The Post Thanksgiving Show...

Stuff that you should know about:

*Urgent Call for Solidarity*

Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout

BRIEF BACKGROUND:
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying “Money for Schools, Not War.”

Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.

In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:

· Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who supported his students in a student generated democratic movement

· Threatened administrative action against five other teachers

· Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First Amendment Right to free speech

When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war, he said: “It’s an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th, and I’m not happy about it.”

Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!

Tell them they need to:
1 Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on administrative leave!
2 Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who face investigations!
3 Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their communities!
4 Take no disciplinary action against students who participated in the walkout!

We request that you flood the school administration with phone calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against students and the Tukwila Six!

CONTACT:

Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: (206) 901-7905 ilgenfritzg@tukwila.wednet.edu

And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: (206) 901-8000, (206) 901-8006, burkee@tukwila.wednet.edu

Please send a copy of protest emails to us at tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com so we can count how many protest emails have been sent in.

If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant Principal Daryl Wright (206) 901-7902 and Foster HS Office Manager Darlene Aguiluz (206) 901-7915.
-

Rally for a Free and Fair union election for hospital workers: Sunday, Dec 2, 1pm Longwood Medical Area - www.workmenscircleboston.org, www.FairUnionElections.org
for more info: Lisa Gallatin @ 616-566-6164

Workshop about how to help immigrant workers: Dec 14th, 9am-4pm, Simmons College - Linda Paresky Conference Room, 300 The Fenway. Registration is $20 for the day.
rodelakhan@yahoo.com, caroljg@gmail.com

Support Jin Restaurant Workers - Jin Asian Cuisine is stealing tips, discriminating and overworking and under paying workers with no breaks. Call and fax Jin Restaurant in support of the workers. Tell Jin to Apologize, Compensate their workers, comply with Workers Comp laws, Stop intimidation: phone: 781-231-8888, fax: 781-231-8899


Things in the News:

Median House Prices not falling in Massachusetts, but home sales drop 17.1% in October (Boston Globe).

Riots, or urban guerilla warfare, in Paris Suburbs. Extreme anger at the police and Sarkozy's neo-liberal gov't that is attacking workers, youth, the poor and immigrants.

In the 1990s, the national median housing price grew to 4 times the median income. This is part of the reason why sub-prime loans/variable rate mortgages - no one can afford housing without these "deals." Now we have the sub-prime world-wide economic crisis.

Matt Geary received over 3,000 votes in the Boston City Council election.

National Student Walkout against the War: Nov 16th, thousands walked out of school in Washington state, Minnesota, Massachusetts and elsewhere (tell us if you know more!).

Deval Patrick sold park land to private developers to put up office buildings and expensive Condos in East Cambridge/old West End/Charlestown...

Venezuela - Chavez's vision shares wealth and centers power. (NY Times)

IMMIGRANTS are our brothers and sisters. No Worker is our enemy. Full rights for all undocumented and documented workers. No support for the Republican racist propaganda.