No. 7, April 2010 Table of Contents Selected articles linked  Newspaper of CUNY students from the Revolutionary Reconstruction Club and Internationalist Clubs, for the program of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky, published in accord with the Internationalist Group, U.S. section of the League for the Fourth International

 

Class Struggle Against Budget Cuts, Layoffs, Tuition Hikes Democrats Spearhead Capitalist Attacks on Public Education Even before the current economic crisis, public education faced a sustained attack from the capitalist ruling class. Spearheaded by the Democrats, from the Obama White House on down, this bipartisan assault is being felt around the country: in California a whopping 33 percent increase in tuition, which amounts to a program to kick students from poor and working families out of school; at the City University of New York, annual tuition hikes, budget cuts, TAP cuts, adjunct layoffs; wholesale closures of schools in black and Latino communities of NYC, to be replaced by privately run “charter” schools. Students need to mobilize massively to defend our right to education. But we cannot do it alone. We need to link up with the power of the working class, which keeps everything going in this society and can bring it all to a stop. On March 4, there were significant protests against the attack on public education. Yet the organizers did their best not to attack the Democrats, and in fact allied with them. This means tying protesters to the capitalist party that is running the government and attacking our right to education. Democrats Spearhead Capitalist Attacks on Public Education  (28 April 2010)

Defeat Imperialist War/Occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq! Hey Obama, Whadya Say, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today? Since last summer, dozens of civilians have been massacred by U.S. and NATO occupation forces in Afghanistan, including numerous students and children. Recently, the web site WikiLeaks put up a now-infamous video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad, including two journalists and then those who rushed to their aid. During the Vietnam War, antiwar demonstrators used to chant about Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson, “Hey, hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?” Now they should be chanting the same about another Democratic president, Barack Obama. But they aren’t. In fact, there have been hardly any sizeable antiwar demos since Obama became the candidate. Why not? Because the “antiwar” forces either openly or tacitly supported Obama. Iraq was called “Bush’s war,” even though the Democrats voted hundreds of billions of dollars for the war budget, year after year. We in the Internationalist Clubs don’t call for a “new, improved” U.S. foreign policy, we’re for the defeat of the U.S. imperialist war, and we seek to bring down the whole imperialist system through international socialist revolution. Hey Obama, Whadya Say, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?  (28 April 2010)

Lockdown U.? No Police State at Hunter College! On  March 4, hundreds of Hunter students walked out to protest tuition hikes and budget cuts that are part of a nationwide assault on public education. But the Hunter administration turned the college into “Lockdown U,” flooding the campus with police. A pretext was provided by the actions of a small group of supposed “anarchists,” who assaulted and threatened activists organizing the protest. When the provocation and police intervention opened up a dangerous vacuum, Internationalist Club and Class Struggle Education Workers activists and others kept the rally going to maintain the focus on the struggle for “No tuition hike, no budget cuts, no layoffs.” We stressed the need to break with the Democratic Party, which is behind the cuts. Since this incident, a furious exchange of e-mails and Facebook postings has opened up in which “anarchist” supporters try to cover up the vile attack on Hunter activists, while others go after “off-campus students.” Both the use of violence against demonstrators and railing against “outsiders” aid the administration’s attempts to seal off and clamp down on protest at Hunter. The response to March 4 should be to demand: Cops off campus! No turnstiles! The administration and Board of Trustees should be abolished and replaced by representatives democratically elected by students, faculty and campus workers. No Police State at Hunter College!  (9 March 2010) Letter to the Hunter Envoy (12 March 2010)

Democrats, Republicans Wield the Budget Ax – We Need a Class-Struggle Workers Party Students and Labor: Shut NYC Down Stop the Assault on Public Education! On  March 4, students, teachers, university faculty and staff and their supporters held a national day of action in defense of public education. The mobilization was sparked by protests last fall against the 32 percent increase in tuition at the University of California. In New York, the same thing is happening in slow motion. Cuts to university budgets by Democratic governor Paterson, racist school closings by Republican mayor Bloomberg and attacks on students and transit workers by the Metropolitan Transit Authority target every section of working people. But to effectively fight the ruling-class assault, you have to know who is the enemy. Organizers of the March 4 protests avoid mentioning that the assault on public education comes from the Democratic Congress and Democratic president Obama. At the time of the 2008 elections, the bulk of the reformist left tried to promote the false “hope” in “change” from the popular new president. In contrast, the Internationalists said, “No to Teacher-Basher McCain and Education-for-War Obama,” and called to “Break with the Democrats – For a Class-Struggle Workers Party.” The CUNY Internationalist Clubs actively participated in the student actions. We publish here the Revolution leaflet distributed at the protests. Students and Labor: Shut NYC Down, Stop the Assault on Public Education!  (4 March 2010)

Greetings from CUNY Internationalist Clubs Victory to University of Puerto Rico Student Strike! Beginning on April 21, the University of Puerto Rico has been shut down by a student strike beginning on the main campus at Río Piedras and quickly spreading to other campuses. The students are striking against drastic budget cuts, the elimination of tuition waivers and the threat of privatization. Since the beginning of the strike and occupation, they have faced the threat of heavy repression with the colonial riot police stationed outside the campus. Now university authorities are seeking arrest warrants against strike leaders. The Internationalist Clubs of the City University of New York sent greetings to the student strikers urging workers unions to join the struggle. Victory to University of Puerto Rico Student Strike!  (26 April 2010)

Mobilize Workers Against Racist Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

Mexican Students Defend Electrical Workers

Fascist Provocation Thwarted at Mexico City Junior College

Battle Over Racist School Closings in New York

Hunter Cafeteria Struggle – Workers and Students Unite

Hunter Film Showing on the Fight to Free Mumia Now

Free Lil' Wayne!