(Photo: Protesters at the UC regents meeting in Sacramento wore orange and called themselves prisoners sentenced to debt. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
“Student protesters angry about another possible tuition hike disrupted the meeting of the University of California regents Wednesday in Sacramento, with some demonstrators dressed in orange prisoner uniforms and singing about “working on the chain gang.”
The regents were about to discuss a recent report about the treatment of protesters on campuses and then analyze the impact of the governor’s May revision of the state budget on tuition.
Officials have said a 6% percent tuition hike may be in the works for July’s regent meeting if state funding does not increase.
After 15 or so protesters began chanting and marching around the meeting, they ignored orders to clear the hall. The regents then moved to another room to discuss other business in closed session.
The protest ended after about 15 minutes and the regents were expected to resume their public sessions after lunch, according to a UC spokesman.
Student activists have staged a string of protests in recent months, clashing with police. In March, three UCLA students were arrested after protesters disrupted a San Francisco regents meeting with a “spring break” demonstration in which some stripped down to bathing suits and tossed inflatable beach balls.
In a November incident that was recorded on video and widely viewed online, UC Davis protesters were squirted with pepper spray by campus police.
Undergraduate costs for California residents, including tuition, room, board and campus fees, has risen to $31,000 and university officials have warned of more increases if voters this fall reject Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax hike.”
-LATimes|L.A. NOW
Photo Credit: Brian Nguyen
“An update on Joshua Clover and the Davis/Banker’s Dozen: Rejecting a plea deal for 80 hours of community service, calling the charges against them “a sham,” the group entered their not-guilty pleas (May 10th) in Yolo County Superior Court and now have a new court date set for June 1 at 8:30 a.m., with the legal assistance of San Francisco lawyer J. Tony Serra, who has defended both the Black Panthers and Hells Angels in the past, according to The New York Daily News.”~How to Help:
“We appreciate any and all support from our extended community. Help us to end the repression of political dissidence.
- Donate to our legal fund.
- Sign our petition.
- Call, fax, or write the Yolo County D.A. and ask him to drop all charges.
- Call or write Chancellor Katehi, demanding that she immediately cease the criminalization of protest on the Davis Campus.
- Come support us at our arraignment on June 1st, 2012 (conflicting reports of 8:30am/1:30pm check with Yolo County Superior Court or watch for updates closer to the date of arraignment)
Yolo County Superior Court, Dept. 9
213 Third Street
Woodland, CA 95695 - Like Davis Antirepression Crew on facebook to stay up to date.”~DavisDozen.org
Photo Courtesy of: @DavisARcrew/Davis Antirepression Crew(facebook)
One of the reasons Californians should still be Occupying, as if school tuition increases, locking up students and professors for protesting on campus, and police brutality weren’t enough on May 12th 93,000 (according to CBS News) lost extended unemployment benefits. According to the US Bureau of labor (Feb 2012) almost 11% (That’s about 4,147,000 people) of the entire state of California is unemployed. This number 11% is calculated by taking a sample of unemployed families every month across the nation and measuring the amount of change over time. To read more on how the US Gov. calculates unemployment and to try to make an educated decision on whether or not you think 11% is the actual number go here: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here is the article from CBS:
(CBS News) MERCED, Calif. - “A lot of Americans are still suffering from the investment disasters of 2008. Back then, Congress extended unemployment benefits to 99 weeks in many states — but tomorrow, that extension ends and 236,000 Americans are about to get notices that the checks are over, as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.
At the Community Action Agency in Merced, Brenda Callahan-Johnson is bracing for a flood of long-term unemployed seeking emergency food, housing and financial aid.
“A lot of these people are not going to know that they are not getting unemployment until they get the letter in the mail, and they’re going to be scared,” Callahan-Johnson told CBS News.
Tomorrow 93,000 Californians are losing extended unemployment benefits.
Callahan-Johnson told CBS News correspondent John Blackstone that she had never seen anything like this.
“In 19 years, I have never had this many cuts in unemployment at the same time,” she explained.
In California’s agricultural heartland, Merced is being hit hard by federal law that cuts extended benefits in states where unemployment has fallen. In the last year, California’s rate has dropped from 11.9 percent to 11 percent. But, in Merced, it’s 20 percent.
“Merced County is experiencing dire unemployment,” Callahan-Johnson said.
While finding work in Merced is difficult, finding places where people used to work is easy. One plant, which made ladders, closed in October — taking with it 140 jobs.
The closed Pepsi bottling factory once employed 40. Sixty people used to make parts for Toyota at another closed location.”
Continue reading: Thousands to lose long-term unemployment benefits, even where it remains sky-high
“If you haven’t heard: The administration of UC Davis is holding poet and professor Joshua Clover and 11 students accountable for their alleged role in protests that led to the shutdown of a campus US Bank. “District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging campus protesters with 20 counts each of obstructing movement in a public place, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, the protesters could face up to 11 years each in prison, and $1 million in damages.” According to the Davis Dozen press release:
The charges were brought at the request of the UC Davis administration, which had recently received a termination letter from US Bank holding the university responsible for all costs, claiming they were “constructively evicted” because the university had not responded by arresting the “illegal gathering.” Protesters point out that the charges against them serve to position the university favorably in a potential litigation with US Bank…
Their arraignment originally set for April 27th has been postponed until May 10th, according to the California Aggie. You can also find out more on the Davis Dozen website.
A petition is circulating that demands UC Davis drop all charges.”
Read More:
poetryfoundation.org
davisdozen.org
OccupyUCDavis (Facebook)
@OccupyUCDavis (Twitter)
Petition for the Davis Dozen
More Updates here: http://occupysf.org/
“Clashes have broken out at 14th & Broadway next to Oscar Grant Plaza as riot police snatch squads attempted to grab comrades out of the swelling crowd gathering for the noon strike rally. Police fired tear gas and flash bang grenades in an unsuccessful attempt to clear the intersection.
The morning started at 8:30am with strike actions kicking off from three points around the perimeter of downtown. On 4th and Broadway, Oakland Occupy Patriarchy swarmed Child Protective Services who recently seized the children of an Occupy Oakland comrade citing her involvement with OO as an act of child endangerment. A massive police presence had already surrounded the building effectively shutting it down. The action continued on to the Alameda County Court House setting up a picket there…
The mood is tense but festive here as the mid day rally begins. Riot police have retreated on some streets near the plaza but are keeping a heavy presence on others. At 1pm another set of strike actions are set to kick off and the large Dignity and Resistance march will be making it’s way from Fruitvale BART in East Oakland at 3pm. Organizers have asked that everyone come help hold the plaza and the intersection of 14th and Broadway as well as converge back downtown at 6pm upon the arrival of the march.” Via and for more: StrikeMay1st.org
“SAN FRANCISCO—May Day protests may disrupt the morning commute in major U.S. cities Tuesday as labor, immigration and Occupy activists rally support on the international workers’ holiday.
Demonstrations, strikes and acts of civil disobedience are being planned around the country, including the most visible organizing effort by anti-Wall Street groups since Occupy encampments came down in the fall.
While protesters are backing away from a call to block San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, bridge district ferry workers said they’ll strike Tuesday morning to shut down ferry service, which brings commuters from Marin County to the city. Ferry workers have been in contract negotiations for a year and have been working without a contract since July 2011 in a dispute over health care coverage, the Inlandboatmen’s Union said.
A coalition of bridge and bus workers said they will honor the picket line, which may target an area near the bridge’s toll plaza. Occupy activists from San Francisco and Oakland are expected to join the rally.
“We ask supporters to stand with us at strike picket lines on May Day and to keep the bridge open,” said Alex Tonisson, an organizer and co-chair of the Golden Gate Bridge Labor Coalition.
Police say they are working with other area law enforcement agencies and have a plan in place for potential disruptions. They would not discuss specifics.
Across the bay in Oakland, where police and Occupy protesters have often clashed, officers are preparing for a long day as hundreds of “General Strike” signs have sprouted across town.
In New York City, where the first Occupy camp was set up and where large protests brought some of the earliest attention—and mass arrests—to the movement, leaders plan a variety of events, including picketing, a march through Manhattan and other “creative disruptions against the corporations who rule our city.”
Organizers have called for protesters to block one or more bridges or tunnels connecting Manhattan, the city’s economic engine, to New Jersey and other parts of the city.
The Occupy movement began in September with a small camp in a lower Manhattan plaza that quickly grew to include hundreds of protesters using the tent city as their home base. More than 700 people were arrested Oct. 1 as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge.
The city broke the camp up in November, citing sanitary and other concerns, but the movement has held smaller events and protests periodically since then.
Elsewhere on the West Coast, Occupy Seattle has called for people to rally at a park near downtown Tuesday. Mayor Mike McGinn has warned residents there could be traffic delays and has said city officials have evidence—including graffiti and posters—that some groups plan to “commit violence, damage property and disrupt peaceful free speech activity.”
In Los Angeles, Occupy is organizing a daylong “people’s power and bike caravan” that will start from the four cardinal directions around the city in the morning, converging on downtown LA’s financial district in the mid afternoon for an approximately 90-minute protest. The themes of the marches are foreclosures and police brutality.
In a website statement, Occupy LA promised the event will be “city-paralyzing” and “carnivalesque” with en route actions including a food giveaway in a South Los Angeles park, and mini-rallies outside the Veterans’ Affairs and Bank of America buildings in West Los Angeles.
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Associated Press writers Terry Collins in Oakland and Christina Hoag in Los Angeles contributed to this report.” Via: DenverPost
