Northbay Uprising - Information for the liberated zones of the San Pablo Bay

2011-11-03 "Perception of unfairness brings thousands to protest; Thousands take time out to attend Oakland protest" by Carolyn Jones from "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper
[http://cdn.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artlist.cgi?d=/c/a/2011/11/02&o=30]
Oakland -- They were teachers, bartenders, students, nurses, state workers, waitresses, therapists and the jobless.
Thousands of them - the self-described 99 percent - skipped school or work, if they had jobs, to join Wednesday's protest.
"This isn't about race, gender, any of the usual things people protest," said Eric Carter, 30, a history teacher at Westlake Middle School in Oakland who came to the protest after school. "This is about how unfair our country has become, and how we don't have to stand for it anymore."
Fran Merriweather, 48, of Oakland took a vacation day from her job as a social worker at Children's Hospital to join the protest.
"I'm fortunate because I have a job, but for the poor it's just getting worse and worse," she said, noting that her clientele has been hit hard by cuts in Medicaid, Social Security and other federal programs. "People are really struggling."
Josh Park, 25, of Lafayette graduated in 2008 from St. Mary's College and hunted for a job for more than a year, while burdened with $25,000 in student loans at 9 percent interest.
"To be honest, it feels like my generation was sold a pyramid scheme," he said. "Everyone I know feels like they're getting a raw deal. ... This is about taking a stand against a system that's not working."
Virginia Bonham, 52, a chef at a catering company in Oakland, said she was protesting on behalf of friends and family who have lost their jobs or homes in recent years.
"I'm here to protest the idea that the tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs, when in fact they don't," she said.
Another protester was Ralph Goodman, 57, of Oakland, an unemployed janitor who has been looking for work for two years.
"We're going to look like a Third World country 10 or 20 years from now," he said. "Forget about mortgages - I know a lot of people who can't even pay their rent any more."
Teachers were out in full force. Many said they were protesting on behalf of their students, whose educations are suffering due to larger classes, fewer resources and school closures.
"I see it every day. Students are more needy," said Berkeley resident Becky Gross, 48, a teacher at Berkeley Unified who came to the protest after school was over. "A lot of them don't even have their basic needs met, like a table to do homework. Their skills are low, their morale is low, but class sizes keep getting bigger and bigger."
Her co-worker Gregory Kalkanis, 52, also of Berkeley, said he is frustrated with workloads that increase ever year and a salary that's stagnating.
"On a teacher's salary it's a struggle to live in Berkeley," he said. "My standard of living is deteriorating every year. We keep working harder and harder and yet fall further behind."
Tom Wicks, 47, a freight distribution manager from Castro Valley, called in sick and took his kids - ages 9 and 11 - out of school for the day.
"I wanted them to be a part of history," he said.
He said that while he has held on to his job and home, many of his friends haven't.
"Everyone's on edge these days," he said.