Public education is on
the chopping block for elimination. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants
it commodified into another business profit center. At issue is saving
it.
Education isn't a product. It's a fundamental right. It's a societal
bedrock. In Chicago and across America, it's being handed over to corporate
predators. Their scheme is exploiting it for a buck.
Money making is all they care about. Educating kids doesn't matter.
Federal, state, and local politicians are in league with corporate profiteers.
The future for millions of children is up for grabs. It's disappearing
in plain sight.
On September 10, Chicago teachers walked out for more than better pay,
vital benefits, job security, and other headline reasons. Media scoundrels
twist truth their way. Readers are betrayed. Issues aren't explained.
What's at stake isn't discussed.
Chicago streets are ablaze with red. It's the color of Chicago resistance.
Thousands of red-shirted picketers took to the streets.
Perhaps two signs said it all: "On strike for better schools." "Enough
is enough."
Substance News is a leading source of information on Chicago schools.
For over 30 years, it's defended public education. It publishes daily
articles and updates on city schools and issues related to them.
It takes dead aim at corporate news, union busting, and efforts to marginalize
public education and destroy it. It's abreast of unfolding strike action
and events leading to it.
On September 10, it headlined "A new 'Chicago Symphony' is born on every
street in the Second City….Massive support for teachers as the Chicago
Teachers Strike of 2012 begins."
Chicago was the noisiest in its history, it said. From Howard Street
up north to the city's far South Side, cars, trucks, buses, and other
vehicles honked horns in solidarity against corrupt politicians and
corporate predators wanting education exploited for a buck.
Thousands of teachers took to the streets. Parents, students, and concerned
residents joined them. The strike "the nation's rulers said was impossible
began."
"Noise, hell. That's our music," teachers said. They know what they're
fighting for. Saving what's too vital to lose is key. At midnight September
10, teachers sang "solidarity forever."
"From O'Hare Airport to the Indiana border, by 7:00 a.m. the 'CTU red'
lines were along every main street in the city, and the 'Honk if you
support the teachers' symphony' had begun."
"It couldn't be drowned out, no matter how craven the lies of the men
and women who, by 2012, were known generally as the 'one percent.' "
"Every truck driver, firefighter, cab driver, police officer and citizen
knew that this was THE beginning of the fight to take back the USA from
the plutocracy, and the teachers of Chicago were leading it and knew
why they were doing what we were doing."
America's soul is on the chopping block for sale. It's up for grabs.
Corrupt federal, state, and local politicians in league with corporate
predators want it carved up and devoured for profit.
They want ordinary people hung out to dry. They want kids deprived of
futures. They want no profit opportunity left behind. They want all
private wealth in their hands. They want America transformed into Guatemala.
They want goon squad repression targeting non-believers.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel represents the worst of reprehensible governance.
He's a war criminal/corporate predator running Chicago. He's a cancer
metastasizing throughout the city's body and soul.
He's waging war against teachers and other city workers. He wants them
deprived of all rights. He wants public education commodified.
He should be in prison, not City Hall. He's pro-war, pro-Israel, neoliberal,
anti-union and anti-populist. Chicago activist Sherman Skolnick once
called him the "acting deputy chief for North America of Mossad."
His father was a Jerusalem-born pediatrician. Pre-1948, he smuggled
weapons to Israeli terrorists. Emanuel is just as hardline. During the
Gulf War, he served as a civilian IDF volunteer. He holds dual US/Israeli
citizenship.
In Congress and as White House chief of staff, he supported the worst
of Israeli and US imperial crimes. His abrasive style alienates him
from anyone expressing opposing views.
He's affiliated with neocon/neoliberal Democrats. He's corporatist,
heartless, and soulless. He's ideologically no different from Republican
hardliners. He doesn't give a damn about ordinary people. They're to
be used, not served.
He represents everything wrong in America needing fixing. For Chicagoans,
it's saving public education and a whole lot more.
In Chicago, September 11, 2012 is more than the 9/11 eleventh anniversary.
It's day two of Chicago teachers striking for justice.
Substance News headlined "History in the making….A medley of reports
and analyses following Day One of the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012."
Editor George Schmidt compiled them. Substance published some earlier.
Others are new. Teachers walked out over core issues left unresolved
far too long.
Xian Barrett teaches history and social studies. He runs the Teacher
X blog site. On September 9, he headlined why he's striking.
America's labor movement has roots in Chicago. It's more than about
wages and benefits. It helped stop child labor so kids could attend
school.
It contested unsafe workplace conditions. It "fought so that workers
could have some tiny measure of time with our families rather than spending
all waking hours working for the enrichment of their bosses."
At issue now is whether to "help or hurt our kids." Overcrowded classrooms
left too hot in summer and too cold in winter hurts plenty.
"When you lock down our schools with metal detectors and arrest brothers
for play fighting in the halls, that hurts our kids."
"When you spend millions on your pet programs, but there’s no money
for school level repairs, so the roof leaks on my students at their
desks when it rains, that hurts our kids."
"When you unilaterally institute a longer school day, insult us by calling
it a 'full school day' and then provide no implementation support, throwing
our schools into chaos, that hurts our kids."
When you scavenge school budgets to enrich corporate favorites, that
hurts plenty. Somebody ought to go to jail, said Barrett.
When you close schools, privatize others, fire teachers, disrupt the
lives of kids, leave thousands without classrooms, prioritize bureaucracy
and corporate interests over education, that not only hurts kids, "it
basically ruins the whole idea of why we have a (school) district at
all."
When you bargain in bad faith, you prove you want force-fed diktat authority,
not equitable resolution.
Barrett says he's "willing to sacrifice an awful lot to protect the
students I serve every day." Striking isn't hurting them. Teachers walked
out "to restore some semblance of reasonable care for students to this
system."
"I ask anyone who does remotely care about the kids we teach and learn
from and triumph and cheer and cry and grow with., to stand with us
and fight for a better future for our kids."
"See you on the picket line, my friend."
Retired teacher Mike Klonsky's Small Talk Blog headlined "Romney, Ryan
Support Rahm." What else from a corporate predator and wannabe. Both
blame victims. According to Romney:
"Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict
with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest
examples yet."
Ryan said "Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union
strike is unnecessary and wrong. We know (he's) not going to support
our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm
Emanuel."
Obama's no different. He doesn't give a damn about kids anywhere. White
House spokesman Jay Carney said "the president has no opinion about
this particular incident." That's administrationspeak for strong Emanuel
support.
Labor Notes contributor Theresa Moran headlined "Behind the Chicago
Teachers Strike," saying:
At issue is smaller classes, vital student services, "and stability
for a profession that's battling a corporate takeover."
Key also is a draconian evaluation process able to sack around 28% of
teachers within two years if not stopped. It's part of Obama's pro-corporate
Race to the Top initiative. It's tied to privatizing public schools
for profit.
Teachers are facing off against corrupt politicians allied with corporate
predators. They want education prioritized over profit. They agree "public
education in Chicago isn't working and Mayor Emanuel is making things
worse."
English teacher Keith Plum says he's sick and tired about what's going
on. He's forced to comply with what hurts kids or be fired. When are
we going to prioritize teaching and learning, he asks?
Strike action has been "a long time coming." Unresolved core issues
fester. Teachers, parents, and children are harmed. They're fed up and
fighting back.
They're angry that Emanuel "continued (Mayor) Daley's tornado of closures
and privatizations….The fight against school closures" got harder. The
onslaught promises to get worse if not stopped.
History teacher Jen Johnson said people are fed up and want change.
"We're organizationally, mentally, and emotionally prepared" to go to
the wall and fight.
On August 29, the Chicago Teacher Solidarity Campaign met to discuss
fighting for fully funded education. Parents, teachers, students, and
community members were involved.
Organizing for action was urged. City schools are in crisis after years
of budget cuts.
"So why are Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the billionaires on the Board of
Education blaming the teachers for our schools’ problems?"
"How dare they threaten to bankrupt our public schools with more spending
on charters and magnets, but no money for small class sizes or a full
curriculum?"
If they can find millions for corporate scoundrels, why not for kids?
Fighting back in solidarity is key.
Laura Clawson headlined "Chicago teachers are facing down big money
and political power to fight for better schools," saying:
At issue is education or corporate power. Well-funded anti-populists
want harmful to kids proposals "jam(med) down the" throats of teachers.
Big money, corrupt politicians, and media scoundrels "are stacked against
Chicago teachers as they fight for the working conditions they need
to effectively" teach. Dark force destructive tactics target them.
Teachers, parents, students, and concerned residents are in this fight
together. "If you're in Chicago, you can rally or wear red in solidarity."
Wherever you are, get involved for justice. It's our nation, our future,
and our choice.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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