The Logic of Protests on June 14- No Kings

 Why another protest? What is it going to accomplish? Shouldn’t we be [insert alternate tactic] instead?

These are good-faith questions, and they stem from very reasonable concerns. The speed, scope, and scale of the MAGA assault -- on our rights, our neighbors, our democracy -- is staggering. The stakes are enormous. There are days when nothing we’re doing feels sufficient to the magnitude of the horrors we face.

Protest is a tactic. And with any tactic, there’s a danger of tactical freeze, of it getting stale, of deploying it without a real strategy in mind. And it’s easy to look at any single protest and ask, “what did that even accomplish? What was the point?”

So I want to take a step back and talk about the role of a peaceful mass mobilization like No Kings in the context of our strategic analysis.

If you’ve been listening to us over the last few months, you’ve heard us talk about the idea of autocratic breakthrough -- a period when a would-be dictator basically sprints to consolidate their power, crush the institutions and people who could push back, and create a chilling climate for everyone else. 

For the would-be dictator, success depends on projecting power and creating an aura of inevitability. They need you to believe that Trump is the new normal, that the MAGA movement will be in power for the long haul, that the only rational move is to go along, keep your head down, and protect your own interests. 

We’ve seen over the last six months what happens when this aura of inevitability goes unchallenged. Institutions -- from state governments to businesses to civil society to higher education to media -- start to fall in line, do what Trump tells them, and/or go silent.

Here’s the thing: The aura of inevitability is a lie. It’s all a lie. Power in American society doesn’t derive from the top down. Trump’s grasp is brittle, and he’s overreaching dramatically. He will only succeed if everyone agrees to believe the lie.

Or, as our friend Reverend Barber says: A king is only a king if we bow down.

Countering the aura of inevitability requires a hundred different tactics and strategies. It looks like making an example of Target for obeying in advance and getting rid of its DEI policies. It looks like protesting and toxifying Elon Musk until he bows out of government. It looks like students at Georgetown making a list of Big Law collaborators and organizing their peers to steer clear. It looks like federal workers refusing to obey illegal or unethical orders. It looks like building the muscles and the relationships for collective action.

In short, it requires a countless number of people in a countless number of places to do something that the Trump regime doesn’t want them to do, or to NOT do something the Trump regime wants them to do. That’s how we shake off the aura of inevitability and halt the autocratic breakthrough.

For that to happen, people need to feel like we’re part of something bigger. We need to understand that we’re part of a movement. We need to feel like we will win.

That’s where No Kings comes in. With 1,800 events nationwide, in every state, this will be the single largest protest of this Trump administration.

A single mobilization won’t turn this ship around. But it can do a few very important things:

Change the narrative. A massive show of popular opposition everywhere in the country can disrupt Trump’s effort to project strength. It shows that resistance is big, powerful, growing, and everywhere.

Bring in new people. A mobilization of this scale and scope reaches people who aren’t yet engaged, and -- if done right -- helps to draw them into a cycle of action and relationships on the ground.

Foster community. When you show up, you realize that not only are you not alone -- you’re actually part of something enormous. And that helps to build the shared sense of identity we’ll need for the path ahead.

Spread courage. After Hands Off!, we heard from people in positions of power within institutions -- law firms, universities (one big university, in fact), and elsewhere -- who told us they were emboldened by the protests to push back on pressure from the Trump regime. As we often say, courage is contagious. 

And No Kings comes at an absolutely crucial moment. 

Trump and Stephen Miller’s vicious anti-immigrant crackdown has been escalating over the last few months. The scale of the cruelty and terror they’ve created is almost impossible to put into words. And they have been cynically, intentionally sending their masked, unaccountable ICE forces into blue cities and states, communities where no one wants them. They’ve been working overtime to manufacture chaos, so that they have a pretext to deploy military forces to crack down on dissent for all of us.

Trump’s birthday parade and his attack on LA are all part of the same agenda of fascist theatrics, divide and conquer politics, and the consolidation of power.

Trump wants to look strong. What he doesn’t understand is that true power comes from the people. And on June 14th, we’re going to prove it.

If you haven’t found your closest No Kings protest, please check out our map, register, and then help us get out the word by sharing with friends and family.

In solidarity,
Leah Greenberg

Showing Up on April 5.

 

This Saturday is already going to be BIG, but we’re counting on everyone to grab some poster boards, some friends, and a few snacks so they can turn out to make it HISTORICALLY HUGE. The moment could not be bigger or more timely:

1️⃣ The crackdown on peaceful protest is coming. We all know Trump, Musk, and their MAGA enablers will come after peaceful protesters if they can carry on unopposed much longer. And when that crackdown comes, it needs to be alien, inexcusable, indefensible, and untenable.

We’re showing up on April 5 because, if we don’t, it will be so much harder to do so on May 5, June 5, or beyond. Tomorrow is when we set the tone that peaceful protests against this administration are widespread, unstoppable, and only getting bigger.

2️⃣ Our leaders and institutions won’t fight unless we demand it. If anyone expected the powers that be to save us from the fascistic Musk-Trump power grab, they’ve been proven very wrong, very quickly.

Too many institutions -- from law firms to academia to corporations and the media -- have chosen to meekly bow down to Trump and Musk’s demands. Too many congressional Democrats have chosen complicity over bold resistance.

Cory Booker made clear during his historic marathon speech on the Senate floor that he was responding to pressure from his constituents to do more.

The message we send Saturday is aimed at those who share our values as much as it is at Trump and Musk. Together, we’re demanding they do more and fight harder -- knowing that hundreds of thousands of their constituents have their backs if they do.

3️⃣ We have Elon Musk on the ropes. His approval rating is in the toilet. His bid to buy Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race failed spectacularly. And now Donald Trump’s privately admitting it may be time to show DOGE the door.

By peacefully protesting the Musk-Trump Coup and educating voters about its danger to their pocketbooks and our democracy, Indivisibles and our allies have turned Elon Musk into a political pariah everywhere outside the Oval Office -- and now it’s time to turn up the heat even further.

Protests Needed

 From Indivisible leaders.  

Taking down dictatorships always requires personal courage, ownership of as a member of the opposition and accepting the reality there will be sacrifices

 

But one thing that’s hard to predict is courage. As Leah and I wrote in a new Nation op-ed that Rachel Maddow generously quoted on air:

These are frightening times, and frightening times call for active, courageous leadership. Musk and Trump are really seeking to annex the operations of the state to their pet vanity projects, bigotries, and conspiracy theories, but our enemy is not one or two men. Our enemy is apathy, cynicism, and fatalism; the pernicious, authoritarian-friendly belief that we are merely victims of world events rather than active participants in a global struggle for freedom and justice. Every time one of us -- a family member, a community organizer, a representative, a senator -- takes a step forward in this fight, a thousand pairs of eyes watch and learn. Courage is contagious.

 

 There is no social change unless there is a strong and organized social movement with healthy leadership and clear goals. If you don’t know what that means, go back and study the civil rights movement. And the state of emergency, the state of exception that we are in, requires exceptional counter-measures. The same old same old counseled by professional party consultants, and web-based non-profits and Superpacs are dead ends. We are not there yet, but we will be before this is over, because we must.++

Talking Points to Smear DNC Protesters

  

4 Talking Points Used to Smear DNC Protesters—And Why They’re Bogus

 

 

https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-national-convention-dnc-protest-gaza-harris-walz

 

 

How to make sure your disruptive protest helps your cause

Five key factors determine whether controversial protests are more likely to spark backlash or create positive outcomes.

Mark Engler and Paul Engler August 9, 2024

 

 

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2024/08/how-to-make-sure-disruptive-protest-helps-cause/

 

 

MOST CAMPUS PROTESTERS AREN’T EXTREMISTS, BUT THE EXTREMISTS HAVE SEIZED THE NARRATIVE, THANKS TO THE MEDIA

  

 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/most-campus-protesters-arent-extremists-but-the-extremists-have-seized-the-narrative-thanks-to-the-media

 

MOST CAMPUS PROTESTERS AREN’T EXTREMISTS, BUT THE EXTREMISTS HAVE SEIZED THE NARRATIVE, THANKS TO THE MEDIA

 

By Peter Dreier

On our blog. 

 

It is hard to find an objective analysis of the ongoing student protests about Israel and Palestine – which so far have taken place on over 50 campuses and led to over 2,000 arrests --  or the wider war that has provoked the demonstrations. Here are some thoughts:  

 

1. Most of the student protesters want an end to the horrific violence and violations of basic human rights (housing, health care, food) that they see on TV and on social media every day. 

 

2. Most protesters don’t support Hamas (a theocratic, anti-women and anti-LGBTQ terrorist organization) or want to see  the mass murder or exile of Israeli Jews. Still, a small fraction of protesters do support Hamas.  For example, when the  national office of Students for Justice in Palestine called Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance," and when 34 Harvard student organizations issued a joint statement saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence," that can reasonably be interpreted as support for Hamas.  These views are often what the media reports and what gets the headlines. Most news outlets, particularly TV, are suckers for extremism. 

 

3.  Most of the protesters want an end to the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and to Israel’s widespread discrimination against its Palestinian citizens. They want equality and peaceful co-existence between Jews and Palestinians. They want Netanyahu gone, but they don’t know enough about Israeli politics to know what kind of government might replace him and his government. They don’t have clear or well-reasoned thoughts on the end-game, such as what to do when the Gaza war is over. But neither do most well-informed experts. I favor a two-state solution and many of the protesters I’ve talked to share some vague idea that this would be a good idea, but they don’t understand much about Israel-Palestine history or the real options. They don't know about the Israeli peace movement or groups like Standing Together, founded by Israeli Jews and Palestinians to work toward mutual understand, justice, and peace. They don't understand the geo-politics of the Middle East and what it would take to forge a real peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians that would require pressure from other Arab governments, the US, the EU, and the UN to allow self-governance for both Jews and Palestinians. 

 

 

4.  I don’t deny the existence of campus anti-Semitism nor do I deny that it has been increasing.  Anti-Semitism is not the same as anti-Zionism, but sometimes the two overlap.  When Jewish students hear slogans like “intifada forever,”  “Zionists don’t belong here,” or  “Settlers, Settlers Go Back Home,  Palestine Is Ours Alone,”  they aren’t unreasonable to view them as attacks on Jews.  When protesters tell Jewish students to “go back to Poland,” when they see swastikas on campus buildings, or view the poster of UC-Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chermininsky that calls him a “Zionist” and depicts him with flood on his knife and folks “while Gaza starves,” they recognize it as anti-Jewish bigotry.  Such incidents  only have to happen once and they can be hard to forget. 

 

More: 

 

https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/most-campus-protesters-arent-extremists-but-the-extremists-have-seized-the-narrative-thanks-to-the-media

 

 

 

Rev. William Barber on Protests and Riots

Only if the screams and tears and protests shake the very conscience of this nation can we hope for a better society on the other side of this

The systemic racism that killed George Floyd has taken untold souls from us for over 400 years.’, Christian Monterrosa/AP

Nproo one wants to see their community burn. But the fires burning in Minneapolis, just like the fire burning in the spirits of so many marginalized Americans today, are a natural response to the trauma black communities have experienced, generation after generation. No one wants the fires – even activists on the ground have said this. But they have also shared how their non-violent pleas and protests have gone unnoticed for years as the situation has gotten out of hand. No one knows who and what is behind the violence, but we do know that countless activists, grassroots leaders and preachers were screaming non-violently long before now: “Change, America! Change, Minneapolis!” Rather than listen, many of those in power saw even their non-violent protest as an unwelcome development. This is so often the case because many Americans struggle to imagine that our government’s policies and its long train of abuses demand radical transformation. Too many want to believe racism is merely caused by a few bad actors. We often turn racism into a spectacle, only considering the cruel legacy of racism when an egregious action escalates outrage to this level.  Black Americans have rarely been able to sustain such illusions. Deadly racism is always with us, and not only through police brutality. In the midst of the current pandemic we are painfully aware that our families bear a disproportionate burden of Covid-19 deaths. In some cities where racial data is available, we know that black people are six times as likely to die from the virus as their white counterparts. Even before Covid, large numbers of black Americans died because of the racial disparities in healthcare, which are systemic and not unintentional. African Americans are three times more likely to die from particulate air pollution than our fellow Americans. The percentage of black children suffering from asthma is nearly double that of white people, and the death rate is 10 times higher. This is but a reflection of the fissures of inequality that run through every institution in our public life, where the black wealth gap, education gap and healthcare gap have persisted despite the civil rights movement, legal desegregation and symbolic affirmative action. We understand that the same mentality that will accept and defend the violence of armed officers against unarmed black people will also send black, brown and poor people into harm’s way during a pandemic in the name of “liberty” and “the economy”.  Many have cited Dr King to remind Americans that a riot is the language of the unheard. But I have been reflecting on the eulogy he offered when another man – a white man who came to Selma, Alabama, to work for voting rights – was brutally murdered by racist violence in 1965. At the funeral for James Reed, Dr King said it is not enough to ask who killed the victim in a case like the murder of George Floyd. Weak and unacceptable charges have been brought against the officer whose knee choked George Floyd, staying on his neck for three minutes after he went unconscious, but no charges have been filed against the other officers who stood by and watched. Even still, dealing with who did the killing is not all that justice demands. Dr King said the question is not only who killed him, but also what killed him?  Those of us who have faced the lethal force of systemic racism have also learned something else in the American story. We can be wounded healers The systemic racism that killed George Floyd has taken untold souls from us for over 400 years. And it is killing the very possibility of American democracy today. I join those screaming that this is all screwed up, and it’s been screwed up far too long. But we are not screwed as long we have the consciousness and humanity to know what is right and wrong. Those of us who have faced the lethal force of systemic racism have also learned something else in the American story. We can be wounded healers. We don’t have to be arbitrarily destructive. We can be determined to never accept the destruction of our bodies and dreams by any police, person or policy. We have learned that there is a force more powerful. When hands that once picked cotton have joined together with white hands and Native hands, brown hands and Asian hands, we have been able to fundamentally reconstruct this democracy. Slavery was abolished. Women did gain the right to vote. Labor did win a 40-hour work week and a minimum wage. The civil rights movement in the face of lynching and shooting did expand voting rights to African Americans.  If we take time to listen to this nation’s wounds, they tell us where to look for hope. The hope is in the mourning and the screams, which make us want to rush from this place. There is a sense in which right now we must refuse to be comforted too quickly. Only if these screams and tears and protests shake the very conscience of this nation –and until there is real political and judicial repentance – can we hope for a better society on the other side of this.  William J Barber II is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, which is mobilizing poor people and their allies for a mass assembly and march on Washington in June 2020

Trump's Immigration Policy

The greatest experiment in democracy in human history is now being run like a gangster-state. And so we protest, not because we want to spend our days this way, but because now we have to spend our days this way. We protest in the same way the brave rescue teams in Thailand have repeatedly dived into the dangerous waters of the flooded cave, not because they relish danger but because to do otherwise would be a moral failing.

In the eruption of protests this past month, outside federal buildings in cities large and small around the country, along the border, at detention facilities, there are at last the stirrings of redemption. There is a moral outrage percolating now throughout this great land, a sense that, with the taking of the children, with the stealing of the Supreme Court, with the destruction of environmental regulations and the rolling back of 60 years of civil rights advances, everything is on the line.

In ever-increasing numbers, and with ever-increasing urgency, as our own political flood waters rise, so we will keep protesting, keep fighting, keep pushing back, until bit by bit we redeem this wondrous democracy from rule by thugs.

Sasha Abramsky is a Sacramento writer who teaches at UC Davis. His latest book is “Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream.” He can be reached at sabramsky@sbcglobal.net.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article214503109.html#storylink=cpy

Teachers Hold Walk-In Protests in 30 Cities

Samantha Winslow, Labor Notes 

 

After a wave of teacher protests around the country, unions are coordinating nationally.

 

In 900 schools in 30 cities—from Houston to Miami, Patterson to Pittsburgh—teacher unions participated in “walk-ins” yesterday to “reclaim our schools.”

 

The walk-in tactic was inspired by North Carolina teachers, who organized a series of these grassroots protests across the state in 2013 against education cuts. Other teacher unions soon picked up the idea.

 

Teachers gather 30-40 minutes before work, often wearing union T-shirts or colors. They meet with parents, school employees, and education activists; take pictures; talk to media and elected officials; and then all walk into school in unison.

 

In Minnesota, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers held walk-ins at every school during its 2014 contract campaign, helping to test the union’s strength as it prepared for a potential strike over staffing, class sizes, and over-testing.

From Protest to Disruption: Frances Fox Piven on Occupy Wall Street

From Protest to Disruption: Frances Fox Piven on Occupy Wall Street

Trumka, labor unions, support Wall Street protests

Declaring that “Wall Street’s out of control,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has embraced street protests such as the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations—and others like them that are planned for cities across the country. As reported by John Nichols in the Nation.
Asked about the ongoing mass protest in New York’s financial district, which has begun to gain support from major unions, Trumka said Friday morning: “I think it’s a tactic and a valid tactic to call attention to a problem. Wall Street is out of control. We have three imbalances in this country—the imbalance between imports and exports, the imbalance between employer power and working power, and the imbalance between the real economy and the financial economy. We need to bring back balance to the financial economy, and calling attention to it and peacefully protesting is a very legitimate way of doing it.”
Hailing the power of street protests to shift the dialogue, Trumka said, “I think being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometimes the only recourse you have because, God only knows, you can go to the Hill, and you can talk to a lot of people and see nothing ever happen…”

California Progress Report

California Progress Report

Nurses organize for Sept. 1. Join them.

JOIN THE NURSES TO MAKE WALL STREET PAY TO HEAL AMERICA Urge your legislators to support the tax on Wall Street for jobs, healthcare and education on Main Street! Thursday, September 1st 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Rep. Dan Lungren’s Field Office 2339 Gold Meadow Way Gold River, CA 95670 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM Rep. Tom McClintock’s Field Office 8700 Auburn-Folsom Road Granite Bay, CA 95746

Students continue to hold the building at Sac State

Over 2,000 students walked out of their classes at Sacramento State  University today April 13,  in protest against the  state budget cuts and the rising tuition in the California State University  System – part of the largest university system in the world.  Student protesters expect that already passed budget cuts will lead to larger classes, fewer classes, eliminated programs,  and an increased time to graduate.

 History Professor Joe Palermo spoke to the crowd gathered in the Sac State Quad arguing,

 “What we've been witnessing in recent years is nothing short of the wholesale auctioning off, often to the lowest bidder of the public commons right under the feet of the majority of California's citizens who never signed on to this long-term project of destruction…

see stories below.

A series of student organizers from Students for Quality Education spoke of the costs of cuts to their lives.  Amanda Moores described the irresponsibility of the University Administration in producing a 66% increase in Executive Salaries paid for in part by   a 224 % increase in student fees.

After a loud  rally on the Quad, several hundred students marched across campus.  At this hour over 300 students, faculty and staff are occupying the offices of the University President.

There were rallies and marches on at least 10 of the CSU campuses today, ranging from 50 students to several hundred.

Sacramento State is the only one we know of where students have occupied the administration building.

At 8;30 PM. some 30 students continue to hold the Administration building and they plan to spend the night.
They ask that supporters join them inside or outside of the building when it opens on Thursday at 7 A.M.

HAYWARD, CA 4/13/11 --  Students and faculty at California State University, East Bay, marched to the administration building on the campus and then occupied the building in protest.  Organized by Students for a Quality Education and the California Faculty Association, the civil disobedience protested budget cuts and fee increases for students, and cutbacks on staff and benefits, while administrators' salaries are increased. 

The building occupation demanded the resignation of CSU Chancellor Chuck Reed, and a list of other demands discussed and adopted during the occupation.  Similar building occupations took place on other campuses.  Some students wore face paint with scars symbolizing the painful slashing impact of budget cuts.

Before the march and building occupation, students and faculty organized a "People's University."  Workshops talked about the attack on education and the rights of public workers, especially teachers, throughout the U.S., as well as campus issues that included lack of childcare, parking and student services.  Other SQE demands included democratizing the state university's board of trustees, budget transparency, fair treatment for unions and workers, and a recommitment to the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

According to the California Faculty Association, "the California State University has lost some $1 billion, let go more than 3000 faculty, slashed course offerings and tripled student fees. Tens of thousands of eligible students have been turned away or given up because of rising costs and inability to get necessary classes."

Hayward report above by David Bacon.

Thousands march on Sacramento

Over  2000  union faculty, students and their supporters rallied at the California State Capitol in Sacramento today in support of adequate funding for public education , both k-12 and higher education.  the rally was one of more than 40 events across the state asking people to Stand up for Education.  Faculty and students came from U.C. Davis, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley, as well as CSU Sacramento, Chico, and local community colleges.

George Lakoff,  well known  for his works on framing issues argued for signing petitions for the  California Democracy Act which would reduce the requirement to pass a state budget from the current 2/3 vote to a simple majority.

Lakoff asserted that the  demonstrations will mean little unless the California Democracy Act gets on the ballot by April 12 and passes in the November election. That is the only way that revenue can be raised to fund California's needs, including education. Lakoff criticized leaders of the California Democratic Party for not getting enthusiastically behind the initiative.

The California Democracy Act is simple. It changes just two words in the Constitution: "two-thirds" becomes "a majority" in two places. That's all. The initiative is one sentence long: "All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote." It's simple democracy. And because it is a ballot initiative, a simple majority can bring democracy by eliminating the two-thirds vote requirements. The initiative has until April 12 to gather over 600,000 signatures of registered voters.  At present the campaign is far behind.   Lakoff argued that an on-line campaign which would  ‘go viral” was needed to push the initiative over the required signatures.

Students, faculty, workers and public education supporters protested  deep cuts to education funding on March 4, 2010.   The California Faculty Association (NEA)  is one of the organizations that participated in  mobilization. CFA represents the faculty on the 23 campuses of the California State University. Public education and public services need adequate funding to meet the urgent needs of people in California and the U.S.

The  2008-2020  economic crisis has forced the cutting of higher education, of k-12 education, and of social welfare systems. What caused this crisis ? It was caused by the greed and avarice of the financial class and aided by y the politicians of both major political parties.

 In 2007- 2008  major banks and corporations looted the economy creating an international meltdown.  Now, they have been rewarded with bail out money.  The crisis was not caused by students, teachers, public employees  nor recipients of social security.   Now we have cuts in parks,  in universities, in nurses, libraries and police protection.   School children did not create this crisis.  Foster care children did not create this crisis.

The  protracted economic decline has had a devastating impact on the California budget- and the budgets of 42 other states.   Revenues have continued to plunge and  legislatures  have been forced to make a series of deep cuts to virtually all of the state's programs, including the university systems.

The Sacramento Local of DSA was an active participant in developing these demonstrations through their work with the Sacramento Progressive Alliance .  We have been working with unions and faculty groups since October.  We provided training, workshops, tabled on campus, and circulated the California Democracy Initiative on campuses. 

CTA Joins statewide protests on March 4

The California Teachers Association has joined the call for a March  4 Day

of Action...

From: “David A. Sanchez” <CTAPresidentDavidSanchez@cta.org>

Subject: Urgent: CTA Leads Statewide Day of Action on March 4 for

Students and California’s Future

We’re just one month into the New Year and it is already a tough  budget

year for public education with the governor’s recently  proposed budget

shorting public schools and colleges by more than  $2.4 billion — that’s

on top of the $17 billion cut over the last  two years.  CTA is taking a

stand against these cuts by joining in a  statewide day of action for our

students and the future of  California on March 4.

The CTA Board of Directors approved the recommendation from State  Council

to participate in a spring statewide day of action to  support funding for

public education and other social services. We  are asking every member to

participate in demonstrations and  activities at their school on the

morning of March 4 before school  starts. We are asking you to help lead

this effort and “Start the  Day for Students” as part of our ongoing

campaign to make our voices  heard about the painful effects of these cuts

on students and  teaching, and to engage our communities in supporting

public  education and building a better California for all of us.

We must also use this day as part of our first step toward reforming  the

state’s tax structure and providing additional revenues for  schools,

colleges and other critical services. This starts with  closing the

corporate tax breaks that were handed out to the state’s  largest

corporations last year. When class sizes are increasing,  educators are

being laid off and taxpayers are paying more, everyone  must be paying

their fair share.

Take urgent action now to save our students and our future.  Join  “Start

the Day for Students” on March 4! We must stand up for  students, public

education and our future.