Allison Kilkenny

May Day in NYC: Youth and Immigrant Rights Activists Demand Reform

Allison Kilkenny on May 2, 2013 - 10:18 AM ET

All photos by Allison Kilkenny.

This year’s May Day events featured the familiar tableau of union members marching in matching T-shirts and carrying their banners, while an insane number of police officers crept along the perimeters of Broadway, monitoring the peaceful procession. But this year also included an especially reenergized contingent of youth supporters and immigrant rights activists.

Of course, that’s not to say young people and advocates of immigration reform haven’t turned out in prior May Days. Certainly, Occupy Wall Street injected the worker-led event with a ton of youthful energy, but this year definitely possessed a different, more serious note. For many immigrant rights activists, they feel they’ve reached a critical moment, and if real reform is ever going to come, it will be now or never under President Obama’s leadership.

Immigrant Rights Groups, Labor, Occupy Plan May Day Protests

Allison Kilkenny on April 29, 2013 - 10:53 AM ET

Protest groups across the country are gearing up for May Day protests on Wednesday. In New York, Occupy Wall Street has posted a schedule for the day, kicking off with young workers marching from Bryant Park in solidarity with the Transport Workers Union. Occupy says it plans to visit the offices of union busters and companies with whom the TWU members have contract disputes.

At around noon, protesters will then go on an “immigrant worker justice tour,” in order to highlight the daily struggles facing immigrants and workers in New York City. Activists will visit several workplaces in midtown to “demand an end to exploitation of immigrant workers” with the march ending at Senator Schumer’s office for a speak-out on what real immigration reform looks like.

Occupy has also scheduled an event to “Save The People’s Post Office” where protesters will meet at the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office at 14th Street and First Avenue. I previously have written about the fake USPS budget crisis and how our pro-privatization Congress refuses to allow the Post Office to save itself.

Elites May Finally Realize Austerity Isn't the Answer

Allison Kilkenny on April 22, 2013 - 9:47 AM ET

José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, at the European Development Days in Brussels, October 16, 2012. (Flickr/EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection)

In the past week, political officials and economic experts in several countries have indicated they believe austerity is not, and indeed never has been, the answer to pulling the world’s economies out of recession. First, everyone found out Paul Ryan is super bad at math (shocker). As it turns out, the paper the House Budget Committee chairman has been using to make the case for austerity was discredited after it became known that essential data was excluded from the study, leading to “serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and growth.”

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Congress Refuses to Allow USPS to Fix Its Budget Woes

Allison Kilkenny on April 15, 2013 - 10:15 AM ET

Representative Darrell Issa. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

It's been a truly bizarre and painful experience watching the budget negotiations between Congress and the US Postal Service. The USPS has consistently presented lifesaving ideas to an apathetic Congress that seems utterly unconcerned with saving a federal service that caters primarily to the economically disadvantaged and employs over 574,000 union members.

As Boston Ends Desegregation Busing, Students Face New Inequities

Allison Kilkenny on April 8, 2013 - 10:01 AM ET

Black students get on the bus at South Boston High School in 1975 following court-ordered integration. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)

Massachusetts' governor Deval Patrick warned last week of state budget cuts and significant increases in transportation fees if lawmakers are unwilling to accept tax hikes. Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor said legislators' current plan may prompt the need for $783 million in cuts to non-transportation programs, including $362 million in new education initiatives.

Thousands Protest the UK Government's Brutal Austerity

Allison Kilkenny on April 1, 2013 - 9:42 AM ET

British Prime Minister David Cameron. (Reuters/Peter Macdiarmid)

Britain's government has introduced sweeping changes to the country's welfare, justice, health and tax systems, including a "bedroom tax" that will reduce housing subsidies that primarily benefit poor people. The levy ostensibly aims to "tackle overcrowding and encourage a more efficient use of social housing," resulting in an estimated million "social housing" households losing 14-25 percent of their housing benefits.

Security Staff Barricade Chicago Board of Education in Anticipation of Mass Rally

Allison Kilkenny on March 27, 2013 - 9:28 AM ET

Chicago teachers hit the streets on their historic strike, September 2012. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

Chicago officials announced last week that they plan to close fifty-four under-enrolled schools this year in the country’s third-largest district to help close a $1 billion budget deficit. It is the largest mass district closing of schools ever in the United States, and the announcement quickly inspired outrage among teachers, parents and activists.

Strike Debt Abolishes $1.1 Million of Medical Debt

Allison Kilkenny on March 22, 2013 - 9:13 AM ET

(All photos by Allison Kilkenny)

Strike Debt, a group that emerged from the Occupy Wall Street movement, has planned a week of actions in multiple cities across the country to mark the abolition of $1.1 million in medical debt belonging to 1,064 people as part of the “Rolling Jubilee” project.

The Global Austerity Resistance Continues

Allison Kilkenny on March 11, 2013 - 9:43 AM ET

Protesters march against government austerity measures in Madrid, March 10, 2013. (Reuters/Sergio Perez)

Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Spain and Greece this week in response to ongoing budget cuts and high unemployment. In Spain, unemployment has passed the 5 million mark for the first time since records began—attracting widespread criticism over the conservative government’s austerity plans. Similarly, Greece, which has served as a laboratory for austerity enthusiasts, has suffered mass poverty, unemployment and suicide since severe budget cuts were implemented by the government.

Strike Debt Declares Healthcare Emergency: It's a Matter of 'Life or Debt'

Allison Kilkenny on March 6, 2013 - 10:36 AM ET

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators protest against rising national student debt in New York, April 25, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton)

Strike Debt, one of the offshoot groups of Occupy Wall Street, has planned a week of action March 16–23 in response to what it calls a “healthcare emergency.” A majority of personal bankruptcies in the United States are linked to medical bills, with 75 percent of people declaring bankruptcy even though they have health insurance.