Thursday’s planning meeting was great first step towards the week of action. It seems that there are a host of interesting events and actions planned at various schools for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be rapidly adding info to the calendar of events, so stay tuned!
The planning meeting also came to consensus on joint actions for three days of the Week of Action: (1) on Thursday, November 17th we are calling for a city-wide student strike as a repudiation of the inequities of the current educational system and in solidarity with the national day of action called for the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall St. There will be a massive student convergence at Union Square at 3pm, followed by a collective action. (2) Friday, November 18th will be Occupation Day. To be interpreted creatively… Keep your ears and eyes open for various occupations that may be brewing around you and be ready to join in! (3) Monday, November 21st we are calling for a city-wide protest against the CUNY tuition hikes. The board of trustees is holding a meeting on that day in which they will try to finalize a plan to raise tuition steadily over the course of the next 5 years. This is a direct attack on low-income families and traditionally marginalized communities who will be disproportionately affected by these hikes. It is an attack on our generation which is increasingly coerced into debt peonage in exchange for its education. We refuse to accept this assault on public education quietly. — Details on the how to participate in the protest will be posted in the coming days.
Next Steps: This Saturday, November 5th, we will hold our weekly NYC Student Assembly in Washington Square Park @ noon. This special session of the Assembly meeting will be devoted to planning rest of the week of action — there will be working groups meeting on (a) finalizing plans for the remaining days of the week, (b) writing the Declaration of Student Assembly, (c) Outreach and Movement building.
Come join us! We need you!
As a former CUNY student who has family and friends who attend and will attend CUNY schools in the future, I am very interested in this cause and would like to participate as much as I can. In fact, I would like to donate shirts to the speakers/leaders who are putting these events together. The shirts would show solidarity towards the cause. Please contact me at 347- 242-4370 or my email: BuyStormInc@aol.com. You can view the shirt at http://www.BuyStormInc.com. It is the “Vote 2012″ T-Shirt.