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Departments Ohio National student congress called for in August in Ohio “We expect hundreds of folks to be at the Convergence in August,” said Stuart McIntyre, an organizer who worked to build the OSU Student Union this past year at Ohio State University in Columbus. “Young people are in the front ranks of people fighting against the corporate attacks on the 99% across our nation. Young people are among those most hard-hit by cuts in programs that aid regular people. Young people are just trying to get starting in their work-lives, they have less savings, seniority, no job history and are now burdened by massive student loans, almost impossible to repay in many cases. They are some of the most vulnerable, but also some of those most ready to fight for their rights. We want to bring young folks who’ve been in these fights together and strengthen all of our movements.” McIntyre went on to state that the Convergence Website just went up, as we discussed the upcoming event. We’ve already gotten communications from groups in New York, Los Angeles, from Wisconsin, Michigan and other states. The national Website, to contact the Convergence 2012 congress, is; StudentPower2012.org. The Convergence gathering is building off of the tremendous struggles that organized labor, youth and students have been deeply involved in over the past year. In Columbus, at Ohio State University, a new OSU Student Union was right in the middle of both the dramatic labor-led victory over the Ohio GOP’s Senate Bill 5, which would’ve curtailed public worker’s bargaining rights as well as local struggles against University efforts to privatize parking, raise tuition and curtail student housing. “The labor movement is one of our strongest allies,” McIntyre said. “We were part of We Are Ohio (the coalition that fought to repeal SB 5) & that victory was also a victory for students and young people. We hope to have union help for Convergence in August, hopefully on housing, food, as well as speakers and young workers attending the event. Unions have experience, stability, that can help the student movement as it develops.” Besides being part of local struggles against massive University power, the young Student Union hosted an Ohio Youth Congress in Columbus this past January, which brought together Ohio student groups from over a dozen colleges and universities in that state. Front and center was the massive student loan crisis, which has now become a national political issue. However, local struggles are very important, as well, according to McIntyre. “Many times young people see the national issues as something too big to deal with, but local issues, like the fight against OSU’s taking over much of the housing stock near campus or fighting to stop onerous privateers from running all parking in the area are issues we were able to get thousands involved in. We actually won some concessions after petitions with thousands of signatures were turned in on the parking issue. The Convergence conference in August should help us all learn from each other.” There is no charge to register, attend the Student/Youth Convergence conference, August 10-14. Planners are urging folks to contact them as soon as possible so that housing, workshops, etc. can be set. |
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