By PAUL MAVERICK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
As part of the “Take Class Action” series of protests and events surrounding the ongoing California state budget disaster, a panel convenes at California State University Northridge – made of activists and scholars from the campus and elsewhere – to discuss ideas, strategies, and tactics related to social movements in general, and California’s higher education system in particular.
Participants at the April 12, 2011 event include Reverend James Lawson, living legend of the civil rights movement; Alex Hanna, co-president of the Teaching Assistants Association at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (and an early leader of the recent Wisconsin capitol protests); Amy Denissen, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Sociology at CSUN; Cathie Pacheco, an undergraduate at CSUN and an organizer from Students for Quality Education; and Justin Marks, an undergraduate and member of the “CSUN 6,” arrested at 2010 protests against state budget cuts to higher education.
The first video below provides a five-minute overview of the event, followed by a short series of spotlight videos which include more complete remarks from Alex Hanna, as well as the spoken word performances that preceded the panel discussion.
The first spotlight video features Alex Hanna, a Ph.D student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and co-president of the nation’s oldest graduate student union – the Teaching Assistants Association. Hanna shares his experiences as an early leader of the Wisconsin capitol protest and occupation in February.
The video below features poet and undergraduate student Daniyal Motiwala, who performs an original piece at the Plaza del Sol performance hall, as part of the “Take Class Action” protest events on campus at California State University Northridge, on April 12, 2011.
The final video includes undergraduate student Keshawna West performing an original poem at the Plaza del Sol performance hall, preceding the panel discussion, “Organizing Social Change,” at California State University Northridge, on April 12, 2011.
Tags: alex hanna amy denissen budget crisis budget cuts California campus cathie pacheco csu CSUN higher education james lawson Justin Marks northridge plaza del sol rev james lawson reverend lawson social change social justice Students talk university wisconsin workers
