fee increases, and other attacks. Budget
cuts degrade the quality of public education by decreasing student
services and increasing class size, while tuition hikes and layoffs
force the cost of the recession onto students and teachers and off of
the financial institutions that caused the recession in the first
place. Non-unionized charter schools threaten to divide, weaken and
privatize the public school system and damage teachers’ unions, which
are needed now more than ever. More and more students are going deep
into debt to finance their education, while high unemployment forces
many students and youth to join the military to receive a higher
education. And all of the attacks described above have hit working
people and people of color the hardest.

In California, students, teachers, workers, parents, and faculty have
taken action against these attacks. They took to the streets in a one-
day strike on September 24th, organized strikes and actions across the
state during the University of California Board of Regents meeting
from November 18th to 20th, and have called for a state-wide day of
action on March

4th. These actions have created a broad mass movement in California,
drawing in students from all over the state to create a powerful
struggle. As the effects of the economic crisis continue to spread
into the education system nationally, it’s time to join our voices
with students and workers in California and draw inspiration from
their example.

We support each group or coalition organizing in the manner and for
the duration of their choosing. In solidarity with those in
California, we the below-signed individuals and organizations call on
students, teachers, workers, parents, faculty, and staff across the
country to join together on March 4th to Take A Stand For Education!

Visit the Web site for more details at http://www.defendeducation.org.

Endorse the call at the bottom of the page or by sending an email to
march4nation...@gmail.com.

Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=213637229312.

To join the national discussion, please visit the March 4th Google
Group at http://groups.google.com/group/march4thaction.

INITIAL ENDORSERS:

Organizations

All Nations Alliance

Animas Students for a Democratic Society (Durango, Coloardo)

Bail Out the People Movement

Chicago Students for a Democratic Society

College Park Students for Democratic Society

Community Organizing Center for Mother Earth – Columbus Ohio

Connecticut Students Against the War

CUNY Campaign to Defend Education

Fight Imperialism, Stand Together

Graduate Student Employees Union (SUNY Stony Brook)

GSU Progressive Student Alliance (Atlanta)

Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society

National Assembly to End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars & occupations

New School in Exile

NYC Anti-War Coalition

Peoples Video Network

Recreate ‘68 Alliance

Socialist Organizer

Solidarity

SPEAK (Students Promoting Engagement Through Activism and Knowledge)
at Georgia State University

Student/Farmworker Alliance

Students for Educational Rights (City College of New York)

Students Taking Action to Reclaim our Education (University of
Maryland)

UNC-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society

UW-Milwaukee Education Rights Campaign


Individuals (*all organizations listed for identification purposes
only)

Frantz Mendes, President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston School
Bus Drivers Union*

Steve Gillis, Vice President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston
School Bus Drivers Union*

Susan Massad, Associate Professor Framingham State College*

Ed Childs, Chief Steward UNITE/HERE L. 26 (Harvard Univ.)*

Phebe Eckfeldt, Harvard Union Rep., Harvard Union of Clerical &
Technical Workers (HUCTW)/AFSCME L. 3650*

Eleanor J. Bader, writer and adjunct faculty member, Brooklyn, NY*

Peter Cook, Boston Teachers Union, Local 66 MFT AFT, AFL-CIO*

Heather Cottin Adjunct Lecturer, History, LaGuardia Community College,
PSC member*

Susan E. Davis, National Writers Union, United Auto Workers Local
1981*

Mike Gimbel, Local 375, AFSCME delegate to the NYC-CLC & Chairperson
of Local 375, AFSCME, Labor/Community Unity Committee*

Martha Grevatt, Chair, Civil Rights Committee, UAW Local 122*

Andy Griggs, United Teachers Los Angeles; Co-chair, California
Teachers Association Peace and Justice Caucus; Steering Committee, US
Labor Against the War*

Dr. Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples Video Network*

Imani Henry, Playwright/Performer*

Dan La Botz, Spanish teacher, Cincinnati Waldorf School, Cincinnati,
Ohio*

Julia La Riva, member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)*

Robin McCubbin, professor, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA*

Minnie Bruce Pratt, Professor, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse
University*

David Sole, Prof. of Chemistry, Wayne Co. Community College, Detroit.*

Billy Wharton, National Co-Chair, Socialist Party USA*

The Most Rev. Filipe C, Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of Saint Francis of
Assisi*

Others who are supporting March 4th Actions:

California Coordinating Committee

US Labor Against the War

http://www.defendeducation.org/