Los Angeles, CA – The fight for public education at UCLA began early this morning, March 4. By sunrise the campus had transformed. A walkout and rally is planned for 11:30 a.m. this morning where students, workers and faculty will join together at Bruin Plaza to denounce the budget cuts. Picket lines led by the unions, AFSCME, UPTE and UWA have sprung up all over and their chants can be heard all from almost everywhere on campus, “Whose university? Our university!” The administration will not be allowed to lay off workers and raise tuition without a fight! Things are expected to heat up as the day goes on, with teach-ins and marches and sit-ins.

UCLA is not alone. Over 122 protests in 33 different states are planned for March 4. Here in California, the students and staff have already shut down the University of Santa Cruz, demanding an end to the attacks on public education. More updates to come.

#LosAngelesCA #Labor #AFSCME #UCLA #sitin #UniversityOfCalifornia #UPTE #UWA

Los Angeles, CA – Student protests continued across California, Nov. 20, in the wake of the heavily-protested decision of the University of California (UC) regents to raise undergraduate tuition by a staggering 32%.

Nov. 19, as the regents held their final day of meetings, thousands of students across the UC system protested the tuition hike, the furloughs of university workers and other effects of the budget cuts.

After the fee hike passed, outraged demonstrators (numbering between 1000-2000) formed a blockade of the meeting venue at UCLA to prevent the regents from leaving. They succeeded in detaining the regents for several hours before being forcibly dispersed by police.

On the other side of UCLA’s campus, students participated in a takeover of Campbell Hall which lasted until about 8:00 p.m. Nov.19. Demonstrators left voluntarily.

At UC-Davis, roughly 200 student protesters took over the campus administration building the morning of Nov. 19 and remained there until late in the evening. 52 were arrested by campus police.

At UC-Santa Cruz, where a number of building takeovers have happened in the last two months, students occupied two buildings – Kerr and Kresge Hall. Students stayed inside the buildings overnight and remained in control of both at the time of this writing [Nov. 20]. On the night of Nov. 20, they presented the campus administration with an extensive list of demands, which can be found here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/19/18629337.php

Today, Nov. 20, although the regents meeting is over, many protests have continued. At UC-Berkeley, several dozen students took over Wheeler Hall early this morning, and continue to hold the space despite the efforts of UC and Berkeley police in riot gear. When police tried to disperse the occupation, hundreds of students and workers gathered outside the building to defend it, clashing with the cops. At the time of this writing, the SWAT team has been called in and is attempting to take the doors off their hinges.

Berkeley protesters have also presented a list of demands. They are:

1. Rehire all 38 AFSCME custodial workers who were laid off.
2. Provide amnesty to all protesters/occupiers.
3. Retain the current small-business occupants of the Berkeley food court instead of replacing them with chains.
4. Preserve the Rochdale cooperative housing for students.

For a time it looked as though the administration was going to negotiate, but now it seems like they’ve chosen to use force.

Finally, there is a new occupation at UC-Davis as of today, at Dutton Hall. That's a total of six building takeovers across the UC system in the last 24 hours, four of which are still going on.

The UC regents might have successfully raised tuition, but in doing so it looks like they’ve awakened a ‘sleeping giant’ across the state. Again and again, students and workers across the UC campuses are saying that they won’t tolerate any more. If the UC administrators don’t change their current policies, they could be facing a system-wide revolt sooner than they think.

Charla Schlueter, of UCLA Students for a Democratic Society, said, “Students across California are turning to more militant tactics like civil disobedience and building occupation, because it’s clear the regents and the administrators aren’t interested in giving them the time of day. We’re going to see more resistance like this across the UC system and beyond it, until the rulers of the UC abandon their plan of privatization and stop the attacks on working-class and oppressed nationality students.”

#California #CA #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #UCLA #UCRegents

Los Angeles, CA – Students from all over the state of California gathered at the University of California regents meeting on UCLA campus Nov.19. They were there to protest proposed fee hikes.

Students and workers (represented by AFSCME, UPTE and other unions) held a huge protest outside of Covell Commons, the meeting venue. The already militant mood became one of outrage when word spread that the 32% fee increase had been approved. Amongst the protesters were members of Students for a Democratic Society.

Afterwards, protesters formed a human chain around the building and staged sit ins at the various entrances, with the goal of preventing the regents from leaving. For over two hours they succeeded, as a wall of bodies prevented any vehicles from driving off. Eventually the police used force to disperse the crowd, and at least one student was attacked with pepper spray as demonstrators chanted, “Shame on you!”

Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, protesters occupied Campbell Hall and barricaded the entrances shut. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building ‘Carter-Huggins,’ after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther Party leaders who were murdered there in 1969.

In the morning, a large march went by the building to support the occupiers. In the afternoon, after demonstrators were dispersed at Covell, many came back to Campbell Hall to join the occupation. As of the time this is being written, protesters are still inside and have just been given an order to disperse by the UC police.

#LosAngelesCA #Labor #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #AFSCME #UCLA #UCRegents

Los Angeles, CA – Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside UCLA's Campbell Hall in protest of a planned 32% fee hike that will be enacted later today. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building “Carter-Huggins,” after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther leaders who were murdered there in 1969.

The following is from a statement the occupiers posted around the building:

“We know the crisis is systemic – and that it reaches beyond the Regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacramento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society. But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing.”

“We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university.”

“We therefore ask that those who share in our struggle lend us not only their sympathy but their active support. For those students who work two or three jobs while going to school, to those parents for whom the violation of the UC charter means the prospect of affordable education remains out of reach, to laid off teachers, lecturers, to students turned away, to workers who've seen the value of their diplomas evaporate in an economy that 'grows' without producing jobs – to all these people and more besides, we say that our struggle is your struggle, that an alternative is possible if you have the courage to seize it.”

The occupiers have set up a website: http://uclaresists.blogspot.com/

The university administration has issued a brief statement saying that all classes and functions in Campbell Hall have been canceled for the day and encouraged students to avoid the building. So far, there has been no sign of police activity around the building.

Meanwhile, across campus hundreds have gathered to protest the final day of the UC regents meeting, and there is a mood of palpable anger after yesterday's vote by the finance committee to approve the fee hikes.

More updates will be posted as soon as possible.

#LosAngelesCA #UCLA #UCRegents

Los Angeles, CA – As of Nov. 18, dozens of tents are cropping up on UCLA’s quad as over 100 students begin a tent city, part of an all-night protest against the budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes in the University of California (UC) system. The students are waiting for buses filled with trade unionists and students from across the UC system to arrive in the early morning hours, in time for massive protests on Nov. 19 and 20.

While they wait for the others to arrive, the students at UCLA attend workshops to discuss the broader struggle for public education, from privatization of K-12 education to the struggle for adequate resources for community colleges. Slam poets and improv rappers connect the UC budget crisis with the illegal wars that the U.S. is waging in foreign countries and the economic crisis that has caused millions to lose their jobs and homes across the country. This is Crisis Fest: a political gathering and protest event to kick off the protests set for the coming days.

The tent city and Crisis Fest convention follow a day of mass protest Nov. 18 where hundreds of students pushed past the barricades to where the UC regents were meeting. The protesters were met by repression, as police declared the assembly ‘unlawful’ and violently pushed the students back. The police used Tasers on several students and arrested 14 others. Those who were arrested staged a civil disobedience action inside the committee meeting where the tuition hike was agreed upon, singing We Shall Overcome until they were removed.

Despite the mass protests, the UC regents voted to increase tuition 32% for the spring semester. This increase is just the beginning, as another tuition increase is planned before the fall semester next year.

But it is clear that they will not be able to do it without a fight from the community. Students, faculty and staff of the University of California system are coming together to stand in solidarity and fight back against the budget cuts.

“These students deserve to have the same public education I enjoyed,” said Lauren Anderson, who is a recent graduate from UCLA’s masters program. “If they had wanted the price tag of a privatized university they would have gone to USC [University of Southern California, a private university]. I am in complete solidarity with them.”

On Nov. 19 the protest starts back up bright and early. “The regents have to know that we aren’t going anywhere,” says Janet Ramer, a UCLA staff member. “We are not going to just stand by while they cut our pay.”

#LosAngelesCA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Labor #UCLA #UCRegents #CrisisFest

Los Angeles, CA – The fall quarter started off with a bang across the University of California system, Sept. 24 as thousands of workers, faculty, undergrads and graduate students walked out of work and class to protest severe budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs and tuition hikes.

At the UCLA campus, the faculty and student walkout was combined with a one-day unfair labor practices strike by United Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), which represents thousands of workers across the University of California system. Other campus workers and supporters joined them at the picket lines.

At noon, all of these groups came together for a rally at Bruin Plaza, which had as many as 1000 people at its peak. “They say furlough, we say hell no!” was a popular chant, as was “Whose university? Our university!”

Speakers included union members, graduate and undergraduate students and professors. UCLA’s student government, graduate student association and several academic departments formally endorsed the event.

Susan Li, External Vice President of the student government, spoke about the rising cost of education at UCLA: “Since my freshman year the cost of education at UC has risen from $6141 in 2006-2007, to $8266 this year – that’s a whopping $2125 increase in just four years. Now is that right? And what’s worse is the projected 32% increase this fall for next year, which will raise our tuition to $10,302. And that doesn't include books or living expenses!”

Protesters didn't hesitate to connect the UC budget crisis with other issues, either.

“The federal government found the money to bail out Wall Street, to bail out the banks, to bail out the auto industry – but where’s the money to bail out public health care? Where’s the money to bail out public education?” asked a graduate student speaker. Each mention of a bailout was met with resounding booing from the crowd. “There’s no bailout for us – because it’s a higher priority for the government to spend billions and billions of dollars for imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Then crowd took up the chant: “No cuts! No war! The cuts are for the war!”

Other speakers talked about how the cuts on campus impacted students of color and immigrant students by eliminating resources they relied upon, from grants to ethnic studies programs. “UC regents, we say racists!” the crowd chanted.

At the conclusion of the rally, hundreds of protesters marched across campus to Murphy Hall, where top campus administrators, including the chancellor, have their offices. A group of students demanded entry in order to meet with Chancellor Block and present their demands. When told that the chancellor wasn’t in, a group of about 60 students staged a spontaneous sit-in until he agreed to schedule a meeting on Oct. 5 to discuss the cuts.

On other UC campuses, similar events took place – all ten of the UC campuses saw some level of protest. At UC-Berkeley over 5000 marched from campus into the city streets, closing off intersections. Students at UC-Santa Cruz have launched an occupation of a campus building to protest the cuts.

#LosAngelesCA #EconomicCrisis #walkout #UCLA #UniversityOfCalifornia

Los Ángeles, CA – Gritando, “¿Qué queremos? ¡Legalización! ¿Cuándo? ¡Ahora!” un grupo de más de 200 estudiantes de la Universidad de California – Los Angeles (UCLA) se juntó con miembros de la comunidad afuera de una sala universitaria en donde Carl Braun, director ejecutivo del Cuerpo de Defensa Civil de los California Minutemen, tenía planeado hablar el 6 de febrero.

La manifestación fue organizada por miembros del capítulo UCLA del Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), la Asociación de Estudiantes Graduados de la Raza y los Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática (SDS), juntos con varios otros grupos estudiantiles y comunitarios. Al principio llamaron la protesta para denunciar a los vigilantes Minutemen y protestar la presencia de su líder estatal en la universidad. Cuando empezaron a difundir los anuncios de la protesta, la administración universitaria canceló la invitación a Braun, expresando preocupación sobre la seguridad – y obviamente con miedo que se repetirá el incidento que se llevó a cabo en la Universidad de Columbia el otoño pasado, en lo cual un grupo de estudiantes interrumpió una presentación por los Minutemen y últimamente los forzaron salir.

Mientras los derechistas de la universidad han atentado decir que la cancelación del evento era una violación de los derechos de los Minutemen, los manifestantes acentuaron que eso no era cuestión de ‘libertad de expresión’. Los manifestantes, quienes representaron una gran variedad de grupos participantes, fueron muy claros: No estaban denunciando un mero grupo de opinión.

“Es una violación de derechos humanos lo que están haciendo estas personas,” dijo Cynthia Flores del MEChA en la UCLA. “Si [los Minutemen] no son asesinos, yo no sé que son.” Erika Coronado, de la Asociación de Estudiantes Graduados de la Raza, describió a los Minutemen como paramilitares. “Sabemos que esta organización es el producto ignorante de una estructura del poder que desea explotar a nuestro pueblo, que beneficia de los bajos sueldos y la miseria de nuestra gente. ¿Y todavía nos deportan, y todavía separan a nuestras familias? No. No lo aceptamos. Estamos en nuestra tierra y no nos botarán de ella,” dijo Coronado.

“Utilizar el racismo para hacerla víctima a una población no es tema de discusión académica,” leyó un informe sobre el evento escrito por el capítulo UCLA de la SDS. “Como Hitler en Alemania pre-nazi, los Minutemen atentan atacar a la gente pobre nacida afuera del país, pasando la culpa por los problemas de la sociedad a unos ‘ilegales’.” Durante la protesta muchos gritaron, “Nosotros no cruzamos la frontera – ¡la frontera nos cruzó!”

El sentimiento de la protesta era uno de victoria. Los organizadores sintieron que, en organizar la protesta, ellos lograron prevenir que un hombre considerado como responsable por los muertos de cientos de trabajadores indocumentados llegara para difundir su mensaje de odio y racismo en la universidad. “Espero que estudiantes de otras escuelas mirarán lo que logramos aquí como ejemplo de resistencia,” dijo Gurujiwan Khalsa de la SDS-UCLA, “igual como nosotros fuimos inspirados por la acción de los estudiantes en la Universidad de Columbia.”

#LosÁngelesCA #LosAngelesCA #StudentMovement #News #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #ChicanoLatino #Minutemen #UCLA #MECHA #LosDerechosDeInmigrantes

Los Angeles, CA – Chanting, “What do we want? Legalization! When do we want it? Now!” a group of over 200 University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) students and community members gathered outside of a campus lecture hall where Carl Braun, executive director of the California Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was scheduled to speak, Feb. 6.

The rally was organized by members of UCLA’s Moviemento Estudantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) chapter, the Association of Raza Graduate Students and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) along with a number of other student and community groups. It had originally been called to denounce the vigilante Minutemen and protest the presence of their statewide leader at the university. As news of the protest spread, the university administration – clearly fearing a repeat of the incident that took place at Columbia University last fall, where a group of students disrupted a talk by the Minutemen and ultimately forced them to leave – cancelled Braun’s invitation, citing security concerns.

While the right wing on campus has attempted to label the events of the evening as a violation of the Minutemen’s rights, the protesters emphasized that this was not an issue of ‘freedom of speech.’ Demonstrators from the whole range of participating groups were clear: They were not denouncing a mere opinion group.

“It’s a human rights violation, what these people are doing,” said Cynthia Flores of UCLA MEChA. “If [the Minutemen] aren’t assassins, I don’t know what they are.” Erika Coronado, from the Raza Graduate Student Association, described the Minutemen as paramilitaries. “We know that this organization is the ignorant byproduct of a greater power structure that seeks to exploit our people, that benefits from seeing our people earning miserias, earning crumbs. And still they deport us, and still they separate our families? No. We will not stand for that. We are on our land and we will not be kicked off,” Coronado said.

“Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion,” read a statement about the event by the UCLA SDS chapter. “Like Hitler in pre-Nazi Germany, the Minutemen attempt to demonize foreign-born poor people, blaming ‘illegals’ for society’s problems.”

Between the speeches, many took up the chant of, “We didn’t cross the border – the border crossed us!”

The general mood at the rally was one of victory. Organizers felt that by organizing a protest they were able to prevent a man who is considered by many to be morally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of undocumented workers from spreading his message on their campus.

#LosAngelesCA #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #ChicanoLatino #immigrantRights #Minutemen #UCLA #MECHA