We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

With Educational Opportunity Under Attack, Protesters Disrupt Proceedings with Civil Disobedience

Click here to access article from PR Watch.

Working people are fighting back against privatization and public service cutbacks all over the world: in Haiti, in India, in Greece, in Egypt, Spain, Iceland, Portugal, in the US State of Wisconsin, etc. Are people organizing and fighting back where you are? Or are they going like sheep into the slaughterhouse?

 
As the Joint Finance Committee moves closer to final action on Governor Scott Walker's controversial budget, which takes $1 billion out of public education, while radically expanding school vouchers, more protests are expected in the Wisconsin Capitol.
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"You're basically cutting off municipalities' arms and legs, instead of their heads," said Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee), who advised Republican lawmakers not to pat themselves on the backs for what were touted as improvements to the original proposal. According to WisPolitics, "The motion increases aid to county and municipalities by $19.3 million in 2012-13, leaving the program with a net reduction of $76.8 million.
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The committee moved on to the school choice omnibus....
Grigsby said the motion was "not about the poor little black kids in Milwaukee; it's about privatizing public education. It's about making money off the backs of poor children."

"We need to raise all boats, not sink boats to raise a few yachts," Jauch said of the motion, which favors resources for private schools by stripping Milwaukee public schools of $182 million.
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The final motion tackled the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. It eliminated the ability of police and fire employees to collectively bargain on the design and choice of a health insurance plan.
And at a bank in Milwaukee the protestors are shouting, "we got sold out, they got bailed out!"