{"id":21197,"date":"2018-04-01T00:04:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T08:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=21197"},"modified":"2018-04-01T01:09:18","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T09:09:18","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-resistance-not-a-ghost-is-risen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-resistance-not-a-ghost-is-risen\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Resistance (not a ghost) is Risen!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Oklahoma teachers say they\u2019re going on strike next week<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

Tax cuts and budget cuts forced 20 percent of public schools in the state to switch to four-day weeks.<\/h2>\n

Time is running out for Oklahoma lawmakers. They have until April 2 to reach a spending deal or teachers will strike en masse.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma\u2019s teachers are rebelling against years of deep cuts to education that have left 20 percent of public schools on a four-day-week schedule and average teacher salaries ranked 49th<\/a> in the country. Last year, about a quarter of the state\u2019s public school teachers left the state or quit teaching altogether.<\/p>\n

Those who remain have come up with a list of demands. Teachers want raises for all state employees for the next three years, plus more spending on health care and pension plans. They also want lawmakers to restore millions of dollars in school funding that have been cut in the past decade. To meet the educators\u2019 demands, state legislators need to come up with $3.3 billion over three years to pay for it.<\/p>\n

So far, lawmakers have come up short. The latest of several bills, which passed the Republican-controlled Senate Wednesday night after moving through the House, would raise taxes on cigarette sales, oil production, and diesel to pay for the raises. It would be the first increase in state taxes in 28 years, but would still only bring in $447 million for teacher pay raises, a fraction of the $3.3 billion needed to give teachers what they want. Gov. Mary Fallin is expected to sign the bill Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Education Association isn\u2019t backing down from its original demands. So unless a surprise deal comes together in the next four days, teachers and school administrators who serve 73 percent of the state\u2019s students won\u2019t show up to work Monday. State employees are prepared to strike too.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em>www.vox.com\/2018\/3\/29\/17164284\/oklahoma-teachers-strike<\/a><\/p>\n

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Arizona teachers demand 20 percent raises, more money for students<\/h1>\n

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Frustrated and desperate, Arizona\u00a0educators are demanding\u00a020 percent pay raises to address the state’s teacher crisis\u00a0and have threatened to\u00a0take\u00a0escalated action\u00a0if state leaders don’t respond with urgency.<\/p>\n

About 2,500\u00a0teachers and their supporters\u00a0\u2014 clad in a sea of red\u00a0\u2014\u00a0cheered organizers of the Arizona Educators United grassroots group as they announced their list of demands of Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature at a Wednesday evening rally at the Capitol.<\/p>\n

The educators said Ducey and\u00a0state legislators have\u00a0failed Arizona’s\u00a0students and teachers by not adequately funding public education.<\/p>\n

The organizers\u00a0said they will give the governor and state lawmakers through the end of this legislative session to act on their demands, and said they would\u00a0go on strike if they did not.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Ducey, Legislature, the last thing that any of us want to do is go on strike, but if we have to, we will,\u201d said Dylan Wegela, an organizer and teacher in the Cartwright School District.<\/p>\n

“Arizona Educators United is prepared to do whatever it takes to reach our demands,” Wegela said.\u00a0“However, we will do everything in our power to avoid a strike. As educators, we\u2019re willing to put kids first, even when the state won\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona-education\/2018\/03\/28\/arizona-teachers-demand-20-percent-raise-education-funding-governor-doug-ducey-legislature-redfored\/462810002\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Irate Teachers Skip Class Across Kentucky To Protest Surprise Pension Overhaul<\/h1>\n

As of Thursday morning, SB 151 was a bill about sewage services.<\/p>\n

But by the time both chambers of the Kentucky Legislature had passed it that night, the amendment process had turned the bill about sewage into a 291-page overhaul of public employees’ retirement benefits. Now, it rests on Gov. Matt Bevin’s desk awaiting his signature \u2014 and teachers across the state are livid.<\/p>\n

Even before the state Senate passed the bill Thursday night, teachers and other school staff had descended on the Capitol in Frankfort, bearing signs and belting chants in protest of the fast-moving legislation. Still more protesters arrived in the capital Friday, and thousands of others called off work \u2014 so many, in fact, that schools in roughly two dozen counties shuttered their classrooms.<\/p>\n

“This has been a difficult evening for all of us in education,” Madison County Public Schools, one of the state’s largest districts, said on Facebook<\/a> on Thursday night. “We share a passion for our students and for their futures that is unmatched and unwavering. Tonight we have to balance that passion with the need to stand in solidarity with others in our profession across this state.”<\/p>\n

Then, in all caps, the post announced there would be “NO SCHOOL” Friday.<\/p>\n

At issue, specifically, are state employees’ pensions. Ryland Barton of member station Kentucky Public Radio broke down some of the major changes<\/a> included in the bill. You can find that summary in the text inset below or read the bill<\/a> for yourself.\u00a0\u00a0 www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2018\/03\/30\/598341937\/irate-teachers-skip-class-across-kentucky-to-protest-surprise-pension-overhaul?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180330<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Voices of Conscience Conference<\/h1>\n
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Time:<\/b>\u00a0May 22, 2018, All Day<\/abbr><\/p>\n

Location:<\/b>\u00a0Hesburgh Center for International Studies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Please note, this conference is only open to a limited number of attendees. Registration for the conference ends March\u00a030. Contact\u00a0Lisa Gingerich<\/a><\/em>\u00a0to register.<\/h3>\n

The Kroc Institute is sponsoring the conference \u201cVoices of Conscience<\/strong>\u201d at the University of Notre Dame. The conference will examine the history and moral and political implications of opposition to war within the military during the Vietnam and Iraq wars.<\/p>\n

Confirmed participants in the conference include Madame Ton-Nu-Thi Ninh of the\u00a0Ho Chi Minh City Development & Peace Foundation<\/a>;\u00a0historians Michael Kazin and Christian Appy;\u00a0sociologist David Meyer;\u00a0scholars\u00a0David Cortright<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ann Mische<\/a>\u00a0of the Kroc Institute; and\u00a0Veterans For Peace Executive Director Michael McPhearson, as well as veterans Skip Delano, J.J. Johnson, Fred Gardner, Jonathan Hutto, Jerry Lembcke, Camilo Mejia, Susan Schnall, Will Short, Michael Uhl, Jose Vasquez\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n

The program will feature literary readings from William Ehrhart, author of\u00a0Vietnam-Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir;<\/em>\u00a0Roy Scranton, Iraq veteran and author\u00a0of\u00a0the book,\u00a0War Porn<\/em>; and others.<\/p>\n

The program will also include film presentations featuring Connie Field and her new film\u00a0The Whistleblower of My\u00a0<\/em><\/a>Lai<\/em><\/a>; Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple and the films\u00a0Winter Soldier<\/em><\/a>\u00a0andShelter;<\/em>\u00a0and David Zeiger and his film,\u00a0Sir! No Sir!<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoices of Conscience\u201d will launch the\u00a0GI Press Collection<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0the newly created digital archive of antiwar newspapers published by active duty GIs during the Vietnam War.\u00a0The conference will also feature the exhibit\u00a0Waging Peace<\/a>, highlighting information\u00a0on soldier and veteran opposition to the Vietnam War.\u00a0 kroc.nd.edu\/news-events\/events\/2018\/05\/22\/voices-of-conscience-conference\/<\/a><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3nPJgeg6hpA<\/a><\/p>\n

Strikes in France: 200,000 march through streets to protest Macron’s reforms<\/h1>\n

www.facebook.com\/telesurenglish\/videos\/1320294084780657\/<\/a><\/p>\n

An estimated 200,000 protesters took to the streets of France on Thursday in a showdown between trade unions and President Emmanuel Macron that could be decisive for his reform agenda.<\/p>\n

Seven unions representing staff in the public sector led strikes and protests, and a third of railway workers walked out to join the demonstrations against 40-year-old Macron’s bid to shake up the French state.<\/p>\n

Around 200,000 people demonstrated nationwide, according to police figures, including 49,000 in Paris. The CGT union, the biggest in the public sector, estimated the total turnout at over half a million.<\/p>\n

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Reminder: Coming anniversary of France, 1968<\/p>\n

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Prelude to Revolution is an essential history of the May 1968 protests and upheaval in France, during which French workers staged the first wildcat general strike in history and the largest general strike to this day. Daniel Singer discusses how these actions changed the world. Prelude to Revolution is the indispensable study of May 1968. Many generations have looked to older editions of this book for inspiration. Singer was widely considered the most adept interpreter of European politics for American audiences. He shows here how change happens – and why it is needed.<\/p>\n

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