Across the country, March 1 was as a day of action for defending public education. One of the major themes of the day was fighting the privatization of this public good.

For years, Chicago has served as an incubator for privatization schemes such as unelected school boards, mayoral control and charter schools. But Chicago also boasts some of the best-organized resistance to those policies. Watch this report to hear from some of the organizers leading that fight.

For more, hear my coverage of a recent anti-privatization protest in Brooklyn for Free Speech Radio News, as well as another FSRN report about ongoing actions in California against tuition hikes and budget cuts.

On February 29, 70 actions were held across the country to mark the  “Shut Down the Corporations” day of action—or #F29. Organizers hoped the day would help reinvigorate the Occupy movement’s national profile, recapture the public’s imagination and media’s attention. And they had a secret weapon: the + Brigades.

Friday was Veterans Day, and thousands across the nation honored military service by taking part in events and parades. But anti-war activists say the day is used as a recruitment tool, and some anti-war veterans are using the occasion to remind Americans about the costs of war—both abroad and at home. Here’s a report I filed for Free Speech Radio News and The Real News:

For more on the challenges faced by veterans, check out this report from FSRN’s Michael Lawson. He reports that an estimated 240,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed. Thousands more will be returning home in the coming months to a struggling economy. Without steady income, some vets will find themselves without stable housing. As Congress tries to make it easier for veterans to get hired, a new report paints a troubling picture of the nation’s homeless vets.

A lot of people have seemed impatient that the movement now occupying Liberty Plaza near Wall Street has not stated an explicit demand. What a visit to the plaza reveals, though, is that what really matters is not a what at all, but a how.

Leading Young Lord Member Denise Oliver speaking at The First Spanish Methodist Church.

August marked the 40th Anniversary of the founding of The Young Lords Party, a revolutionary Puerto Rican community organizing group that began in New York City and spread to other major cities across the country. While opposing racism, militarism and capitalism, The Young Lords fought for community control of institutions and land, freedom for political prisoners and self-determination for all Puerto Ricans. They also provided many health care services to their community and, through direct action, won many concessions from the city government.

I recently had the chance to speak with several party members at a commemoration ceremony held in East Harlem. We discussed the importance of health care to their cause and the various direct actions used to gain their objectives.

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Interview with The Young Lords

[Photo by Marina Ortiz]