Dialogic Cinephilia - March 5, 2018

I remember in the mid -70s as a California, middle school, straight A honor's student watching my beloved teachers being humiliated daily on the picket lines in their demands for a decent wage and benefits during a nearly year long strike. The schools brought anyone with a BA in to teach us and we quickly recognized their incompetence. As students we revolted against those scabs (in hindsight I probably viewed them with the contempt a French resistance fighter did for the Vichy police doing the social control for their NAZI masters). We learned disrespect for illegitimate authority, contempt for bureaucratic/administrative incompetence (they were the worst substitutes) and a new sympathy for those that were authentic in their struggle for a better life for all (in particular as we ditched our classes to walk the picket line with our teachers). Those teachers were never the same after the strike (my favorite teacher returned a broken man and soon retired) and neither were their students (I ended up a 10th grade dropout, ditching to head to the beach became a habit by then).

What do we care about in this society - do we even give a damn about the future. The young will not forget how you treat/disrespect/abuse their respected/beloved mentors and teachers. Some of you may think this doesn't matter because you send your kids to private schools - you are naive, as you and your kids live with us

Solidarity!  Support our teachers!

Education/Students Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Elk, Mike and Jay O'Neal. "'People Have Just Had Enough': West Virginia Teachers Continue Historic Strike into Eighth Day." Democracy Now (March 5, 2018) ["Schools across West Virginia are closed for an eighth day, as more than 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school staffers remain on strike demanding higher wages and better healthcare. The strike, which began on February 22, has shut down every public school in the state. Teachers are demanding a 5 percent raise and a cap on spiraling healthcare costs. For more, we speak with Jay O’Neal, a middle school teacher and a union activist in Charleston, West Virginia. And we speak with Mike Elk, senior labor reporter at Payday Report. His most recent piece is titled “West Virginia Teachers’ Strike Fever Starting to Spread to Other States.”"]

---. "From Coal Miners to Teachers: West Virginia Continues to Lead Radical Labor Struggle in the U.S." Democracy Now (May 5, 2018) ["For decades, West Virginia has been at the forefront of labor activism in the United States. As the state’s teachers continue their historic strike, which has shut down every single West Virginia school, we look at the history of the labor activism in the Mountain State. We speak with Jay O’Neal, a middle school teacher and a union activist in Charleston, West Virginia. And we speak with Mike Elk, senior labor reporter at Payday Report. His most recent piece is titled 'West Virginia Teachers’ Strike Fever Starting to Spread to Other States.'"]

Gibbons, Jessica. "With Just $1, You Can Help Support The #DirectedbyWomen Initiative." Agnes Films (March 4, 2018)

Gopal, Priya. "U.K. University Workers Enter Week 3 of Strike Against Pension Cuts & 'Marketization' of Higher Ed." Democracy Now (March 5, 2018) ["In Britain, tens of thousands of lecturers, librarians, researchers and other university workers are on strike to protest attacks on their pensions, as well as soaring school fees for students. For more, we speak with Priya Gopal, a university lecturer at the Faculty of English at Cambridge who is participating in the academic strike. She is a member of the the University and College Union."]





Mohmand, Rohan. "The Counselor: Requires a Method of Viewing." Art Hits Hard (March 5, 2018)