Newark Teacher's Union and Teachers as Leaders in Newark

Teachers Unions in the United States: Political-Economy and How it Affects the American Working Class (Part 1: Introduction to Political Economy)
Presented by Branden Rippey, Teacher at Science Park High School
October 5, 2011 from 5:30 – 7:30 PM

I was a bit hesitant about going to this workshop at first. For some reason the topic of “Political Economy” did not catch my eye, yet at the same time I have been hearing a buzz about TaLiN and wanted to find out more about them and the work they do. Overall, I am extremely pleased I attended this workshop. Before Wednesday night I knew little about the climate of the political economy and as Marx states the “cohesive laws of the market”. Yet, attending this workshop gave me a basic insight to how our democracy and capitalistic practices have shaped our country and lives.
The purpose of the workshop was to educate teachers on the political and economic systems in the world that influence the lives of people. Economic systems are means of distributing limited goods, necessities and/or services among a population. How the goods, services or necessities are distributed depend on the political climate of the region. The workshop began with a brief overview of the philosophies pertaining to Adam Smith and Karl Marx, both advocates of the capitalistic economy.
Marx’s philosophy of capitalism resonated with me the most. Marx considered economics to be the driving factor in peoples’ lives and mind sets. He was an advocate for capitalism (if done correctly) but acknowledged that the reality of capitalism was the source of unequal class development, exploitation of workers, urban crisis, and capitalist class control over government. Even though Marx wrote his observations on capitalism over 100 years ago, his concerns are still pertinent today.
One of the most important ideas that Marx put forth was that “the force of the capitalistic market has nothing to do with human emotion”. During our class meetings a resident commented that she didn’t understand why the money in Newark allocated towards education wasn’t going directly to school funding. Well according to Marx, the current state of capitalism is that people with capital (Marx defined capital as a process, constant movement of funds in the market to create more funds) have created enough capital to buy out the government to work for them. An example that the presenter Branden used was the presidential elections in which companies “donate” millions to both the democratic and republican parties so that they (the capitalists) have control over the party gains the majority vote. Hence, when looking at the current inconsistency of Newark education practices and budgets it makes sense to me that there must be an invisible hand pushing funds towards or away from some markets.
Although the workshop provided a basic understanding of the current political economy, I left feeling that I have gained so much valuable information that is useful in all aspects of my life. It was motivating to see people from all walks of life attend this workshop; and although there were few in number about 8 (excluding the residents), each person was dedicated to furthering their learning and understanding the economical and political factors that shape the lives of people. I look forward to attending another TaLiN workshop. The next one is October 19th, which focuses on the history of Newark Teachers Union and the one in which I plan to attend is on November 2nd that one addresses the current state of the Newark Teachers Union.
Lastly, towards the end of the workshop a discussion on topics schools do and do not teach came about rather organically. This discussion included worked by well known writers that is discretely omitted from textbooks. I wanted to share the following poem, Good Morning Revolution, written by Langston Hughes in 1932.
Good morning Revolution:
You are the best friend
I ever had.
We gonna pal around together from now on.
Say, listen, Revolution:
You know the boss where I used to work,
The guy that gimme the air to cut expenses,
He wrote a long letter to the papers about you:
Said you was a trouble maker, a alien-enemy,
In other words a son-of-a-bitch.
He called up the police
And told’em to watch out for a guy
Named Revolution
You see,
The boss knows you are my friend.
He sees us hanging out together
He knows we’re hungry and ragged,
And ain’t got a damn thing in this world –
And are gonna to do something about it.
The boss got all his needs, certainly,
Eats swell,
Owns a lotta houses,
Goes vacationin’,
Breaks strikes,
Runs politics, bribes police
Pays off congress
And struts all over earth –
But me, I ain’t never had enough to eat.
Me, I ain’t never been warm in winter.
Me, I ain’t never known security –
All my life, been livin’ hand to mouth
Hand to mouth.
Listen, Revolution,
We’re buddies, see –
Together,
We can take everything:
Factories, arsenals, houses, ships,
Railroads, forests, fields, orchards,
Bus lines, telegraphs, radios,
(Jesus! Raise hell with radios!)
Steel mills, coal mines, oil wells, gas,
All the tools of production.
(Great day in the morning!)
Everything –
And turn’em over to the people who work.
Rule and run’em for us people who work.
Boy! Them radios!
Broadcasting that very first morning to USSR:
Another member of the International Soviet’s done come
Greetings to the Socialist Soviet Republics
Hey you rising workers everywhere greetings –
And we’ll sign it: Germany
Sign it: China
Sign it: Africa
Sign it: Italy
Sign it: America
Sign it with my one name: Worker
On that day when no one will be hungry, cold oppressed,
Anywhere in the world again.
That’s our job!
I been starvin’ too long
Ain’t you?
Let’s go, Revolution!
- Langston Hughes, 1932