March 2nd Approaching

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Wisconsin is stirring

MADISON, Wisconsin – Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been pushing the state assembly to put forward an anti-union and anti-collective bargaining bill which would affect all state employees with the exception of fire and police unions. Walker threatened early on that he would unleash the national guard on any striking workers. Public schools have been closed for three days in Madison. Democratic senators have refused to show up in the capitol.

Students at UWM (Madison) held a walk out yesterday (among others); this video of the mass of students was submitted to us:

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from BurntBookmobile:

-The Milwaukee public school district union, the MTEA and its teachers have made a decision to hold a “sick out” and join the building demonstrations happening in Madison. MPS is shut down for teachers and students. (more info here)

-The numbers of anti-austerity and anti-bill protesters tomorrow at the Union are estimated to be the largest of all of the days so far. Some estimates are as high as 60,000 plus people.

-The Wisconsin Tea Party, which largely supports Governor Walker and could be held to be responsible for his election victory, are calling for counter-protests tomorrow as well “to clear the pigsty” that has occupied the Capitol in Madison. With this comes the possibility for confrontation between counter-protesters and occupiers, and between the police who will attempt to keep the situation under control. At the same time, there is an attempt to keep things contained and peaceful on the part of Union leadership, marshals, etc as well as an immense effort of self-policing proliferating.

-Meanwhile the leadership of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, with 23,000 members, is making offers to betray their workers by declaring they are willing talk about concessions. (more info) This move hopefully opens up room for wildcat strikes to take shape amongst the less docile members.

Two Updates from the Campus Rights Project

from ReclaimUC:

1) The Live Week 12/11/2009 Meeting

The Campus Rights Project is working with Oakland Civil Rights Attorney Dan Siegel on issues regarding the December 11, 2009 arrests in Wheeler Hall. Dan is interested in meeting with people that were arrested to explore the possibility that the arrests violated civil rights law. At this preliminary stage, it is important for as many people as possible to meet with Dan. If he is able to proceed with a claim against the University or other officials involved with the arrests, he will need complete information and an opportunity to meet all of those who he is representing. Please attend this meeting. If you have any questions, contact CRP at crp.berkeley@gmail.com.

What: Information Meeting about Legal Claims from 12/11/2009 Arrests
Where: Boalt Hall Room 110
When: Tuesday February 15, 7PM
Who: Everyone who was arrested at Wheeler Hall on the Morning of 12/11/2009

2) Public Hearing for Julian Martinez

Thomas Frampton, who two weeks ago argued (and won) Boalt Law School’s Honors Moot Court Competition in front of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, will be able to speak and advocate for his client. This will be the first time that the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) fulfills one (though by no means all) of its due process obligations and actually allows an adviser to speak for the defendant in the conduct hearings of the students who were charged with violating the code in November 2009. Should be quite a show.

Friday, February 18, 2011 at 1:30pm in Room 102 of Krutch Theater (building 14) on the Clark Kerr campus.

President of the University of Puerto Rico Resigns

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – José Ramón de la Torre, the president of the UPR, announced his resignation yesterday amidst student protests. (via StudentActivism)

Large Mobilizations Continue at UPR

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Student demonstrations are continuing to shake the University of Puerto Rico, in spite of the successful institution of a $800 fee increase. The first semester of the 2010-11 school year ended only just recently in late January. It was during the end of the first semester that hundreds of students held a sit-in and were all arrested. The second semester began on Monday this week with fresh new protests against the tuition increase and against the severe police repression students have been facing at demonstrations.

On Monday, Judge Rebecca de León Ríos, ruled that the suspension of a student leader and the university’s ban on mass demonstrations were illegal. Protests yesterday were reinforced by trade unionists and were met by riot police reportedly armed with lethal weapons. Yet, the police were overwhelmed by the number of people and retreated from the protestors. However, despite these victories several students were arrested Tuesday during further protests.

Updates from Cairo

For those of you who haven’t been able to keep up with what’s new in Egypt since the uprisings began late last month, you can visit occupied london’s blog on Cairo here!