AT 5:30pm yesterday, LAPD announced a 7:15pm meeting for a lottery for a “media pool” to be comprised of a very limited number of members of the media (3 media outlets for each of three media: print, tv, radio — no internet?) authorized to cover Occupy LA. Members of the press otherwise not authorized will be subject to arrest once an unlawful assembly dispersal order is given. Read the rest of this entry »
OCCUPY OAKLAND—RE-OCCUPYING OSCAR GRANT a.k.a. FRANK OGAWA PLAZA
On Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at noon, Occupy Oakland activists will retake Frank Ogawa a.k.a. Oscar Grant Plaza in downtown Oakland with a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week vigil. Occupiers hope to create a model for a new wave of “Occupation” protest throughout the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
Hundreds of students and faculty members temporarily shut down a University of California Board of Regents meeting being held simultaneously today at campuses in San Francisco, Davis, Merced and Los Angeles by standing in the conference rooms and chanting slogans so loudly the regents could no longer conduct business. . . Read the rest of this entry »
UC Regent Richard Blum and the University of California itself are heavily invested in private for-profit colleges which benefit from cutbacks in public education.
In case you are wondering why, amidst all the fee hikes, cutbacks, layoffs and furloughs, construction never seems to stop at University of California campuses, you’ll appreciate the following investigation.
Experts identify multiple conflicts of interest among an elite group that oversees investments for the University of California.
Last fall, amid an unprecedented state budget crisis, the University of California Board of Regents took extraordinary measures to cut costs and generate revenue. Lecturers were laid off, classes eliminated. The board reduced admissions for in-state students, while increasing the admission of out-of-state students, who pay higher fees than state residents. And to the consternation of tens of thousands of students, undergraduate tuition was raised by 32 percent, with more hikes to come.
It now costs about $30,000 per year to attend the University of California (UC) as an undergraduate, including tuition and expenses. Even with student aid, it’s a sum beyond the means of many students and their families.
While education took a beating, the regents authorized $3 million in bonuses to a handful of top administrators, and reduced the salaries of janitorial staff. The regents approved new construction projects, including a sports stadium. They assured Wall Street bond underwriters that periodic tuition increases would help pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction loans. Read the rest of this entry »
Since 1966, fees at both systems have increased about six times faster than inflation.
At the same time, students are taking on much more debt. The chart below shows federal student loans disbursed to UC and CSU students over the last decade.
On top of this, the UC Regents are considering multi-year tuition increases of up to 16% annually, cumulatively adding up to 81% over the next four years, which would bring UC tuition to more than $22,000/year in 2016.
We will announce campus-by-campus pick-up points for caravans and carpools on this page soon. In the meantime, please plan your own carpools to get to the nearest convergence to “Open the Regents Up to the 99%.”
Everything was chill, holiday spread for all, and no police repression. A humane alternative to how Oakland city officials are choosing to operate. As Veronica Faisant mentioned on KPFA’s Living Room yesterday, this encampment has grown ‘exponentially’ since Oakland officials evicted Occupy Oakland.
“Now we cannot even serve people on Thanksgiving, apparently.”
Here’s a photo of the delectable holiday meal that was being served (via twitter)
Apparently OPD felt the need to interrupt the joyous repast in order to prevent Porta-Potties from being delivered on Thanksgiving DayIndigenous Solidarity Day, by instigating a riot and making arrests.
Despite all the talk by Mayor Quan about cooperation, this action demonstrates how the lack of respect for human dignity on the part of Oakland Police Department and City officials seems to know no bounds.
OG Plaza: Before and After Eviction of Occupy Oakland
We’ve seen how business leaders such as those behind the Chamber of Commerce, who neither reside in Oakland nor represent local small business, tried to characterize the encampment as an eyesore and health and safety hazard that kept people from coming downtown. So instead the city has responded to the Chamber’s concerns by turning the plaza into a swamp, pictured below in pix taken at last Saturday’s Day of Action rally and march.
OG Plaza Before and After Eviction of Occupy Oakland on Nov. 14 (click to enlarge) (Note: the crowd that gathered for the march and rally on Saturday was quite large, on Broadway and 14th, just not shown in these pix.)
Ogawa-Grant swamp, as inviting as the City of Oakland and its Chamber of Commerce like it
Watering the Swamp: using precious resources to keep the mud muddy
And kid-friendly? A safer, healthier environment for children?
Occupy Oakland began to beautify the swamp with sod and planter boxes . . .
. . . but by the next day, all of this too would destroyed by DPW.
The city seems incapable of responding to the humanity of the Free Garden, the Thanksgiving Dinner, and Occupy Oakland as a whole with anything other than brute force and violent repression.
OPD "Negotiators": what's that in his right hand, I wonder? Negotiating tool, no doubt
The corporate and financial elite that sit on the University of California Board of Regents just announced that they will close their doors to the public when they vote on new cuts to education in their 2012 budget request. This comes on the heels of the California State University Board of Trustees announcement that they will not engage in a public discussion or revote on the illegitimate tuition increase they passed last Wednesday. The leadership of both the UC and CSU systems refuse to face thousands of outraged students, faculty, and staff who demand they stop treating the 99% like an ATM.
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