Asian Pacific Islander Movement Building Event - Oakland 2/3 & Day of Remembrance 2/26 Jtown SF

API Movement-Building Presents...
HONG KONG ANTI-WTO BAY AREA API DELEGATION REPORT BACK
Friday, February 3, 2006
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Asian Resource Center Lobby - 310 8th Street, Oakland
Come to the Hong Kong WTO Protests Report Back and watch exclusive video footage of the protests and actions. Hear from the Bay Area WT-NO Delegation, a the delegation of displaced garment workers, youth, activists, and organizers and members of the Korean Exposure and Education Program (KEEP) that went to stand in solidarity with the worldwide opposition to neoliberalism and corporate globalization.
There will also be a silent auction of WTO Protest> t-shirts, posters, > photographs and much more! This event is a> fundraiser for the worker > delegation members of the Chinese Progressive Association
/This event is in memory of our brother, Birjinder> "Birj" Anant > (1974-2006), member of the WT-NO Delegation/>

More Info

Birjinder Anant : Rest in Peace and Power website - http://www.revoluxindesigns.com/RememberingBirj/


Bay Area Day of Remembrance25th Anniversary
of the Redress Hearings
Sunday, February 26, 2006
The Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium will present DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2006: Carrying the Light for Justice! - The 25th Anniversary of the Commission Hearings at San Francisco Japantown's AMC Kabuki Theatre - 1881 Post Street (at Fillmore) on Sunday, February 26, 2006 at 2 p.m.
This year's commemoration of the World War II incarceration of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry in U.S. concentration camps will feature cultural performances, film, and a candle lighting ceremony with U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye (invited) as keynote speaker; and Dr. Satsuki Ina, psychologist and filmmaker (Children of the Camps and From a Silk Cocoon) as guest speaker. San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi will serve as the M.C.
Cultural tributes will include Melody Takata of Gen Taiko Arts; the Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program West Children's Choir with guest artist Francis Wong; and shigin (commemorative poetry) by Susumu Saiki.
Featured films will highlight the power of grassroots voices and personal stories, with an excerpt from Donald Young/KVIE's From Resettlement to Redress; and the film short: The Assembly on Wartime Relocation & Internment of Civilian, a public testimonial event that took place in April 2005.
http://www.dayofremembrance.org/

A procession will follow from the Kabuki Theatre to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, where an interfaith candle lighting will be led by the Japanese American Religious Federation. Tickets are $20 Door, $15 Advance; Group rates available for 10 or more. Call (415) 921-5007 to order tickets or to help with event.

More info on DOR

Another Tremendous Loss - Chris Iijima - "Don't forget to live before you die"

Remembering Chris Iijima - By Phil Tajitsu Nash, Jan 11, 2006
from Common Dreams website
In his 20s, he sang "Free the Land" from concert stages. In his 50s, he wrote law review articles that protested the theft of Hawaiian ancestral lands. In between, Chris Kando Iijima married, raised two sons and worked as a teacher, lawyer, bartender, community organizer and law professor. By the time he died on December 31, after a long illness, Iijima had fulfilled a promise he had made to himself in a song he had recorded in 1973: Don't forget to live before you die.

Chris's youth was shaped by an event before his birth, the unjust imprisonment of his family and other Japanese Americans during World War II. Chris's father, Tak Iijima, fought in the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the all-Nisei unit that took exceedingly heavy casualties in Europe to prove their loyalty to America.
When he entered Columbia University in 1965 on what could have been a ticket to professional respectability, Chris was already skeptical about America's unfulfilled promises to its minorities. His mother Kazu, whose 1986 interview in Amerasia Journal was entitled "Always A Rebel," had been a lifelong progressive activist. He shared her view that fundamental changes were needed in American society before workers and minorities could find justice.
Columbia in the late 1960s was also the scene of strong anti-Vietnam War protests and some of the most powerful East Coast stirrings of the nascent Asian American movement. Chris found his voice as a pamphleteer, organizer, speaker and visionary for both movements, while also developing his gifts as a poet, songwriter, guitar player and singer.
With a love of music that came from a dad who was a classically trained musician and church choirmaster, Chris wrote songs that, even today, are good enough for Broadway or the Top 40. Listen to the toe-tapping "Dust Don't Fly Away" on his 1982 Back-to-Back album or "Free the Land" on the landmark 1973 Grain of Sand album (http://www.bindurecords.com/music/grainofsand).
His husky voice, charismatic stage presence, and funky picking skills virtually jump out of the speakers.
[for a great review of the album see Color Lines Magazine - Dancing Between the Notes by Gary Phillips - eric]

Chris, Joann Nobuko Miyamoto and "Charlie" Chin toured the country and campuses in the early 1970s, singing songs and expressing an Asian American identity that was, to use Chris's own words, "originally meant to be a means to an end rather than an end in itself. It was as much a mechanism to identify with one another as [it was] to identify with the struggles of others, whether African Americans or Asians overseas. It was less a marker of what one was and more a marker of what one believed."
In 1973, the trio entered a recording studio and cut "A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America." This album, which is recognized as a staple of American folk culture and sold in the gift shop of the Smithsonian Institution, was more than just grooves on a piece of vinyl. From Boston to Chicago, to San Francisco to Honolulu, Asian-derived people who had been classified in the Census as "Other" suddenly realized that they had an identity, a history and a place at the table.
After working as a teacher for several years, Chris enrolled in law school. He rose rapidly, becoming a judicial clerk, a lawyer and then a law professor. At the time of his death, he was not only a law professor at the University of Hawaii, but also head of its pre-admission program.
One of the most compelling songs co-written by Chris on the Grain of Sand album is the "Foolish Old Man Who Removed Mountains." It is based on a Chinese fable about a man who decides to move the two mountains that block the sunlight from reaching his house. Each day, he carries buckets of dirt, while his neighbors laugh, saying there is no way that one small man can remove such huge mountains. He replies, "When I die, my children will dig after me. And when they die, their children will carry on. With every shovel full, the mountains become lower. Why can't we remove them?"
Like that old man, Chris spent his life removing the "mountains" of racism, sexism and greed. While he did not live to see his task completed, his example inspires the rest of us to carry on.
xxxxxxxxxxx

Celebrations of Chris's life are being planned for Hawai'i, Los Angeles and New York, and photos, video, audio and memorabilia about his life are being collected. To participate, or to make a memorial donation in his name, please contact mailto:karenishizuka@hotmail.com.

Phil Tajitsu Nash is CEO of CampaignAdvantage.com and co-author of "Winning Campaigns Online."

Kim Knox's Summary of 1/10/06 SF Board of Education Meeting

For full summary go to the educational justice yahoo group site.
Here are excerpts from Kim's summary -
...The first order of business was the election of officers. Eric Mar nominated Norman Yee for president and Mark Sanchez nominated Eric Mar for president. Eric declined the nomination. ... By acclamation of the Board, Norman Yee was elected. Norman then nominated Sarah Lipson for vice president.
The votewas 5-2 (nays-Wynns and Kelly). Outgoing President Eric Mar congratulated new President Norman Yee and Vice-President Sarah Lipson and yielded the gravel.
Public comment was then taken. President Yee said, "Thank you for showing confidence in my leadership. It is not be very easy in 2006 with budget issues, school closures and thesearch for the new superintendent. Alot of issues will be need to be dealtwith. I am so glad that we have a good board with passionate people who believe in our district's children."

The next item was the Open Government Policy, authored by Mark Sanchez and co-authored by Norman Yee and Sarah Lipson. Several of the key componentsof the open government policy is that you will no longer have to call in toget on the speakers' list-but rather sign a speakers' card on the night ofthe meeting (similar to speaking at the Board of Supervisors). The disrict will be required to disclose all records exchanged between parties duringnegotiations of sole sources and leases. The Superintendent and the President would also have to make their schedules available to the public for all school district-related meetings.Most of the discussion centered around the issues of recording closed meetings. The legislation called for tape recording all of the closedsessions and make them available only in the context of a specific courtorder issued by a judge as part of ongoing litigation. Commissioner Wynnsobjected to the $42,000 cost and President Yee felt that this might be a redflag to anyone who is in litigation with the district. The Board agreed to put a proviso for the District to look at the issues arising from the costsand concerns about litigation and make recommendations.
Sunshine Commissioner Rick Knee and I bought up the issue that the legislation allows the District to have 30 school days to appeal.
Dan Kelly moved that it should be reduced to 20 business days. Jill Wynns pointed out that many on the District staff take the entire month of July off-so it would be difficult for them to be responsive within 20 business days. So it was changed and passed by consensus to require the District to review and provide a response to an individual appealing a response to a request for apublic record within one calendar month.The Board of Education then adopted the Open Government Policy, creating its first sunshine ordinance with a vote of 7-0. (Well done, Mark!)
Those participating in public comment used the time to talk about school closures.
Amos Brown, president of the NAACP, reminded the Board that alarger number of African American students are being impacted by theproposed closures. Dr. Brown recounted that in 1978, the African Americancommunity boycotted the district by homeschooling their students. He statedthat his recolleciton was not a threat-but he was disappointed that therewas not an African American member on the School Board as well as the focuson schools with high percentage of African American scholars on theDistrict's closure list.
The District then adopted the School Assistance and Intervention Team (SAIT) Findings and Recommendations for recommended actions for Dr. William CobbElementary School. In Sept. 2005, the CA Board of Education identified Dr.William Cobb for not meeting its identified targets under the ImmediateIntervention/Underperforming Schools Program. Dr. Cobb will have two years to show progress with the addition of a District/School Liason Team, Contract with a state-approved SAIT providers, complete the academic programsurvey with nine essential program components, and implement the correctiveaction plan and meet identified academic growth targets.
The District then presented the instructional calendar for 2006-07.Commissioner Sanchez brought up the point that the Chinese New Year was noton the calendar. Tom Ruiz, director of Labor Negotiations pointed out thatthis year, the Lunar New Year will begin on the Sunday prior to President'sDay. The Board then discussed if they wanted to recommend a special daythat week to designate the Chinese New Year. Dan Kelly also brought up the concern about that since Jan. 1, 2006 falls on a Monday, school begins on aTuesday (Jan. 2) to begin the spring semester. Student Representative JasonWong suggested that the Board moved the winter break to start one week lateron Monday, Dec. 25 and end on Jan. 4. But Tom Ruiz pointed out that theDistrict would need to negotiate with the unions to see if this would beacceptable. So the BOE decided to postpone the vote on the recommendedinstructional calendar for 2006-07 to a later meeting.
The action item to adopt the Proposition H Committee's recommendations forFY 2006-07 was sent to the Budget Committee.
It is also an infomational item on today's Curriculum Meeting.
The action item to adopt the recommended policy on Sexual Harassment was moved to the Curriculum Committee. Kimshree Maufas talked about the Commission of the Status of Women's request to review the policy in order toprovide comments to the Board.
The item to adopt the Superintendent's recommendation to deny the EdisonCharter Academy's petition for renewal passed when at the request of Edision Charter Academy, Wynns moved to suspend the rules so that the final votecould be cast that night. The Board voted 7-0 to deny Edison CharterAcademy's petition for renewal. This is a required step in order for EdisonCharter Academy to again get its charter passed and renewed by the staterather than the district.
....At 12:05 a.m., President Yee closed the first board meeting of his presidency.

[thanks to Kim Knox for posting these notes- eric]
for more of Kim's postings and other useful info see quality SF schools for all students

Farewell Sox Kitashima - redress/reparations movement leader

Farewell Sox - Thank you for inspiring our generation to fight for redress/reparations and for community empowerment and social justice. We'll never forget your smile, warmth and 'serve the people' spirit.
For more info on NCRR [Nikei for Civil Rights and Redress, formerly National Coalition for Redress/Reparations]

Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima - [from the SF Chroncle]

Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima Passed away on Thursday morning December 29, 2005 at the age of 87. Preceded in death by her husband Tom. Loving sister to the late Nobuko, Lillian, Masao, and Hisao. Sox is survived by her son Alan (Sylvia), grandson Aaron, and her brother James (Boe). Aunt to many nieces and nephews. She was totally devoted to the San Francisco Japantown community.
A community leader on many issues. She became synonymous with the redress and reparations campaign for Japanese Americans wrongfully incarcerated during World War II. She loved volunteering her time to Kimochi Inc., a community based organization which provides services for the Japanese American elderly. Sox spent so many mornings working in the kitchen helping prepare lunches for the elderly. Sox will be missed by all she touched. She was "one of a kind." She lived a full and wonderful life. A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, January 8, 2006 at 4:30 P.M. at the JCCCNC (Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California), 1840 Sutter St., San Francisco. Published in the San Francisco Chronicle from 1/1/2006 - 1/5/2006.
--------------------------

Asian American Curriculum Project's Review of
Joy Morimoto's autobiography of Sox's life -
Birth of an ActivistThe Sox Kitashima Story

By Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima and Joy K. Morimoto
Published by AACP2003, 174 pages, paperback.

View Additional InformationORDER --Price $19.95
"Birth of an Activist: The Sox Kitashima Story" by Tsuyako "Sox" Kitashima and Joy K. Morimoto is the autobiography of a California-born, Japanese American woman who was one of the leaders of the redress and reparations campaign for Japanese Americans wrongfully imprisoned during World War II.
This book tells the very human story of "Sox" Kitashima, whose life was caught up in extraordinary national and international events and how she became an activist as a result. The beginning of the book offers a fascinating glimpse into what life was like in the 1930s in what is now Fremont, California. Far from being part of the high-tech urban center it is today the area was rural and agricultural where the main forms of entertainment were the radio, baseball and other sports, movies in Oakland or San Jose, or local dances.
"Sox" received her lifetime nickname at this time because few of her non-Japanese American teachers and peers could pronounce her given name of Tsuyako. Interestingly enough, the schools in this farming community were completely integrated with Asians, whites, and blacks sharing the same classrooms.
The center part of this book is the experience of internment during World War II and the aftermath. One of the problems of memorializing the internment is that so many of those adults who experienced it have already passed away leaving the experience to be described by those who were children at the time. Sox is one of the surviving young adults of the time who had a clear eyed understanding of what was happening without the warm glow of childhood to soften the experience. She remembers the humiliation, the suffering, and the suicides that the Japanese American community experienced as the result of losing their property, homes, jobs, and identities when they became government issued numbers in the camps. Above all they had the shock of being treated in such a fashion by what they had been taught was the best and most enlightened democracy in the world.
One area that is rarely explored in history is the post-camp experience of Japanese Americans. Apparently it wasn't easy for many of these displaced persons to return to a normal life after the war. The US government gave each released internee $25 to begin their lives again as they left the camps. As a result of this further injustice, many of the former internees were initially forced to live in charity shelters and churches in overcrowded conditions that were in many cases worse than they had lived in during the war years. They also had to face the continuing hostility of many communities who failed to distinguish between Japanese and Japanese Americans.
Sox joined the redress movement in 1980 inspired by the passion and convictions of the Sansei or third generation of Japanese Americans. These young activists along with some members of the Nisei or second generation of Japanese Americans waged a long lobbying campaign in the United State Congress for an official apology and monetary compensation towards the internees. Sox came to know many politicians in Washington DC personally in her quest to enlist them in the redress cause. For much of this time most people, even those within the Japanese American community remained firmly convinced that nothing would ever come from the effort and that the US Government would never apologize for its actions. Even the activists were surprised when their oftentimes amateur lobbying efforts culminated in the successful passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Former surviving internees were to be paid $20,000 each and receive a formal written apology from the United States Government. In many cases, the apology was more valued than what was by then a very token compensation in relation to the property already lost and the humiliation already experienced. Moreover, many internees were no longer eligible since they'd already died before the law came into existence. This group of people included Sox's mother and two brothers.
Sox volunteered with the government's Office of Redress Administration to educate the Japanese American community about their rights and their eligibility to apply for redress soon after the passage of this law. She tells of her many different triumphs and tragedies in finding these people, in some cases living very neglected and lonely lives in forgotten apartments, veteran's homes, and even prisons. She also describes her continuing battles with Congress and the rest of the US Government to insure adequate funding for redress and the battles to include those determined as ineligible in the 1988 law. Among the excluded were children born to mothers temporarily on leave from the internment camps who were visiting their husbands serving in the US military, and were subsequently returned to the camps. Also, there were citizens of Japanese descent living in Latin America, who were arrested by the FBI, and interned as exchangeable hostages in the United States. Officially these internees were held as "illegal immigrants" to the US despite the fact that it was the US Government that had brought them here.
Above all, this book emphasizes the fact that people need to be educated about what this period of internment means to our history as Americans. It also emphasizes the fact that people must stand up for their rights. Sox's story shows that even short, feisty grandmothers can carry out this fight for rights and the task of educating people about them.
Review by Philip Chin
ORDER THE BOOK!
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For more history on NCRR and the redress and reparations movement -
http://www.aamovement.net/history/ncrr.html
History of CANE - Committee Against Nihonmachi Evictions - SF
http://www.aamovement.net/history/canehistory.html

2005 - RIP Sister Rosa, Korematsu, Tookie, Corky - the Fists of La Raza, Richard Pryor and Brother BIRJ Anant of ASATA - We are all Joaquin!

2005 Rest In Peace
* Rosa Parks - Sister Rosa and other brave and strategic women like Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer were the sparks for the freedom movement of the 50's leading to the 60's Black Liberation movement and other movements for self-determination
* Fred Korematsu - civil rights and redress/reparations movement icon - the soft-spoken korematsu will be missed by those of us in the Asian American Movement
* Tookie Williams - let his execution be the spark that ignites a movement against racism in the criminal justice system and prison industrial complex
* Corky Gonzalez - the "Fists of La Raza" - with brother Corky's passing let's remember the lessons of the Crusade for Justice, Chicano youth and student movements, the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium against the war in Viet Nam - Corky Gonzalez Presente! We are All Joaquin!
* Richard Pryor - political comedian extraordinaire who laid the groundwork for folks like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy - check out the power pac blog's commentary
* Birj Anant - lastly, a young global justice activist from ASATA/APICAW and most recently the World Social Forum and anti-WTO campaign in Hong Kong this past month.
Many of us from the Chinese Progressive Association, Asian American Movement group and others just saw BIRJ upon his return from Hong Kong.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Below are excerpts from a few statements about Corky Gonzalez from
and Rosalio Munoz
and the BAYAN NorCAl statement from Kawal about BIRJ's contributions to our movements.
To the memory of all those that left us in 2005.
-----------------------
THE FISTS OF LA RAZA - We are all Joaquin!
Corky Gonzalez - Presente!

From Democracy Now! Friday, April 15th, 2005
Chicano Leader Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales 1929-2005:
"He Was the Fist. He Stood For Defiance, Resistance"
Listen to Segment Download Show mp3 Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript Help
Chicano political and civil rights activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales died Tuesday at his home in Denver, Colorado. He was 76 years old. We speak with his friend, columnist Roberto Rodriguez.

Chicano political and civil rights activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales died this past Tuesday at his home in Denver, Colorado. He was 76 years old.
Gonzales was an iconic leader in the movement for justice and equality for Mexican-Americans in the Southwest and he is credited with raising the nation's awareness of the plight of urban Chicanos.
In the mid-1960"s he founded an urban civil rights and cultural movement called the Crusade for Justice which advocated Chicano nationalism. During the late sixties and early seventies, he organized walkouts, demonstrations against police brutality and marches against the Vietnam War.
In 1968, Gonzales led a Chicano contingent to the Poor People's March on Washington D.C and issued a "plan of the Barrio" which demanded better housing, education and restitution of pueblo lands. Gonzales was also an organizer of the Annual Chicano Youth Liberation Conference which sought to create unity among Chicano youth.
Gonzales also advocated for increased political representation for Chicanos. In 1972 he was the keynote speaker at the newly formed La Raza Unida Party national convention in El Paso Texas. The party fielded political candidates to run for office in the state.
But perhaps Corky Gonzales is best known for his poem "I am Joaquin/Yo Soy Joaquin." He wrote the epic poem in 1965 and it is one of the most important literary works to emerge from the Chicano movement.
In the poem Gonzales tells of the historic struggles faced by Mexican Americans in the United States.
http://www.latinola.com/story.php?story=2553

See also UCSD Chicano Studies Professor Jorge Mariscal's piece on Corky from Counter Punch.
April 15, 2005 - Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales - The Passing of a Legend
or check out his blog hasta la justicia...siempre by clicking here ->JORGE MARISCAL

Lastly, here's a link and a few excerpts from Chicano and anti-draft Movement leader Rosalio Munoz piece about Corky from People's Weekly World April 05.

In 1968, he was the main organizer of the large Chicano contingent in the Poor
People’s Campaign that King initiated before his assassination. He spoke at
peace rallies, including the November Moratorium in San Francisco where 250,000 attended. It was the Crusade for Justice that hosted a watershed event for the country.

In 1969, 1,500 activists from barrios and campos throughout the
Southwest and Midwest came to the National Youth and Liberation Conference, where “Plan de Aztlan” was produced. The legendary plan called for cultural and race pride and independent political action. The event galvanized the youth movement. It stands as a foundation for today’s Latino political power, vital to all U.S. progressive struggles.

In 1970, a second conference was held. I went and was fortunate to head up the peace workshop where we developed plans to hold a National Chicano Moratorium in East Los Angeles on August 29, 1970. The plenary of nearly 2,000 unanimously approved the motion I brought from the workshop. A reporter named Ruben Salazar put the plans on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Thirty thousand marched at that demonstration. The local police and federal agents viciously attacked us. They killed Salazar and arrested Gonzalez on trumped up charges. The FBI hounded Gonzalez and the Crusade well into the 1980s.

I attended a memorial for Corky organized by Mecha student leaders on April 14. Without permit we occupied the big gondola of La Placita Olvera, the historic first plaza of Los Angeles. We lit candles, recited all of “I Am Joaquin,” and reflected on what Corky’s life and poem meant to us.
I asked the youth to speak of what they were working on now: a May Day march for
immigrant and labor rights, fighting cuts by Gov. Schwarenegger, counter-military recruitment, planning for the World Youth Festival, campaigning for a Chicano mayor of L.A., organizing support for the farm workers, organizing conferences for high school youth. They are carrying on the legacy of Corky Gonzalez, the Chicano/a champion. mailto:rosalio_munoz@sbcglobal.net?subject=
--------------

San Diego County's Office of Education has a decent lesson plan for use of Corky's I am Joaquin in the High School Curriculum - http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/joaq/joaqtg.html

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Rest in Peace and Justice - BIRJ Anant -
Many global justice and Asian American Movement folks will miss BIRJ's warmth and never forget his commitment and movement-building work for a better world and future for us all.

For more on BIRJ's global justice work -
http://bayareawt-no.blogspot.com/ and this interview -
WTO voices: Birjinder Anant, San Francisco, USA
With an Asian American delegation representing garment workers and migrant rights.

"The idea that the WTO is going to be a panacea for the ills of developing countries and benefit the poor is all propaganda. The negotiating position is still formulated by elites that will benefit from it."

Photograph: Kristian Buus
Listen to Birjinder Anant's interview
----------------------------------------------------------

From the Bayan Nor Cal statement by Kawal Ulanday, Chairperson BAYAN USA http://www.bayanusa.org

We are deeply saddened to have learned yesterday that our loved comrade brother Birjinder Anant apparently passed away in his Oakland apartment sometime during the last few days. We are awaiting reports and autopsy results which will provide more details on how this tragedy occurred. Birjinder just returned from the World Trade Organization Ministerial international resistance activities with a large Bay Area AsianPacific Islander No to WTO delegation. He met with many of our Filipinocom patriot organizations and allies while in Honk Kong just days ago. He is also a founding member of APICAW representing the ASATA - Alliance of South Asians Taking Action - for many years. Birjinder has been on the frontlines of anti-war people of color resistance in the Bay and internationally for aslong as most of us have known him. We remember him vividly gently smiling yet fiercely confronting thecontradictions of huge wealth and economic starvation, and the clash betweenempires waging war and people wanting peace, liberation and democracy. We observe Birjinder and on the front security lines protecting Strength inUnity contingents in major actions with the commitment of a proud son of the people.
Long Live Birjinder Anant!
Long Live International Solidarity!"

http://bayareawt-no.blogspot.com/

Calculating the cost of WAR vs. PUBLIC EDUCATION

To everyone:
Have a Happy Holiday and a peaceful 2006.

I just found a cool site which allows you to compare
the IRAQ WAR and OCCUPATION costs
with school, and human needs.

http://costofwar.com/index.html

When I added the counter to my side bar today 12/20/05 -
The War In Iraq Cost
$227, 892,983,321

[that's $228 billion @#$%^#$^%&%^*&^%*& dollars]

And, for the
San Francisco Unified School District, we could have hired
13,291 additional public school teachers for one year
for that cost of the war and occupution.

The site allows you also to compare to the cost of:
PRE-SCHOOLKIDS', HEALTH, PUBLIC EDUCATION, COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS, PUBLIC HOUSING, WORLD HUNGER, AIDS EPIDEMIC, WORLD IMMUNIZATION

Click here to Embed a counter in your own web page!

History of the site -
In April, 2003 an intergenerational team of Niko Matsakis of Boston, MA and Elias Vlanton of Takoma Park, MD created costofwar.com. After maintaining it on their own for the first year, they gave it to the National Priorities Project to contribute to their ongoing educational efforts.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/

SF Garment Workers Take the Struggle to City Hall and the WTO meeting in Hong Kong!

Many parents in our San Francisco public schools are garment workers and other service sector hotel and restaurant workers. These posts below show some of the difficulties and uncertainties in the lives of many parents and their children in San Francisco west and east side neighborhoods like the Richmond [where I live], the Sunset, but also Chinatown, Visitacion Valley, the Tenderloin, the Portolla and the Bayview Hunters Point communities.


Because of the rise of Globalization or Global Capitalism, as some call it, garment industry workers in SF have been decimated from 20,000 in the 1990's to only about 2000 today.
But San Francisco Garment Workers are resisting the negative impacts of globalization and taking their struggle not only to San Francisco City Hall but also to the global powers at their WTO meeting Hong Kong. For example, former Nova Knits workers have organized themselves with the help of the grassroots Chinese Progressive Association.

For more background see:
SF Chronicle Nov 05 or this earlier SF Chronicle article from Jan 05
SF Bay Guardian Asian American Movement Ezine
Associated Press San Francisco Chronicle



And, these workers and their allies are taking their fight straight to the WTO - meeting in Hong Kong later this coming week - and to a grassroots conference of global justice organizers and activists that begins today in Hong Kong. They are makers of history, not the elites.
Check out these great posts from the Bay Area anti-globalization warriors who blog at BAYAREA WT-NO!



Chinese-American Garment Workers Lose Jobs.....to China (re-post)

This is a link to the Up Front Radio story, featuring, among others, Workers and Alex from CPA, Victor Menotti from IFG, and a professor from UC Berkeley. Publlished Dec 6, 2005 on New America Media website.

From New American Media.com

The garment industry has a long history in San Francisco, starting when Levi Strauss and Company opened its first factory here nearly one hundred years ago. In the early nineties, there were 20-thousand garment workers in San Francisco. Now, only about two thousand remain as jobs moved to Mexico and China. Ironically, all of San Francisco’s garment workers are Chinese immigrants, many of them middle-aged women who don’t speak English and have few transferable skills. Zoe Corneli reports, a pilot program in San Francisco is giving these garment workers new hope in the new, global economy.

Lastly, the Hong Kong People's alliance has a great website too with lots of info and perspectives from the struggle for global justice in the East. Events begin today and conclude with a massive Concert Against the WTO at Victoria Park! Wish I were there. But there are many young activists from the SF Bay Area that will be bringing back their stories and adventures.
For more on the events -

Saturday, December 10

Globalizing Economic Justice and Social Sustainability (December 9, 10)YMCA Youth Village, Wu Kai Sha
Ecumenical Organizations in HK

People's Resistance Against Globalization and WTO: A Speak-out on Trade and Human Rights 2:00pm - 6:00pm, JIL Church
Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN)APMM, AMRC, DAGA

TU-NGO Seminar Workshop on "HK's Missing Agenda: SDT and Development for LDCs"
Union Network International (UNI)AMRC

Sunday, December 11

March/Rally (Victoria Park to Central Government Office)2:00pm, Victoria ParkCultural Events/Solidarity Night
8:00pm, Victoria Park
HKPA

Rice Festival Mobile Cultural Performances (December 11-18)Victoria Park & other locations to be announced
PANAP Save Our Rice Campaign

Migrants Workers and WTO: Migrants’ Wage & Underpayment Campaign and Solidarity Against WTO8:00am, Victoria Park
Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), AMC, CMR, MFA, IMWU, KOTKIHO, AP

Monday, December 12

Global Ecumenical Women's Forum on Life-Promoting Trade (December 12, 13, 14)YMCA Youth Village, Wu Kai Sha
Ecumenical Organizations in HKWCC, CCA, HKWCC, ACISCA, HKCI

Trade for Jobs9:00am - 1:00pm, Duke of Windsor Social Service Building
ICFTU, Global Network, GPF, WCLHKCTU

Regional Seminar on Improving Labour Rights in China 3:00pm - 8:00pm, Duke of Windsor Social Service Building
Global NetworkHKCTU

Why are we in Hong Kong, and why we are protesting? An assessment of 10 years of the WTO, what's at stake in the WTO negotiations, overview of the week aheadThematic Morning, Victoria Park
OWINFS

Book Launch and Discussion with authors: "Alternative to Economic Globalization"3:00pm - 6:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
International Forum on Globalization (IFG)

WAR AND TRADE: Militarism and Neo-liberalism - a two-headed monster?
6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Focus on the Global South

Press Conference12:00pm - 1:00pm, HKPA Media Centre
People's Caravan for Justice and Sovereignty

Asia Social Movements Assembly
6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Focus on the Global South, KoPA,Stop the New Round (SNR)

Catholic WTO Forum4:00pm - 7:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Korean Catholic Farmers

Tuesday, December 13

Opening Public Assembly and Rally
11:00am, Victoria Park
HKPA

Global Ecumenical Women's Forum on Life-Promoting Trade (December 12, 13, 14)YMCA Youth Village, Wu Kai Sha
Ecumenical Organizations in HKWCC, CCA, HKWCC, ACISCA, HKCI


Official Inauguration of the Korean delegation10:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
Korean Delegation

Roundtable Discussion with Women ParliamentariansBoys and Girls Club
APWLD, APWN

Book launching3:00pm - 5:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
APWLD, APWN

Trade and Development Symposium HK Exhibition Centre
Int'l Centre for Trade and Sustainable Dev. University of Hong Kong

Fluvial Parade in Victoria Harbour10:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Harbour
KM, SEAFISH, AMC

WTO Protest Banner-Weaving10:00am - 12:00pm
AFA, AsiaDHRRA, APHD
Wednesday, December 14

Forum on Trade and War: Junk WTO! Resist Imperialist Plunder and War!
9:00am - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
BAYAN, ILPS,RESISTUNIFIL-HK

WTO, Food Sovereignty and Alternatives to Globalization
9:00am - 5:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
APNFS, AFA AsiaDHRRA, and ISGN

Solidarity Rally among Asian People's Movement
12:00pm - 3:00pm, Victoria Park
Korean Delegation

Asian People's Voices-Impact of WTO on Asian Communities
9:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
People's Caravan for Justice and Sovereignty

Fair Trade Fair & SymposiumHK Exhibition Centre
Oxfam and INGOOxfam HK

Slow Trade-Changing pace and pattern for the benefit of the people
9:30am - 1:00pm, Knutsford Hotel
The Greens, EFA in the European Parliament

Not in our NAMA! The impact of NAMA negotiations on natural resources and livelihood
2:00pm - 4:30pm, Knutsford Hotel
FoEI, OWINFS

Defending public services, creating jobs and protecting communitiesThematic Morning, Victoria Park
OWINFS

CHINA and the WTO: What to know about the New China and the emerging collective actions for social justice
6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
FocusGlobalization Monitor

International Day of Protest Against GATS and the Privatization of Basic Services
9:30am, Victoria Park
Jubilee South/APMDD, AMC, MFA, FOCUS, SNR

March to MC6: Deliver Anti-GATS petition and GATS-free notice
11:00am, CEC / Cargo-loading area
Jubilee South/APMDD, AMC, MFA, FOCUS, SNR

Consulate-hopping: Deliver migrants’ petition and GATS-free Notice
1:00pm - 5:00pm, Admirality
Jubilee South/APMDD, AMC, MFA, FOCUS, SNR

WTO and Labour Struggle in Asia
9:00am - 6:00pm, India Club in Jordan
Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC)

Trade and Development SymposiumHK Exhibition Centre
Int'l Centre for Trade and Sustainable Dev. University of Hong Kong

Defending cultural diversity from WTO
5:30pm - 9:00pm, WTC
Int's Network on Cultural Diversity (INCD)

Building Solidarity Amongst Garment, Farm and Other Migrant Workers from San Francisco to Hong Kong
2:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
San Francisco Bay Area WT-No

Labor's Voice from the South on the WTO and Regional Free Trade Agreements
7:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Hong Kong Confederation Trade Union, Korean Confederation Trade Union

WTO Hong Kong MC6 Collapse and New Generation of FTA in North America
10:00am - 1:00pm, Victoria Park
Citizen's Networks of North America (Canada, US & Mexico)

Thursday, December 15

International Mining Caucus on Mining and WTO
9:00am - 5:00pm, Boys and Girls
Kalikasan-People's Network for the Environment, Cordillera People's Alliance, AGHAM and CEC-Phils


WTO / GLOBALIZATION: Endangering the World for Children (December 15 & 17)
1:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
ARCSEA, SalinlahiCCA, Migrante

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Rural People’s Tribunal on AoA (December 15-17)
9:00am - 1:00pm, Victoria Park
Asian Peasants Coalition, Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)APMM, AMCB

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Forum on Japan’s Agrarian Reform: Lessons and Challenges (December 15-17)
2:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
NOUMINREN (Japan Family Farmers Movement), Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)APMM, AMCB

People's Workshop on AoAMorning, Victoria Park
APWLD, APC, APWN and AMIHAN

Cultural Festival6:00pm - 9:00pm, Victoria Park
Korean Delegation

Consulate Hopping Protest
10:00am, Indonesian, Philippine, Nepali, Sri Lankan, Thai, & US consulates
Migrante International, Other Migrant GroupsAPMM, AMCB, MIGRANTE

Beijing + 10 Meets WTO +10
9:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
IGTNHK Women Coalition, AMC, MFA

Globalization: Strategies in Responding to Informatization of Work
2:00pm - 6:00pm
CAWHKWWA, HKCTU-Women Committee

Workshop on the GMO case at the WTO
3:00pm - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
Friends of the Earth (FoE)

WTO and FTAs: Complimentary Agents of Neoliberalism The Case Against Bilateral and Regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
3:00pm - 6:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Focus on the Global South, Transnational Institute (TNI)AMC

The G20s Hong Kong challenge: stand for farmers or for agribusiness
6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Focus on the Global SouthAMC

Women Peasants’ Action against WTOVictoria Park
IMWU, women peasant groups

Economic violence of WTO, also globalization, war and empire9:00am - 5:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Peace for Life

International Youth and Student Conference on Education and EmploymentHong Kong University
ASA, IMCS & WSCF

Quality Public Services for All
4:00pm - 7:00pm, Duke of Windsor Social Service Building
ICFTU, Global Network, GPF, WCLHKCTU

WTO and Labour Struggle in Asia9:00am - 1:00pm, India Club in Jordan
Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC)

The Mexican and Chinese Relationship between competition and cooperation
1:00pm - 3:00pm, Knutsford Hotel
HBF

Building Solidarity Amongst Garment, Farm and Other Migrant Workers from San Francisco to Hong Kong
2:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
San Francisco Bay Area WT-No

Friday, December 16

Program: Women's Tribunal on the impact of WTO on the world's womenAction: Women's March Against WTO9:00am - 3:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Gabriela, APWLD, APWN and AMIHAN

What Happened to us Sisters? An Encounter9:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
Southeast Asian Women Taking on Globalization and WTO / Women’s March Against Poverty and Globalization

Young Women’s Dialogue with Maturing Women (“Shaping Globalization: Women’s Resistance and Alternatives”)
1:00pm - 3:00pm, Victoria Park
Southeast Asian Women Taking on Globalization and WTO / Women’s March Against Poverty and Globalization

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Speak Out of Agricultural Workers, Building Solidarity for their Rights and Welfare (December15-17)Victoria Park
Coalition of Agricultural Workers (CAWI), Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PAN-AP) and People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)APMM, AMCB

Beyond Free Trade: Food sovereignty and export opportunities. A public hearing of farmers voices in the framework of the EcoFair Trade Dialogue10:00am - 12:30pm, Knutsford Hotel
HBF Wuppertal Institute Misereor

Winners and losers: Big business against women, workers and the environment
Thematic Morning, Victoria Park
OWINFS

Fair Trade Fair & SymposiumHK Exhibition Centre
Oxfam and INGOOxfam HK

Prospect for the joint campaign in Asia Pacific against war and imperialist globalization1:00pm - 6:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
AWC

EU Trade Policies: Implications for gender equality, development and women's rights.3:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
Women in Development Europe (WIDE)

World Social Forum meeting6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
WSF Asia

Not in my NAMA! The impact of NAMA on natural resources and livelihood12:00pm - 3:00pm, Victoria Park
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)

International Youth and Student Conference on Education and Employment10:00am - 6:00pm, Hong Kong University
ASA, IMCS & WSCFASA, WSCF

Trade and Development Symposium HK Exhibition Centre
Int'l Centre for Trade and Sustainable Dev. University of Hong Kong

Migrants and Mode 411:00am - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
AFCS/NNIRR

Women March Against WTO9:00am - 3:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
People's Caravan for Justice and Sovereignty

Women take on the WTO: Women's Resistance to Corporate Hijack of Food and Health3:00pm - 6:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Diverse Women for Diversity

Exploring Global Civil Society's Dynamics in WTO governance 10:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
Chaire de recherche du Canada en Mondialisation, Citoyenneté et Démocratie (Chaire MCD)

Winners and Losers: Big Business against Women, Workers and the Environment12:00pm - 3:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Pacific Institute

Experiences of resistance against free trade in Asia and the Americas2:00pm - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
Hemispheric Social Alliance
Saturday, December 17

WTO / GLOBALIZATION: Endangering the World for Children (December 15 & 17)Victoria Park
ARCSEA SalinlahiCCA, Migrante

Rice Festival Mobile Cultural Performances (December 11-18)Victoria Park & other locations to be announced
PANAP Save Our Rice Campaign

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Asian Workshop on TRIPS: Defending Farmers’ Rights against Patents on Life – Organised by (December15-17)9:00am - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Magsasaka at Siyentista para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG), No Patents on Life (NPOL)-Asia and Asian Peasant Coalition (APC)PAN-AP,PCFS, AMCB, APMM

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Asian Action to Stop! GM Rice (December15-17)10:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
No-GMO Coalition Japan, PAN-AP, PCFS AMCB, APMM

People's Camp on Food Sovereignty: Launch of Case Studies on the Impact of AFTA on Food Security in Asian Countries (December15-17)2:00pm - 5:00pm, Victoria Park
South East Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade, PAN-AP, PCFS AMCB, APMM

Asian Women Press Conference 9:00am - 11:00am, Boys and Girls Club
APWLD

The Rights Approach for gender equality, environment and development: Recapturing Policy coherence around trade9:30am - 12:00pm, Knutsford Hotel
HBF IGTN

Democratization of decision making processes regarding international trade agreements - the Israel scenario2:00pm - 3:00pm, Knutsford Hotel
FoEME

Workshop on GM Rice9:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
No GMO Campaign

Asian Farmers' Assembly, privatization of services, FTAs in Asia, GMO issues12:30pm - 3:30pm, Victoria Park
No WTO Coalition in Japan

Asian People's Caravan Journey Open Bus TopLate morning, Victoria Park --> Sham Shui Po
People's Caravan for Justice and Sovereignty 2005

Trade: war by other meansWhat are the alternatives to the WTO?Thematic Morning, Victoria Park
OWINFS

War and Trade: Iraq: Ground Zero of Globalization and War6:00pm - 10:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
FocusAMC

Solidarity Among Migrants and Peasants Against AoA and WTO9:00am - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), peasant groups, IMWU, KOTKIHO, AMC, CMR

Trade and Development SymposiumHK Exhibition Centre
Int'l Centre for Trade and Sustainable Dev. University of Hong Kong

Forum/Speak-Out on Globalization, WTO and Forced Migrantion1:00pm - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
ILPS International, Study Commission for Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Peoples', Migrante InternationalAPMM, AMCB

Cultural Solidarity Night for International Migrants' Day 6:00pm - 10:00pm, Victoria Park
ILPS International, Study Commission for Migrants, Refugees and Displaced Peoples', Migrante InternationalAPMM, AMCB

Resisting Economic Partnership Agreements in Africa and the Caribbean2:00pm - 6:00pm, Victoria Park
Hemispheric Social Alliance, Transnational Institute

Health of Migrant Workers10:00am - 12:00pm, Victoria Park
CARAM

Big Concert6:00pm - 10:00pm, Victoria Park or Southorn Park
KM, SEAFISH
Sunday, December 18

Closing March/Rally
HKPA

Korean Delegation Closing RallyAfter HKPA Rally
Korean Delegation

International Migrants Day / Equal Pay for Equal Work campaign
10:00am, Chater Road (Central)
AMC, CMR, FDHGU, MFA, FOCUS, Jubilee South, ADWU

‘Rock Against the Round’ Concert / Cultural Solidarity Against WTO
5:00pm - 10:00pm, Chater Road (Central)
AMC, CMR, FDHGU, MFA, FOCUS, Jubilee South, ADWU

Beyond WTO and AoA: Alternative Rules of Agriculture3:00pm - 6:00pm, Boys and Girls Club
Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology

International Migrants Day / Equal Pay for Equal Work Campaign
8:00am, Victoria Park
Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), IMWU, KOTKIHO, CMR, MFA, AMC

International Solidarity / “Rock Against the Round” / Concert Against WTO
5:00pm - 10:00pm, Victoria Park
Institute for Global Justice (IGJ), IMWU, KOTKIHO, CMR, MFA, AMC

More info:
Bayarea WT-no!
http://daga.dhs.org/hkpa/

Myth of Education Gap Closing in NYC Schools and the Nation

NYC Black Radical Congress leader Sam Anderson critiques NYC Superintendent Joel Klein's claims of 'closing the gap' .... from the NYTimes article from December 2, 2005. Anderson was a founding member of the NY Chapter of the Black Panther Party and now serves as Education Director at Medgar Evers College’s Center for Law & Social Justice.

In the aftermath of NYC's elimination of their community school boards in 2002, Anderson and others formed the Independent Commission on Public Education (iCOPE) which is forming an independent task force of parents, community members, students, teachers, principals, policy-makers, elected officials, scholars and business leaders to shape a new common vision for our schools based on human rights. http://www.icope.org/
------------------------

The Myth of Education Gap-Closing in NYC Scools (and the Nation)
From: "S. E. Anderson

Folks,
Malcolm X said (I'm paraphrasing): When a man with a 12 inch knife in your back pulls it out 3 inches, you don't call that "Progress."
The Bloomberg/Klein spinmasters at the NY Times have produced another "gem" of mythical propaganda with Dec 2's news article rosily headlined: "City's Schools Cut Racial Gap in Test Scores". (the link to the full article below) also visit <http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard> for the data.

DAVID M. HERSZENHORN's raggedy mishmash article is a classic attempt to abuse statistics for the sake of shoring up and covering up a major corporate-sponsored education implosion. Herszenhorn and The Times can get away with it because 99% of US citizens don't have a clue about analyzing statistical data. Let's be real here: there is a real educational meltdown going on in NYC's public schools (as well as the rest of the US's public education system).
So let's take a look at the Times's attempt at bamboozling and obscuring and fabricating....
"The results are divided into four categories: below basic, basic, proficient and advanced."
What The Times DOES NOT tell you is that "below basic" and "basic" are actually about being super-illiterate/innumerate and functionally illiterate/innumerate. A "proficient" score means that your child is AT grade level.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) lumps the "basic" level with the "proficient" and "advanced" levels, thus distorting the reality of literacy and numeracy in the US. It prettifies a national horror of tens of millions of academically ill-prepared young citizens (but that's what present-day capitalism needs!). So when you go to: <http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard> and look at the stats, regroup the stats to have basic and below basic together to get a better picture of the depth and breadth of US miseducation.
For example: if we look at the nationwide Black 8th graders Math scores this way, we'll see that 92 out of 100 Black 8th graders are incapable of doing -at best- 7th and 8th grade math! And 89 out of 100 NYC's Black students are in the same devastating state. see: data.
>---------------------------

"Mirroring a nationwide pattern on state by state results released last month, reading scores in the urban districts were up in the fourth grade but flat or lower in the eighth grade."
So how's this education progress when by the 8th grade, most children -at best- know only as much as they did in the 4th grade?
-----------------

"New York City's strongest results over all were in fourth-grade math, with the number of students scoring at the basic level up 6 percentage points, to 73 percent, from 2003."
You get these results by:
(1) making the test even easier than all the previous ones...
(2) ...then spend 80-90% of classroom time teaching-to-the-test (meaning that no real math education is going on... resulting in disastrous test scores and grades by the 8th grade AND nurturing the pre-high school dropout rate)
(3) Give the test earlier in the year, thus testing more 3rd grade material than 4th grade material.
(4) systematically weed out low performing students test time.
-------------------------

"In fourth-grade reading, New York City's gap between the average score of black and white students shrank by 10 points. Among Hispanic students the gap shrank 7 points."
10% and 7% shrinkage from what gap? It's never revealed. So these numbers sound good but have no context. How wide was the gap? That's key to see how much progress is being made and how long it will take to achieve parity.

"In all, 36 percent of white fourth graders achieved reading proficiency on this year's test, compared with 16 percent of black students and 15 percent of Hispanic students."
64 out of 100 white 4th grade students being illiterate is an alarmingly horrific figure! But the Times hides this horror thru its glazing data-ese. 84 out of 100 Black 4th grade students can't read and 85 out of 100 Latino students can't read. This is beyond horrific. This is educational genocide. But all this is counched in the shroud of "progress" and "gap closing." I am convinced that if white, Black, Latino parents are given test data in this manner, there would be more outrage and action against Bloomberg/Klein (mis)education policies. But the Times's job is not to give a true picture of the education crisis. There job is to say: "You're doing a good job Bloomie!"
----------------------

"...New York had the most striking gains in fourth-grade reading scores, with 57 percent of students testing at the basic level this year, up from 47 percent in 2002...."
(1) How do you get 57% from the data state above: 36% white proficiency, 16% Black profiency and 15% Latino profiency? Even if the Asian and "other" 4th graders scored 100% proficiency (which they did not), they only constitute an even smaller-than-white-students percentage of 4th graders.
(2) Don't forget: not ALL 4th graders took the tests: thousands were "absent" from the exams thru various underhanded bureaucratic maneuverings.
-----------------------

"But while New York City could boast of encouraging gains in several areas, the overall picture of student achievement remains sobering. The results showed that in the city 43 percent of students remained at the below basic level in reading in the fourth grade. And eighth-grade reading scores fell slightly on the federal test, to 20 percent at the proficient level from 22 percent in 2003. The eighth-grade reading scores were the one area where the gap between white and black students widened."

(1) Education regression is progress according to The Times: "sobering progress." I hate to see "drunken progress."
(2) Now we see reality: "...eighth-grade reading scores fell slightly on the federal test, to 20 percent at the proficient level from 22 percent in 2003." Translation: By the time your 4th grader gets to an 8th grade class in NYC public school system he/she will most likely be among the 80 out of 100 who CANNOT READ at either the 7th or 8th grade level (because the test content is really wieghted on 7th grade material).
(3) "The eighth-grade reading scores were the one area where the gap between white and black students widened." Why is the widening happening?
(a) Teacher expectation is higher for white teens than for Black or Latino teens.(b) More tutorial support (via parents and schools) for white students(c) White teens are surrounded by white achievement and power(d) Black/Latino teens are surrounded by oppression, negative/criminal imagery, eurocentric curriculum(e) Black/Latino accept a form of racial inferiority complex about low test-score expectations(f) White Teens go to qualitatively better middle schools than Black/latinos
-------------------------------

"Mr. Klein played down the fact that gains were made in moving students to the basic levels, but not to the level of proficiency required by President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind law."
Bloomberg/Klein Progress = getting students to basic level NOT proficiency level. Emphasize this to parents and media rather than he reality that the city's children are, for the most part, functionally illiterate.
--------------------------------

"New York City's gains among black and Hispanic students were also accompanied by drops in scores among white students that both national experts and local school officials were at a loss to explain.
Some said the drop might be a result of the fact that the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests a sample of students rather than the entire district. Both gains or declines in scores must exceed the margin of error to be statistically significant."

The Real Deal: When you gear all your teaching to making sure students pass exams, this has a ripple effect thruout the system. One result is "white student alienation." That is, there are culturally given expectations for white student's intellectual development. Their family, their friends, their neighborhood expects that. But being immersed in a test-driven schooling system collides with these expectations by the time of the 8th grade test.

Remember, most of these white students and their families are already looking at high school and college. But many of them have experienced only teaching-to-the-test and very little critical thinking that's essential for being college bound. Hence, many white students join the ranks of the academically aliented... and just tune out of his miseducation scene.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress's sampling is done in the standard scientific manner: maximizing the possibility of getting a true representation of NYC's white student population. So... don't blame NAEP for the white student score decline: it's a result of years of teaching-to-the-test having a negative impact on thousands of white teens.
--------------------------------

"Mr. Easton, one of several officials making the presentation, cited research in Chicago showing that ninth-grade outcomes are highly predictive of high school success or failure, and he noted that black eighth graders in about half of the urban districts had very low math scores."
This telling fact is buried near the end of the article. One thing we never see in these news articles is projection. That is, given these data how long will it take for Black/Latino 4th and 8th graders to reach parity with white/Asian students? They don't want us to look at this because it would reveal that it would take DECADES to reach parity. Remember, the education gap existed from the end of slavery and was exacerbated by segregation's separate and unequal policies both NORTH and SOUTH.

Only total systemchange based on the premise that education is a Human Right can reverse this education pogrom/implosion. No Bloomberg/Klein mandates of corporate intervention can do it. No moral and intellectual suasion with Bloomberg/Klein can do it. It's parents, students, teachers, communities emnvisioning another educational system grounded in critical thinking and truly embracing New York's vast cosmopolitan culture and fighting to make it real.

NY Times Article

Youth & Asian Americans Organize for Global Justice and Grassroots Power

Some of my SF State students, friends from the Chinese Progressive Association, CJWP, the Asian American Movement Collective, PODER, SWOP, and close allies in the environmental justice movement are heading to Hong Kong Dec 10-19 for a major gathering of grassroots organizers and advocates from around the US and the world. Please support them if you can.
Check out their blog for daily updates at http://bayareawt-no.blogspot.com/

From Chinatown to China and Beyond: Chinese American Garment Workers Go Back to China to Protest the World Trade Organization

OAKLAND and SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A national delegation of over 50 people of Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Korean and South Asian descent called WT-No!, is going to Hong Kong this December. They are not going holiday shopping.

The delegation is part of a broad coalition of Asian & Pacific Islanders including former garment workers, youth, immigrants, activists, organizers, artists, teachers and students who will be connecting with organizations in Hong Kong whose members have shared similar experiences from the impacts of globalization and trade liberalization, and to show solidarity with other workers worldwide.

WHAT: Interviews available before delegation leaves and in Hong Kong with key voices of the delegation
Worker interviews available in Cantonese, Friday, Dec 2, 5 pm / Chinese Progressive Association, SF
Coverage & daily updates of the WT-No Delegation in Hong Kong (Dec 10 – 19, 2005)
Mass mobilizations December 11, 13 and 18, 2005
Blog: http://bayareawt-no.blogspot.com/; Photos and Videos will be uploaded or linked to this site.

WHEN: December 10 – 20, 2005 (WTO Ministerial: December 13-18, 2005)

WHY: Our delegation will help the press move beyond their planned coverage of the Ministerial Conference. Follow over 50 Asian Pacific Islander Americans and Latinos on the outside. For instance,

Lisa Zhou was one of nearly 240 garment workers abruptly terminated in 2001 after having worked for months without pay. In 2002, nearly all of the former garment workers received close to $1 million in back wages. Zhou had come a long way during that year, when the intimidation tactics of her former employers made the workers fearful of taking any public action. Now, three years later, she and over 20 other people from the Bay Area are taking another public action, this time near her old home court of Guangzhou.

Zhou is part of a national delegation of over 50 Asian and Pacific Islander Americans participating in the global protests against the Sixth World Trade Organization (世界貿易組織) Ministerial Conference. They are also going to show solidarity with workers abroad, who in many cases have also experienced subminimum wages, no wages, lack of jobs and/or massive layoffs tied to global trade liberalization. According to Colin Rajah, of the Oakland-based National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) could increase the abuses by employers of workers like Zhou.

“Through its “Mode 4” deal, the WTO is proposing to create a global guestworker program that will enable corporations to dictate the flow of temporary workers -- whose rights and immigrant status would be tied to their employer, exposing them to significant abuse such as those endured by Braceros and other guestworkers, with no possibility of permanent residency. We want to highlight how trade agreements struck by the WTO have caused communities to lose their livelihoods and forced people to migrate, while using immigrants as cheap, disposable labor for corporations,” said Rajah.

WT-No! is a collaboration between Bay Area-based organizations including Chinese Progressive Association (華人進步會; http://www.cpasf.org), Chin Jurn Wor Ping (前進和平; http://www.cjwp.org), National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (http://www.nnirr.org/) and the Korean Community Center of the East Bay (http://www.kcceb.org); and nationally, with the Garment Workers Center in Los Angeles, Organizing Asian Communities (http://www.CAAAV.org) in New York, and Community Organizing Committee (CYOC) in Philadelphia.

# # #

VISUALS: mass mobilizations, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, South Asian organizers and delegates to the NGO conference, direct actions, street theater, signs, banners, etc in many languages.

AUDIO / VIDEO: Interviews with SF Chinese garment workers, Hong Kong garment workers, meetings between garment worker organizations in Hong Kong, video / audio of mass mobilizations, multiple languages (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish).

OTHER STORIES:

o Education / media / art: A 29-year old Chinese Vietnamese Oakland schoolteacher who teaches young people in Oakland to make videos is going to be making videos herself, in Hong Kong, at the protests to stop the negotiations. Find out who she meets and talks to.

o Environment / environmental justice / activism: A 24-year old Chinese American environmentalist networks with other communities affected by diesel pollution from port-related shipping traffic. Find out how global communities are dealing with diesel pollution and how WTO affects port-related shipping.

o Youth / immigration / diaspora: A young 26-year old Chinese American woman goes back to Hong Kong for the first time to join the protests and to show global solidarity. Find out how she experiences this return trip under very special circumstances.

For more information on how to contact the delegation, please contact Diana Pei Wu; (510) 847-9339; dianapeiwu@gmail.com.

David Bacon on 'divide and conquer' and scapegoating immigrant communities in the aftermath of the new orleans disaster

As usual, people's journalist David Bacon provides a useful analysis of the politics behind immigration reform legislation, the rebuilding of New Orleans, and 'divide and conquer' media messages. In his conclusion he helps point us in a more constructive direction of multiracial justice and economic sustainability.

DIVIDED WE FALL - By David Bacon
From Colorlines Magazine - [you will have to wait for the full article in the Feb 06 issue]

If Congress' current proposals for immigration reform pass this year or next, will they help the immigrant workers now doing reconstruction on the Gulf Coast? What about the residents hoping to return home - what might these proposals mean for racial divisions already fanned by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and syndicated newspaper columnist Ruben Navarette in the wake of the flood?

Both Nagin and Navarette play on growing insecurity on each side of the migration divide. "How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?" the Mayor asked in early November. Navarette praised immigrants for "not sitting around and waiting for government to come to the rescue. They're probably living two or three families to a house ... that's how it used to be in this country before the advent of the welfare state." African American politicians, he said, just want to "keep the city mostly Black."

It's not a theoretical problem. The Gulf Coast disaster is having a profound and permanent effect on the area's workers and communities. The racial fault lines of immigration politics threaten to pit Latinos against Blacks, and migrant laborers against community residents hoping to return to their homes. Community organizations, labor and civil rights advocates can all find common ground in a reconstruction plan that puts the needs of people first.

But flood-ravaged Mississippi and Louisiana could also become a window into a different future, in which poor communities with little economic power fight each other over jobs. Even before Hurricane Katrina hit, the unemployment rate among Gulf residents was among the nation's highest. ...In New Orleans, Blacks, concentrated in public-sector jobs and already reeling from the storm and flood, were hit again by massive layoffs. With no sure job waiting for them, few families had the resources to simply go back and take a chance on finding new employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found in October that 500,000 of the 800,000 people evacuated had yet to return home.
....
In the hurricane-affected areas, fears generated by competition are already apparent. Politicians like Nagin, using racial fears to win votes, and columnists like Navarette, seeking to incite racial hysteria among readers, both see gains to be made from increased division. Yet as immigration changes the demographics of the South, its communities have a good record of reaching across racial lines.

"Every immigrant rights bill in Mississippi has been introduced by African American legislators," Chandler says. In the state's poultry and meatpacking plants, longtime Black workers and a new wave of immigrants have found themselves on the same side in union organizing efforts. Hurricane relief is a key test of those bonds, and the desire to achieve common ground.

This year the Congressional Black Caucus made two important contributions to this effort. The CBC-sponsored HR 4197 addresses hurricane recovery and poverty, authorizing funds for housing and new Section 8 vouchers, for increased health care, and for extended unemployment and temporary assistance to needy families. It provides money to help returning residents rebuild their homes or seek new ones,
and for schools to help relocated students. The bill reinstates Davis Bacon wage requirements, creates apprenticeship programs to develop good jobs, and requires the President to present a plan for eradicating poverty.

For Pitts, this moves in the right direction. "You have to assure there's a floor under wages," he suggests, "Both immigrants and African Americans need this. To ensure people can return, the government has to recognize the need for two kinds of income-wages from decent jobs, and money to cover the cost of relocation.

Immigrants need a living wage too, as well as the right to organize and the ability to move freely, so they're not tied to an employer or contractor." The CBC also supported another bill this spring, by Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. The Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2005, HR 2092, provides a way for currently undocumented workers to gain permanent resident status, and enforces migrants' rights in the workplace. Unlike every other immigration proposal in Congress, it has no guest worker program, and doesn't call for greater enforcement of employer sanctions. It will take the fees paid by people applying for legal status, and use them to provide job creation and training programs in communities with high levels of unemployment. For community and labor activists who see Kennedy/McCain and similar proposals as dangerous, Jackson Lee's bill provides at least a partial program for progressive immigration reform.

The key to finding common ground is fighting for jobs for everyone. Whether Black, white, Asian or Latino, native-born or immigrant-no one can live without work. Yet this basis for an alliance of mutual interest has largely fallen off the liberal agenda. Even unions, the bastion of support for the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, a 1970s proposal that the federal government provide jobs to eradicate unemployment, pay only lip service to the idea today. In the Democratic Party, free market ideologues ridicule the idea that the government should guarantee employment, as it did in the New Deal programs of the 1930s. Instead, both parties propose to pile guest worker programs, and increased enforcement of employer sanctions, on top of job competition. This is an explosive mixture in which no one has the right to a job, and everyone shares only increased insecurity.

Unemployment and racism in the U.S. economic system pit communities of color against each other, and against working-class white communities. Competition produces lower labor costs and higher
profits. It's no accident that the guestworker programs in Congress are pushed by the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, which includes 38 of the country's largest industrial and business associations.

Racial division is a powerful political weapon as well, helping to maintain a conservative Republican majority in Congress and the White House. By the same token, for working communities, overcoming racial division creates new possibilities for winning political power.

In the early 1980s a Black-Latino alliance defeated the Chicago political machine and elected Harold Washington mayor. In the spring of 2005 the same strategy elected Antonio Villaraigosa mayor of Los Angeles, where division between Blacks and Latinos was used to keep conservatives in power for decades. The rebuilding of Biloxi, Gulfport and New Orleans can forge a similar political coalition on the Gulf Coast too. But to accomplish that, working class communities will have to reject the use of immigration as a new dividing line to keep them apart.

ColorLines info David Bacon's articles/photographs

Happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, and Indigenous People's 'Unthanksgiving Day' to everyone!

SF Turkey Day Championship Goes to Lincoln High School
Congratulations to San Francisco's Lincoln High School Football team for their exciting 21 to 20 victory, but also to the inspiring 20 point 2nd half effort from the Balboa High School Buccaneers as well in the Annual SF Turkey Bowl at Kezar Stadium on Thanksgiving Day. What a game this year! Though I missed the game this year, we are fortunate that there has been good local coverage of public school athletics in the SF press.
See the SF Examiner's article on the game.

San Francisco Solidarity with Indigenous People on Thanksgiving Day


Over the years, as a progressive tradition of solidarity I have always tried to attend the annual Alcatraz Sunrise Gathering to support Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Day and to confront the myths of history, give thanks for our lives and honor the spirit of continued resistance.
The alcatraz event is a tradition that streches back 30 years to Thanksgiving 1975 when the American Indian Movement and others came together to support the struggle of Native people for self-determination.
Every Thanksgiving morning thousands gather at PIER 41 - at SF's FISHERMAN'S WHARF - to catch ferries from 5 - 6:30 am. This year MC's and special guests included:
Lenny Foster, Floyd Westerman, Traditional Pomo Dancers, Danzantes Aztecas, Humaya Dancers, and the All Nation Drummers.
The Sunrise Gathering on Alcatraz Island is always followed by a pot-luck feast, open to the public, free of charge, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Inter-Tribal Friendship House, 523 International Boulevard, Oakland. The organizers always include music, special guest speakers and great food and solidarity. They always need volunteers as well for cooking. If you can help, please call (510) 444-5808.
For more history on the American Indian Movement and the history of the Indian Occupation of Alcatraz from December 1969 through early 1971 check out the film Alcatraz is not an Island . From the website -

The takeover of Alcatraz was one of the most successful American Indian protest
actions of the 20th century, fueling the rise of modern Native American activism. In fact, many of the 74 Indian occupations of federal facilities that followed Alcatraz were either planned by or included people who had been involved in seizing the island.

The occupation also brought Indian rights issues to the attention of the federal government and American public, changing forever the way Native people viewed themselves, their culture and their inherent right to self-determination. The occupation also succeeded in getting the federal government to end its policy of termination and adopt an official policy of Indian self-determination. From 1970 to 1971, Congress passed 52 legislative proposals on behalf of American Indians to support tribal self-rule. ...

After visiting the occupiers on Alcatraz Island, the American Indian Movement (AIM) began a series of national protest actions by seizing federal facilities. Comprised of mostly younger, more progressive and better educated urban Indians, AIM was initially formed to protect urban Indians from civil rights abuses. Inspired by the Alcatraz occupation, AIM became an important multi-tribal protest organization during the '70s. Its first protest action was on Thanksgiving Day 1970, when AIM members painted Plymouth Rock red and seized the Mayflower II replica in Plymouth, Massachusetts to challenge a celebration of colonial expansion. From the takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969 to the Longest Walk in 1978, the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement (ARPM) used social protest to demand that the government honor treaty obligations by providing resources, education, housing and healthcare to alleviate poverty. The ARPM aimed to build Indian colleges and create Indian studies programs, museums and cultural centers with federal funds to redress centuries of cultural repression.

At San Francisco State, where I teach, we also honor the memory of Richard Oakes, a SF State student leader who was instrumental in leading the Alcatraz takeover. Along with other students from SF State and campuses like UCLA, Oakes represented a generation of youth and oppressed groups fighting for power and self-determination for their peoples. The spirit of Alcatraz lives on through us and the annual Sunrise gatherings. Please join us next year.
For more info on the Film Alcatraz is Not an Island

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