Click: BLOOMBERGVILLE NOW! – 24/7 LIVE COVERAGE
GEM/NYCORE Sam Coleman, 6th from right below, on Democracy Now:
Sam Coleman: "So, I’m here today to let the city council know, to let the mayor know, that these budget cuts and the layoffs that they’re proposing are totally unacceptable. I teach in a low-income neighborhood, mostly immigrants, and my school is going to lose funding. That’s going to eliminate after school programs, going to eliminate art programs, going to eliminate materials that we badly need, as well as teachers getting excessed or laid off. And my message to the mayor is very simple: you can find the money. There are many, many, many wealthy New Yorkers who do not pay enough taxes, and the revenue is there, the money is there. And our schools need the money, and you cannot balance this budget on the backs of our children or our parents or our teachers."
The Fight Back Friday Crew
So we gathered outside the UFT Brooklyn Borough office - in the rain for the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Thank goodness it's next to the Marriott so I got to use the bathroom and change into my "Education Mayor, Really" super tee-shirt. Boy was it annoyingly humid. They ran out of rain slickers but umbrellas worked. Really, who was there? It was like a Delegate Assembly without the bananas. Mostly Unity Caucus people as far as I could tell- which is what the union can count on. And of course most of the UFT non-Unity activists. We all really have to stop meeting like this.
For us, events like this are a good time to get together with other activists for chats about politics. I'm in a never ending debate with many of the gang over how we view the UFT. My point of view seems to be in the minority.
I personally found the entire event a JAD - Just Another Demo. But it was great to connect up with the gang - see the photo. Many of these guys are the future.
A bunch of people were/are sleeping in. Here is a report from the field.
Bloombergville Continues: Speakout/Rally against Budget Cuts Wednesday at 7!
*** Please Forward Widely ***
...The first night of Bloombergville was great! After it stopped raining (and the cops started harassing us), we moved across the street and set up camp on Centre Street east of City Hall. There are around 100 of us here, the weather is perfect and it's been an exciting, inspiring night.
But we're not done! Some of us will be staying here during the day to maintain the encampment and we will be re-assembling in full force at 7 pm on Centre Street east of City Hall to have a speakout rally and another night of sleeping out and protesting the budget cuts. We need your help to make it even bigger and better than tonight! The Rude Mechanical Orchestra will be here and will provide some musical entertainment for us. Even if you can't sleep out, come for the rally, tell your friends, and spread it on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154974931237705) and Twitter
(#bloombergville). And check out the awesome Bloombergville blog,
http://bloombergvillenow.org/
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.
I agree with you, I also think its just another demo or display, 'to show that they are doing something.".
ReplyDeleteI think all these events will be JAD unless students are mobilized. The rallies in Wisconsin took a turn toward defeat as soon as the AFT brought in Jesse Jackson to get the high school students to return to school. The reason we won the fight to keep Catherine Ferguson Academy (school for pregnant and parenting young women)and quite a few other schools in Detroit is that the students took leadership of the occupation and made clear that it wasn't a symbolic action - they were really prepared to fight to keep their school open. The school year may be over, but there are plenty of students in summer school to reach regarding fighting education cuts.
ReplyDeleteI have questions about the saving of Catherine Ferguson - at the last minute they would only "save" it if it were turned into a non-unionized charter - basically with a gun at people's heads.
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