Rouge Forum Update: Special Cultural Revo Edition!
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
Chant from UC Occupation: Capitalism? No Thanks. We’ll Burn Your Banks!
On The Little Red Schoolhouse Front:
The Rouge Forum News Spring 2010 Edition is Here: rougeforum.org/newspaper/RougeForumNews-Issue16.pdf
For Back Issues, Here: rougeforum.org/newspaper/
School Unions Race to Feed on the RaTT:
Florida Education Association Buys RaTT (FEA bosses cut a devil’s deal with Gov. Crist):
www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-race-to-top-agreement-04-29-10-20100429,0,5492050.story
Michigan EA Buys the RaTT: “ The Michigan Education Association today issued a letter of support to the state’s second Race to the Top application, signing on to a plan that has the potential to improve the quality of education for every student in Michigan.”
www.mea.org/press/051010_mea_signs_on_to_RTTT.html
Michigan AFT, Overseeing the Organized Ruin of Detroit, Follows MEA to Ratt Shell Game:
“The Michigan Education Association and American Federation of Teachers-Michigan today issued letters of support for Michigan’s application for $400 million in the second round of a nationwide contest for federal Race to the Top school funds.”
www.detnews.com/article/20100510/SCHOOLS/5100427/1026/schools/Teachers-throw-support-behind-Race-to-the-Top#ixzz0nab1ETAz
New York State AFT Cuddles the RaTT: “The unions — the New York State United Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s union — did not gain any clear benefit from the deal, other than shielding themselves from criticism that they were hurting the state’s chances in Race to the Top. And union leaders who backed the plan could face significant backlash from members, particularly at a time when many districts are planning for layoffs.”
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/nyregion/11teacher.html?ref=education
Tiny Colorado AFT Sucks Up to the RaTT: “Wednesday said AFT threw its support behind Colorado’s legislation after the bill’s sponsors agreed to introduce amendments that “included the voice of teachers.” www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15027253
NEA Persists in Touting Arne Duncan: NEA bosses reject the reason most people join unions: the contradictory interests of workers and bosses. NEA president Dennis Van Roekel is well paid for his toadying to Duncan and Obama, at about $450,000 a year. NEAs’ rep assembly should be very interesting this year as more and more rank and file members begin to catch on to what’s up and what to do about it. Even AFT, perhaps the most tyrannical union in the US, can expect some serious dissent at its convention in Seattle, even though it appears every proposal from the rank and file that suggests the slightest forms of direct action resistance has been cut off at state conferences.
neatoday.org/2010/05/06/education-secretary-duncan-takes-teacher-appreciation-tour-to-virginia/comment-page-1/#comment-60
NEA Today Procures For Arne Duncan and the “Obama Effect”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgKbkjURVck
NEA Boss Dennis Van Roekel ($425,000 a year) Brags He Gets to Actually Meet with Duncan!:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeAcxMtwF9E
It is Soo Hard to Keep Track of the Servants: EduNazi Alan Bersin Now Obamagogue Border Czar Hires “Illegals”?: “Mr. Bersin did not timely and completely prepare and maintain Forms I-9 for any of the ten household employees he employed, as required by law,”
www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/financial-crime-politics/2010/may/13/bersin-unconvincing-in-describing-his-self-convinc/
California Colleges Develop Plan to Choke Free Speech on Campus: “The Peralta Community College district is considering guidelines to limit where and how groups can speak on campus, prompting outrage from employees and students who say the proposed rules would restrict free speech.”
www.contracostatimes.com/politics-government/ci_15072138?source=rss&nclick_check=1
Desperate Mich Colleges Seek Military $ in San Diego: “Representatives from universities in Michigan are in San Diego this week to recruit military veterans. The new G.I. Bill has made veterans an emerging market for academic recruiters, and San Diego has one of the highest populations of active duty military and veterans in the nation.”
www.kpbs.org/news/2010/may/13/new-gi-bill-prompts-michigan-universities-target-m/
On the They Say Cut Back We Say Fight Back Front:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGxq0XPm3-Q&feature=PlayList&p=EA8C019CC23AEDA0&playnext_from=PL&index=0
UC Berkeley Cops Break Up Hunger Strike: May 10–“UC Berkeley Police forcefully take down hunger strike encampment as Chancellor returns from trip to Europe.”
www.google.com/search?q=At+6am+UC+Police+arrived+at+the+site+of+the+7+day-old++hunger+strike+with+an+order+to+disperse+the+encampment+or+face+arrest.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&client=firefox-a&rlz=1R1GGGL_en___US344
Recollections on the Strike at UC Santa Cruz: “ only one strike, where all labor came to a complete stop at a certain workplace, occurred on March 4, at the University of California at Santa Cruz. There are many reasons why this is true, some more debatable than others, but before we look at that, let us first provide a brief overview of what the process of building a strike looked like, so that there is a firm basis to compare ours to other experiences.”
Julia Wallace Speaks At L.A. Mayday Rally (“When it looked like we would be stopped from speaking because of all the Democratic Party politicians who (of course) showed up late and talk forever a group of LAM4 people with the banner scaled the chain linked fence to make sure we were not kept from speaking”).
Protest in Lansing vs the Detroit Schools Debacle: “Nakia Wallace, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Spain School, linked arms with fellow demonstrators chanting “Robert Bobb should go to jail; our students are not for sale.”
www.detnews.com/article/20100512/SCHOOLS/5120434/1026/schools/Police-break-up-Lansing-protest-of-Bobb-s-DPS-plan#ixzz0nlxGjUwo
Middlesex Philosophy Occupation Continues: “Dozens of students have continued their occupation of a Middlesex University building for the third day in their fight to reverse the closure of the internationally renowned philosophy department. School of Arts & Humanities dean Ed Esche had invited students to a meeting on Tuesday, but security attempted to remove them on arrival and they were informed the meeting had been cancelled.They refused to leave and by Wednesday protesters had complete control of entrances and exits in Mansion Building on Trent Park Campus.” www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/90046
Uprising in Thailand: “Mr. Abhisit tried to explain the government’s tougher stance, saying that he feared that armed groups, which he said were siding with the demonstrators, could overthrow the government.” www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/asia/16thai.html?hp
On the Oops There Goes the Economy Front:
GM Lied About Returning Bailout $: “GM touted its repayment of $6.7 billion in federal loans, but downplayed that the taxpayers are still on the hook for $43 billion in aid that was swapped for a 61 percent majority stake in GM.
www.detnews.com/article/20100511/AUTO01/5110318/1148/Rattner–GM-ads-stretched-the-truth
Goldbugs Seize Power: “All we can do is to put our money into real assets, because paper money everywhere is being debased,”
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a788VOD90vbM&pos=5
On the Solidarity Forever Front:
D.C. AFT Stalls Election (“AFT Can’t Hold an Impartial Election”):”with Weingarten’s stake in the ratification of the contract, the notion of AFT’s involvement in the contest is ludicrous. Saunders made an unsuccessful attempt to get the Dept. of Labor to oversee the race.”http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/04/election_flap_pits_saunders_ag.html
Bogus Union SEIU Wants to Extort Dues from More People While its “Stewards” are in Call Centers in India: “Mary Kay Henry, elected (actually Selected by tiny Executive Board-ed.) today as president of the Service Employees International Union, pledged to spend $4 million organizing employees in businesses such as banks and supermarkets.” www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601108&sid=alf4F7eRbgK0
UAW Sellouts Mean Detroit Car Makers The Cheapest: “The UAW agreed to cut wages in half, to around $14 an hour, for new hires and also cut their pension and health benefits.”
www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/10/business/AP-US-Autos-Labor-Costs.html?emc=eta1
NYC’s Teacher Boss Boasts About Concessions: “teachers are working on an expired contract and have yet to receive raises granted to other municipal workers, members of the United Federation of Teachers have agreed to substantial reductions and cost-saving measures in pension, health benefits and retiree health eligibility that equate to nearly $2,000 per member per year, some 3 percent of average pay.”
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/opinion/l14teach.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
Michigan Gov Graholm, Elected by MEA, Guts Teacher Retirement: “Those on the losing end of the deal that came together in the wee hours Friday morning are teachers unions, which tried to defeat the measure, and new hires who will have to pay more into their pension funds.
On the Perpetual War Fronts:
Trusted US Ally and Beloved Leader of the Afghan People Issues another Lewinsky Denial Before Leaving For His Homeland.
Obamagogue Sucks Up to Puppet Drug Dealer Karzai (maybe Hillbillary will be useful–but how was Diem Treated the Day Before He Became Dispenseable?): “the Americans are pulling out all the stops for Mr. Karzai as part of a new charm offensive. Mrs. Clinton, one of the few people in the administration with a good rapport with him, has invited him for a stroll through the grounds of a private enclave in Georgetown.”
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/world/asia/11karzai.html?hp
Dead and Ruined for What? “…after 15 months and too many of its members killed or wounded, packing up and dispersing. Sergeant O’Byrne has a full-on mental collapse, as the release from mortal combat proves too much for him to bear..In April, the United States Army closed its bases in the Korangal Valley and sent the soldiers to other places. After five years of fighting and dying, American commanders decided the valley wasn’t worth the fight.”
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/Filkins-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3
Geeze, It’s Not Working–The Surge becomes Sludge: “the U.S.-led effort to pacify the Taliban’s spiritual capital in southern Afghanistan already appears to be faltering…The largest impediment remains President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai… Marjah “is already coming unraveled,” the U.S. defense official said. He noted that on the eve of the Marjah offensive in February, McChrystal described how he planned to bring in a “government in a box.” “But when they opened the box, there was nothing in it,” the U.S. defense official continued.
www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/13/94133/kandahar-offensive-scaled-back.html#ixzz0ny7fS6mo
Brit George Lawrence Writing in 1870 on Eve of Second Afghan War: ““A new generation has arisen which, instead of profiting from the solemn lessons of the past, is willing and eager to embroil us in the affairs of that turbulent and unhappy country,” he wrote. “Although military disasters may be avoided, an advance now, however successful in a military point of view, would not fail to turn out to be as politically useless.”
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/opinion/09dalrymple.htm?pagewanted=all
The CIA’s Wars For Drugs: “ the CIA’s responsibility for the present dominant role of Afghanistan in the global heroin traffic merely replicated what had happened earlier in Burma, Thailand, and Laos between the late 1940s and the 1970s. These countries also only became factors in the international drug traffic as a result of CIA assistance…” www.zcommunications.org/can-the-us-triumph-in-the-drug-addicted-war-in-afghanistan-by-peter-dale-scott
Chalmers Johnson on the Base World and the End of Empire: “what do I suggest probably will happen? I think we will stagger along under a façade of constitutional government, as we are now, until we’re overcome by bankruptcy.” www.deepjournal.com/p/7/a/en/2694.html
On the Emerging Fascism Front:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vel-OeI_bgk
Kagan, Good Example of Liberals Paving the Way for Fascism: “Some analysts even say Ms. Kagan would actually shift the court somewhat to the right when compared with Justice John Paul Stevens.” www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/us/politics/11nominees.html?hp
The Infamous Seattle Cop Stomp Video (yes, they are stupid racists):www.kirotv.com/video/23482801/index.html
Obamagogue and Holder to Dump Miranda?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=keQDg2EjKr8
Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies: “prohibits schools from offering courses at any grade level that advocate ethnic solidarity, promote overthrow of the US government, or cater to specific ethnic groups…” motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/ethnic-studies-banned-arizona
The Nature of Capitalist Democracy–an Oxymoron: “…the finance industry has waged an unprecedented assault on the democratic process, spending an estimated $1.4 million per day to influence Congress and hiring 70 members of Congress and 940 former federal employees to lobby on their behalf.” www.ourfuture.org/bigbanktakeover
America’s Most Corrupt Capitalists (Is there Something Other?): “During the Clinton and Bush administrations, many of these schemers were worshiped as geniuses, heroes or icons of American progress. But today we know these opportunists for what they are: Deregulatory hacks hellbent on making a profit at any cost.” www.alternet.org/economy/146819/america%27s_ten_most_corrupt_capitalists/?page=entire
On the Whole Earth Shattered Front:
Aerial Footage of BP/Obama/Haliburton Oil Spill:
www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/aerial-footage-bp-oil-spill-shows-gulf-bleeding-video.php
NOLA Map of BP Spill (May 10): The most concentrated part of the slick appears as a silvery, distorted U-shape in the right-hand side of the image. In the north-south direction, the longest part of the U stretches 53 miles; from east to west, the U is about 34 miles wide. Tentacles of oil (faint gray) reach out from the main slick toward the west (32 miles) and north-northwest 29 miles). (Remember, it’s not only wide, it is deep): www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/nasa_image_shows_gulf_oil_slic.html
Obamagogue, BP, and the Deepwater Spill: “Since the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded on April 20, the Obama administration has granted oil and gas companies at least 27 exemptions from doing in-depth environmental studies of oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.The waivers were granted despite President Barack Obama’s vow that his administration would launch a “relentless response effort” to stop the leak and prevent more damage to the gulf. One of them was dated Friday — the day after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he was temporarily halting offshore drilling.”Read more: www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/07/93761/despite-spill-feds-still-giving.html#ixzz0nZ6JFAuh
On the Hey Look! Magic! Front:
Whistleblower From Inside Vatican: “In a rare breach of normal etiquette at senior levels of the church, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has directly accused another cardinal of complicity in the cover-up of sexual abuse allegations against his predecessor as the most important figure in the Austrian church.” ncronline.org/news/accountability/days-cover-are-over-sch%C3%B6nborn
Sticking Up For the Crusades: “the history and the real animating ideals of the Crusades have been obscured with an overlay of ant-Catholic bigotry and secular prejudice.”
www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/weekend_book_pick1/
Torture Symbol Mysteriously Vanishes in Mojave Desert:
www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/11/thieves-take-mojave-desert-cross/
Mexico’s Rich Back Rapist Priest: “Mexico’s biggest tycoons were avid supporters of Maciel, sending their sons and daughters to elite Legion of Christ schools and universities.”
www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/11/93925/mexican-priest-scorned-but-religious.html#ixzz0nlpJEykq
Classics:
May 16, 1966 Marks the Formal Beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China.
Supporters of the GPCR: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm5fCJNMQWQ&feature=related
Interesting attack from the Right–“Discovery Channel:
Kids’ Take on the Cultural Revolution: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLatl10gluI&feature=related
William Hinton on the Chinese Cultural Revolution: “… the method of the Cultural Revolution was to “mobiliz[e] the common people to seize power from below in order to establish new representative leading bodies, democratically elected organs of power.” All over China, tens of thousands of revolutionary committees in factories, farms, and schools were built. Inspired by Mao’s vision, people developed other socialist new things that revolutionized society, such as barefoot doctors in the countryside, and cultural works based on the rich life experiences of China’s workers and peasants.”
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_10_56/ai_n16126171/
From “The Unknown Cultural Revolution,” by Dongping Han (Monthly Review, 2008):
“Before the Cultural Revolution, curricula and textbooks were standardized nationally. Since the students from the whole nation sat for the same entrance examination for college, school had to teach the same textbooks in order to prepare students for these tests. The goal of schooling for parents, students, and teachers was the same: to succeed on the entrance exam and to enter college.
As students’ success was measured largely by test scores, and teachers’ success was measured by students’ success, school and teachers worked hard to prepare students for various tests….People said at the time, score, score, score are students’ lifelines and test, test, test are teachers’ magic wands.
…Teachers would try to guess possible composition titles on the exams and ask each student to write a few compositions accordingly. Teachers would correct them and ask students to memorize them…examiners tried to surprise and trap students by giving strange and often insignificant questions. The whole process had become a game to outwit each other.
…Some of the knowledge they acquired was very useful for the examinations but had no use in real life….They endured a lot of mental stress, but experienced very little fun…Creativity and imagination suffered….one sees the legacy of traditional Chinese education; the goal was to train loyal and obedient civil servants for emperors rather than creative thinkers….
This structure of learning led inevitably to the overbearing dominance of teachers in the classroom. Students’ role…was insignificant, accepting whatever the teachers tried to inject into their minds…
(Policy makers broke the promise they had made to poor and rural people when they courted support for revolution before 1949. They deliberately set out to fashion an inequitable, “key” school system.)
“The pre-Cultural Revolution policy makers argued that the key school system was essential for raising the nation’s level of science and technology and promoting educational quality…
Rural people were not as stupid as people thought they were. They perceived what was going on…and what kept them poor…This is one reason…rural people joined (the) call for Cultural Revolution.” (p.31-35)
The Cultural Revolution upended many of the inequities in education and society. The revolution in society and schools, however, was reversed.
“The main conclusion I.. draw…is that measures to empower and educate people at the bottom of society can also serve the goal of economic development. It is not necessary to choose pursuing social equality and pursuing economic development. The choice is whether or not to pursue social equality.” (p.175).
Thanks to Amber, Faith, Doug, Leo D., Peter, Steve, Adam and Gina, Terry, Ronna and Toby S., Bonnie Mc., Susan H, Susan O, George, John, Mr Z and Mr J, Joel, Tapper, Judy, Jim, Paul and Mary, Shawn, Bennie, Melissa L, Bill the Tiger, Greg, Tony, Ava, Carol Turner, Mintia, Anne Hutchison and J. Brown.
Good luck to us, every one.
r