Students Protest Nationwide

Walkouts, student strikes, and marches shook every level of
California's embattled public education system yesterday. University of
California students blocked access to campus entrances at Berkeley and
Santa Cruz while college kids joined forces with K-12 students and
teachers in Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. In
Oakland and Sacramento, hundreds of marchers confronted police after
taking their protests onto the freeways. Numerous concurrent rallies
numbered in the thousands.

The call for action against crippling state budget cuts coupled with
tuition hikes was echoed by students and teachers in 32 states coast to
coast.

These videos, all shot yesterday, offer a sense of the stakes at hand and the passions in play.

UC-Berkeley

Rally in Sacramento

UC- San Diego

Rally in Pershing Square, LA

Original Post

Reports from coast to coast are still coming in, but it's clear that the March 4 Day of Action
saw a major turnout of students opposing budget cuts and tuition hikes
who just may represent a rising new movement mobilizing on behalf of
its own threatened interests.

Dozens of campuses have reported rallies and actions, teach-ins, and
other events. California is clearly leading the way, reports the studentactivist.net, as it has since this movement began to bubble up last semester.

The biggest, best-organized, and most dramatic actions reported so far are all happening in the Golden State.
In part that's a reflection of the depth of the crisis facing
California higher education, but it's also a reflection of the head
start that California campuses have on the rest of the country. Almost
every campus reporting huge demonstrations today has seen multiple
rallies and protests over the last few months.

Check out this excellent map of campus organizing today compiled by Angus Johnston of the Student Activism blog.

Johnson's blog is one of a number of excellent places to keep up with the protests and where the movement goes from here. Also see the March4 site for ways to help beyond today's protests. For anyone on Twitter
you can find constant updates and links by searching for the hashtag
#march4. And please check back in this space in the morning where I'll
post an update on what happened today with select videos and links.

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