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Dispatches From the US Student Movement: April 2
Florida youth occupy the state capitol. (Dream Defenders/Diana Moreno.)
E-mail questions, tips or proposals to studentmovement@thenation.com. For recent dispatches, check out posts from January 18, February 1, February 15, March 1 and March 15.
1. At Indiana, the Strike Waters Heat Up
A second mass assembly for the Indiana University strike convened on March 21. Graduate students, along with instructors involved in the Progressive Faculty and Staff Caucus, are organizing interdisciplinary and unconventional learning activities for a Free University at the Woodburn Hall and Showalter Fountain Strike Center, intended to be an open occupation throughout the strike. Though the strike movement has made a serious attempt to reach out to campus workers and staff, the fear of administrative reprisal and possible termination has kept many from participating. On April 9, there will be a mass assembly to organize pickets, the 10th a concert in Dunn Meadow, and on the 11th and 12th, the strike.
—IU Strike, Writing Working Group
2. In Colorado, Standardized Testers Walk Out
Over the past few weeks, we, the students in Colorado, have been holding citywide meetings to discuss our education and what needs to improve. One thing that we all agreed needs to change is our curriculum. Over the past few years, our schools have had to teach to one test, the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, and some of our schools have closed due to low-test scores. We want an education where our schools have the goal to teach to the whole child. We want to show our state legislature, the media and the citizens of Colorado our demand to be part of the conversation to change our schools. To do this, we made a public stance in front of the capitol: forty students from eight different schools walked out on the last day of testing to show that we believe these tests are not preparing us for the real world. This weekend, students from across the state of Colorado had a retreat to figure out what to do next to improve our education.
—Alex Kacsh
3. Arizona Youth Demand the Right to Vote
On March 21, more than 80 teen voting volunteers strutted our way to the capitol to declare Arizona Voting Rights Protection Day. Determined for a response, we lobbied 20 legislators to vote against unjust elections bills, SB 1261 and SB 1003, that could potentially suppress the Latino vote and classify all the hard work we did to pick up ballots as a class 6 felony. We were ecstatic to get our point across to our legislators and see that our efforts are being noticed. One of us, Andres, got the opportunity to speak with a representative we met last year, Jonathan Larkin. Andres shared his opinion of the bills and his personal story about fighting for his family. Lobbying our legislators helped us feel our power. We won’t stop building our communities, and now, it’s easier because we know more people are standing with us.
—Jasmine Lopez
4. National Student Power Convergence, Round Two
In August 2012, 300 student leaders from twenty-seven states converged in Columbus, Ohio. We spent three days learning about each other as organizers, as representatives of our geographic spaces and respective issues and as humans. We were inspired by the stories of international student movements. We left with a renewed sense of what a cohesive, intersectional movement should look and feel like. This year we are excited to bring together the success stories of the last year, and many others, at the 2013 National Student Power Convergence. We aim to craft an even stronger story of the youth movement, through panels, trainings, workshops and general assemblies. The entire agenda will be constructed by student organizers to highlight best practices and tangible wins. We want to build off the theme of intersectionality from last year by learning from the wins shared by multiple issues. We want people to leave with a comprehensive political and tactical analysis, replicable campaigns and the energy to propel us through 2013, and beyond.
—Kirin Kanakkanatt
5. A Day to Fight HIV & AIDS
In the United States, 1,000 young people ages 13 to 24 acquire HIV each month, and 60 percent of those who have the virus don’t even know it. To end this epidemic, I have become an ambassador for the first National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day on April 10, which includes events in high schools, colleges, churches and community centers around the country. The drive behind my work with HIV & AIDS comes from a very personal place: My uncle was diagnosed with HIV in 1986. Back then, there was not nearly enough education about, awareness of, or proper treatment for this disease. Other young people like me are also working to educate their peers, stand up to school boards and bring truth to bear on the myths. For us, HIV is a disease that can easily be prevented with the right education, awareness and community resources.
—Olivia Standifer
6. Students to Legislators: Take Your Finger Off the Trigger
In 2012, after concerted pushback from parent groups, educators and their supporters, the Florida Senate shot down Florida’s "parent trigger" bill. The bill is back again this year under the misleading title of "Parent Empowerment in Education," and its reintroduction has, once again, ignited protests from parent groups and educators. The Florida chapters of Students United for Public Education at Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University have been organizing and raising awareness around the pitfalls of parent trigger legislation, standing in solidarity with the Florida PTA, NAACP, LULAC, educators and other parent groups who oppose the bill. The Florida SUPE chapters have started a petition to raise their voices to Florida legislators. While the chapters are just a semester old, they are establishing a university presence by actively promoting support of public education and educational equity to the university community and by networking with other social justice groups.
—Rodrigo Torres and Andrew Ginden
7. Penn State v. Adidas
On April 1, 2011, the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia was shut down, and its workers receieved none of their legally mandated severance pay. Nike, Adidas and the Dallas Cowboys had contracts with the factory, and together owed the workers $3.3 million in pay. Adidas is the only one that hasn’t paid—leaving workers $1.8 million short. As part of a national United Students Against Sweatshops campaign, Penn State USAS has had a number of actions, vigils and banner drops to gain attention and educate students on the horrifying facts of Adidas’s negligence. After a number of meetings with other administrators, President Rodney Erickson finally agreed to meet with students. Fifteen days later, he made the choice to cut Adidas’s contract temporarily—and, if the company doesn’t pay the workers their severance pay within 60 days, not renew it.
—Penn State USAS
8. UT Austin v. the World
As the United States Supreme Court considers the Fisher v. University of Texas affirmative action case, Students for Equity and Diversity at the University of Texas at Austin has been organizing for the preservation of equal opportunity. SED’s work has focused on empowering the student body and informing the national media about UT students’ support for holistic admissions (the narrowly tailored affirmative action policy that UT uses). We have conducted teach-ins and forums with attorneys from legal defense funds. About 500 students attended our last event, where civil rights attorneys from New York City and San Antonio discussed the case and how students can mobilize around it. As we await a decision, SED will be preparing students to shape the conversation on equal opportunity in any outcome. We will be having a stakeholder meeting soon with campus leaders to discuss the various ruling possibilities.
—Joshua Tang
9. Fed Up With Racism
On March 6, students and several campus groups at Binghamton University organized a Confronting Racism Forum, followed by a rally and teach-in on March 13. These events were triggered by students' frustration with enduring racism and the lack of diversity on campus. The forum was designed in the tradition of 19th-century slave narratives and drew more than 100 attendees. Students were asked to step forward and share racist events they had experienced, and to make connections between these overt forms of racism and the institutional ones that they reinforce. A week later, as many as 130 students rallied to announce that they would no longer tolerate any form of injustice and to demand that more be done to increase the presence of people of color at the university. The main purpose of these two events was to reintroduce students, especially the black, Latino and African students on campus, to a culture of activism.
—Toivo Asheeke
10. Welcome to the Dream Era
Florida's youth are under attack, whether in matters of national tragedy like the murders of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, or the thousands of youth that are ripped from their families and schools and thrown into jail. The Dream Defenders have developed a SNCC-like statewide network of black, brown and allied youth and students for legislative fights and building real power in their communities. With the Civil Rights movement as both model and compass, youth are confronting voter suppression, the prison-industrial complex and immigration through relational organizing and training, civil disobedience and direct action. The Dream Defenders took over Florida's capitol on the first day of the legislative session to announce a Dream Agenda and let legislators know that youth will be silent no more. This week, they will join organizations nationwide in the National Youth of Color Action Week, calling on legislators to end the era of incarceration over education.
—Dream Defenders
Interns' Favorite Articles of the Week (3/31/13)
While the rest of the country was agonizing over the vagaries of March Madness and the end of the Miami Heat's winning streak, Nation interns were keeping tabs on the ups and downs of activism and politics (while also trying to win the office NCAA pool). Their picks are full of protest and fighting words, from Chicago teachers' fight against school closings to the topless activists of Femen to the Canadian aboriginal youths who snowshoed 1,000 miles in support of Idle No More.
— Alleen Brown focuses on education.
“Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Michigan Ban on Race-Conscious Admissions,” by Peter Schmidt. The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 25, 2013.
The US Supreme Court added another affirmative action case to its docket Monday. This one's from Michigan, where plaintiffs are calling unconstitutional a voter-approved ban on using race as a deciding factor in college admissions. With Justice Elena Kagan recused, the case will be decided by a 5 to 3 conservative majority.
— James Cersonsky focuses on labor and education.
“Civil Disobedience Planned in Chicago to Oppose Unprecedented Mass School Closings,” by Jaisal Noor. The Real News Network, March 27, 2013.
You may have heard that Chicago is planning to close over 50 schools; you may have also heard Mayor Rahm Emanuel say some baldly racist things about it; and you guessed right that Emanuel's arch-enemy, the militant, community-centered Chicago Teachers Union, is not taking it sitting down. Left missing in most coverage of education politics, though, are students, parents and allies who have known racism since long before Emanuel appointed his rubber-stamp Board of Education. "I don't want an iPad...if they can't prove I'll be safe walking to school," says a Latina student in Jaisal Noor's documentary about mass resistance to the closings. Noor does the hard work of interviewing students and community activists—as well as Chicago's shameless schools CEO. It's a must-watch.
— Catherine Defontaine focuses on war, security and peace-related issues, African and French politics, peacekeeping and the link between conflicts and natural resources.
“Uganda's oil: lessons on governance and the resource curse,” by Ben Shepherd. The Guardian, March 20, 2013.
The discovery of Uganda’s vast quantities of oil has sparked off a strong debate in the country over how to avoid the “resource curse” that plagues other African countries, such as Nigeria. Indeed, resource management is a “daunting challenge” and often the problem lies in poor governance, corruption, the lack of transparency and the political concentration of power. However, as the author of this article points out, “the resource curse can be overcome if Ugandans work together and look to the long term.” This would enable the government to use the oil revenues to promote sustainable human development.
— Andrew Epstein focuses on social history, colonialism and indigenous rights.
“The Violent Disorder of Our Public Mind,” by Richard Lichtman. Truthout, March 25, 2013.
The proliferation of random violence in American society is not simply a public health concern, a technocratic problem solvable by laws and regulations. Nor is the "insanity" driving such bloodshed an individual malady. As philosopher Richard Lichtman powerfully articulates, profound alienation is endemic to capitalism, particularly in this hyperactive and potentially terminal phase. Violence and hatred is a mode of "reconstruction." "To destroy is to remake the universe, to eliminate from it something—not necessarily what confronts one—but what that fragile presence before us symbolizes," Lichtman writes. "Violence contracts what cannot be embraced or even expanded; it minimizes what cannot be enlarged or shared: one's powers, one's love, one's creative affirmation of the humanity of life in a world that bears the possibility of transcendence in beauty."
— Luis Feliz focuses on ideas and debates within the left, social movements and culture.
“The Labour party has failed us. We need a new party of the left,” by Ken Loach, Kate Hudson and Gilbert Achcar. The Guardian, March 25, 2013.
This week’s article complements the selection from last week on the defections from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a factional split that has resulted in productive efforts to form a new broad front social democratic party—or shall we say— a British Syriza.
— Elana Leopold focuses on the Middle East, its relations with the US and Islam.
“The Madness of America’s Arabs,” by Ibrahim al-Amin. Al-Akhbar English, March 27, 2013.
This week the Arab Legue held a two-day summit in Qatar in which, for the first time, opposition forces—and not President al-Assad—represented Syria. Here, al-Amin highlights the lunacy of Arab leaders focusing almost exclusively on the Syrian struggle, ignoring the myriad dire situations all over the region. In the analysis, al-Amin critically concludes that Arab leaders operate from the assumption that they are all-powerful, and that US powers will always be there to swoop-in and save the day.
— Alec Luhn focuses on East European and Eurasian affairs, especially issues of good governance, human rights and activism.
“Rise of the naked female warriors,” by Kira Cochrane. The Guardian, March 20, 2013.
I don't think that "the activists breasts [are] obscuring the message." It's probably true that a sizable portion of the audience spends more time ogling the Femen protestors’ chests than contemplating the injustice they're protesting, but if not for such an eye-catching protest, that issue likely wouldn't have been raised at all. Either way, this article is a fascinating look inside the organizing that Femen does.
— Leticia Miranda focuses on race, gender, telecommunications and media reform.
“Why Asking What Adria Richards Could Have Done Differently Is The Wrong Question,” by Deanna Zandt. Forbes, March 22, 2013.
Last week the tech community was confronted with its own sexist brogrammer culture after Adria Richards tweeted out the pictures of two men making sexual jokes at a large tech conference in California. Richards received vicious attacks and was fired from her job at SendGrid. Zandt's opinion piece in Forbes seemed to be the most intelligent intervention in the conversation that ensued because of her thought towards the racial dynamics of the conversation and critique of responses that blamed Richards for how she handled the situation.
— Brendan O’Connor focuses on media criticism and pop culture.
“How Marshall Henderson Gets Away With Being Marshall Henderson,” by Greg Howard. Deadspin, March 27, 2013.
Spoiler alert: it's because he's white.
— Anna Simonton focuses on issues of systemic oppression perpetuated by the military and prison industrial complexes.
“What Lies Ahead for the Steubenville Rapists,” by Meagan Hatcher-Mays. Jezebel, March 24, 2013.
Like many people following the Steubenville case, I felt the paltry sentence both rapists received was the judicial version of rape apologism that was rampant in the media throughout the trial. But in seeking justice for survivors of rape, it's easy to find ourselves mired in a paradigm in which justice is synonymous with incarceration, and the only options on which to take a position are: No jail, Some jail, or Lots of jail. That is why I am so glad Meagan Hatcher-Mays wrote this article arguing that if we want to dismantle rape culture, we shouldn't send rapists into institutions that reinforce rape culture. Though she offers no clear alternative other than rehabilitative or therapeutic components to detention, Hatcher-Mays' critique is powerful in that it frames incarceration as a feminist issue and offers a space to envision ways of dealing with rape that challenge the patriarchal conditioning at its root.
— Cos Tollerson focuses on Latin American politics and society, and United States imperialism.
“China's exploitation of Latin American natural resources raises concern,” by Jonathan Watts. The Guardian, March 26, 2013.
In Latin America over the past decade, the decline of United States political hegemony has been accompanied by the rapid growth of China's economic influence. Trade has boomed from $10 billon in 2000 to $241 billion in 2011 and China is now the region's primary lender. Writing at The Guardian, Jonathan Watts concedes that the relationship has had several benefits in Latin America, but warns that it has also resulted in widespread environmental degradation that is likely to get worse as the region's dependency on China grows.
— Sarah Woolf focuses on what’s happening north of the US border.
“Journey of Nishiyuu walkers’ names now ‘etched’ into ‘history of this country,’” by Jorge Barrera. APTN News, March 26, 2013.
Six aboriginal youths and a guide walked and snowshoed 1,600 KM (1,000 miles) from the Cree community of Whapmagoostui, Quebec, to parliament hill in Ottawa, Ontario, in support of the Idle No More movement. Instead of meeting with the group—joined by scores of walkers and supporters at various stages over the past two months—Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent the day of their arrival, March 25, greeting a couple of pandas at the Toronto airport.
PHOTOESSAY: Walls Speak in Argentina
With the election this month of an Argentine pope, Argentina was briefly put under an international spotlight. The news cycle has since moved on, but the political issues roiling the country remain, and they are narrated all over the country’s urban walls.
The word graffiti comes from the Italian graffiato, meaning “scratched.” In Argentina, graffiti puts politics in public places for public consideration, communicating present conflict as well as past grievances. With a bit of context, graffiti enables an informed viewer to bear witness to past and present political realities.
In the United States, a common form of graffiti is a “tag”—a painted inscription of the pseudonym of the graffiti artist onto a wall or any available surface. In Argentina, while tags exist, it is more common to see graffiti with a political message. The sheer quantity of political graffiti is shocking to any visitor to the country. It is literally everywhere: on public, private and government buildings; bridges; underpasses; and even across the front of people’s houses or on their windows.
Pausing to understand the meanings of these hasty scribbles opens a window into understanding Argentina’s political issues and the ways frustrated citizens, particularly younger ones, are grappling with them. The walls truly do speak.
These graffiti photos are from ten different cities in the northernmost regions of Argentina in the provinces of Jujuy and Salta. They were taken in December 2012.
In Argentina, the past is very present. There is a substantial amount of graffiti that reflects deep dissatisfaction with historical events and the ways in which they are still resonate.
Argentine graffiti frequently includes the words milicos (military) and asesinos (murderers), accompanied by the name of a political figure.
This graffito makes the claim that many supposed perpetrators of crimes during Argentina’s dictatorship (1976–83) have gone unpunished to this day. During the dictatorship, a period that came to be known as the Dirty War, military officials and members of the Junta made over 30,000 members of Argentina’s political opposition ‘disappear’. The military accused the opposition of forming a terrorist movement in support of communism, and launched a campaign to eliminate its supporters. Many of these opposition members were later discovered to have been murdered by the regime in camps set up throughout the country by the Argentina’s military leadership, also known as the Junta. Because of the continued military threat during and after the country’s transition to democracy, hundreds of military leaders and supporters of the regime who committed such crimes were never brought to trial.
The image below has the name Blaquier and the word asesino. Blaquier is the owner of Argentina’s biggest sugar processing industry, Ledesma.
"Ledesma genocida! Blaquier asesino!" / "Ledesma Genocide! Blaquier Murderer."
He is now 85, and the graffiti on the walls accuses him of helping the military detain student activists in one of his factories in Jujuy province. The factory was transformed into a makeshift concentration camp where the student activists were tortured, beaten and interrogated during the dictatorship. In 2005, military trials were reopened after two of Argentina’s impunity laws were overturned, and in November 2012, Blaquier was first charged for his role in the crimes.
Cristina: "Con la democracia no se jode. Dejen de robar." / "Cristina: You don't fuck with democracy. Stop stealing."
Much of the graffiti I saw and photographed expressed discontent over current national politics. This graffiti translates to: “Cristina, don’t fuck with democracy,” referring to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the current president of Argentina. Among several reasons for these accusations could be the country’s current inflation rate (estimated by economists to be 26 percent, while the government cites it as 11.1 percent); the state’s assumption of control of private pension funds valued at 30 billion; the government’s restrictions on currency exchange, making it difficult for citizens to travel outside of Argentina; restricted freedom of speech; and, most significantly, an accusation of widespread corruption.
"Clarín: con la democracia no se jode. Todos con Cristina. Unidos y organizados." / "Clarín: You don't fuck with democracy. Everyone united and organized behind Cristina."
This particular graffito announces the dates of anti-government strikes: 13S, 8N, 6D, representing 13 September 8 November and 6 December of 2012. On these dates, thousands of people throughout the country marched against Kirchner and her government. This photo was taken in an affluent neighborhood in San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of Jujuy province.
You can also see a mouth with an “x” across it. This image represents the current national conflict between Kirchner and the Argentine media giant, Grupo Clarín. In order to suppress content, much of which is critical of the government, Kirchner’s regime has cut off Clarin’s newspaper distribution and print supplies. Without substantial proof, the government has also accused Clarin of supporting the military dictatorship during the Dirty War.
The grafiteros behind this graffiti believe that Kirchner is attempting to eliminate Clarin in order to limit public access to information and to block freedom of speech. Eliminating Clarin would mean that the government would distribute the majority of the news via its publicly sponsored news corporations throughout the country.
Those in support of Kirchner responded to the previous graffiti with their own pintadas. On walls throughout Argentina, much of the graffiti had the same expression in support of Cristina’s regime: “Clarin: con la democracia no se jode. Todos con Cristina. Unidos y organizados.” ”Clarin: you don’t fuck with democracy. Everyone United and Organized with Cristina.” These supporters of Cristina believe that Clarin publishes inaccurate information about the government and that it did indeed assist the military dictatorship.
Much of Kirchner’s support comes from the lower economic classes; they are less affected by the country’s growing inflation because their “purchasing power is more protected by the government’s social programmes,” according to a pollster quoted by the BBC.
"Vamos a bancar a Cristina. Unidos y organizados." / "We will support Cristina. United and Organized."
Argentina’s battle with the United Kingdom over the Malvinas islands is also the subject of much graffiti. The Malvinas are located approximately 310 miles from the Argentine coast but populated by British citizens.
"Las Malvinas son Argentinas y los recursos naturales también." / "The Malvinas are Argentine and so are the natural resources."
Both countries want jurisdiction over the islands because of their lucrative potential for oil exploration. In 1982, Great Britain and Argentina went to war over the islands. Argentina lost nearly 650 soldiers, with 320 of them dying after Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a dispatch to sink the Argentine ARA Belgrano ship. This issue is also frequently cited by academic scholars as a defining moment that brought about the end of the country’s military dictatorship, as much of the public stopped supporting the military Junta after the loss. Over the past two years, President Kirchner has stirred up the issue again by making repeated claims to the islands in the media. Some argue that she is using the issue as a means to gain political support and popularity.
"Fuera la estación de Malvinas." / "Get the transmitter out of the Malvinas."
These images demand removal of an energy transformer in a residential neighborhood in Jujuy. The transmitter emits powerful rays that can threaten the health of the local population. The neighborhood is called the “Malvinas,” named after the contested islands. This graffiti was painted by a group that also has a website making similar complaints.
"No al aumento del boleto." / "Against an increase in bus ticket prices."
Finally, this graffiti reflects dissatisfaction with a local law that raised bus prices.
The world saw images of happy and hopeful Argentine citizens after the election of Jesuit Jorge Bergoglio as the first Latin American leader of the Vatican. Despite the festivities in the news, Argentina’s current political realities scrawled on its walls shows a population extremely frustrated. In his new position as leader of the Catholic Church, one can only hope that Pope Francisco will use his new position to also make efforts to help redress some of the searing political issues in his own native country.
Interns' Favorite Articles of the Week (3/22/13)
This week, the drone debate continues, punctuated only by the tenth anniversary of another US power-play. Meanwhile, the Church got a new pope, AT&T and other networks pondered serious overhauls and a Canadian immigration raid was caught on reality TV (perhaps less inspiring than another must-watch: a rousing speech given by Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis).
— Alleen Brown focuses on education.
“NYCORE Conference 2013—Karen Lewis Keynote.” Vimeo, March 17, 2013.
Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis delivered an inspired speech at Saturday's New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) conference. Lewis's argument for a grassroots, building-by-building "taking back" of public education was strengthened by her frankness and her brilliant use of humor. That kind of ability to find and express hilarity even in painful situations is a quality that activists, child-wranglers and leaders of all stripes would do well to cultivate.
— James Cersonsky focuses on labor and education.
“Native Americans Challenge Teach For America in New Mexico,” by Anthony Cody. Education Week, March 18, 2013.
The Indian Education Act, a New Mexico law passed in 1978, is meant to "ensure equitable and culturally relevant learning environments" for Native students. Teach for America may care a lot about "equity"—its 501(c)4 spinoff is named for it—but, on the reservations of New Mexico, does it pass the "culturally relevant" test? This is one question that Anthony Cody raises in his block-quoted take on TFA's procurement of $800,000 in competitive IEA funds. As one Native educator, Dr. Carlotta Bird, puts it, "the whole 'reform movement' that is happening in NM is colonialism in its newest form." That's one way of thinking about TFA's larger American empire—and, really, any education system that isn't committed to so-called cultural relevance and community control.
— Catherine Defontaine focuses on war, security and peace-related issues, African and French politics, peacekeeping and the link between conflicts and natural resources.
“At the Bottom of Lake Nyasa is ‘Rare Earth,’” by Thembi Mutch. IPS, March 6, 2013.
The 29,000-square-kilometre Lake Nyasa borders Tanzania and Malawi. For centuries, local populations have shared the lake’s resources and revenues without incident. However, the recent discovery of oil and gas resources in the lake has reignited a border dispute between Malawi and Tanzania over who owns the lake—and its resources. Local communities do not understand the reasons of the dispute and it appears that the present situation is used to further political careers, as elections will be held in Malawi in 2014 and in Tanzania in 2015. For the moment, all efforts to settle the dispute have failed. The conflict over Lake Nyasa’s resources echoes other regional conflicts in Africa as natural resources often lie at the core of wars.
— Andrew Epstein focuses on social history, colonialism and indigenous rights.
“The World Says No to War! Millions March in New York, Rome, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Melbourne, Sydney and France.” Democracy Now! February 17, 2003.
On the tenth anniversary of the second US invasion of Iraq, the media is saturated with grotesque mea culpas from pundits and so-called journalists, for whom the war was a "mistake," not a crime. Ignored are those millions of people—the largest global protest movement in human history—who saw it for exactly what it was.
— Luis Feliz focuses on ideas and debates within the left, social movements and culture.
“Interview with a writer: John Gray,” by JP O’Malley. The Spectator, February 22, 2013.
In the aftermath of Richard Rorty’s death no other thinker has done more to earn the rare distinction of armchair liberal cynic than the philosopher John Gray. That the two choices one can opt for—whether to cast aspersions on his name or extol his dour ruminations—pivot to such divergent poles of antagonism only assures Gray’s standing among those people fortunate enough to be “interesting.”
— Elana Leopold focuses on the Middle East, its relations with the US and Islam.
“Iraqi Politicians Stoke Flames Of Religious Sectarianism,” by Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Al-Monitor, March 19, 2013.
Much of this week's coverage of the 10-year anniversary of the Iraq War has highlighted sectarian division and violence, which continue to define Iraq's ongoing political and social instability. The best stories, recalling the existence of pre-occupation Iraqi national identity and peaceful inter-religious relations, have pointed out that the antagonism is a US manufactured crisis. Here, Khadami situates the current sectarianism in a hyper-political environment full of politicians invoking tribalism as a scapegoat, in order to access and maintain power. As a contrast, he also identifies a number of religious leaders working to solve the crisis non-politically through religious dialogue.
— Alec Luhn focuses on East European and Eurasian affairs, especially issues of good governance, human rights and activism.
“Exclusive: No More Drones for CIA,” by Daniel Klaidman. The Daily Beast, March 19, 2013.
The Daily Beast's content varies widely, of course, in terms of both quality and political point of view. But there was little doubt about the power of Daniel Klaidman's story this week, which reported on the transfer of the CIA's drone strike program to the Department of Defense. It's hard to know what to make of this development (nobody is talking, after all, about reducing drone strikes in general), but Klaidman highlights several important changes in protocol that will result. It appears to be a mixed bag: The military is more tightly bound by US and international law, but subject to less congressional oversight. Ultimately, however, the reorganization means the United States will have one drone program rather than two (the DoD already runs one separate from the CIA). Dare we call that a good thing?
— Leticia Miranda focuses on race, gender, telecommunications and media reform.
“‘The telephone network is obsolete’: Get ready for the all-IP telco,” by Jon Brodkin. ArsTechnica, January 7, 2013.
This article from ArsTechnica is an excellent breakdown of the ongoing contention around the all-IP transition, in which AT&T and other legacy telephone companies would get legal permission to move all their services to Internet protocol technology. At face the transition seems to be forward-thinking and beneficial for the public good, but, as ArsTechnica lays out, it has serious consequences for telephone users who still depend on landlines.
— Brendan O’Connor focuses on media criticism and pop culture.
“How Soccer Explains Israel,” by Amos Barshad. Grantland, March 19, 2013.
The headline might be a bit clunky, but Amos Barshad's account of Israelis' response to the announcement by FC Beitar—a Jerusalem soccer team that is the only team in the Israeli Premier League never to have signed an Arab player—that it was bringing aboard two Chechen Muslims for the remainder of the season, is worth considering.
— Anna Simonton focuses on issues of systemic oppression perpetuated by the military and prison industrial complexes.
“How to think about drones,” by Natasha Lennard. Salon, March 7, 2013.
Whether you reluctantly find yourself sharing common ground with Rand Paul on the drone issue or think that his filibuster two weeks ago was totally off-base, one thing is clear: Paul's talkathon has brought drones to the forefront of political dialogue in the US. But, as Natasha Lennard explains, the dialogue is limited by the binary within which it is typically framed. When the issue is reduced to whether one is "for" or "against" drones, obfuscated are the nuanced ways in which technology shapes our ideas of and relationships to control, sovereignty, privacy, surveillance and subjecthood.
— Cos Tollerson focuses on Latin American politics and society, and United States imperialism.
“In the war on the poor, Pope Francis is on the wrong side,” by George Monbiot. The Guardian, March 18, 2013.
The election of Pope Francis and allegations that he collaborated with Argentina's military junta have inspired a dialogue about the philosophical divisions in Latin America's Catholic Church, which grew particularly pronounced after the 1968 CELAM Conference in Medellín. Weighing in at The Guardian, George Monbiot reflects on his encounters with liberation theology and condemns members of the Catholic hierarchy, including Pope Francis, who demonized the ideology.
— Sarah Woolf focuses on what’s happening north of the US border.
“Reality show filmed immigration raids, B.C. advocates say.” CBC News, March 14, 2013.
The Canadian Border Services Agency raided a Vancouver construction site on March 13, arresting eight migrant workers... and filming it all for a reality TV show. This case is a mind-boggling perfect storm of the following:
*The Conservative Party's law-and-order agenda
*The exploitation of migrant ("illegal") workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
*Romantic portrayals of state and border policing
*Gentrification and condo development in East Vancouver ("Canada's poorest postal code")
*...and somehow, the case even recalls the controversial 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, as some of the arrested, detained and deported workers reportedly labored on the Olympic village.
That, plus reality TV.
The Injustice of Consolidated Student Loans
In December, 2002, I graduated from Kent State University with a BA in Secondary Education. I borrowed a total of $17,000 from federal loan programs. Later, I completed my Elementary Education certification/endorsement for greater employability and then, a few years later, my Masters in Curriculum & Instruction in Education. Because I didn’t wish to acquire additional debt, I paid cash for these added degrees. However, when I married and the payments were still high, my then-husband and I were approached to consolidate our combined loans as a couple at a lower interest rate and payment. We bit. Worst thing I’ve ever done.
In 2005, I divorced. Everything was split—everything, that is, except for these consolidated loans, which, I’m told, are against the law to split. Only my ex continued to receive mailings from these companies about making payments—I received nothing, even though we were separate entities. I contacted AES (the company that was then servicing these loans) about deferments and forbearances, filled out the paperwork and, at first, they habitually “lost” or “never received” it via fax, mail, e-mail, etc., and then later, the excuse was that my ex and I had to defer for the exact same reason or it would be denied, despite the fact that we had no contact with one another and, furthermore, lived in different states.
This went on for years, with penalties, fees and interest compounding. After moving from Las Vegas to Irvine, California, in 2008, I visited our local credit union to transfer a personal and car loan from Las Vegas. When the teller returned, she informed me that they could not service these loans because I had more than $250,000 in unpaid student loans and my credit score was 590 (in Las Vegas, it had been 800 and I had been approved for a $400K home loan). I was mortified, shocked and frustrated. I immediately phoned AES and they refused to divulge any information to me because my ex was listed as the primary account holder. I was refused any information, but they reported the debt as solely mine to the credit bureaus. This continued for almost a year.
Then, one day, I was contacted by another company, ASA (American Student Assistance). They informed me the loans were now being handled by them and that if I paid $1,500 per month for 9 months, they’d fix my credit and I could enroll in Income Based Repayment (IBR). I explained that I’m a single mom raising two daughters, with limited support, and that, because of teacher furloughs, my salary was become smaller and smaller. I explained that the most I could possibly afford, after cutting some things from our budget, was $750 per month, and that would really be a stretch. They refused. As a result, the loans have now gone into default, and ASA has garnished my wages at $1000 per month since January, 2012—but only MY wages, not the ex’s, yet he also teaches and even receives a higher salary than I do.
I’ve been denied homes to rent for my daughters and me as this debt makes me a “high risk” (I have no other bad debt and have always paid my bills on time). In March, when I received notice that I would be out of a job for the following school year, I sent a letter to ASA, explaining my situation again, but never heard back from them. My last paycheck was on June 30, and I received no other paychecks until October 1st of this year.
After paying over $10,000 last year to ASA, they sent the 1098-E to my ex with his social security number to deduct interest paid from his taxes. I’m not trying to get out of paying what I owe—I’m just asking why I have to be burdened with another person’s debt in addition to my own. Why can’t the law allow these consolidation loans to be separated upon divorce? Why should someone to whom I am no longer married have the power to continue to ruin my credit? How can a company absolutely ruin my credit, yet refuse to provide me any information about the debt? How can I work in the public sector with underprivileged children and be refused deferments or forgiveness simply because I took out my first loan “too early” or because my ex-husband doesn’t qualify? How can these companies garnish my wages, yet not work with me on a fair repayment plan? I worked hard for my education, borrowing a minimal amount and paying for most of it myself, yet how am I rewarded? By picking up the tab for someone else’s debt. Is that a just and fair system?
Please join the over 46,000 supporters who have signed my petition on SignOn.org imploring the American Student Assistance company to remove my name from this consolidated student loan.
University of Tennessee Shuts Down 'Sex Week'
This article was originally published by Campus Progress.
Students at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville said they were disappointed, frustrated and enraged when their university's administration announced late Wednesday that it was pulling state funding from Sex Week.
Sex Week is an event that explores concepts of love, gender identity, relationships, sexual orientation and sex. Without state funding, the event will be down $11,145, or two-thirds, of the event’s budget.
Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT) organized Sex Week as part of its goal to promote honest discussions about sex and sexuality. The University of Tennessee is one of the first 10 universities in the country to host Sex Week, an event that Yale University began in 2002.
“I know, personally, I was really proud of my school for being so open-minded and supportive of something that’s very progressive," Melissa Slayton, a student at the University of Tennessee told Campus Progress. "Honestly, I was really surprised that, that would even happen at UT in the South. But it did, and that was really cool."
Tennessee has been at the center of the debate on sex education in recent years. Most notably was when Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill last year banning teachers from discussing “gateway sexual activity.” And while some administrators and politicians refuse to acknowledge the importance of having conversations about sex, more students in Tennessee are having sex than most other states nationwide. In 2009, 51 percent of female high school students and 56 percent of male high school students in Tennessee reported having sex—compared to 46 percent for students of each gender nationwide.
“Our society is either really sex enthusiastic or sex negative," Nickie Hackenbrack, a student at the University of Tennessee, told Campus Progress. "Sex we see on TV or in porn is not accurate, and we are not being properly educated because of how sex negative our education system is… Sex Week is trying to open up that discussion and trying to get people to open up about sex and sex health and how it pertains to their lives and how they want to approach it."
While there were some admittedly controversial panels planned for Sex Week, including a golden condom scavenger hunt, a majority of the events were dedicated to ensuring that students are knowledgeable about sex and how it affects their health.
“I know some of the programming was a little more risqué," Slayton said, "but they were going to offer free HIV testing and have different seminars like how to talk to your parents about sex. They have programming on religion and sexuality, Christianity and sexuality. I know some of the programs were going to be hosted by Christian organizations on campus."
"As a gay man, I've been overjoyed in response to the copious amount of events geared toward students who identify as LGBTQA that demonstrate the organizations emphasis on non-discrimination," said Kevin Brown, a student at UT, speaking to the inclusiveness of the programming.
The administration’s decision to defund the event came in the wake of outrage from media pundits and state politicians. State Sen. Stacey Campfield—who proposed the "Don't Say Gay" bill in his past, which would have prohibted teachers in Tennessee from discussing homosexuality in the classroom—led the charge against Sex Week.
"After reading this article...and another in FOX NEWS verifying this same story, I think it is well in order for us to reconsider our actions [passing the UT budget on Wednesday] and would like to make that motion so UT can either verify or deny publicly these incredible allegations,” Campfield posted on his website last week.
Yet, while politicians and news pundits were enraged by the week’s planned events, UT students saw little controversy on campus. Some students at UT even created a video that expressed their support for Sex Week.
[Campfield’s] conservative pressure has caused Jimmy Cheek [UT chancellor] to pull funding, and I’m very upset to see that Cheek is being influenced by forces outside the university," Hackenbrack said. "He’s not paying attention to the students and their wants or needs.”
Despite facing an uphill battle with the event only weeks away, students haven't given up. Hours after the chancellor’s announcement, students created a petition on change.org to restore funding for Sex Week. It garnered more than 1,000 signatures in the first 24 hours.
Students are also using #iwantsexweek on Twitter to make their voices heard and asking for donations online so that Sex Week can still be a success on campus.
No Human Being Is Illegal
In February, just as the Pima Community College (PCC) Governing Board in Tucson, Arizona, was ruling on whether to allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, members of the Mexican Studies youth coalition United Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies (UNIDOS) seized the moment to demand that the board drop the word “illegal” from its curriculum and update its anti-Hate Speech and anti-Harassment policies, signaling the confidence of the young people who comprise the immigrant rights movement.
The demand was related to a campaign lauched in September of 2010 by the Applied Research Center and its news site, Colorlines, to drop the i-word from public discourse under the banner of “no human being is illegal.” Since then, the campaign has garnered wide support from civil rights groups and media outlets, ranging from Fox News Latino to ABC News to Ms. magazine to Feministing to In These Times to The Nation.
“We are calling on Pima College to support Scholarships A-Z tuition proposal and to symbolically rip out this ugly and dehumanizing word “illegal” from your institutional culture,” said Danny Montoya, 20, a sophomore at Pima Community College, at the hearing. Pointing to the class underpinnings of undocumented labor and the discrepancies between enforcement and human rights, Montoya added: “Unless you are willing to stigmatize US business owners as ‘illegals’ when they hire undocumented workers; unless you are willing to attack US policy makers as ‘illegals’ when their Border Patrol agents commit brutal violence against migrants, then no one should degrade people as ‘illegals’ just for committing a civil infraction for crossing an international borderline unauthorized.”
Montoya told The Nation that branding undocumented people with the slur “illegal” was nothing more than the “criminalization of a whole population.” Recounting past family travails and a recent incident of police harassment involving a friend, Montoya said what the movement demands is to be “liberated from fear” and given “equal rights.” As for the mission of UNIDOS, “we want an educational system that works for everybody.” In order to realize that vision, Montoya believes “demeaning students” with words such as illegal has got to end because of how fellow students—friends even, he said—internalize their supposed illegality as definitive of their human worth.
Campaign coordinator, Mónica Novoa, writing this past August, framed the psychological terms of the debate through her own experience. Reminiscent of James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village” and Countee Cullen’s poem “Incident,” both of which infuse the experience of racialization with the palpable whimsy and heartache of innocence lost, Novoa relates the time a classmate in second grade welcomed the Spanish lesson kids with: “It’s the wetbacks!”
“It’s 2012, and in the US kids are going through childhood afraid that their parents are in danger of being deported or taken away for being ‘illegal,’ ” Novoa writes. According to a study by the Center for American Progress analyzing the effect of media on child development, children “begin to view immigration as equivalent to illegal.”
The radical proposition should be a clear and unequivocal demand: No human being is illegal. As J.A. Myerson argued in “The Case for Open Borders” in Jacobin magazine, “When the post-national North American capital created the conditions [through NAFTA] that made mass migration inevitable, it entered into an ethical contract with the migrant victims of its wealth accumulation scheme.” Therefore, “when the Right charges the Left with advocating amnesty, we should show them to be correct. No penalties, no electric fences, no drone surveillance, no papers, no fear.”
No fear was what the members of UNIDOS showed in February when in the context of a “historic decision to allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition,” they lifted their voices and settled for nothing less than institutional transformation at PCC. Arizona was a “laboratory to create a monstrosity,” says UNIDOS member Gabriel M. Schivone. Now, students like Schivone and Montoya and their allies in Tucson are building a culture of resistance in the belly of the beast.
Dispatches From the US Student Movement: March 15
Occidental students protest the university’s broken promises on sexual assault policy. (The Occidental Weekly/Chris Ellis)
E-mail questions, tips or proposals to studentmovement@thenation.com. For more dispatches, check out earlier posts from January 18, February 1, February 15 and March 1.
1. Chicago Students Refuse to Be Shut Down
For nearly ten years, Chicago Public Schools has been closing neighborhood schools, turning them around, phasing them out or selling them to private companies. Students and parents have stood up to these policies by holding rallies, shutting down CPS board meetings and doing sit-ins. When CPS announced the decision to phase out my high school, we exposed how Dyett was sabotaged by the district. Over thirty of my classmates and I filed Title VI civil rights complaints against the district. Since then, students, parents, teachers and community members have connected with other cities. We did a “Journey for Justice” ride to DC, where we marched to the Department of Education and demanded that our civil rights stop being violated. Students realized that this wasn’t just local, but nationwide, so we visited other cities and listened to their stories, thus building a stronger base. This spring, all those students came together again in DC and gave testimonies. Though CPS now has 129 schools on the chopping block, for us, the fight has just begun.
—Keshaundra Neal
2. Who Does UChicago Serve?
On January 27, a peaceful sit-in protesting the lack of trauma services in a yet-to-be opened hospital building on the University of Chicago Medicine campus was violently broken up by university police. Three protesters were arrested for trespassing, and one protester, a black PhD student, was charged with resisting arrest despite much evidence to the contrary. After a vigil condemning the police’s behavior—and a university proposal to hold a dialogue without an administrative presence—protesters delivered two petitions to President Zimmer, demanding greater transparency and meaningful conversation with decision makers on the trauma care issue. Following a letter of support signed by 158 faculty members and nineteen student groups, the university was forced to drop the most serious charges against the protesters. However, evidence revealing an undercover university police officer posing as a protester eroded any remaining community trust in the University. Going forward, Fearless Leading by the Youth and their university allies, Students for Health Equity, will continue holding the University accountable to its professed values of free speech and community inclusion.
—Students for Health Equity
3. At Occidental, Broken Promises on Stopping Rape
The student-faculty Occidental Sexual Assault Coalition was formed in early 2012 in response to growing complaints about the college’s handling of sexual assault cases. OSAC developed 12 Demands based on best practices that President Jonathan Veitch agreed to. In February, local media reported an alleged rape at Occidental. Many were dismayed to learn about the crime through a news source rather than school officials, especially since the 12 Demands required rape reports in the campus alert system. On March 1, nearly 300 students and faculty protested Veitch’s broken promise and created the Dear Oxy tumbler and a Change.org petition. Veitch then denied ever having agreed to OSAC’s demands and, in an open letter, condemned a survivor and faculty member for “actively seeking to embarrass the college” by talking to reporters. OSAC responded with plans to file Clery Act and Title IX complaints. OSAC will also host a Sleep Over for Sexual Assault Prevention on the campus quad on April 19 and 20.
—Occidental Sexual Assault Coalition
4. At Cincinnati, the Vagina Gives Its Rebuttal
The anti-abortion “Genocide Awareness Project” troubled many students when it came to McMicken Commons at the University of Cincinnati last May with images of “aborted fetuses” alongside those of Holocaust victims and slaves being lynched. In response, the UC Alliance (an LGBTQ student group on campus) and UC Feminists (which is partnered with Planned Parenthood) held the exhibit “Re-envisioning the Female Body” at the same location on March 7 and 8 to bring to light the conflict over the vagina in our culture. We displayed images of vulvas in the gynecological stance, along with stories from each model. The images are meant to be ironic, objectifying the vagina to show the ridiculousness of doing so. We wanted to fight the stigma of ugliness attached to genitalia and the shame that goes along with it by putting real life stories to a body part that lawmakers often try to legislate. In the future, we hope to bring the exhibit to other campuses.
—Cortnie Owens
5. Oregon Grad Employees Vote Resoundingly to Unionize
The Coalition of Graduate Employees, AFT Local 6069, at Oregon State University won a union election on March 8, allowing 781 graduate employees to gain the union representation previously denied to them. Graduate employees nationally do much of the teaching and research at major universities, but have scant job protections and bargaining power. Historically, the Coalition of Graduate Employees represented teaching assistants, but the administration excluded research assistants from collective bargaining agreements by claiming they were not employees. Over the last year two years, hundreds of graduate employees organized to demonstrate majority support, and, in a historic case, the Oregon Employment Relations Board ruled that graduate research assistants are public employees with the right to unionize. This decision allowed for an election in which graduate employees chose union representation by a 9-1 margin—a clear mandate for the administration to sit down at the bargaining table with the Coalition of Graduate Employees.
—The Coalition of Graduate Employees, AFT Local 6069
6. Students and Farmworkers March 200 Miles to Publix HQ
On March 17, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and its allies, including members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, will arrive at the headquarters of Publix Super Markets in Lakeland, Florida—having marched 200 miles from Fort Myers, Florida, by foot, starting on March 3. We are demanding that Publix sign CIW’s Fair Food Agreement to improve wages (by 0.01 cents per pound of tomato) and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers. The SFA is a decentralized network made up of numerous local student groups. In Miami and Homestead, the SFA at Florida International University is working collaboratively with Madre Tierra to bring over 60 students and community members to the closing of the march. Over the past three years Publix has refused to do the right thing for farmworkers in their home state—even as protests, pray-ins and a six-day fast have continued to escalate the pressure. SFA at FIU has organized a picket around Labor Day, a creative action for Valentines Day and flyering at the Publix across campus in solidarity with the CIW.
—Daniela Saczek
7. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, a Student New Deal
The newly-minted New Deal for Students, a collection of policies written by students, for students, to solve the student debt crisis, is already shaping policy in Washington. Friday, the resurrection of a former student debt bill will include NDS’s recommendation to automatically enroll graduating students in Income Based Repayment. The news comes just days after the Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network and the United States Students Association started notifying legislators of the NDS’s grassroots-generated, student solutions. A proposal from the Hendrix College, Arkansas, chapter, for example, would implement a loan repayment program to attract highly-qualified graduates to teach honors-level courses in rural public schools. This would aid struggling borrowers and could generate $30 million per year for states, as similar programs are projected to do, by keeping graduates working in-state.
—Meredith Morrison and Razmig Sarkissian
8. Cooper Union’s Mission Drift
Students, alumni, faculty and staff at the Cooper Union, famed for offering all admitted students merit-based full scholarships, have been organizing since October 31, 2011, when the college’s president, Jamshed Bharucha, went straight to The New York Times to announce the possibility of tuition. The community has organized statements, community summits and a student lock-in to address the unchecked decision-making power vested in the college’s bloated administration and board. Following a School of Art Faculty Statement, the board deferred all early-decision applicants to the School of Art, despite previous claims. Full faculty meetings yielded the mantra, “Mission Means Union!” expressing commitment to the Mission Statement and the belief that an injury to one school is an injury to all. A memo following the recent board meeting stated another delay to tuition. Meanwhile, the community refutes expansionist reinvention models and continues advocating for new forms of governance and clearer avenues of redress that redistribute power.
—Victoria Sobel
9. UPenn’s SOUL Power
Following a letter from the senior faculty of Africana Studies in the Daily Pennsylvanian addressing University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann for failing to appoint a person of color to the position of dean during her tenure, SOUL (Students Organizing for Unity and Liberation) is hosting a forum between students and faculty to address issues of diversity on March 23. The dialogue will address low retention and promotion rates among faculty of color, whether Penn has lived up to its commitment to diversity and the university’s current diversity initiatives. According to the latest 2009 minority report and collegeboard.org, black students make up 7 percent of the student body, Latino students 9 percent, black faculty 3.1 percent and Latino faculty 2 percent. SOUL shares Africana’s beliefs that “only when issues of diversity are substantively engaged at the highest levels of our administration, not simply promoted as social events, will real change occur at Penn.”
—Breanna Moore
10. Columbia’s Student-Worker Uprising
(Edited, with permission, from a video report made by Martyna Starosta for Waging Nonviolence)
Though Columbia University has an endowment of almost $8 billion, administrators insist that they can’t afford to pay more than half the prevailing wage to a group of workers at Faculty House, a campus catering venue. Now, the workers are teaming up with students, faculty, community members and alumni to fight for justice under the auspices of a new campus group, Student-Worker Solidarity. As the university stonewalls contract negotiations that have dragged on for eleven months, workers and students are educating, agitating and organizing in a way that Columbia hasn’t seen for a long time. Targeting the administrators who call the shots at the negotiating table, SWS holds weekly actions, ranging from rallies and marches that draw hundreds, to letter deliveries and teach-ins. Students and workers alike are re-discovering the power of solidarity—and we’re not stopping until we win a fair contract.
—Student-Worker Solidarity
Interns' Favorite Articles of the Week (3/15/13)
With warrior cops, Massive Open Online Courses, mulling mullahs and a new Great Game in the Arctic, this week's articles are full of powerful images, phrases and ideas, some exciting and most disquieting. And to wash it all down, there's even a piece on Mayor Bloomberg's soda ban.
— Alleen Brown focuses on education.
“California Bill Seeks Campus Credit for Online Study,” by Tamar Lewin. The New York Times, March 13, 2013.
Legislation introduced Wednesday in California's Senate would force universities to grant students credit for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Online classes have been proposed as an alternative to oversubscribed, required courses that many students have been shut out of because of space issues. The article points out that the problem stems in part from state-level budget cuts.
— James Cersonsky focuses on labor and education.
“Day Laborers Defend Their Right to Public Space in Court,” by Michelle Chen. In These Times, March 6, 2013.
A lesser known provision of Arizona's notorious SB 1070 allowed police to arrest people for soliciting work in public. The law targeted workers—especially undocumented day laborers—for "obstructing traffic" while seeking work. In February, a Phoenix federal district court struck it down on free speech grounds. As Michelle Chen writes, this is obviously good news, though, for one of the most exploited class of workers, only one step for justice on the job—or, rather, the search for the job.
— Catherine Defontaine focuses on war, security and peace-related issues, African and French politics, peacekeeping and the link between conflicts and natural resources.
“Preventing an Arctic Cold War,” by Paul Arthur Berkman. The New York Times, March 13, 2013.
The effects of global warming have transformed the stakes for the Arctic. So far there has been cooperation among countries regarding the exploitation of the region’s natural resources and fisheries. Since 1996 eight nations surrounding the Arctic and groups representing indigenous communities have created the Arctic Council to promote cooperation and address “common Arctic issues”: sustainable development and environmental protection. However, even though tensions are now low, the potential for conflict is extremely high. For the Arctic states, the main challenge is to maintain peace in the region.
— Andrew Epstein focuses on social history, colonialism and indigenous rights.
“How Cops Became Soldiers: An Interview with Police Militarization Expert Radley Balko,” by Michael Arria. VICE, March 4, 2013.
In North Dakota, police borrowed a $154 million MQ-9 Predator Drone to arrest a separatist family who refused to return six cows that wandered onto their farm. Two SWAT teams were deployed in Colorado to find a man suspected of stealing groceries and a bicycle from Walmart. And on Wall Street, police swept out Occupy protesters with klieg lights and a military-style sound machine. Cops everywhere are looking a lot more like soldiers, Radley Balko explains in this interview and a forthcoming book. A fellow at the Cato Institute, Balko's analysis is inflected with libertarianism and thus misses the class structure behind this sea-change in domestic policing. But if we're going to demilitarize our neighborhoods—let alone the rest of the world—we need allies where we can find them.
— Luis Feliz focuses on ideas and debates within the left, social movements and culture.
“On Resigning from the SWP,” by Richard Seymour. Lenin’s Tomb, March 12, 2013.
In the wake of a sexual assault scandal and the undemocratic practices and lack of acceptability of the Central Committee of the British Socialist Workers Party, Richard Seymour and China Miéville along with more than sixty members have left the party. While it is still uncertain what the possible dissolution of the SWP bodes for the international left, its likely demise should give us all pause to weigh and consider the possibilities for the next principled left. The article for this week is Seymour’s resignation letter.
— Elana Leopold focuses on the Middle East, its relations with the US and Islam.
“What the Mullahs Are Mulling,” by Andrew Finkel. International Herald Tribune, March 6, 2013.
At this beginning of this week, leading Muslim scholars and clerics from all over the world—from Europe to the Middle East to Asia—gathered in Istanbul for a conference titled "Islamic Cooperation for a Peaceful Future in Afghanistan." Organized by an Afghani academic of conflict resolution and current faculty member of George Mason University, the gathering is especially significant given the unfruitful attempts of Afghani and Pakistani governments to organize a meeting of clerics in the last year, as well as for the diversity of participants.
— Alec Luhn focuses on East European and Eurasian affairs, especially issues of good governance, human rights and activism.
“Humanitarian Principles in the Post-9/11 World,” by Antonio Donini. Norwegian Refugee Council, November 2012.
The appropriation of humanitarian aid projects for political goals is hardly a new phenomenon and continues in the Middle East and elsewhere. Amid the growing effects of climate change and an increasingly multipolar world, humanitarian agencies will soon be pushed aside entirely by private contractors and military forces, Domini argues. In light of this, he calls for humanitarians to return to the more limited but effective task of "injecting a measure of humanity into situations that should not exist."
— Leticia Miranda focuses on race, gender, telecommunications and media reform.
“Minority Groups and Bottlers Team Up in Battles Over Soda,” by Nick Confessore. The New York Times, March 13, 2013.
The fight over New York City's soda ban and this revealing story about corporate giving to civil rights groups reminds me of the battles in media policy. This NY Times story offers a glimpse into how corporate thinking has developed within formerly progressive or liberal groups and leads us to a story that may be more complex than "they were just bought off."
— Brendan O’Connor focuses on media criticism and pop culture.
“When People Write for Free, Who Pays?” by Cord Jefferson. Gawker, March 8, 2013.
So spot on that I'm just going to pull a quote and leave it at that: "This is what props up the system of internships, low rates and writing for 'exposure': the middle- to upper-middle-class parent who can drop $900 for rent money here, or $2,000 for a broker's fee there, or who can simply co-sign a lease. Their budding writers get breathing room that millions of other mothers and fathers couldn't imagine being able to provide."
— Anna Simonton focuses on issues of systemic oppression perpetuated by the military and prison industrial complexes.
“5 Ways We Can Teach Men Not to Rape,” by Zerlina Maxwell. Ebony, March 11, 2013.
The Senate Armed Services Committee recently held its first hearing on the problem of sexual assault in the military in over ten years. Like the House hearing on the same subject that took place in January, much of the testimony and questioning centered on how to change the chain of command so that perpetrators are held accountable and survivors can report assault without fearing repercussions. These changes are badly needed, as this recent controversy shows. However, missing from the conversation is an analysis of the why male soldiers rape in the first place, and how they can unlearn the patriarchal aggression that's at the root of the problem. Zerlina Maxwell's article should be required reading material for senators and military training instructors alike.
— Cos Tollerson focuses on Latin American politics and society, and United States imperialism.
“Unthinkable,” by Pooja Bhatia. n+1, March 8, 2013.
In the process of reviewing Laurent Dubois' Haiti: The Aftershocks of History for n+1 magazine, Pooja Bhatia provides a concise summary of the island's political experience since its independence in 1804. She details the evolving forms of foreign authority that have targeted the nation in the past two centuries, the varied interests that have benefitted from the island's instability and the ahistorical narratives of local degeneracy that continue to exoticize Haiti’s inhabitants in an attempt to legitimize their exploitation. Globally, the combination of encouraged debt accumulation, occupation, covert intervention and dehumanization that Bhatia describes in Haiti forms the core of a neocolonial agenda, which has attempted to maintain the imbalance of power between Europe and the developing world since the implosion of formal colonial relationships.
— Sarah Woolf focuses on what’s happening north of the US border.
“Trudeau leadership win a 'fait accompli,' Garneau says,” by Laura Payton and Leslie MacKinnon. CBC News, March 13, 2013.
The embattled Liberal Party—once known as Canada's "natural governing party" and now a shell of its former self after it was decimated in the 2011 federal elections—is undergoing the process of picking its new party leader. The race just got a little less interesting (many observers had wondered if that was even possible) now that former astronaut Marc Garneau has withdrawn from the race. Garneau has effectively crowned le petit PET, Justin Trudeau (son of Canada's most famous Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau), the victor. In his closing statement, Garneau reflected, "I wish Twitter had existed during my time in space. This might have had a different outcome.'"
Columbia Students Come Out for Campus Workers' Rights
“The Columbia administration always has the same attitude. They’re always anti-union, acting in the most anti-social, corporate way. There’s always been student support for workers at Columbia and that support is essential.”
—Professor Eric Foner, speaking at a Student Worker Solidarity rally for the
Faculty House restaurant workers
Ten months ago, when I eagerly tore open my acceptance letter from Columbia University, my mind conjured up images of protesting against bigoted city policies such as stop-and-frisk or mass incarceration in the spirit of the school’s activist tradition. A naïve newcomer, I had no idea that restaurant workers at Columbia were being blatently exploited on campus at that very moment.
Columbia University prides itself as the premier “progressive Ivy.” During orientation week, we attended numerous tightly scripted programs that promoted uplifting themes such as diversity and tolerance. We sat together, listening to our president, Lee Bollinger, renowned for defending affirmative action in front of the Supreme Court. While we sat in our seats, reveling in our feel-good kumbaya circle, the workers at Columbia’s Faculty House restaurant were sitting across the bargaining table, gaping at the jaw-dropping comments and callous “offers” coming from the administration.
As Juan Aquino, a twenty-five-year veteran server, recalled, “When they look across the table, all they see is a bunch of immigrants. They hear our accents and act as if we think with an accent.” In fact, many workers present at the bargaining table have complained about Columbia’s lead negotiator, Sheila Garvey, who reportedly hissed in negotiations, “We’re not paying you to sit around in the DR [Dominican Republic] over summer.”
Earning $13 to $15 an hour, these banquet chefs are working for half of standard market rate, not close to a living wage in New York City. And though they have only received a 2 percent pay increase over the last eight years, the company has gone for the jugular, offering to “raise” pay in return for a healthcare downgrade.
But not only is Columbia being unfair to a union shop that has earned it more revenue than any other on campus, the school is also being patently dishonest. For every catered event at Faculty House, the administration slaps on a 22 percent service charge, yet that fee goes straight back to management. Workers have calculated that from 2012 bar mitzvahs and weddings alone, each employee has been deprived of approximately $2,000 in what could have been additional income. Even more egregiously, many workers are doing eighty-hour weeks, clocking in at 6 am and leaving at 10 pm, but are nonetheless classified as “part-time”, and thus are deprived of full-time benefits.
Pushed into a corner, the Faculty House workers have been forced to take action. On January 25, twenty-five workers hosted a teach-in during which they communicated their plight to over 120 Columbia students packed into a small classroom. On February 8, an official union rally attracted more than 200 workers, community members and students who rallied through campus in the midst of a blizzard. Finally, on February 28, the group voted decisively to authorize a strike as temporary healthcare coverage is about to run out in a few weeks.
In response to these efforts, the campus activism that I dreamed of as a high schooler has finally resurged. Led by the activist labor group Student Worker Solidarity, students have stormed administrative offices, held weekly rallies attracting hundreds onto the Columbia steps and delivered numerous petitions to managers, HR personnel and President Bollinger himself. In fact, largely because of the massive student presence at negotiations, the administration has walked out on several occasions, allowing the Faculty House workers to file an Unfair Labor Practice with the Labor Department, which earned them the right to strike without reprisal. But students have built more than an organization, they have formed intensely personal relationships with the workers.
Almost everyday, I go to Faculty House to chat with the workers. Sometimes it’s about a planning a rally or moving forward, but often it’s just joking around and shooting the breeze. This sense of community and solidarity has permeated beyond Faculty House. Last Tuesday, I was talking to a worker at a Columbia café, who sent me to our main cafeteria because workers from a different union were interested in our actions. The next Friday, they came out in droves, showing solidarity with their fellow workers and expressing gratitude and relief in knowing that students were behind them. I can’t walk around campus without running into a worker, who turned up to a rally, or a faculty member that spoke out on behalf of us. It seems that students and workers united are finally building the “Columbia community” that the administration often talks about.
As a first-year, I am ashamed of my school’s leadership. I never wear my Columbia hoodie around the city because I don’t want to be associated with the exploitation of immigrants, the conquest of Harlem or any of the school’s other attacks on people of color. At the heart of the issue is Columbia’s hypocrisy. The administration cannot brag about fostering a progressive community while also harming those who serve it. As one of the workers, Osmond Cousins, who has dedicated eighteen years to Columbia, put it, “They think they can have their cake and eat it too.” But if the restaurant workers at Columbia continue to undergo such abuse, there won’t be any cake left for anyone.
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