You might be wondering why I am posting so much about the Occupy Movement. It’s because of the transference of wealth from the hands of the many to the pockets of a few that our public school systems have been suffering for at least three decades. My first post on the original Seattle Education 2010 blog written in 2009, Where Do We Go From Here?, described in detail what I have observed over my lifetime in terms of education. Now this movement is expressing in many forms the frustration that I and  others have felt during the fight for our pubic schools.

I am hopeful that this will be the start of change that we were hoping for and did not see when Obama became president. All we got from him was a $5B bribe to privatize our schools and in a way that only a good con artist, Arne Duncan, could do it, make a lot of people do something that only a few folks would receive anything for. That’s what Race to the Top  was all about. It was a big con paid for with our tax dollars and brought to you by Bill Gates and Eli Broad.

For that reason, I think that it’s important to not only be aware of this movement, the established press certainly is not willing to keep the public informed of this historical event, but to also participate in it for our children. Most of our children don’t have much to look forward to and we as the grownups made it this way mostly by passively  watching and ignoring what we felt was happening to us day after day, year after year, thinking that we were in the United States of America and nothing could happen to us and that it would all get better. All we had to do is believe in our elected representatives and what we heard on TV.  Well, it has happened to us and if we don’t do anything about it now, it will only get worse for our children and their futures.

We began this blog because we were becoming aware of what was going on in other states in terms of the privatization of our schools on a national basis. Because of that, several of us wanted to inform parents in our community of the facts because no one in the mainstream media was doing that. And now, I hear this strange and eerie silence once again from the mainstream press about the Occupation Movement, so I once again must speak up and inform.

I am proud to say that my daughter is active in the Occupy Oakland movement because she understands what’s going on and with millions of other people her age. These young people refuse to accept the bleak future that has been painted for them by the wealthy few.

On that note, to follow is information about the general strike that is happening on November 2, 2011.

Blockade Port of Oakland During November 2 General Strike

This resolution passed unanimously by the Occupy Oakland Strike Assembly on Friday, October 29.

The approved proposal:

On Wednesday, November 2nd as part of the Oakland General Strike, we will march on the Port of Oakland and shut it down. We will converge at 5pm at 14th and Broadway and march to the port to shut it down before the 7pm night shift.

We are doing this in order to blockade the flow of capital on the day of the General Strike, as well as to show our commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Washington. EGT is an international grain exporter which is attempting to rupture longshore jurisdiction. The driving force behind EGT is Bunge LTD, a leading agribusiness and food company which reported 2.4 billion dollars in profit in 2010; this company has strong ties to Wall Street. This is but one example of Wall Street’s corporate attack on workers.

The Oakland General Strike will demonstrate the wide reaching implications of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The entire world is fed up with the huge disparity of wealth caused by the present system. Now is the time that the people are doing something about it.The Oakland General Strike is a warning shot to the 1% – their wealth only exists because the 99% creates it for them.

On October 26, the following proposal was approved by the majority regarding a General Strike in the City of Oakland:

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.

Let’s at least be as brave as our sons and daughters and do what we can to support this movement.

Dora

Post Script:

At Occupy Wall Street on Friday, 10/28/11, Jack Heyman announced the solidarity of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union with the Occupy Oakland’s call for a General Strike on November 2 in response to the police violence against protesters in Oakland.