In the wake of a police officer who murdered 15 year-old Alexander Grigopolaus 10 days ago in Greece, civil unrest has spread all throughout the country. Greece has been ridden with 10 days of riots, strikes, labor union movements, government building occupations, and university and high school occupations by students. In expressions of solidarity with the Greek youth and workers fighting for justice, demonstrations have taken place in France, Spain, and Russia.

Tonight, students of New School University in New York have occupied the University as an expression of solidarity with Greece, as well as to call attention to the rising price of education across the country, rapidly increasing unemployment rates in the U.S., and those who can no longer afford housing and are being forced to live on the streets of New York City and nationwide.

The students who have occupied New School have released a statement to the public tonight:

From New York City :

We have just occupied New School University .

We liberate this space for ourselves, and all those who want to join us, for our general autonomous use. We take the university in explicit solidarity with those occupying the universities and streets in Greece, Italy, France and Spain .

This occupation begins as a response to specific conditions at the New School, the corporatization of the university and the impoverishment of education in general. However, it is not just this university but also New York City that is in crisis: in the next several months, thousands of us will be losing our jobs, while housing remains unaffordable and unavailable to many and the cost of living skyrockets.

So we stress that the general nature of these intolerable conditions exists across the spectrum of capitalist existence, in our universities and our cities, in all of our social relations. For this reason, what begins tonight at the New School cannot, and should not, be contained here.

Thus: with this occupation, we inaugurate a wave of occupations in New York City and the United States, a coming wave of occupations, blockades, and strikes in this time of crisis.

Be assured, this is only the beginning,

With solidarity and love from New York to Greece,
To Italy, France and Spain,
To the coming insurrection.

-The occupied New School

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/102240.html

http://www.indymedia-letzebuerg.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14988&Itemid=28

On Friday, December 5, 2008, an new chapter in labor history was written by about 260 Chicago workers at Republic Windows and Doors.

Three days earlier, they learned the plant was closing. Bank of America, although flush with U.S. government bailout cash, had refused to extend Republic’s line of credit and had also refused to allow Republic to pay out what they were owed.

United — as a union of co-workers — they stood together and said “No!”

For the next five days they occupied their plant — something rarely seen in the U.S. since the 1930’s The worldwide reaction was stunning.

A World of Support

People organized demonstrations in dozens of cities across the country, from New York to San Francisco, from icy Buffalo to sunny Florida. Solidarity messages poured in from around the world. Their common theme was, “We’re behind you — and proud of you! Keep up the fight!“

The UE Local 1110 members had no way of knowing how deeply their courageous action would resonate. But it soon became clear that their action articulated the anger and frustration of millions of ordinary people in this worsening economic crisis.

A World of Hope

They inspired people fed up by the excesses of banks, corporations and the powerful who have led us into the worst economic crisis since the 1930s — and then got the government to bail them out with our money.

They gave hope to people who face the prospect of losing jobs, homes, healthcare, retirement, and for many, the hope for their kids to get a good college education.

A Movement to ‘Resist Economic Violence’

Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed it well when he said that, like Rosa Parks 50 years ago, the Republic workers stood up for justice by sitting down. “In many ways,” said Jackson, their action “is the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence.”

Now, it’s up to all of us to make sure this moment is a real turning point, when we begin to stand together as working people to demand an economy and government policies that put our needs first.

By Clement Daly, Christina Betinis and Alexander Fangmann
8 December 2008

Workers have not only lost their jobs, but have lost their benefits as well, including health care for themselves and their families. Their main demand is that the company pay them for unused vacation time, along with 60 days severance pay, as required under federal law.

Muñoz continued, “Most of the employees have a lot of years working for the company. So the company, they just threw us on the streets, and I don’t see any good reason.”

The occupation of Republic has been met with a nervous reaction from the political establishment. President-elect Barack Obama, a former state senator from Chicago, was asked his opinion at a press conference on Sunday. “When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” he insisted.

See Full Article

Also see:

Associated Press article

Washington Post article

Sign the Petition! In Solidarity with the Chicago workers of Republic Windows and Doors

They got money for RACIST I.C.E. but no money for Education. Read:

11/20: $44+ million contract for Northrop-Grumman for ICE detainees

Department of Homeland Security Awards Immigration and Customs Enforcement Infrastructure System Task Order to Northrop Grumman

MCLEAN, Va., Nov 20, 2008 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) — Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC:
Northrop Grumman Corporation

NOC 36.45, +2.25, +6.6%) has been awarded a task order by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide an infrastructure system and commercial, off-the-shelf solution for bed space, transportation and detainee location tracking (BST&T) that will significantly increase safety and security, reduce processing time, minimize network and cellular traffic, and provide a common interface for DHS agents. DHS awarded the task order against the Enterprise Architecture Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) Information Technology services contract vehicle.

The BST&T task order consists of a one-year, $14 million base period, with three one-year options for a total potential value of $44.35 million.

Under the terms of the task order, Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology sector will provide DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention and Removal Operations with an integrated system that will locate and track detainees, reserve detainee bed space among various facilities, and manage detainee transportation. Northrop Grumman will provide the infrastructure and integrate this system with other DHS systems and solutions.
“The team brings a depth of implementation experience needed for the BST&T system,” said Al Pisani, vice president for mission applications and IT infrastructure for Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology sector. “Our extensive knowledge of law enforcement applications and infrastructure tools make us uniquely capable to develop this significant capability.”

The solution provides commercial off-the-shelf integration with a tailored Web portal linking the systems together. During the first phase of the task order, the team will develop and deploy a wireless network infrastructure at detention facilities that will initially be used for detainee tracking and will be able to support evolving technology needs. Also during this first phase Northrop Grumman will deploy the central reservation capability.

“This key win helps to further expand Northrop Grumman’s expertise within DHS,” said Jerry Buckwalter, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of homeland security. “This project will help us continue our mission-focused approach to providing innovative solutions that ensure the most effective response to the Department’s needs.”

Work under the task order will take place in McLean, Va.

Northrop Grumman’s teammates include SoftBrands, Minneapolis; System Analytics, Inc., Fairfax, Va.; CoSolutions, Inc., Reston, Va.; Alanco/TSI Prisim, Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.; Cogent Systems, Pasadena, Calif.; Cross Match Technologies, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas; IBM, Armonk, N.Y.; and Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com
SOURCE: Northrop Grumman Corp.

Juli Ballesteros
Northrop Grumman Information Technology
(703) 556-2736
juli.ballesteros@ngc.com

To: sfj_deanza@yahoogroups.com
From: bamitssam@sbcglobal.net
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:15:48 -0800
Subject: Re: [sfj_deanza] Join The Impact Protest of Prop 8

The United States was founded on racism- and our country was built on slavery, does that mean that we should go back to that also? Just because our country was founded on a flawed concept doesn’t mean that it’s just or fair.

Also, whatever happened to seperation between church and state? There are many religions in this country, not just Christianity. The great thing about America (or the supposed great thing) is that this country is a mix of all different races, ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, and religions. It doesn’t matter how many percent of the nation is Christian, religion has no place in government.

If marriage was just a Christian concept then the religious authorities could invent their own rules and regulations and conduct the ceromonies in any way that it pleased. However, marriage is not a one- religion ceremony. It takes place within every culture and within every relgion (including Agnostics and Athiests). So why then, does a group think that it can determine how marriage is performed for everybody? Why do they have a right to say who can and cannot get married? Marriage is a government issue (hense the marriage license), and therefore has nothing to do with religion.

peace,

Samiyah