Raids on Occupy Protesters ‘Inexcusable,’ Says Trumka
“They can take away the tarps and the tents. But they can’t slow down the Occupy Wall Street movement,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka following today’s early morning raid on Occupy Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park site and raids and closures of Occupy sites in Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Denver; Albany, N.Y.; Burlington, Vt.; and Chapel Hill, N.C.
Trumka says the raids have been “orchestrated by politicians acting on behalf of the 1 percent.”
But the 99 percent is undaunted. Occupy Wall Street’s message has already created a new day. This movement has created a seismic shift in our national debate—from austerity and cuts to jobs, inequality and our broken economic system.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been committed to peaceful, nonviolent action from its inception. And, says Trumka “it will keep spreading no matter what elected officials tell police to do. But that doesn’t mean these raids are acceptable. In fact, they are inexcusable.”
Free Speech in Rhode Island? Gotta Register
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Providence, R.I., wants protestors to register in advance. It even has provided a special online registration form and “Public Viewing Guidelines” (h/t to Pat Crowley).
How thoughtful.
Seems the upcoming U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting set for that city has put the spotlight on Providence Mayor David Cicilline’s seven-year-long battle against union members. Cicilline refuses to bargain a fair contract, forcing the union into arbitration over each contract, and even going so far as to introduce anti-union ordinances and calling for similar state legislation. The Democratic mayor—yep, a Dem—couches his attacks against members of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 799 as saving taxpayer money. In reality, as of 2008, Cicilline’s mounting legal bills against the union hit $1 million, with the city losing every court decision.
Horowitz’s Latest Attack on Higher Ed ‘Inaccurate, Distorted’
Free Exchange on Campus, a coalition of 23 unions, faculty and student organizations and progressive policy groups, is setting the record straight about the shoddy research and erroneous conclusions in David Horowitz’s latest book, “One Party Classroom.”
As he does in his previous books, Horowitz, an extremist right-winger, attacks public universities and claims they brainwash students and turn them against their parents and country.
In “Facts Still Count,” the coalition says Horowitz’s outlandish claims are based on misrepresentations and distortions of the work of faculty members. The report says he has used this fallacious evidence to push an agenda that has the potential to chill the free exchange of ideas on college campuses. Click here to download the report.
