Lessons from the Chicago Teachers’ Strike
A Public Forum
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Saturday, October 20 at 3:30pm
The Silver School of Social Work at NYU
Room 411
1 Washington Square Park North
(A,B,C,D,E,F,M trains to W. 4th St.; N,R to 8th St.)
Featured Speakers:
Xian Barrett, member of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE)
Julie Cavanagh, member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) and the United Federation of Teachers
What are the strategies teachers, parents, & students in Chicago have used to turn an attack against teachers into a broad fight for social justice?
Who is really behind “educational reform” & teacher- bashing efforts like the new movie Won’t Back Down?
How did a small group of ordinary teachers succeed in creating a movement to fight for the interests of schoolchildren?
Why do the Chicago teachers call the present educational system racist?
What can we learn from this struggle in New York?
For more on both speakers, please see:
Xian Barrett"Why I’m Striking" – http://chiteacherx.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-im-striking-jcb.html
Julie Cavanagh on MSNBC’s UP with Chris Hayes – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/vp/49051313#49051032
Sponsored by: MORE (Movement of Rank and File Educators) & the Radical Film and Lecture Series at NYU
Endorsed by (list in formation): Coalition for Public Education, New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), NYU International Socialist Organization (NYU-ISO), Labor for Palestine, New York City Labor against the War, OWS Labor Outreach Committee, New Jersey Teacher Activist Group (NJTAG), Labor Notes
For more information or to endorse the meeting, please contact nycctusolidarity
I have written a fairly critical assesment of the Chicago strike along with another broader essay that’s critical of much rank and file organizing within education. They’re on the Insurgent Notes web page at http://insurgentnotes.com.
John Garvey
The forum was well attended. Xian Barrett’s discourse was compelling and there were many good questions. I’ve written a summary of it and am sharing it with colleagues. I’m looking forward to the next MORE forum.