#M1 National Day of Action for Education

In December, the NYC Student Assembly and Occupy Education Northern California called for March 1 to be a National Day of Action in Defense of Education. Groups from around the country have responded to this call. Follow #M1, #OccupyEd, and @Occupy_Ed on Twitter! There are a number of actions planned on campuses throughout New York City. Here are a few:

All-City Student Actions: (NYC Facebook page)
2PM Manhattan convergence at Department of Education, 52 Chambers St
3PM march begins at Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn
4PM Convergence at Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Campus Actions:
Brooklyn College: 12-3PM - the Quad
BMCC: 1:45pm Icarus Statue in front of main building
NYU: 12PM - Washington Square Park
Columbia: Low Plaza 11:30-1PM
RSCC contingent: 1:45 PM at the intersection of Duane Street and Elk Street in Manhattan near the African Burial Ground

Actions are also planned in Chicago, Washington DC, Central Florida, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and many other cities. In Philadelphia, Occupiers will meet in front of Gov. Tom Corbett's Philadelphia Office (200 South Broad St):

There’s plenty of resources in Pennsylvania to provide a high- quality education for all. Instead of protecting rich corporations like Comcast and Wells Fargo, the Governor should demand the 1% pay their fair share of taxes so we can protect our schools and communities. Join students, teachers, workers and community members as we demand a fair budget for the 99%!

Update, 4pm EST: Watch live! (NYC Student Walkout Livestream) (UC-Davis "Funeral for Public Education" Livestream) (Washington, DC March on Dept. of Education Livestream)

Photos from #M1 Actions

In New York, demonstrators gathered outside the Dept. of Education before marching to an NYC School Board meeting to protest Mayor Bloomberg's failed policies and cuts to education:

In Philadelphia, students shut down a busy intersection and were pushed back by police while trying to enter the governor's office:

In Chicago, students took over the conference room of the president's office demanding a public forum on tuition hikes:

Washington, DC:

The original NYC Student Assembly call to action:

We refuse to pay for the crisis created by the 1%. We refuse to accept the dismantling of our schools and universities, while the banks and corporations make record profits. We refuse to accept educational re-segregation, massive tuition increases, outrageous student debt, and increasing privatization and corporatization.

They got bailed out and we got sold out. But through nationally coordinated mass action we can and will turn back the tide of austerity.

We call on all students, teachers, workers, and parents from all levels of education —pre-K-12 through higher education, in public and private institutions—and all Occupy assemblies, labor unions, and organizations of oppressed communities, to mobilize on March 1st, 2012 across the country to tell those in power: The resources exist for high-quality education for all. If we make the rich and the corporations pay we can reverse the budget cuts, tuition hikes, and attacks on job security, and fully fund public education and social services.

This is a call to work together, but it is up to each school and organization to determine what local and regional actions—such as strikes, walkouts, occupations, marches, etc.—they will take to say no to business as usual.

We have the momentum, the numbers, and the determination to win. Education is not for sale. Let’s take back our schools. Let’s make history.

Global Student Power

Yesterday, while Occupy groups in over 80 cities across the world were holding successful direct actions to Shut Down the Corporations, students in Spain continued their fight against cuts in education by occupying university buildings. Solidarity protests have erupted across Europe after police violently supressed peaceful student demonstrations in Valencia, which has seen as many as 60,000 people in the streets.

10,000s are in the streets of Barcelona again today. The student protesters in Spain have also received solidarity from student organizers in the United States. From New York Students Rising:

NYSR STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENTS OF SPAIN

We stand in active solidarity with the students and people of Valencia, Spain. and condemn the arrests and beating of peaceful protesters taking a stand against cuts to education.

The issues the students in Valencia address are ones that speak to the global nature of our struggle. All over the world we see local governments fail to fund universities, schools, and the other basic needs of the people.As people begin to protest and resist injustices, police attempt to repress the emergence of true democracy led by the people.

Students of the City University of New York, University of California-Davis, and many other campuses have been arrested, beaten, and pepper sprayed during protests done in an increasingly securitized university. However, overt repression represents the failure of subtle forms of social control. As tacit consent and docility are replaced by protest and resistance, the only way to maintain the social order is through the baton and riot shield.What it shows is that we are breaking through and making real gains in our struggle.

Students in Valencia, your resilience, as witnessed by the wave of protests in recent days, gives us resolve to continue, the strength to struggle further, and the courage to dream bigger. Our struggle is one. Solidarity in the streets!

Students are also taking action to support workers and other marginalized 99%ers. In the Netherlands, students along with Occupy Utretch, Occupy Rotterdam, and other local Occupy groups joined 1000s of cleaners who occupied buildings at the University of Utrecht for better working conditions. Today., students at Harvard will be taking action to stop lay-offs of school workers. From last year's student rebellions in the United Kingdom to last months's massive post-secondary strike in Quebec that saw 36,000 students walk out, students are rising up against austerity across the world. Today, Occupy Wall Street joins them in expressing our outrage!