Monday, July 18, 2022

News of Interest - July 18, 2022 - Parents/Teachers Sue DOE Over Budget Cut, Rallies While Unity Rubber Stamped at AFT, DOE/Banks Florida Scandal, Inflation Distortions

Breaking - July 18, 2022 - 12PM Update -

NYC Parents And Teachers File Lawsuit Today Against Mayor Adams’ Savage Cuts To School Budgets

The legal papers are posted here.

For immediate release: July 18, 2022

Contact: Leonie Haimson: 917-435-9329; leoniehaimson@gmail.com;
Laura D. Barbieri 914-819-3387; Lbarbieri@advocatesny.com

Four NYC parents and teachers filed a lawsuit today in NY Supreme Court, asking for a temporary restraining order to halt the severe budget cuts to their public schools planned for next year, which will otherwise cause class sizes to increase and students to lose valuable programs and services.

As the lawsuit points out, New York State Education Law clearly specifies a mandated process by which the NYC Board of Education (also known as the Panel for Educational Policy) must vote to approve the education budget prior to the City Council vote; but in this case, the City Council voted to adopt the budget on June 13, ten days before the Board voted on June 23, 2022. The lawsuit asks for a revote of the City Council in order to ensure the legally-required process occurs, and that the Council has the opportunity to reconsider its vote based on the testimony of nearly 70 parents and teachers who spoke out at the Board of Education meeting, detailing the profoundly damaging impact of these cuts on their schools.

Instead of following the legally mandated procedure outlined in state law, the Chancellor instead issued an “Emergency Declaration” on May 31 to adopt the budget without any Board vote, though no real emergency existed, using boilerplate language. At the Board meeting on June 23, the Chancellor erroneously declared their vote meaningless because the Council had already adopted the budget. Yet in fact, in twelve out of the last thirteen years, different NYC Schools Chancellors have invoked such “emergencies” when typically none existed, in order to adopt a budget prior to a vote of the Board of Education, thereby disempowering the Board and eradicating its essential authority under state law to approve education budgets.

In addition, State law also requires that the Board vote on a budget in which the expenses of the Community School District Councils are delineated separately from the expenses of the City Board, which did not occur either.

The plaintiffs include Melanie Kottler, a parent with a rising 2nd grader at PS 169 in Sunset Park, a school with a large number of students with special needs and English Language Learners, which as of July 14, will have its Galaxy budget reduced by millions of dollars compared to this year. Melanie deplored the fact that the school will be forced to lose classroom teachers and thus increase class size as a result: “The 2021-22 school year was incredibly challenging for teachers at our school. Not only were they working tirelessly to try to catch students up from learning loss the year before, but some teachers also faced students who had never even stepped foot in a school building. COVID is not over, and nor are these challenges. I’m afraid that larger class sizes will only make things more difficult for PS 169 students and teachers.”

Another plaintiff is Sarah Brooks, a special education/ICT teacher at PS 169, who reported that the school will lose paraprofessionals, afterschool programming, school trips, and possibly their school counselor as well, damaging the quality of education for all students, but particularly those with special needs: “The budget cuts will cause all the students at PS 169 to suffer. They will lose out on specialized instruction, mental and academic supports, and the vital opportunity to learn outside of the confines of their own neighborhoods. The Special Education program will be markedly and significantly impaired. Our students deserve more from their schools.”

Plaintiff Tamara Tucker is a parent of two children at PS 125 in Harlem, a high-poverty school which is facing the loss of its arts programs and an increase in class sizes due to cuts of hundreds of thousands of dollars. She said, “Everyone at PS 125 has already been stretched so thin, and this will only become worse in light of the budget cuts for this upcoming year. The students are going to be the ones who will bear the brunt of this poor decision. The formula that is used to calculate school budgets is fundamentally broken and does not account for the actual needs of schools. It is not fair and is not benefiting students in any way. Every child should have art, music, and enrichment classes. These subjects are part of a well-rounded education and bring joy and diverse perspectives to children of all ages.”

Plaintiff Paul Trust is a music teacher who has worked at his school since 2005, PS 39 in Brooklyn, but now has been excessed. His school is losing its entire music program because of more than a half million dollars in cuts. He said, “My students thrive and are empowered through music. Many continue to pursue their passion in middle school and beyond. I have students who have gone on to the finest conservatories and those who have formed the loudest of rock bands. All this will go away with these budget cuts. Neither the Mayor nor the Chancellor seem to be concerned with the irreparable harm these draconian cuts may cause our students. I can only hope that this will not be the last year I am able to continue to serve the school community I love.”

According to Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, “We have interviewed parents, teachers, and principals who told us that the smaller classes in their schools this past school year have been essential in allowing them to reconnect with their students and help them begin to recover from the disrupted learning and disengagement from the school closures and remote learning that occurred during the height of the pandemic. These children will have the rug pulled from under them if these cuts are enacted, and much of the progress they have gained will be lost, in the anonymity of excessive class sizes where their teachers will be unable to give them the academic and social-emotional support they so desperately need.”

Laura D. Barbieri, Special Counsel for Advocates for Justice, stated: “The explicit language of State law requires that these egregious budget cuts be halted and reconsidered by the Mayor and the Council, because the law was not followed. The State Legislature enacted an explicit budget review and voting process by the Board of Education that was eviscerated by the Chancellor’s abuse of authority. No emergency justified the Chancellor’s ignoring the proper procedure.”
 
Bernie trashes Manchin  -- Bernie Sanders says Joe Manchin is 'intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda,' believes Democrats erred in negotiating with him 'like he was serious' --- 
 
What I loved about this was Bernie challenging Martha Raddatz mis-characerization  -- what we want our politicians to do -- Insider reports:

While speaking with ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz, the Vermont lawmaker decried Manchin's stance that he could no longer support the legislation due to his concerns over inflation and said the lawmaker was "sabotaging" President Joe Biden's agenda.

And he became visibly animated when Raddatz said that Manchin "abruptly" ended talks with Democratic leaders regarding the bill.

"Senator Joe Manchin, of course abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democratic plan," Raddatz said before Sanders interjected.

"He didn't abruptly do anything," Sanders said. "He has sabotaged the president's agenda."

He continued: "If you check the record six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin and [Arizona Sen. Kyrsten] Sinema to a lesser degree who are intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this."

Sanders then laced into Manchin's political fundraising, pointing out his ties to the energy industry — which holds immense sway in West Virginia — and Republican donors.

"This is a guy who is a major recipient of fossil fuel money ... a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires," he said.

When Raddatz countered that Manchin said he wanted to act in the best interest of West Virginia given that inflation last month rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, Sanders replied: "Really? Really?"

Sanders was not impressed with Manchin's reasoning regarding the proposed bill.

"Same nonsense that Manchin has been talking about for a year," he told Raddatz. "You ask the people of West Virginia whether they want to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and eyeglasses. Ask the people of West Virginia whether or not all people should have health care as a human right, like in every other country on Earth." "In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the very wealthiest people in this country, not working families in West Virginia or America," he added.

ICE Blog:
James points out - 
The United for Change opposition party in the UFT which received 34% of the overall vote in the recent UFT election, including 56% from the high schools, will have exactly zero representatives there. AFT President Randi Weingarten's Unity Caucus will send all 750 of the UFT Delegates to the AFT Convention because of the UFT's at-large voting system that basically disenfranchises high school teachers who often vote against Unity Caucus.
While the UFT/Unity parties in Boston and their buddies at the DOE party in Florida ---- 
 
Meanwhile in the real world  of masssive DOE budget cuts with the Unity/UFT being fundamentally absent  -- and watch some cuts getting restored and them taking credit --
 
Start the week off by clowning around with us and our allies to demand that @NYCMayor & @DOEChancellor #RestoreTheCuts !!! twitter.com/ny4rjps/status
 
And back to the world of oligarchy - Why not send DOE people to Florida for a junket while cutting the budget? Do we really need Supes and dep-supes? Off with their heads -- 


Axios reports an interesting critique of the usual Fed actions -- which has been coming from the left which points out that a batch of this infation is coming from profiteering and supply chain issues but the Fed and Biden and Republicans are happy with pushing people out of jobs to deal with inflation. Lawrence Summers says we need 10% unemployment to cure inflation -- and he's a Democrat.
A recession would be worse than this 

A recession would be worse than the inflation the U.S. is seeing now, which is actually showing signs of easing up, some progressive economists are now arguing, Emily writes.

Why it matters: The Federal Reserve has been hiking interest rates to tamp down inflation, and is expected to continue — but this runs the risk of triggering a downturn. And at this point, that "cure" might be worse than the illness Dr. Powell is treating.

  • "The data is saying we have time to be flexible," says Josh Bivens, who makes this point in a new column from the Economic Policy Institute.

Details: The high rate of inflation the government reported for June freaked a lot of people out, but energy prices mostly drove the surge. This month, gas prices have fallen at their fastest rate since the pandemic.

  • Other commodity prices are down, too. Lumber, a leading indicator of the pandemic inflation, is well off its recent highs.
  • Meanwhile, inflation expectations are receding, as Axios Macro reported last week.

"There are a lot of reasons for believing that inflation has peaked," Dean Baker, senior economist at the progressive Center for Economic and Policy Research, tells Axios.

The big picture: With inflation, there are actually winners and losers. "One person's cost is another person's income," Bivens notes, pointing to record oil company profits, for example.

  • Rents and home prices go up; landlords and home sellers benefit.
  • Bivens — who is typically on the side of labor, not capital — doesn't applaud this kind of redistribution of wealth, he adds. But a recession "would have worse distributional consequences."

With a recession, everyone loses — not just the unemployed. Even if you hang on to your job, raises vanish, advancement opportunities narrow or disappear. "The economy overall is poorer," Bivens says.

  • Young adults starting their careers would have fewer job options, too.

This is especially significant, considering how the recent economic expansion has benefited those at the bottom of the ladder. The lower-paying jobs that have improved in quality recently would worsen significantly, as employers took back the upper hand.

  • And, typically in a recession, the first to lose jobs are lower-income or less-educated folks, or those with criminal backgrounds, Baker emphasized.
  • Yes, higher prices also hurt those people — but unemployment isn't going to make that better.

The other side: Some note that recessions can be short, while longer-term, structural inflation can eat away at affordability for years.

What to watch: All eyes are on the Fed meeting next week when it is expected to announce another rate increase of at least 0.75 percentage points.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Eviscerating Public Education - The Farce and the object of Eric Adams' School Cuts - Diminish Public Schools to enhance privatization

Mayor Adams called protestors "clowns" and blamed Albany for his budget cuts to schools last night - This protest at a Harlem town hall against the Mayor's huge budget cuts to schools was reported briefly in the NY Post, but not what the Mayor actually ...

Video - Ronnie Almonte - Recently elected Ex Bd me...

There are people who  question the logic of the decision making in pushing school cuts in the face of rising numbers of students abandoning the NYC DOE - let's make it worse and drive more people out. But where are they going?

Some have left the city, some are home schooling and others going to private or charter schools. We know the game of pro-charter Adams and Banks -- drive people to charters. But there is a problem -- the NYC charter cap has been reached. So what to do? Drum up public outcries - funded by anti-union, pro-charter billionaires for releasing the cap.

Despite its weakness, the UFT still remains an obstacle to cost-cutting with even a weak contract and with every loss of a teaching position, the UFT loses dues and political influence. The only way to coutner that would be a massive organizational effort internally and we know the Unity machine doesn't have the DNA to do that. There are things that people are doing to fight this battle - nothing much publicly from the UFT.
 

Adams has made it clear that mayoral control has got to go and I heard Brian Lehrer actually discuss this with a city council member https://www.wnyc.org/story/51-council-members-52-weeks-district-25-shekar-krishnan.

Danial Alicea on Talking Out of School WBAI show is addressing many of these issues - so worth a listen. 

Leonie sent this out on budget cuts:

Yesterday, we again analyzed the total Galaxy school budgets via an automated mechanism, using the data posted on the DOE webpage here .  The new spreadsheet is here.  More, including a summary chart, on the website here.

According to our analysis, the overall school cuts now total $1.42B compared to FY 22; with 97% of schools experiencing cuts averaging $940,268 each.

The spreadsheet can be sorted by school district and council district.  Take a look!

Galaxy budgets as of 2022-07-14
And this:
NY City Council members demand mayor ‘immediately restore’ school funding ,” by WNYC’s Jessica Gould: “New York City council members are demanding the Adams administration ‘immediately restore’ funding that was cut from public school budgets for the coming school year, and fill the gap using hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent federal stimulus funds. ‘Principals, schools, and teachers must make important decisions within the next month, and your continued inaction is hampering their ability to make the right choices for students,’ council members wrote in a letter Tuesday sent to the mayor and schools chancellor. The letter was signed by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and 40 of her colleagues on the 51-member council — the latest in a series of tense exchanges over school funding.” 


Thursday, July 14, 2022

Kiss Me Kate Opens 3 Weekend run at Rockaway Theatre Company Friday July 15 - Come on Down


A giant show with a massive cast in a small theater with a 9  piece band is a powerful experience. And very funny - a play within a play where reality and Shakespeare come together.

Having brief - very brief - role in the opening - I've been to enough rehearsals to see this very complex show develop into a powerhouse - tonight is the final rehearsal. As part of the set building crew, I saw massive, moveable structures go up that often have to be hidden in plain sight on the stage as they are too big to move offstage. One of them is like a mini-house - with a running water fountain - which I hope to inherit post show for my backyard. And oh those costumes -- no expense has been spared.
 
There is talent unlimited, some of it worthy of Broadway -- the singing is powerful and so is the amazing dancing - and ony $25 a ticket with free parking - and a short walk to the beaches at Fort Tilden.
 
I even have some extra tickets so hit me up if you are interested.

And in terms of covid - audiences must be masked and the entire cast must show evidence of a neg test before we open.

 
COME SUPPORT OUR CAST & CREW
Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to bring this production to life. Break a leg!

Kiss Me Kate
Presented By The Rockaway Theatre Company

Jul 15th 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 16th 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 17th 2022, 2:00 PM

Jul 22nd 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 23rd 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 24th 2022, 2:00 PM

Jul 29th 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 30th 2022, 8:00 PM

Jul 31st 2022, 2:00 PM


BUY TICKETS

Rockaway Theatre Company
Building T-4 Fort Tilden
Queens, NY 11695

Visit here for more information.
 

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Dem Party Update - Bronx Machine Attacks Progressive Incumbent, Progressive vs Rhode Island Dems Srike at Heart of Center Right Dems in state,

Rhode Island Progressives Push for Takeover of State Democratic Party:  Progressive slates offer a state-level model for the left to overcome the stagnation of Biden’s presidency and the national Democratic Party... The Intercept

Finally Biden acted on abortion - what he should have done ten minutes after the decision was announced - instead of leading he looks like he's following due to pressure. He just doesn't have the DNA to fight back. Neither do the leaders of the party -- who do have the DNA to fight the progressive wing.
 
I've been tracking the oft unreported war inside the Dem Party where liberal (actually neo-liberal) mainstream media lines up against progressives. I heard another attack by Joe on Morning Joe the other day -- you lost, so just shut up about being critical of Biden. The progressive wing will not accept Biden or Harris or Pete B. There will be a primary in the Dem party -- and look for a 1968 LBJ type situation where Biden loses the New Hampshire primary to some Eugene McCarthy like figure and withdraws and the Dem Center tries to force Harris down our throats with cries of Bernie Bro like charges of racism and misogyonism against the progressive critics of possibly the worst politician we've scene. At least in 68 Hubert Humphrey was not horrendous and almost won.


For me if health (which is problematical) John Fetterman is my choice for 2024. The AFT/UFT will endorse Harris - you read it here first.

I'll get to the good news Rhode Island portion above at the end of this post. But first.....

Let me remind you as I do time and again --- the UFT Unity Caucus is firmly in the hands of the same neo-liberal center/right forces - no matter what Mulgrew and Randi say --- always watch what they do, not what they say - they are echoes of the incompetent Dem Party masters -- except they are both competent at maintaining control of their own party machinery.

David Sirota responded:
Liberals who have spent 20 years being a cheering section for Democratic Party betrayals of the working class & electoral failure — you’re part of the reason Trump won in 2016 & part of why fascism is on the rise. Actively encouraging Democrats to fail is part of why we’re here.
 
At least Brian Lehrer gives the progressives a voice as he did with The Nation's Elie Mystal the other day. https://www.wnyc.org/story/monday-morning-politics-bidens-executive-order-abortion-and-preview-jan-6th-hearing

Ross Barkan had a few analytical pieces about the left in NY -- which is in no position to take over the Dem party.

 In New York, he wrote about the Democratic Party’s Joe Biden problem, the Democrats’ refusal to deal with the housing crisis, the future of BDS, and the Left’s recent struggles in New York. In the Nation, he wrote about the outcome of the governor’s race for the Left.

Here are two more articles that fall into this mix.

I saw Gustavo Rivera in person at a live Sam Seder show in March and he's fantastic. He dared to call for Insulin prices in NYS to be capped at $30. So look at this NY Post (which is cheering the anti-progressive move) article. By the way, make some guesses as to what the UFT will do in this race.

Bronx Dems dump AOC-aligned Sen. Gustavo Rivera over far-left positions

 https://nypost.com/2022/07/06/bronx-democrats-dump-aoc-aligned-sen-gustavo-rivera-over-far-left-positions/
 
he Bronx Democratic Party decided to part ways with a veteran incumbent amid a contentious power struggle between its left and far-left flanks.

In an unusual move, the leadership of the Bronx Dems snubbed state Sen. Gustavo Rivera and instead endorsed his rival, lawyer Miguelina Camilo, in the reapportioned 33rd district.

Even more surprising is that fellow state legislators who run the Bronx Democratic Party — state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who is party chairman, and Assemblywoman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who is the party’s secretary — back the move to dump their colleague.

“Gustavo has aligned himself with the far left of the party. Defunding the police, that’s not going to sit well in the 33rd District,” said Dinowitz, whose Assembly District overlaps with the senatorial district, including Riverdale.

Rivera joined the left wing Working Families Party and socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in backing insurgent Jessica Woolford against Dinowitz in the June 28 Assembly primary. Dinowitz trounced Woolford.

Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benedetto also easily defeated primary rival Jonathan Soto, who was endorsed by the WFP and Ocasio-Cortez. Benedetto and Dinowitz were among the incumbents who beat back lefty insurgents on a good day for the establishment and a bad day for the political left.

About one-third of Rivera’s district is new under court-ordered redistricting, taking in the northwest Bronx neighborhoods of Riverdale and Norwood. The Senate primary will be held on August 23.

Dinowitz noted that Rivera now resides in the 31st District but insisted on running again in the 33rd. Camilo, following redistricting, decided to run in the 33rd instead of the 34th district, an open seat after state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi opted to run for Congress.

But Rivera, first elected in 2010 after defeating convicted crook Pedro Espada, has the backing of the Working Families Party and a slew of powerful unions. He has been associated with leftist causes such as defunding the police and instituting a government-run public health insurance system.

Rivera, the Senate health committee chairman, also has pushed controversial policies, such as providing comprehensive benefits to illegal immigrants and pushing legislation to open “safe injection sites” to give drug addicts clean needles to shoot up drugs.

The leadership of the state Senate — Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) — are also backing Rivera’s re-election.

“I always endorse my sitting members and I want all of them to come back to the Senate. Senator Rivera has always been a valuable member of the Senate and I look forward to continuing to serve with him,” Stewart-Cousins said.

Rivera’s response to the Bronx party snub? Bring it on!

“Senator Gustavo Rivera has been representing the working people of the Bronx for over a decade. He is a labor candidate and advocate for his community,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Senator has already amassed support and endorsements from 1199 SEIU, CWA, NYSUT and PSC l. He will continue to fight and deliver for his community. He represents over 70% of this district and looks forward to the spirited primary election,” the Rivera camp said.

 Camilo formerly headed the Bronx Women’s Bar Association and served as a commissioner on the city Board of Elections, an appointment that goes to people with close ties to the party leadership.

“Immensely proud to have the endorsement of @bronxdems, an organization that has seen me grow as a young lawyer and dedicated member of our Bronx community,” Camilo tweeted Tuesday.

Bailey, the Bronx Party leader, said Wednesday night that party officials sought to avoid a primary by urging Rivera to run in the 34th district or 32d districts instead. Rivera refused.

“We were not looking to primary Gustavo. We tried to avoid a primary. We were not able to figure it out,” Bailey said.

“We believe in Miguelina,” he added.

On the good progressive news dept, is this story from Rhode Island - maybe a model for other states - you won't take the Dem party away nationally, so do it state by state:

Rhode Island Progressives Push for Takeover of State Democratic Party:  Progressive slates offer a state-level model for the left to overcome the stagnation of Biden’s presidency and the national Democratic Party

 

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Bhaskar Sunkara on divisions on the Left - Stop talking to yourselves -- Jacobin Video

Our main goal is to organize working class people around a broadly economic platform that ties in social issues into core economic issues... we want candidates that focus on class.... willing to take on the establishment power structure ---- roughly 17 minute mark of video - Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin, interviewed by Jen Pan
 

https://youtu.be/oMBox6D1wB4

I ran across this enlightening interview on Jacobin you tube where Jen Pan talked to Jacobin founder Bhaskar Sunkara who talks about class and race on the left and then on dysfunction on the left. He talks about the cultural divides where some want to focus on bread and butter issues and others want to talk about race as race as a free standing system. He also points to a cleavage on how some liberal-left people want to talk about economic policy in a certain way - say Elizabeth Warren - vs a Bernie type analysis. 


I've actually lived though some of the divisions in groups where there's a race vs class divide in terms of analysis -- every socialist doesn't avoid class and economics - but the roots of continuing racism is often at issue. 
 
The mostly united pro-Bernie front on the left seems to have come apart.
 
So I've been following discussions on divisions on the left -- I'm a fan of Krystal Ball and Sam Seder and they often seem to be coming at things from different places. The Young Turks and Jimmy Dore wars. Many of my colleagues in UFT oppo politics are Jimmy Dore, Glen Greenwald, Useful Idiots - Aaron Mate fans - skeptical of the support fot Ukraine and often taking a Putin point of view.  Sam Seder calls these people essentially right wing. 

One of the most intersting parts of the interview come at the 21 minute mark where Jen Pan raises the issue of the class composition of the left, which is far from the working class - and I mean the black and white working class. The old left of the 30s was very working class. Now not at all. (Even Starbucks union movement is pushed by college educated). She says since the 60s the left has become more professional nanagerial class and lost its working class base. She asks what is the biggest obstacle to the left getting back to its working class roots - is it the cultural, rhetorical, linguistic ticks? 
 
And I have to say, I get very turned off when I hear rhetoric with no analysis. Like if you are a a socialist who believes capitalism must end where is the analysis of what exactly takes its place? Or the process of destruction and mayhem in dismantling capitalism. I asked this wuestion of two hard core socialists -- can you have democracy and your vision of socialism where you cannot have a two party system that can reverse say nationalization of certain industries every 4 years. One said maybe a multiparty system of only socialist parties. Have you seen socialists of differing opinions in action?
 
Baskar's answer seems to agree about rhetoric on the left being wrong but he attributes that to the many defeats the left has faced. He calls it the ghetto of the left -- like when do leftists get to talk to non-leftists, especially working class? I remember one early leader of a caucus I was in tell me he has no non-leftist people he talks to. Baskar talks about being in small socialist groups or caucuses where you hear only one real voice --- where if you disagree with anything you get slammed as being discordant - I've actually seen people claim to feel unsafe when a loud disagreement over a political issue breaks out. A few of us looked at each other and wondered how snow flakes intend to take on the power structure of the UFT.

Baskar mocks some of the disagreements on the left as to what year the Soviet state changed into Stalinism. Working class voters prefer candidates who focus primarily on economic issues. Their not against talking about racism but want these issues framed in univeral terms. Bernie tried to do that and got slammed by the left cultural warriors. 
 
Health care is good because it helps everyone - not just framed as a racial justice issue for one segment of the population. Right now John Fetterman seems to me the only candidate I've seen who has the ability to do this.

I love this: 
"even if we are reliant on an activist base to begin with, we are not just stuck with this space forever."
Apply this point to organizing in the UFT -- the hopeful realization by the activist left base that they will never win even a segment of power in the UFT without broadening that base -- maybe the emergence of United for Change was a sign but those who know the left from experience are always prepared to see things slip back for the interests of sectarian politics.

Stop talking to each other but reach out to people not only on the fence but on the other side of the fence. 

He asks people to look around whatever groups people are in and ask if that group is equipped to have an influx of 5 thousand working class people. We should be building the shells of organizations that can be truly mass.

I remember once at a joint rally over the 2005 conract talking to someone from another caucus and saying wouldn't it be wonderful if we had even 50 hard core activists in the UFT and the response was: If they are the right kind -- that was a warning sign to me of the kind of exclusivity some gtoups try to enforce internally.

Here's where he nails it:
We shouldn't be building groups that are so sensitive that a few interpersonal things or a few controversies gets it destroyed or they spend so long inwardly debating with each other and then deciding when the next meeting is - a kind of inaction group --

Boy have I seen this - groups that talk to and at themselves and often morph into a small oligarchy of control by a few and even their own mass begins to lose interest and becomes perfectly content to let them run things.  talk talk talk - make up some action event to simulate organizing - but keep the rhetorical and procedural gates up to keep the "wrong" kind of people out...
 
Trust me -- I've been guilty of this idea of we want to be in a "comfortable" space with like-minded people. ICE was a more open group but talk talk talk was certainly frustratign to people who wanted action. I was very comfortable talking and debating. ICE could never be an major organizing force alone in the UFT - though some people seemed to think so. In fact the founding of GEM in 2009 was a reaction to ICE inaction -- but I also think ICE is the only group that offered a relaxed space over rice pudding to just talk, dispute, argue over issues etc and work for consensus and no matter how hard you fought you walk out colleagues.  I think that is also really needed.

Bhaskar points to DSA which is more action oriented and seems to be a clearing house of sorts for various points of view but there is also an avoidance of taking on such divisive issues. -- ie - witness the cancellation of Black scholar with a heavy class analysis Adolph Reed, Jr. 
 
I'll leave you with these links so you can see the dysfunction of the left in action.

DSA Cancels Adolph Reed - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com › watch
Jun 1, 2020Ben Burgis tells the story of the DSA cancellation of Adolph Reed and critiques the concept of class reductionism and a category that ...
Missing: read ‎| Must include: read
Aug 16, 2020Amid murmurs that opponents might crash his Zoom talk, Professor Reed and D.S.A. leaders agreed to cancel it, a striking moment as perhaps ...

A Black Marxist Scholar Wanted to Talk About Race. It Ignited ...

https://www.nytimes.com › adolph-reed-controversy
Aug 17, 2020His article concluded: “Amid murmurs that opponents might crash his Zoom talk, Professor Reed and D.S.A. leaders agreed to cancel it, a striking ...

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Sunday Treat: Deep Dives on Dem Party Moves from working class to neo-liberalism - Two Must listen podcasts

EDUCATE, ORGANIZE, MOBILIZE -- IN THAT ORDER --- EdNotes Mantra
Sunday, July 3 -- Only 59 days till September

The first step - EDUCATE.  I don't mean that in an arrogant manner like I have info to shove down your throat but I am learning stuff I want to share. You can't organize people based on misinformation of weak analysis. Logical dialogue can move people in your direction.

I  know people who consider themselves organizers who could use more knowledge to engage people they are trying to organize. The other day a friend said she had trouble with using the term "neo-liberal" and I mentioned the Gary Gerstle,  book The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era.

I heard him on Sam Seder Majority Report - links below.
 
People confuse today's poltiical liberals with classic economic liberals (Adam Smith)  and current market works/govt doesn't neo-libs. 


It's worth studying the evolution of the terms which started out meaning freedom from kings who controlled govt then - economic and political freedom -- this was pre-capitalist - and capitalism was a freeing from those mercantile controls- a good thing initially.
 
But then capitalism ran amuck and the New Deal brought it under modified control which the post 60s Republican Party and the late 70s Dem Party have decimated. Neo-liberalism has been a process of releasing those controls - which also included tariffs and controls on trade - and sold globalism as the ultimate freedom -- for a few.  Carter (de-regulate everything to fight inflation), Clinton and Obama escalated. Biden actually gets some credit for moving away because it no longer plays politically.
 
The actual good thing about the Trump election and the Bernie campaigns was  dagger to the heart of neoliberalism which so decimated workers in so many economies. The party is actually split between Neo-libs and anti-globalist proto-fascist element.

The anti- neo liberals on both sides of the right and left line up very differently but when I argue with Trumpise we actually do find areas of agreement.

My crowd is supposedly trying to organize NYC teachers -- and our union leadership is neo-liberal - you'd best have a good explanation on how and why that is.

Just as important is this analysis by Robert Kuttner -- a progressive Dem for 50 years but not hard left. He does this deep dive on The Intercept podcast: Deconstructed. 
 
Both MR and Intercept are not hard left -- let's say Social Democracy leaning. In other words they may be highly critical of capitalism but don't necessarily call for it's downfall -- even if they think it may be in such danger as to fall on its own. But fall where and what takes its place? I'd say a form of fascism before socialism.

Both podcasts go hand in hand with an analysis of FDR years and how the New Deal began to be undermined almost immediately in the late 40s with the Taft-Hartley anti labor act - and the beginning of the Dem Party separation from Labor. Kuttner emphasizes that the Dem party was closest to a Labor Party -- even with the racist southerners.

I was brought up a Democrat by my mom's immigrant family. My aunt told me when I was very young that only the Dems were on our side. By the early 70s's, after she moved to South Miami, she had become a right wing racist -- if she lived she would have marched in Jan. 6.

So that coalition did not have as tight a bonds as Kuttner makes it out to seem. I loved that he agrees with me that John Fetterman if healthy should be the Dem Pres candidate in 2024.

How the Democrats Forgot the New Deal and Paved the Way for Trumpism

Author Robert Kuttner on how Biden can keep American fascism at bay.

https://theintercept.com/2022/07/01/deconstructed-fdr-biden-new-deal-robert-kuttner/

I love Sam's show and listen every day at noon for almost 3 hours. Sam brings a POV you don't get on the left -- not off the wall and I agree with 75%.

How can you explain neo-liberalism? One of the clearest explanations I've heard:

Episode https://majorityreportradio.com/2022/06/06/6-6-the-rise-and-fall-of-neoliberalism-w-gary-gerstle

6/6 The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism, & A Vision of What’s Next w/ Gary Gerstle

June 6, 2022
% buffered00:00Current time1:37:58

Sam and Emma host Gary Gerstle, Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge, to discuss his recent book The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era. First, Emma and Sam dive into the continued rise of mass shootings over this weekend, the Uvalde Police’s continually changing story, Dr. Oz’s victory in the PA GOP Senate Primary, and Elon suddenly scrapping his Twitter deal after finding out about Twitter BOTS, but definitely not his crashing Tesla stock. They’re then joined by Professor Gerstle as they work through the concept of political orders as these prolonged eras of dominant ideologies, with the two that he largely covers being the New Deal political order, lasting from FDR’s reign up until the ‘60s or so, and the Neoliberal Order, burgeoning in the ‘70s and lasting up until the end of Obama’s presidency, looking at these two orders in contrast, with the former compelling the right to assimilate into a democratic socialist ideology, and the latter seeing a Clinton-lead democratic party assimilating into corporate liberalism and deregulation. Next, they get into the factors that drive the emergence of new orders, starting as a modest movement of political organizations and actors, before networks of donors, constituents, think tanks, and policy networks and political actors arise around it as it proves itself as a viable political system. They then look to the crises that left the vacuum for these orders to step in, with the 1930s Great Depression marking the largest capitalist crisis in US History, and the ‘70s recession occurring alongside rising racial tensions, US imperialism, and a reemergence of international industrial competitors seeing US Capital suddenly threatened from all sides. Sam, Emma, and Professor Gerstle then walk through the evolution of political orders and how one took issue and influence from its priors, first looking to FDR’s desire to create a new form of liberalism, one that puts everyday Americans in a position to actually enjoy their freedom, before Freidman and Hayek come around and reject his appropriation of liberalism, but still looking to government as a corporate facilitator, particularly with the role of the military in ensuring the safety and freedom of markets worldwide. After covering the role of the fall of the USSR and Clinton’s assimilation to neoliberalism, Sam, Emma, and Professor Gerstle walk through our contemporary moment as the neoliberal order stalls, and the difference between a fight between a far-right and a progressive left and the single-camp transitions of previous orders.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma discuss Dr. Jill Biden’s unveiling of a new Nancy Pelosi stamp, just as pride month starts, in an unfortunate moment of institutional fetishization, Dave Rubin obsesses over Elon Musk fighting to get his workers back to work, before inquiring about who died and left COVID in charge. Sam and Emma discuss the original rise of TERFism in England, cover the Ohio GOP’s new bill requiring genital inspections of young girl athletes, a Wisconsin high school gets bomb threats for trying to teach their students to respect queer people, Miles from LI talks the evolution of “based,” and Louie Gohmert comes to the defense of the Right’s right to lie right to the Government. Plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Gary’s book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-neoliberal-order-9780197519646?cc=us&lang=en&

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Saturday, July 2, 2022

Betrayal - Anger and distress at Gov. Hochul refusing to sign class size bill But did on mayoral control

“It is inexcusable and unfathomable that the Governor would refuse to sign the class size bill when she signed the Mayoral control bill. The legislature passed this bill almost unanimously.... Press release

HOCHUL SIGNS MAYORAL CONTROL EXTENSION THROUGH 2024 BUT DOES NOT SIGN LOWER CLASS SIZE BILL - ICEUFT Blog

Saturday, July 2, 2022 - For working UFTers - Only 60 days to go till September (we retirees never notice dates or time of the day -- I haven't worn a watch in 20 years).

I never believed for a minute Hochul would sign the class size bill or let mayoral control lapse. She and Adams are allies. The UFT of course endorsed her and will continue to endorse her because the Republican alternative is so awful. But no matter what they say, I don't think the UFT leadership really cares very much about class size becausethey are not affected. 

Remember it was district rep Bill Woodruff who called the question at a DA on a class size discussion and was challenged by Daniel Alicea over a UFT employee killing debate on an issue that doesn't affect him. He told Daniel he never wants his name to come out of Daniel's mouth again. Woodruff is fast moving from Unity hack status to Unity POS.
 
Norm

For immediate release: July 1, 2022

Contact: Marina Marcou-O’Malley: marina@aqeny.org

Leonie Haimson:  leoniehaimson@gmail.com

Anger and distress at Gov. Hochul refusing to sign class size bill last night

Parents, education advocates and elected officials reacted with dismay and alarm at the fact that Gov. Hochul signed the mayoral control bill last night without also signing the class size bill, A10498/S09460  at the same time.

“It is inexcusable and unfathomable that the Governor would refuse to sign the class size bill when she signed the Mayoral control bill. The legislature passed this bill almost unanimously. The only thing standing between smaller class sizes and a better learning environment that students desperately need is the Governor’s signature. Parents fought for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and won. The Governor recognized the need to act on that and delivered two years of funding for Foundation Aid, so that, among other things, class sizes can be reduced. Thirty years after the CFE lawsuit was filed , class sizes are worse, not better. We urge the governor to sign the bill and signal that she continues to recognize what needs to happen for our students’ sake,” said Marina Marcou-O’Malley, Policy and Operations Director for the Alliance for Quality Education. 

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters said, “The fact that the Governor signed the Mayoral control bill without signing the bill that would require him to reduce class size at the same time is particularly outrageous. There can be no accountability without smaller classes for NYC kids, which the State’s highest court said were needed to provide them with their right to a sound basic education under the State’s constitution.  Smaller classes are also the top priority of K12 parents nearly every year on the DOE’s own surveys, and the class size bill passed 59-4 in the State Senate; 147-2 in the Assembly.  It is particularly outrageous that the Governor has chosen to renew the Mayor’s control unconditionally,  just at a time when he is slashing the budget for schools, causing class sizes to increase rather than decrease and students to lose critical programs and services. “

“New York City’s parents are sick of our children’s education being used as a political bargaining chip. We passed the class size legislation with a considerable bipartisan margin, and thirty-eight elected officials from Congress, the state, and the city, as well as over 7700 petition signatories  urged the Governor to sign the class size bill this week. There was no such groundswell for the renewal of Mayoral control. Signing it into law would be such an easy win for the Governor. The last-minute, late night negotiations have become a pattern in this administration’s first term, and it is hurting our children,” said State Senator Jessica Ramos.

“Large class sizes were a main driver behind the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit I brought against New York State with parents in 1993. The 2007 court ruling found that, ‘tens of thousands of students placed in overcrowded classrooms is enough to represent a systemic failure,’” said Senator Robert Jackson. “New York City governance must make class size reduction a priority. It is a shame that the class size reduction legislation was not signed into law with Mayoral Accountability. The resulting impact of school budget cuts will harm students further as class sizes increase, affecting educational outcomes. I urge the Governor to follow through on the state’s obligation under the CFE ruling and sign S9460 into law.  Answer the call of families across the city, sign that bill!” 

“We ask that the Governor sign the class size bill as soon as possible, which would also help to limit the Mayor’s damaging cuts to school budgets, which if left unchecked will further undermine the ability of NYC children to receive the quality education that they desperately need now more than ever before,” said State Senator Julia Salazar (SD-18).

The Governor must make good on her promise and sign the class size reduction bill. It was part of the deal for renewing mayoral control. The Mayor's dyslexia initiative needs smaller classes to be effective. As a former teacher of deaf students, I know just how critical smaller class sizes are to students’ ability to succeed. Small classes improve outcomes for all students, especially those of color and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Parents and educators are reeling--stretched to the limits by the pandemic and now with school budget cuts--and we can't let them down,” said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon.

As eminent education historian and advocate Diane Ravitch concluded, “ Governor Kathy Hochul is double crossing the students, teachers, and parents of NYC.”