WHO WE ARE
A vampire is loose in the state of California,
sucking the lifeblood out of public education, public health, and social
services. This vampire has three fangs: lost
revenue due to tax cuts that privilege corporations
and the wealthiest individuals in society, misallocation of revenues
to expand prisons, and the allocation of state revenue to support United States
military policies.
Government officials, politicians, and pundits
proclaim a “budget crisis.” We counter, “California is not broke. The
budget crisis is the result of a 30 year political strategy called “starve the
beast,” a term coined by David Stockman, President Reagan’s budget chief. The
“beast’ is government entitlement programs. The budget crisis is an excuse to push
through policies the public would not otherwise support. The budget
crisis is a crisis about values, distorted priorities and access to political
power.
Vampire Slayers is a working group of faculty, staff,
and community members working closely with students and other organizations in
the social justice movement. We are based at San Francisco State University
with an affinity group at City College of San Francisco. Vampire Slayers focuses
our work on contributing in-depth information, research and analysis, creative public education, and opportunities
for dialog. We are motivated by a positive vision of public
education as the foundation of an authentic democracy.
Our goal is to move discussion and action beyond the
mentality of “don’t cut my budget, save my program. We frame the crisis of public higher
education in the context of large issues- the structural deficit strategy,
regressive taxation policies, privatization of public goods and services,
deregulation, expenditures on incarceration instead of education, elimination
of the social safety net, and racist and xenophobic policies of social control.
We want to contribute to building a stronger movement in
public education on campuses in our city and statewide, as part of the
broader movement for human rights and social justice. We oppose
budget cuts, seek tax justice; demand education not incarceration, equal access
to relevant quality education for all communities, justice for immigrants;
support for student access and the preservation of ethnic studies, including
all liberal arts education, Education is for human development and for the
empowerment of an informed and engaged citizenry, not simply narrow vocational
or professional training for the market.
We know we must achieve these goals by building unity across all
segments from pre-k to Ph.D., as well as solidarity with those affected and
other public sector workers.
We are inspired by the words of W.E.B. DuBois:
“The freedom to learn has been bought by bitter sacrifice…We should fight to
the last ditch to keep open the right to learn.”