STATEWIDE STUDENT UNION STARTS AT SANTA MONICA COLLEGE
(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)
Up until last Saturday apathy had been the greatest threat to being able to reform and hold accountable the highly coordinated attack on public education at all levels that is ceaselessly degrading the public education system. Last Saturday at Santa Monica College (SMC) we struck a blow for the good guys and gals where the first step to proactive engagement of all those wanting great public education took its first steps. Through the inspired effort of SMC students and others, students gathered at SMC for an all day conference whose goal is to build a statewide student union movement to confront the privatization juggernaut that has up until now had those fighting it relegated to just responding to the latest outrage that those in power could come up with.
After initial discussion, it was decided to give ever person present irrespective of present student status an equal vote in determining the issues presented to the general assembly of all those present. Subsequently, those present were able to directly connect by Internet to the student union movement in Quebec, where members of that movement Micha Stettin and Rushdia Mehreen spoke as representatives of the members who are presently on strike. They talked about the demands that they