December Activist Newsletter Content

IRAQ

Wow – since the last time we’ve checked in a lot has changed.

The Iraqi Parliament finally signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which sets 2011 as the date by which all U.S. troops, not just combat forces, have to leave Iraq.  This is pretty stunning.  The passage of SOFA is a complete rebuke of the Bush administration’s stance, which has always rejected any timelines for troop withdrawal.

This agreement was created to replace the expiring UN mandate that allows American and coalition forces to stay in Iraq, but negotiations have been dragging on for a year.  The SOFA’s passage reaffirms what the majority of the American and Iraqi public has been clamoring for: no permanent bases and no residual U.S. forces in Iraq beyond 2011.

After all, 79 percent of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition forces in their country, and the majority of Americans support troop withdrawal.

However, author and activist Tom Hayden warns that anti-war activists can’t celebrate just yet. While Iraqis proudly refer to the SOFA as "the withdrawal agreement,” Hayden worries that even under an Obama administration, threats of instability on the ground in Iraq may be used to justify continuing the occupation.

Iraqi cabinet spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh attempted to assuage these fears when referring to the 2011 withdrawal date in a recent statement: "This date is specific and final," although most details will not be worked out until Obama and his new administration take office. 

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. combat casualties in Iraq last month was the lowest since the start of the war.  But Nir Rosen warns that the peace in Baghdad is a fragile one (read a Campus Progress interview with him from a few months back here). 

Activists around the country plan to use the inauguration as a chance to pressure President-elect to keep his promises about ending the war, and students are preparing for another nationwide mobilization of antiwar activities over Spring Break 2009.

CLIMATE CHANGE

How many people does it take to change a light bulb in Poland? Apparently it’s irrelevant because if it was up to them, we’d just keep on using energy inefficient incandescent bulbs. Poland, the host country of this year’s United Nations climate negotiations, is the proud winner of the first Fossil of the Day award, which celebrates nations that go above and beyond their duty to block progress on the climate front. Poland is a fitting award winner, having spent the past year challenging the European Union’s climate commitments and creating a fringe block of eastern European nations (plus Italy) to filibuster any progress on the continent. Because of these efforts, the European Union is entering the negotiations divided and unwilling to commit to strong targets, earning itself its’ very own Fossil of the Day award on day 2.

Send a message to Italy, Poland, and the rest of the European Union telling them to stop stalling on climate. The Youth Delegations of all countries are actively trying to influence their leaders: keep up with them at youthclimate.org.

The official delegation from the United States is still serving at the pleasure of President Bush while knowing that come January, the White House will look much greener. Fortunately for all of us who care about having a planet to live on, a congressional delegation led by climate champion Senator John Kerry will attend and lay the groundwork for the new administration’s commitment to international cooperation.

On the home front, President-elect Obama is gearing up to take the reins of the most energy hungry nation in the world after campaigning on a strong environmental platform and pledging to make emissions reduction a centerpiece of his administration. His initial appointments strongly reflect his environmental priorities, placing clean energy and green tech champions like Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Janet Napolitano in key administration positions. While we still don’t know who will be heading the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency, Obama’s transition plan includes a radical overhaul of these agencies to undo all of the environmental crimes of the Bush administration.

While progressives are eagerly waiting for the inauguration, the coal wars are heating up. This month a landmark ruling made it virtually impossible for new coal power plants to be built, giving an edge to anti-coal activists. Bank of America followed suit by announcing that they will be phasing out financing to companies who practice mountaintop removal coal mining, a decision that was long overdue after years of pressure from both the grassroots and from the mainstream. Finally, a bunch of national environmental groups are pooling their resources to launch the Reality Coalition in an effort to counter the ludicrous euphemism ‘clean coal.’ Check out their ad, which will be aired on most major television networks.

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY 

The big news on college affordability this month is that, except for California, every state in America earned a big fat “F” for the affordability of their colleges. The National Report Card on Higher Education, which grades states on several factors including affordability, access, completion, and student preparation, had some other shocking revelations. The report finds that on average, low- and middle-income families must spend 25% to 55% of their family income on college expenses after financial aid is considered.

While it is painful to read some of the findings – particularly the observation that on average schools give large aid packages to wealthy students rather than to low-income students – the report does point to some positive developments. For example, there has been a small increase in the likelihood that a high school freshman will become college freshman before he or she is 19.

The release of these findings presents a great opportunity for students to start changing the debate about higher education during this recession. Without real investments in student aid aimed at low- and middle-income students, college will quickly slip out of reach for many families during these difficult economic times. Without the political will to make long-term investments in a more educated population now, the American economy of the future looks bleak.

Students need to make the case for college affordability now through editorials, conversations with policy makers, and protests – their voices are needed right now. State budget cuts are continuing to wreak havoc in states across the country. In California, for example, massive budget cuts have forced the California State University system to make plans to turn away 10,000 eligible students next fall. Many of these students may turn to California’s many affordable community colleges, but those campuses are facing massive budget cuts of their own.

On the federal level, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a bone-headed plan to bailout providers of risky, private student loans, despite the strong objections from colleges, consumers, students, and many groups (including Campus Progress). This bailout is unnecessary, counterproductive, and unfair: borrowers of these high-interest loans that find themselves in dire economic straits do not have recourse to basic borrower protections like bankruptcy. There are other ways to make sure that everyone can afford college, and, at the very least, a bailout for lenders should be accompanied by more borrower protections for students. Click here take action on this issue.

If you were looking for some good news for a change, there is now some discussion about challenging the legality of legacy admissions. This is the practice, adopted by many prestigious schools, that gives advantages in admission to the children of alumni, who are in most cases disproportionally white and wealthy. Most of these schools already have a diversity problem, so giving advantage to the most privileged applicants is backwards and rotten.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 

What a historic victory! No…not just a progressive President-elect that engages and reaches out to young people. We also won in Colorado where, for the first time ever, Ward Connerly’s anti-affirmative action ballot initiative was defeated.

Ward Connerly bitterly blamed this loss on Barack Obama, saying that his anti-equal opportunity Colorado campaign “got caught up in the Obama phenomenon,” and was ruined by the state’s swell of Democratic voters. While the state’s blue turnout no doubt helped defeat the amendment, most progressives believe that it was because of Connerly’s shady tactics and the impressive youth voter turnout against the initiative.

Unlike California campuses that are still talking about the challenges they face as a result of Connerly’s first campaign in 1996 (Proposition 209), Michigan campuses have, since the passage of Proposal 2 in 2006, all but fallen silent about affirmative action. While difficult race and gender questions persist on the campus, many are finding it difficult to bring up the conversation. Progressive Nebraska voters, however, fresh off their loss to Ward Connerly’s initiative last month aren’t finished talking just yet. They are reviewing the new law and its effects on diversity in their colleges and universities. And it doesn’t look good.

For people whose states aren’t facing direct challenges to university admissions, close attention is being paid to the many other dimensions of affirmative action for women and people of color. As students face a dismal job market, questions about diversity and equality in employment and contracting are becoming increasingly relevant. Check out Affirmative Action in the News, an awesome weekly newsletter by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights that highlights action all over the country fighting for equal opportunity.

STUDENT PROFILE

Owen Cleveland
Political Sociology Sophomore
American River College  

Community college in Sacramento, CA deals with open expressions of hate on campus

Owen Cleveland has had a hectic year. At the largest community college in the Sacramento area, Owen and other members of the American River College (ARC) Campus Progress chapter have been battling homophobia, a corrupt student government, and administrative apathy.

A group of ARC students from a fundamentalist and homophobic Christian group managed to get a majority in student government. The new student government passed a budget that slashed funding for student organizations by 66%, including groups that fund diversity week and other multi-cultural expositions, among other things. Around the time of the election, students from the Christian Civilization club distributed information encouraging voters not to cast ballots for “fags” and have evaded eligibility and election rules to ensure their own reelection.  After an unsuccessful attempt to hold a recall election, the Campus Progress chapter is continuing in their struggle to reinstate a truly representative student government and make their campus safe for all students.

 Groups/Publications/Organizations Involved with:

 Campus Progress, Native American Student Union, GLBTQ, Inter-Club Council

How did you become politicized? What got you to where you are today? 

I became politicized when I decided that I wanted to make a difference, and help my fellow students get their voices heard whether or not I identified with their social group.  Given this drive to help in whatever way I can I have opened up new opportunities and met new people who made it possible for me to succeed and reach where I am today. I do have to say my classes in sociology did spark my interest in paying more attention to the issues and people around me.

Tell us a little bit about your group and your accomplishments over the last year, specifically the issues American River College is facing and the involvement of your Campus Progress chapter.

In this last year American River College has dealt with everything from open hate and discrimination against the Muslim religion in general to a statewide ban on gay marriage. This fall semester, though, we have dealt with a barrage of attacks against the GLBT community – notably with Proposition 8.  We have held 2 student rallies, 1 faculty rally, a recall election, a sit-in, and a several movie screenings with the directors/producers present to discuss the issue.

The issue of student government at ARC not truly representing students has been somewhat overshadowed by the Prop 8 scandal.  Can you tell us about any issues going on at ARC that you think are not getting enough attention?

There are several issues happening on campus that have been overshadowed. One of these issues is our club grant committee (Inter-Club Council) has had their funding cut exponentially thus diminishing the amount of money going to our clubs even though the funds are available.

Have you made any untraditional allies in the fight for fair representation and diversity on campus?

We have made several new allies such as the Feminist Majority, Human Rights Campaign, No on 4 & 8 campaigns, Progressive Alliance of Sacramento State, Sacramento City College faculty, Good Shepherd Catholic Church, ARC faculty, and several other clubs on campus.

What are your next steps? What’s next for you on campus in terms of activism or personal goals?

Our next steps are to develop stronger ties with clubs on our campus and other nearby campuses.

Any words of advice for young progressives?

I suggest just remembering the words of Abraham Lincoln “And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”