The rallying cry went out March 4. Ringing through the halls of campuses statewide was the call for the end to budget cuts, layoffs, privatization and fee hikes, which resonated with the tattered but not broken spirits of wage slaves, a.k.a. students and teachers.
Unifying people across race, gender and class is the founding idea that the budget will not be balanced on the backs of working class people. The budget needs to be balanced and shared by all.
The March 4 student strike and statewide day of action is not where the protests, teachings and occupations end; rather it served as the collective birthplace of many more actions to come.
This is the time for action and cooperation, where the vertical structure of power that supports educational institutions implodes through those that built it and exclusionary solutions to California’s educational mess.
As capitalism collapses around us, it leaves in its wake foreclosures, unemployment and the further privatization of education and health care.
In response, the people react not only in symbolic gestures of dissent like dropping banners at UC Berkeley reading “Debtors in Defiance” and at UC Irvine by chanting, “They say class cuts, we say class war.”
Also in support of the situation is an unprecedented grassroots organization that showed its strength during the ’08 presidential elections, dwindling shortly thereafter, only to be revived to fight state and federal budgeting aberrations.
It has become obvious that decades of protests and petitions will get the people’s movement to compromise some of its demands rather than achieve its goals and gain clout in the political game. Furthermore, any action from their elected representatives would be failed by the partisan gridlock in Sacramento.
With the lobbying trolls of Chevron and the unwavering and stubborn halls of the state assembly, it would be an uphill battle to pass legislation taxing oil companies, commercial property and the disproportionately rich.
The student movement is unprecedented because it has the involvement and cooperation of teachers, parents and the community.
With this involvement, the possibilities are endless, and change can be achieved for all those who have had their lives impacted by these unfair wage hikes.
Education is a human right, not a privilege. Events like the March student strike will continue to persist until educational justice is met for everyone.
One thing is clear, students will not stand for unfair fees. Across the state of California, students will continue to protest and occupy spaces, teachers will continue to educate for justice and workers will be in solidarity, while together we organize for a future that works for us and includes us all.
The views expressed in Campus Insight are those of the authors alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of the Union, its staff, editorial board, or advisers.
