Mar 14 2012
The Activist Beat on California Student Protests and Stop Tax Haven Act
The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents.
Last Monday, an estimated 5,000 California students, faculty, and their supporters gathered in Sacramento to demand an end to budget cuts. 72 mostly students were arrested hours after entering the Capitol building. Demonstrators were surrounded by riot cops and cops on horses. Yes, students asking for an education were surrounded by cops on horses.
Three cops told KPFA, one of the only stations to carry a live broadcast, that they couldn’t report from the grounds of the Capitol because they didn’t have a permit for electricity. They were told they were stealing the electricity. So they had to go into a studio. How’s that for free speech?
The rally got a lot of attention in the print and online media, but other than a few quotes here and there, the personal stories were hard to find.
Twenty-eight students attending Palomar, a college in San Marcos, traveled 26 hours to Sacramento and back to make their voices heard. Students from UC Riverside also took part.
To say that students and faculty are fed up and angry is putting it lightly. They’re barely making ends meet. They’re taking a heavy load, hoping to incur as little debt as possible. I’ve interviewed students who were almost forced to drop out because the financial aid they receive is not enough to cover the basics. They’re sleeping on friends’ couches because they can’t afford housing. They’re going to the school food pantry because they can’t afford to eat. This is happening in one of the richest states in the country.
And yet, over the past four years, California state lawmakers have cut more than $1.5 billion from the state’s colleges and universities. As states across the country tighten their budgets, California’s higher education cuts have been the most severe.
State politicians say we’re broke, but students and faculty know better.
What most articles about the rally also failed to mention is details and facts about what we’re currently facing. Here are a few that bear repeating:
The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the state of California over $52B since 2001, according to the National Priorities Project.
In 2011, California spent $9.6B on prisons and $5.7B on higher education. Over the past 30 years, California has built one university and 20 prisons. The state spends about $50,000 per inmate each year and only $9,000 per student each year. California, once known for its stellar education system, now ranks 47 in overall per-pupil spending. This is clearly not sustainable. So what are the solutions?
The students are supporting The Millionaires Tax of 2012, a ballot initiative that would require Californians who earn $1M or more to pay an extra three per cent in state income tax; those who earn $2M or more would pay an extra five per cent.
According to the California Federation of Teachers, these taxes would raise an estimated $6B per year for schools, senior, child and disabled services, local fire services, and roads and bridges.
The ReFund California coalition notes that when President Obama signed a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts in December 2010, California’s wealthiest received a windfall of $9-14B per year, nearly equal to the entire state budget deficit.
And yet we’re constantly told we’re broke. The fact is, we’re not broke.
We have the solutions, but no political will. That’s why groups are taking at least three tax measures to the voters. It’s not the best solution and will probably confuse and anger people, but this is what happens when we reach a point of desperation.
On the campus of UC Berkeley today, students are holding a press conference to highlight the true cost of corporation tax loopholes: $100B. They’re displaying 1,000 graduation caps on Sproul Plaza, each representing 1,000 students whose education could be funded by ending tax havens. Students and faculty are urging Congress to pass the Stop Tax Haven Act.
Do we value education in this country? Should everyone have access to an affordable education? It’s hard to believe, but the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education called for a long-term commitment to the principle of tuition-free education. In a wealthy state like California, we should expect nothing less.
One Response to “The Activist Beat on California Student Protests and Stop Tax Haven Act”
“Three cops told KPFA, one of the only stations to carry a live broadcast, that they couldn’t report from the grounds of the Capitol because they didn’t have a permit for electricity. They were told they were stealing the electricity. So they had to go into a studio.”
Who can corroborate this? We’d like to demand a change to this policy — if it is a real policy and not a whim of the officers.