the news comes amidst notably increased leverage for students due to the movement's spread throughout the population, outraged over the anti-democratic "loi 78" - in addition to the steep tuition hikes.
below, a youtube of a new york city march of students, teachers, and occupy wall street protesters supporting the quebec students on may 22, 2012, the 100th day.
democracy now! has an overview here of the student protests in québec, including an interview with student organizer Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and assistant professor Anna Kruzynski, a member of Professors Against The Hike.
yesterday's arrest tallies now stand at 1,000 (excluding total arrest tallies since the strike began), and estimates for the 100th day demonstration now total over 400,000 montreal protesters.
more here from jesse rosenfeld with NOW news - an earlier piece on how the concept of free tuition has deep roots in québec.
and here, rebel youth magazine via the ontarion debunks myths about the québec student strikes. one of the most commonly dispensed myths is that the students shouldn't complain because they have the lowest tuition rates in the country. denise martins writes:
The fundamental flaw of this myth is its failure to analyze why Quebec fees are so low. The freeze in tuition fees, along with many other victories, are the result of mass mobilization on behalf of the student movement. A ten-year freeze was won in 1996 through a student strike in Quebec, and an attempt to convert student bursaries into loans in 2005 was stopped the same way. Students in English-speaking Canada have long been able to point to the Quebec model of accessibility where students graduate with a debt a fraction the size of those in other provinces. The erosion of Quebec students’ right to education will hurt our ability to demonstrate that alternatives are possible.
below, a four-part youtube video of thousands marching may 24 2012 from 8:34 P.M. until well into the evening and wee hours of the following day - from bill08bill08bill08. in the first, the youtube channel reports:
8:34 PM: The students and other protesters move out from Parc Emilie Gamelin. The students have now been protesting for slightly over 100 days, and this is perhaps the 30th nocturnal protest in a row. On May 23 there were over 500 arrests as the riot squad moved in on the protesters. This night there must have been a policy shift as the police let the march continue till 2AM, with only a small handful of isolated arrests.
part two, 9:13 P.M.
part three:
in part four, the youtube channel reports protesters continuing in the "Mile-End district" at 11:35 P.M.
We cannot allow the Mayor and his commissioners to get away with these violations of law and constitutional rights. We have now filed a Federal lawsuit to demand accountability from the city and its officials, demanding both compensatory and punitive damages. We believe that the raid and its aftermath violated our First-Amendment rights to free expression, Fourth-Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure, and Fourteenth-Amendment rights to due process, as well as the laws of the City of New York regarding the vouchsafing of seized property. We are demanding compensatory damages for the lost/destroyed books and equipment, which we have estimated at at least $47,000. In addition, because we believe the seizure and destruction of the books went beyond negligence to constitute a reckless and callous indifference to our constitutional rights, we are demanding punitive damages of at least $1000.
Scores of people using the
Occupy Wall Street Library
prior to its destruction in the middle of
the night by N.Y.P.D.
civil rights attorney norman siegel states, "Mayor Bloomberg thought he could get away with this, late at night, without the media present [..] This suit will hold him accountable," and that the group wants to "get into the historic record that the city cannot destroy books."
Next steps in the suit, said attorney Herbert Teitelbaum, include a discovery process that could turn up records of the raid plan. Depositions of Mayor Bloomberg or Commissioner Kelly could also reveal the extent to which the destruction of the occupation was planned or ordered. Discovery may also surface the names of officers and sanitation workers who carried it out. It's very likely that the individuals who were ordered to destroy the books are city workers, themselves underpaid and with little ability to disobey orders. The librarians, who wrestled with this issue, ultimately decided to ask for a nominal amount of money in punitive damages only from any single person held culpable for destroying books.
about 5,500 books were reportedly destroyed or damaged during the raid and demolition of this clearly beloved public library. below, a brief youtube clip of henchmen N.Y.P.D. that chilling night:
montreal residents partaking in "caceralazo" nightly at 8 p.m.
each evening, at 8 p.m., montreal residents reportedly step outside for about 15 minutes to bang on pots and pans in protest of "loi 78." this is called a "cacerolazo," a form of protest originating in spanish speaking countries, especially argentina and chile. according to wiki, the term (cacerolazo or cacerolada) comes from the spanish word cacerola, meaning "stew pot," and the suffix, "azo," denoting a striking or punching action.
So much
technology such gadgetry the touch of electronic savagery revs the
motor of antiquity through this giant century and the little Romans watch
their stocks parade across the aching backs of the world spewing dollars
and death into the greedy hole the sucking pit while here on 14th
Street we're all in debt looking for rent in the daily insult. This
victorious capitalism born of feudalism wherever it heavies its dreamless
boot is where you'll hear the name of God. Bless. What represents gold
barrels down the information highway spills across the hearts and
heartlands kills the forests, water , air turns a hot heart cold goddamn.
Goddamnit. My love watches the numbers roll and fears his fate's
attached to the virtual soul of the Wall Street patrol. Eyes of
coal teeth of spears they award themselves global custody. Global. It's
Goddamn global now. They give themselves the right to break my lover's
heart. His thundering beautiful heart. Goddamn monkey men in monkey
suits. Goddamn global reach reaching straight into my lover's
head. Torching his dreams as he sleeps in bed. Where did all the money
go? Where did all the money go? Where did all the money go?
québec students marked the 100th day of striking with a huge montreal demonstration estimated by some observers on twitter at 250,000.
demonstrations were planned in new york, paris, and vancouver, b.c. with students also mounting a challenge to "loi 78" in court. by saturday, students had gathered 150,000 signatures on a petition opposing the bill, and the legal clinic handling the case had received 500 emails from attorneys offering assistance.
canadians are posting pictures of themselves with protest signs at this website challenging the government to arrest them for disobeying the bill. some video clips of the demonstration today, below:
the youtube below, a ground perspective, in the plateau-mont-royale district, and on the way to lafontaine park.
american veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan lead the largest peace march so far at the 2012 NATO summit.the march culminates in a rally whereby the veterans introduce themselves, one by one, then hurl their war metals in the direction of the summit, and over a police barricade - returning the metals, so to speak.
an overview from real news:
below, extensive coverage of the veterans' ceremony from democracy now! the video includes veteran scott olsen, who was brutally injured as a peaceful demonstrator by oakland police during the occupy oakland demonstrations.
anonymous turned its attention to the québec student protests, with another announcement, and while hacking into two canadian government websites - branches related to the police and minister of security.
hundreds of students were arrested in the canadian province this weekend since premier charest declared the protests illegal through an "emergency law" widely criticized as violating charter rights, with demonstrations continuing nightly, particularly in downtown montreal.
since the protests began 99 days ago, montreal police have made 2,000 arrests. last night (sunday), over 300 people arrested, possibly the largest number yet.
Martin Courcy, a specialist in police interventions, told QMI Agency Monday that Quebec's emergency law cannot be applied.
"Sunday, 300 people were arrested," he said. "What's next? Tomorrow, they'll arrest 400? And then 1,000? We do not live in a repressive society, therefore this law cannot work."
students are planning to demonstrate this evening as well as tommorow to mark the 100th day anniversary of the strike.
anonymous released the following announcement voicing support for the students, and the anonymous signature sign-off, universally recognized whether or not you speak french --
the next youtube from canadian television presents the hacking incidents, and includes a short interview with M. Guglielminetti, the communications director for the national pubic relations cabinet; he states that he isn't surprised that it's anonymous --
democracy now! discusses the trayvon martin case, back in the news with a voluminous release of police documents. the first video includes audio of a heartbreaking interview with trayvon's childhood friend - speaking with him on the phone while he was being followed by george zimmerman. she describes trayvon as scared and too out of breath to continue running.
the second video includes discussion with benjamin jealous, president of the n.a.a.c.p. and audio of other witnesses.
Hosting NATO will likely cost the city an estimated $55 million, and health advocates claim only a fraction of that bill, around $2-3 million, is needed to keep these facilities open.
french physician julie castro writes here about defense of the globally number one ranking health care system, and how insane the u.s. system appears to those living in the truly civilized nations - at that same truthout link, beverly bell also provides references and resourcesfor health care activists.
to vary a brown rice and bean dish, simply add your choice of greens and dressing- then toss as a salad. you can serve warm or chilled; although it is not commonplace americana, raw greens and lettuces blend very nicely with warmer ingredients. and, you do not need tomatoes before making a salad. on the other hand, consider cooking lettuce.
chicago indy media reports that chicago police abducted 8 NATO activists from their home with an unsigned or blank warrant. the police deny that they have them in custody.
According to witnesses in Bridgeport, police broke down a door to access
a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a
search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled
one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were
handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police
searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one
of the tenants a "Commie faggot." A search warrant produced 4 hours
after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge's signature,
according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport
raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone.
below, chicago indy media livestream channel from chicago NATO summit 2012. people are asked to phone mayor Emanuel at 312-744-5000 and police superintendent McCarthy
312-744-4000 and demand the immediate release of the activists.
huge demonstrations in québec when premier jean charest announced "emergency laws" attempting to end the student strike, and by ending the semester and restarting classes in august. one hundred twenty-two students were arrested in montreal.
students can be seen on video at this globe and mail link flooding the hallways of the Université du Québec à Montréal.
below, a youtube showing students protesting inside pavillion j.
the premier ironically accused students of interfering with "the right to an education."
i topped a crusty bread toast today with cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and freshly ground black pepper.
i listened to charles mingus sing. i drank a cup of coffee.
in bagel art, what else you can put on cream cheese. you can use goat cheese, which you may notice, like cream cheese, sells combined with sweet flavors like berries or honeys.
an occupy chicago preview of the week of actions planned around the NATO summit, and from chicago network access television (CAN TV).
here is a taste of what the city is planning for protesters, in the following chilling youtube video of a long-range acoustic device or LRAD, which reportedly can cause permanent hearing damage. the city has spent 1 million dollars on policing and this sort of military equipment, the LRAD purportedly "as a means to ensure a consistent message is delivered to large crowds that can be heard over ambient noise." the video shows the LRAD being used for the first time in the U.S. in pittsburgh for the G20 summit in september, 2009.
and, of course, while chicago breaks the piggy bank taking militarism out to the ball, the city is facing deep cuts in common sense priorities like health care and education, for starters.
tim seibles reading his poem, Midnight, the Coyote, Down in the Mouth.
more recordings of tim seibles at chamesrichards channel. you won't be able to stop listening there, unless you must suddenly drop everything because now you must write a poem, too.
here is an older bio. i am seeing that he has a new publication out, in addition to those listed- titled, Fast Animal, available through etruscanpress.org.
real news speaks with a collage of protesters mobilizing against austerity in madrid, spain. their motto: "we're not merchandise in the hands of politicians and bankers!"
student loan debt has outpaced all other forms of consumer debt, recently topping one trillion dollars.
Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start
paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant
jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her
mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.
“If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my
debt also,” said Ms. Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith.
Ms. Griffith, 23, wouldn’t seem a perfect financial
fit for a college that costs nearly $50,000 a year. Her father, a paramedic, and
mother, a preschool teacher, have modest incomes, and she has four sisters. But
when she visited Ohio Northern, she was won over by faculty and admissions staff
members who urge students to pursue their dreams rather than obsess on the
sticker price. “As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me,
and the school really sold it,” said Ms. Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a
private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe
like $900 a month. No one told me that.”
this takes places against a backdrop of greatly increasing enrollment at state colleges and universities, with funding there being radically cut, along with recent issues in Congress over letting interest rates double and further ravaging the (now minimal, once sorta robust) Pell Grant system.
rajeev v. date, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - the
federal watchdog created after the financial crisis - is likening excessive student loans to risky mortages with what the times describes as a "cast of contributing characters," including colleges and universities that encourage students and families into thinking that high amounts of debt are "doable and normal," and roots dating back to the 1980's when tuition began to rise faster than family income.
In the 1990s, for-profit colleges boomed by spending heavily on marketing and
recruiting. Despite some ethical lapses and fraud, enrollment more than doubled
in the last decade and Wall Street swooned over the stocks. Roughly 11 percent
of college students now attend for-profit colleges, and they receive
about a quarter of federal student loans and grants.
Common Dreams reported in early April, and with sources from national newspapers like Washington Post and Time Magazine that $36 billion dollars in student loan debt belongs to Americans who are 60 years and older. It is not uncommon for social security checks to be taken and debt collectors to harass people for payments in their eighties.
The debt to this demographic comes as a result of unpaid loans from their original days in college, loans for mid-career education, and co-signing loans for younger family members, the research shows.
Another problem for borrowers is that as of 2005, when the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was passed, private student debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court. This lack of this consumer protection makes student debt nearly impossible to erase. “A student loan can be a debt that’s kind of like a ball and chain that you can drag to the grave,” said William E. Brewer, president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, in an interview with the Washington Post. “You can unhook it when they lay you in the coffin.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), has introduced legislation that would reinstate bankruptcy protection for students. Other groups, such as Occupy Student Debt, are fighting for a variety of protections for student borrowers.
courtesy of rt
photographer: khalid khan
occupy wall street march against student debt
signs read: "1,000,000,000,000" and "Occupy Wall Street"
From the NY Times article:
“I’ll be paying this forever,” said Chelsea Grove, 24,
who dropped out of Bowling Green State University and owes $70,000 in student
loans. She is working three jobs to pay her $510 monthly obligation and has no
intention of going back.
“For me to finish it would mean borrowing more money,”
she said. “It makes me puke to think about borrowing more money.”
Another former student, Wanda McGill, like many others, has stopped opening her bills. The Times reports:
She isn’t sure how much debt she has accumulated,
though she thinks it’s about $100,000. But Ms. McGill, a 38-year-old single
mother, knows for sure she cannot pay it.
Ms. McGill said she dropped out of DeVry University, a
for-profit college with a branch in Columbus, two years ago after she ran out of
money — even with the loans. She now makes $8.50 an hour working for an
employment training center in Florida.
Similarly, and from an RT article, another student and single parent, Katie Zalman currently owes $111,000. She is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Wisconsin. Ms. Zalman states, “It's not going to be worth it. I might as well have not come to graduate school. I might as well be working at Starbucks right now." Her sentiments are echoed in the article by other students facing and anticipating a bleak employment market.
It is long past time for reform. Representative Hansen Clarke introduced a bill that would forgive up to $45,520 in student debt after a borrower makes ten years of payments at 10 percent of income. The Occupy Student Debt Campaign is calling for a write-off of existing debt as well as free public higher education. Students in California are pushing an initiative that would make four years of state university free for all full-time, in-state students who maintain at least a 2.7 GPA or do seventy hours of community service a year. Lost tuition would be paid for with a modest surtax on those earning more than $250,000.
Making public college (or advanced training) free for those who merit it isn’t a radical idea. For many years the United States led the world in free K–12 education. The GI Bill paid for college or advanced training for a generation of vets after World War II, which gave us the best-educated citizenry in the world and broadened the middle class. As recently as 1980, Pell grants covered 69 percent of public college costs; now they cover less than 35 percent.
We can easily afford the estimated $30 billion annual cost of free college education; a financial-transactions tax would raise many times that sum, and it would inhibit destabilizing speculation on Wall Street. We would reap the benefits of a better-educated citizenry, and young people could be more entrepreneurial and more public-spirited.
from RT below, a youtube below describes a growing movement to sue schools for refunds, accusing the schools of fraud and falsely inflating employment figures:
1. place your tuna steaks in grilling or baking pan. premix ingredients together and spread on top - or top the fish with each of the ingredients, one at a time, and with the fish in the pan.
2. let the meat sit in its marinade for anywheres from one to several hours in the refrigerator, and covered.
3. cook fish, as planned.
serve and enjoy with some more fresh lemon juice!
more stuff
this simple marinade is adapted from a recipe in The Japanese Grill, by Tadashi Ono. He prepares a simple garlic soy marinade with 1/2 cup soy sauce, 8 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper; it keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks for various dishes - just stir to mix it again, before using. which is, of course, appropriate for not only fish, but red meats, too.
continuing to follow the quebec student strikes, blogged earlier here, here, and here. real news sits down with student organizer, jeremie bedard-wien with the student union classe to discuss the latest developments. as discussed earlier, a tentative deal fell through when it became apparent that administrators intended differently than they represented during a marathan meeting. thousands of students have been marching nightly for a few weeks already, and in one instance, police attacked the group, firing rubber bullets at students. another student organizer and friend of jeremie bedard-wien, and hit by one of these bullets, lost one of his eyes. at present, the students are overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the strike. mr. bedard-wien talks about all of these developments, and how his group, classe, views priorities, at present, in education reform.
in health care news, two more states - new york and missouri - have introduced single payer bills, riding momentum initiated in may last year by vermont when they became the first state to implement a universal health care system.
healthcare-NOW! reports over 70 new york state legislators as co-sponsors in an effort supported by scores of "[d]octors, nurses, patients, senior citizens, anti-poverty advocates, faith leaders and medical administrators."
assemblymember and health committee chair richard gottfried and senator thomas duane unveiled what is essentially revised legislation drafted in the early 90s incorporating "changes that have been made in the state’s oversight of health care in the interim, advances in how to provide medical services, and the recent federal changes in the health care system."
in the article on recent developments in new york, healthcare-NOW! reports:
The proposal would provide comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers. Every New York resident would be eligible to enroll, regardless of age, income, wealth, employment, or other status. There would be no premium, deductibles, or co-pays. Coverage would be publicly funded. The benefits will include comprehensive outpatient and inpatient medical care, primary and preventive care, prescription drugs, laboratory tests, rehabilitative, dental, vision, hearing, etc.
missouri protester supporting single payer health care;
sign reads:
"I'm One Of 47 Million Americans
Without Health Insurance -
Never Heard Of Single Payer National Healthcare?"
in missouri, the missouri health care policy committee gave a formal hearing to MO HB1405, a single payer health plan bill tirelessly advanced by Missourians for Single Payer
below, 2 youtubes from the hearing. in the first, representative mike brown from the kansas city area introduces HB1405, presenting an inescapably logical and compelling argument as to why the bill is in the state's best interests;
.
in the second video, members of the saint louis chapter of physicians for a national health plan, also testify in support of single payer -
update on montreal student strike; on monday, canadian students voted overwhelmingly to reject the deal with the provincial government. as blogged on sunday, and a day earlier, students in quebec have effectively mobilized 250,000 students in a 13 week long strike with massive demonstrations - also blockading banks, bridges, and government ministries - and since the liberal provincial government announced 75% tuition hikes over five years.
more in the video below from cbc news in montreal; you can also see a motion picture clip of how massive some protests have been:
One student website has published what purports to be an insider's account of a marathon 24-hour negotiating session that led to the arrangement over the weekend.
That blow-by-blow description accuses the government of using sleep deprivation to get students, in the morning after all-night negotiations, to agree to what was put before them.
The paper breaks down monday's voting by student unions as follows -
Rejecting:
Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne.
CEGEP Marie-Victorin.
CEGEP de Valleyfield.
CEGEP de Saint-Laurent.
CEGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe.
Arts and technology students association at the University of Montreal.
Literature and French language students association at the University of Montreal.
Computer sciences and operational research students association at the University of Montreal.
Sociology students association at Laval University.
Litterature students association at Laval University.
Geography students association at Laval University.
Quebec studies students association at the University of Trois- Rivières.
Language and communication students association at UQAM.
Regional development students association at UQAC.
Accepting: CEGEP de la Gaspésie et des Îles.
today, the montreal gazette cites figures - in the latest tally from the last two days of continued voting - overwhelmingly at 83,250 students against, and only 3,200 for.
so complete rejection is expected. the montreal gazette reports:
Students said during weekend discussions their understanding was that everyone on this council would work to find money to reduce fees. But subsequent to the deal being signed, they said, government and university officials presented it as the onus being uniquely on students to find the money.
The students also said there was ambiguity about any surplus being applied to tuition fees.
Not only are students rejecting this deal en masse, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for CLASSE, the Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, said they are actually insulted by it.
“Students are not ready to compromise,” he said Tuesday night.
protester with sign: "Le Diable Est Dan Les Details"
"The Devil Is In The Details"
the gazette's latest talley from student groups as follows:
So far, students at only two schools have supported the agreement : CEGEP de Gaspésie (600 students) and CEGEP de Rimouski (2,600 students).
Here’s a list of the associations that have rejected it:
CEGEPs: Valleyfield (1,965 students), Marie-Victorin (3,800 students), Bois de Boulogne (2,950 students), St. Laurent (3,500 students), Maisonneuve (6,100 students), Montmorency (6,600 students), l’Outaouais (4,600 students), Baie Comeau (700 students) and Lanaudière à Terrebonne (1,500 students).
Université de Montréal: Arts, creation and technology (13 students); psychology and sociology (88 students); comparative literature (185 students); architecture (353 students); geography (242 students); art history (160 students); medicine (1,319 students); computers and operational research (337 students); philosophy (296 students); music (634 students); graduate communication (209 students); graduate political science (170 students); history (337 students); and demography (72 students).Université Laval: Sociology (111 students); literary studies (350 students); geography (250 students); history (350 students); philosophy (241 students); and researchers in philosophy (120 students).Université du Québec à Chicoutimi: Regional intervention (85 students). Université du Québec à Trois Rivières: Quebec studies (43 students). Université de Sherbrooke: Arts and humanities (2,001 students); graduate arts and communications (282 students). Concordia University: Concordia Student Union (34,000 students).
internet privacy updates in two stories today; via the verge, twitter fights back against the subpoena to obtain an occupy protester's tweets, filing a motion today to quash the subpoena on 4th amendment grounds against unreasonable searches and seizures, and, because users' licenses state that they retain the right to content - that -
the federal Stored Communication Act specifically allows users to challenge requests for their information. According to Twitter, the court's decision to deny Harris an opportunity to fight the DA's subpoena "imposes a new and overwhelming burden on Twitter to fight for its users' rights," since it will have to either always give up information or get directly involved in every Twitter user's defense when there's a request for tweets.
as blogged in late april, a manhattan judge recently ruled that your tweets belong to twitter, in the d.a.'s action against a brooklyn bridge occupy protester who was allegedly tweeting the day occupy stood up for the constitution and n.y.p.d. arrested 700 people. although millions of viewers saw n.y.p.d. leads thousands of marchers directly into traffic, protester malcolm harris is the one who really "done the deed," i guess, in the eyes of that judge, and even if he wasn't, the judge has a right to look and see what he may or may not have been writing on the internet.
so this judge is not the last word, we hear today, and by any stretch.
and, more good news in internet privacy today, another new york judge rules that an ip address is not a poisen. that is, your ip address is not "you." observant judge in my opinion!
more below in a youtube from RT, and in an interview about the ruling with a staff attorney at the electronic frontier foundation, a sort of civil liberties advocacy group for internet users.