This is just a quick quiz to tell if the budget cuts affect you. Have you ever or do you currently: attend a public school? Use public transportation? Enjoy public libraries, swimming pools, parks or infrastructure? Hope that future generations will have access to these things as well? If you answered yes to any of these questions, guess what? You should be seriously worried. Because all of these services are currently being dismantled, piece by piece.
This theft of public services is taking the form of budget cuts, and those being imposed on us right now are completely destroying public education. In California, over the past four years, funding for the UC system has fallen by over a third — from about $3.8 billion to $2.5 billion. That’s one-third less resources for more students! And community colleges already turned away nearly 700,000 people this year due to the budget cuts.
The impact of these cuts, continuing year after year, is that education is being turned into a privilege, available only to those who can afford to live in a nice school district or pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend basic in-state universities.
Aside from just education, the cuts are unavoidable, whether in the form of rising bus fares and eliminated routes or the latest closure of one-fourth of our state parks. Programs serving the most vulnerable members of our society — like children, the disabled and poor families — are being gutted. Meanwhile, according to the 2010 census, about 15.8 percent of Californians and nearly one in six Americans lived in poverty last year. In the wealthiest country in the world, this is an atrocity.
But it’s not just taking place here in California or the U.S. These types of austerity measures are being implemented all over the planet, and they’re a conscious strategy to move wealth from the general population — in the form of public services, wages, pensions and more — to the top 1 percent in the form of tax breaks, bailouts and contracts. Politicians on both sides have proven that we cannot rely on them for change by constantly ruling against our behalf and in favor of the extremely wealthy. They create these policies that serve the top 1 percent. They refuse to tax the super wealthy and decide instead to cut services that serve the overwhelming majority of voters.
But there is hope, as all over the world people are choosing to fight rather than simply lie down and take these cuts. On Saturday, Oct. 15, people in over 1,000 cities and 82 countries demonstrated against the wealth inequality and rule of the 1 percent. People in the U.S. are finally beginning to stand up, find their voices and speak out against what is happening. In the past weeks, we’ve seen thousands of people across all 50 states come out to support their local occupations and engage in dialogue about social change — what it looks like, and how we can bring it about.
Is a single occupation going to change everything? Of course not. It’s simply another tool at our disposal for attempting to engage others in activity to build a mass movement. But that movement must go beyond an occupation. It will likely consist of rallies and sit-ins but also conversations, meetings, townhalls and teach-ins, organizations being built and perspectives changing as people learn what it means to be an active participant in democracy.
“So what can we do?” Probably the number one question I get asked by fellow students. We can start by educating ourselves. The more we know about these cuts and the system that perpetuates them, the more we can actively fight them and engage others in the battle. For this reason, AgainstCuts.org is hosting a Teach-In & Townhall this Saturday, Oct. 29, at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of Berkeley City College. Here we will present information about the cuts, to public education and beyond, and how to organize to fight them. So come get the info, learn how to spread it and discuss how our generation can begin together to take back our future.
Lark Omura is a junior at UC Berkeley.
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There is no global plot by the top 1% to accumulate all of the wealth. Otherwise George Soros and Oprah Winfrey would have helped Qaddafi escape to Switzerland. Instead, what you are seeing is a global recession in which the top 1% is losing more money than the bottom 99% can comprehend but because more people become destitute while the top 1% are still living comfortably, the perception is there that it’s somehow “unfair”. Did you expect to see billionaires panhandling in Berkeley?
that is not true. the rich have NOT been losing money as you say. They have been getting richer. How can you possibly believe that when so many reports show the top 1% is not getting poorer but rather getting richer?
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=1%25+getting+richer&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
And if the rich are getting richer, does that mean the poor are getting poorer, or vice versa? Lefties make assumptions such as assuming all economic activity is zero-sum, which is a clear indication of their childish, simplistic view of the world…
Cboy, have you ever heard of something called a stock market? What about real estate? The rich were heavily invested in both, and both sank drastically since 2007. Now, the rich are still making some money even in a poor economy while the bottom feeders are dejected and giving up on their job hunts, but that doesn’t mean the rich didn’t lose a ton of money in the last three years. Now that you know, do you think it’s fair that the rich lost billions of dollars while the poor didn’t lose anything in the stock market crash or real estate crash?
What never ceases to amaze me is how the silly little liberals, cloistered in their little world far removed from reality, have no clue as to the consequences of the same policies they continue to support without question. Tuition and health care for illegal aliens, welfare payments for people who have neither bothered to learn marketable skills or look for work, and Affirmative Action programs so people who can’t make it to college on their own merits can major in “multicultural studies” and other worthless degree programs may all sound like great ideas to the touchie-feelie hand-holding Kumbaya-singing crowd, but those programs are competing for the same taxpayer dollars that these naive goo-goos are counting on for their own college education. Raising taxes on the so-called “rich” doesn’t work either because it’s INCOME, not wealth that is taxed. Wealthiest people are the most mobile, and for people with means it’s not a big deal to buy a house in Nevada, live there at least 6 months out of the year, and declare yourself a “nonresident” for income tax purposes. These children need to get a clue that their silly little protests, teach-ins, and “days of action” mean NOTHING in the real world. Time to deal with reality, accept that the money supply is finite, and prioritize accordingly…
Take your career to new heights. Find an accredited degree program suitable for you and study online. Find the suitable degree for you at “High Speed University” based on your interests
The pie is shrinking. Ask yourself why. Because budgets are being cut and services reduced is NOT the answer.
You can whine all you want but until you figure out how to grow the pie you will be nothing more than victims.
Organize/fight…bla bla bla