Saturday, July 14, 2012

Brazilian, Mexican Teachers Stop Work to Stop High-Stake Tests & Anti-Teacher Evaluations

July 2012 – Capitalist commodification of education is an international drive. Recent struggles point towards an international fight against it.

Late last month Brazilian teachers stopped work to stop the high-stakes test known as the  Education Evaluation System of the State of Rio de Janeiro” (SAERJ). The SAERJ is a swindle against students and parents, and a weapon of capital against teachers.

The walkout was called by the Teachers Union of the State of Rio de Janeiro (SEPE), which is also known for calling repeated work stoppages to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Brazilian action comes not long after important teachers' struggles in Mexico, where in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan and Oaxaca, tens of thousands of teachers carried out combative mobilizations to stop the administration of a national high-stakes test (ENLACE) and a 
Universal Evaluation of teachers. This involved shutting down schools, occupying education departments and setting up union guards to make sure tests were not shipped out from warehouses where they were stored. In May, a national teachers strike was called against the Mexican government's Agreement for Quality Education.

Read about these struggles in the article linked below, which is translated from Vanguarda Operária, newspaper of the Liga Quarta-Internacionalista do Brasil:

http://www.internationalist.org/rioteachersboycotttest1206.html

NYC Labor: Defend Con Ed Workers!

Knock Out the Lock-Out!







 
At picket lines of locked-out Con Ed workers, in front of company headquarters in downtown Manhattan, July 2 and July 5. (CSEW Photos)