Friday, November 20, 2009

University of California mass student protests

Protesting education cut backs and fee hike suggestions, thousands of UC Berkeley students, teachers, and workers stage a walkout

(WQ) Protesting a 33% fee increase, students across the state have taken matters into their own hands. In Berkeley, Wheeler Hall has been taken over. Police broken one student's hand with a baton for touching a railing. At UCLA, protests have continued for three days. Santa Cruz, Davis, and other campuses are holding demonstrations and building takeovers to bring attention to the UC Regents' actions this week. The goal is to rescind crippling fee hikes.

(Indy Media) Despite the fact that KPFA is located in Berkeley, where a mass strike movement is developing, it has been unable to cover the ubiquitous rallies live. It even eliminated a segment on the strike. That segment was on Democracy Now, which played on Nov. 17, 2009. It discussed the planned UC Berkeley strike on Nov. 18.

One strike activist is angry that KFPA and Pacifica Radio have refused to properly cover this critical struggle. Pacifica has chosen to do fundraising rather than cover mass rallies and strike actions by students, faculty, and unionized staff on the Berkeley campus.

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