Video and pictures from March 5th protest in Sacramento

FYI -- Strategic use of NVR = dramatization of injustice; getting the sympathy of a wider audience; getting more people to join; offering a variety of ways to participate in future actions.  (singing is better than chanting). 

Terrific slide show HERE by CCSF contigent!

 ABC videos -- several available at this site:


SF Chronicle article:

But unlike the basic "no cuts" message brought to the Capitol every March, education's 99 percent have a specific agenda this year. They want two measures to qualify for the statewide ballot in November: the so-called millionaires tax, an income tax hike on the state's highest earners; and Proposition 1522, an oil-extraction tax, both of which supporters say would raise billions of dollars for public education.

For the first time this year, the University of California gets less money from its diminishing state allocation than from students' tuition and fees, which have tripled to $13,218 in the last decade, not counting books or living expenses.
Tuition and fees at California State University have also tripled in that period, to more than $7,000.

Read more:

April 9th - TOY SOLDIERS at Freight and Salvage

It brings me much joy to announce a joint collaboration between Each One Reach One & Urban Healing Tour to support incredible youth theater programs in the Bay Area. EORO, who for the last past 10 years has been doing play-writing workshops inside of San Francisco Juvenile Hall also created the only GED program inside of Juvie. The GED program alone has graduated over 200 youth and what's so amazing is that it came from a Theater program. I personally have worked with EORO for the last 8 years aside from my work with Colored Ink.  We thought this partnership would be a match made in heaven.  UHT will be showcasing our amazing multi-media, hip hop theater production entitled "Toy Soldierzs" which deals with youth violence. We have some exciting news; a portion of the proceeds will going towards "Toy Soldierz" being performed @ the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York on May 4-6, 11-13, 2012. It's a really exciting time for me and my organization. God is good.  Check out the latest trailer for "Toy Soldierz" below.  Spread the word to your family, friends, co-workers, clergy and anyone else you think would benefit from this performance.  This night and cause is very important to our community.  Thank you again

Sincerely,
Javier Reyes
Producer, Urban Healing Tour
415.240.00
coloredink41510@gmail.com
www.urbanhealingtour.com

"TOY SOLDIERZ" TRAILER 2012 from Javier Reyes on Vimeo.

DATE: April 9, 2012

TIME: Doors Open @ 7PM, Show 8PM
LOCATION: Freight & Salvage
2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
FEATURING:

• "TOY SOLDIERZ,"  
• ONE ACT PLAYS WRITTEN BY INCARCERATED YOUTH 
• YOUNG POETS FROM "YGCIC"

$20.50 In Advance, $22.50 At The Door
Half Price For Youth Under 25 Years Old
TO PURCHASE TICKETS: WWW.THEFREIGHT.ORG/URBAN-HEALING-TOUR-PRESENTS-TOY-SOLDIERZ
There is a $5 Parking Garage all night next door

URBAN HEALING TOUR PROJECT. The Urban Healing Tour (UHT) is a multimedia hip hop theatre platform that supports productions for social change and community advocacy coupled with arts-based workshops centered around healing and utilizing the arts in the process of recovery and learning to forgive. Projects that are produced through the Urban Healing Tour integrate the live stage, film/video, music, dance, and spoken word. Initially the tour was a singular project in advocacy against gun violence, but the Producer, Javier Reyes and Director, Cassandra A. Henderson saw the need and potential for expanding the vision; and in December of 2010, renamed the play itself TOY SOLDIERS serving under the umbrella of the Urban Healing Tour. UHT was created to be appeasing to all audiences; but primarily focuses on low-income, urban audiences particularly youth ages 13-25 

March 6th SF Protest

Hands Off Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid!

Protest Deficit Commission Chairs Simpson and Bowles

Tuesday, March 6,  7 PM, Paramount Theater, OAKLAND.

2025  Broadway  between 20th &  21st Street. (19th St. BART)

People from San Francisco meet at 6 PM to take BART to Oakland.

We'll assemble at Civic Center BART entrance by the Orpheum Theater.

It's on the north side of Market St. between Hyde & UN Plaza.

The chairs of Obama's Deficit Commission, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, are on the lecture circuit rallying the 1% to implement their programs of (1) slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, (2) putting a cap on ALL federal revenue, to keep the safety net permanently in tatters, (3) further reducing taxes on the rich and increasing them for us, (4) taxing health insurance that has adequate benefits, and (5) cutting veterans health benefits.

Read more about their plans at http://tinyurl.com/4d2erbh . 

Though Bowles and Simpson were unable to get Commissioner's votes to force Congress to vote their plan up or down, they are still touring the country promoting their plan to audiences paying hundreds of dollars to see them.

Join the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) and many other groups for an informational picket and press briefing to challenge these proposals. As more of us lose jobs and housing, and fall into poverty and hunger, Bowles and Simpson are using the deficit as a phony excuse to cut our services and safety net:

** It's wars to control oil, tax cuts to corporations and the rich, and bank bailouts that caused the deficit!

** Social Security does not add a cent to the deficit.

** Medicare and Medicaid add to the debt only because corporate healthcare refuses to let Medicare cover everyone with equal comprehensive healthcare.

Read Simpson and Bowles; We've Got Questions For You!:

http://tinyurl.com/7obq5wj

See pictures and a story from an earlier Simpson-Bowles  demonstration

http://tinyurl.com/7gf4e9r

Thousands rally in bay area -- March 1 Day of Action

An estimated 1,200 to 1,500 people attended the rally -- mostly teachers and students from San Francisco K-12 schools, Community College of San Francisco, and San Francisco State University. This was just one of hundreds of actions that took place March 1st across California and nationwide in defense of public education and social services. from U&I.
NEXT STOP -- SACRAMENTO MARCH 5 --   march from SF......marching 99 miles!
 
 MUSIC FOR THE NEW ACTIVIST AGE

Berkeley:
The day’s protest in support of public education began with small campus demonstrations and culminated in a march through Oakland. Over the course of the day, demonstrators marched down Telegraph Avenue, rallied at Frank Ogawa Plaza and protested in front of the UC Office of the President, among other actions. Later in the day, a small group began a journey to Sacramento in advance of the upcoming March 5 protest there. By 8:30 a.m., protesters had wrapped caution tape around the perimeter of California Hall — which houses Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s office — and about 20 protesters gathered outside the building in the rain. Protesters then shifted their attention to Sproul Plaza, where they convened in small groups and prepared for a noon rally.  from Daily Californian

DAY OF ACTION PORTAL --- MUCH MORE HERE.
speech by SFSU student at City Hall Rally

California students march  (Steve Rhodes)

 Photo Gallery from SJ Mercury News

Alex Schmaus, a student in City College of San Francisco and a participant in "Occupy CCSF," told the crowd that he had accumulated $27,000 in debt as a student at SFSU but didn't earn a degree, and now collection agencies were threatening to garnish his paychecks.
Schmaus drew connections between the campaign for better funding for higher education and some of the larger goals of the Occupy movement, including more access to housing and sending less people to prisons. Students from Mission High School in San Francisco were also invited onto the stage to speak, wondering what opportunities would be available if they were priced out of being able to attend college, and how they could give back to the world without access to an education."The way things are going we're going to have only private universities, we're not going to have public universities," Terence Yancey, 26, a philosophy major at San Francisco State University told the crowd. from SF Appeal

Amy Goodman (38 minute report) on Chicago and NYC Education Protests

Move On in SF March 15 - stop foreclosures parties

Dear MoveOn member,

President Obama could help twelve million homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage.1

But the president needs to hear directly from us.

Here's the story: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold 60% of mortgages—but the agency that oversees them is run by Bush appointee Ed DeMarco who refuses to allow underwater homeowners to adjust their mortgages to reflect the true value of their home.2

Homeowners are struggling to make ends meet. And helping them not only means saving their homes, it will also stabilize the market and help get the economy back on track for everyone.

President Obama has the power to replace DeMarco and make sure Fannie and Freddie provide relief to the millions of Americans struggling with mortgage debt.

That's why on Thursday, March 15—the same day the Senate banking committee meets in D.C. to discuss the fate of homeowners—we're organizing big rallies at Obama for America campaign offices around the country. We'll tell the president: We're sinking in underwater mortgages—throw the 99% a lifeline to keep us in our homes. In communities without OFA offices, we'll rally in front of Wall Street bank branches and homes threatened by foreclosure to let the public and the media know that the 99% is standing up to save our homes.

Will you host a Save Our Homes rally on Thursday, March 15?

Yes, I can organize an even
Hosting an event is powerful and easy. Once you sign up, you'll get the petitions from MoveOn members and all the materials you'll need for a successful event.

Thanks for all you do.

–Elena, Laura, Sarah, Amy, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Co-Chairs Grijalva, Ellison Call for Justice for Underwater Mortgage Holders," Congressional Progressive Caucus, February 29, 2012 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271863&id=36467-20915531-KVABn4x&t=4

2. "Edward DeMarco: The Ideologue Who's Holding Homeowners—and the Economy—Hostage," The Huffington Post, February 14, 2012 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271260&id=&t=4&id=36467-20915531-KVABn4x&t=5

3. "People Power vs Banker Power: Score One for the People," Nation of Change, January 25, 2012 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271862&id=36467-20915531-KVABn4x&t=6

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