AIPAC said it would eventually control our college campuses. Although it was not carried by the mainstream media, AIPAC announced that it would take over college campuses just as it has taken over Congress.
The student government of UC Berkeley, historically a leading university in civil and human rights activism, recently voted to divest from companies that support the illegal occupation of Palestine. The 16-4 majority vote, however, was vetoed by the Senate president. AIPAC, the core of Israel Lobby, reacted. Although it was not carried by the mainstream media, it announced that it would take over college campuses just as it has taken over Congress.
A vote to overturn the veto fell one short of the 14 vote majority needed. The vote was then tabled for a future vote to overturn the veto, which will occur in five days, April 28.
On Thursday, September 24th, an estimated five thousand people attended a rally on Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley. The rally and subsequent march through campus and downtown Berkeley-scheduled to coincide with and planned in support of the University of California (UC) Faculty Walkout that took place on all ten UC campuses-brought together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, university workers and alumni to protest the budget cuts at Berkeley and stand up for public education across California.
With all the hype today on the 30-year anniversary of Prop 13 -- today's SF Chronicle wouldn't stop talking about it -- it's incredible that NOBODY is talking about rent control and how Prop 13 paved the way for it. In today's Beyond Chron, I take my alma mater to task for hosting a one-day conference on Prop 13 without mentioning rent control.
I majored in political science at Cal - and while I had an excellent education, the Political Science Department was always a bit out of touch. Today, UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies will host a one-day conference on the 30th Anniversary of Prop 13 - where a field of experts will evaluate its "political, economic and fiscal impacts." Incredibly, none of them will talk about rent control (at least none of them are experts on it), although one of Prop 13's most significant effects was the passage of rent control ordinances in cities throughout California. Tuesday's crushing defeat of Proposition 98 - sponsored by the same Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association that pushed Prop 13 in 1978 - demonstrates a statewide mandate for laws that protect tenants. Any serious reflection on Prop 13's thirty-year legacy must involve rent control.
STATE BLOGS
