Early this morning, as a thousand students and other activists protested at the capitol, New York’s state legislature passed a budget for the coming year that includes deep cuts to education — and a tax break for the wealthy.
As demonstrators chanted, yelled, and negotiated with Albany police over pizza delivery, the two houses of the legislature made their way through the long list of votes required to approve the state’s spending structure. There was no drama in the chambers to match the drama outside, and final approval came without any surprises at about one o’clock in the morning.
A fascinating breakdown and analysis of the demonstrators’ tactics can be found here.
as a member of the save our SUNY contingent at the protest it was really frustrating for me. There was NO room given for a diversity of tactics and everything was being directed from groups with older members (as if somehow it seem like we could organize ourselves appropriately). It also seemed like the students were lied to, and did a lot of the brunt work for what turned out to be a lobby day, for the older groups. It also seemed that the coalition that was formed for this was very shallow basis allowing any group to drop out if/when that groups demands were meet.
All in all for what i expected this protest was a fail, but maybe a success for group from the older generation.