Video... Chicago students tell government, 'These Budget Cuts Have Got to Go'...
Charles Kotrba, a lead organizer of Chicago Students Union, addresses hundreds of students in front of the Thompson Center on November 6, 2015. Photo: Larry Duncan/Labor BeatThere is a new video by Labor Beat On YouTube at: https://youtu.be/paJLRfQw3B8, providing readers with the story of the large students protests of November 6, 2015. At least 800 students from at least a dozen Chicago high schools protested that day at the Thompson State of Illinois building.
Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. Several hundred Chicago public schools students appeared at the Thompson Center (State of Illinois Building) to denounce looming draconian cuts in school funding. Some estimates put the number of the protesters at 800. Under threats of cuts and as many as 5,000 teachers loosing their jobs, a Chicago Students Union speaker saw both the Mayor and the Governor as being in cahoots to wreck public education. Charles Kotrba, a lead organizer for Chicago Students Union, explained: "They want to completely privatize education. You look at Bruce Rauner. He's profiteering off of the charter schools...You hear of Bruce Rauner and Rahm Emanuel playing good cop/bad cop, arguing, throwing jabs. [But] they have the exact, same agenda. They know what they're doing. They're both on the same side of this battle." In addition to making numerous rapid-march circuits around the Thomson Center, the demonstrators staged a lie-in in front of the building.
Besides featuring Kotrba's speech and interview, there are additional student interviews and speeches, including a speech given by the daughter of Rousemary Vega, who has been banned by CPS from attending board meetings because of her pointed and unrelenting criticism.
It was a lie-in, not a die-in, protesting Rauner's and Rahm's planned cuts to eduction. Photo: Larry Duncan/Labor BeatAt this action we can see a growing, robust, and confident city-wide student movement demonstrating its organizational skills and limitless energy, which will be a great asset to the Chicago Teachers Union in the event that a strike happens this winter. Length - 9:12
Charles Kotrba, a lead organizer of Chicago Students Union, addresses hundreds
of students in front of the Thompson Center on 11/6/15. Photo: Larry Duncan/Labor Beat
It was a lie-in, not a die-in, protesting Rauner's and Rahm's planned cuts to
eduction. Photo: Larry Duncan/Labor Beat
Students circled the Thompson Center (State of Illinois Building) multiple times
in a rapid, triple-time march. Photo: Larry Duncan/Labor Beat
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