The formation of the new student section was only one of many resolutions for action coming out of the 11th Trinational. As the Trinational Conference occurs only once every two years, its tradition has been to set out goals and initiatives for work that is to be carried on in the interim. The final day of the conference saw various groups of attendees committing to, among other things, further developing international infrastructure to share best practices in social justice and democratic pedagogy, establishing efforts to provide legal support for Latin American colleagues fighting government repression of their work, and taking steps to elevate the visibility of adjunct professors in universities and other precarious education workers in the educational justice struggle.
In addition, Jim Iker of the BCTF signaled to the conference attendees that the Trinational would consider mounting efforts in the coming months to coordinate more joint actions to bring pressure for change upon common adversaries like Pearson, the world's largest standardized testing corporation, or possibly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is by far the largest single funder of national and international corporate reform initiatives.
Bolstered by the success of the conference's opening joint actions at the consulates and Dept. of Education, CTU staff coordinator and Trinational Conference coordinator Jackson Potter said "I think it shows that there really is a common set of demands" we have these common threats but also alternatives that we believe in and that we share."
Potter continued, noting that on top of the success of last year's Chicago Teachers Union strike, "the British Columbian Teachers Federation and the Mexican CNTE have successfully restricted the use and abuse of standardized tests in significant and important ways through their efforts and advocacy." The fact that leaders from all of these struggles are intentionally forming bonds of solidarity, he says, "signals that we're stronger than just by ourselves when we link and connect the dots to figure out who's behind all this and try and fight them together."
Rebecca Martinez, another CTU staff organizer and member of the Latino Caucus, suggested the Latino Caucus is considering teacher exchange delegations between Mexico and the US. The purposed of such delegations would be to heighten the political understanding and analysis of neoliberal education reforms that teachers in Chicago and the US have, "because I think we're a bit deficient in that way," she remarked. "So hopefully talking to our sisters and brothers in Mexico and really knowing what they are going through every day and what they're fighting would help folks come back and really feel more urgency in the work that needs to be done here."
In terms of moving the North American struggle for democratic and socially just education policies forward, Potter commented that "it's not rocket science. Everybody's facing austerity budget cuts and efforts to privatize and restrict access to [education], this public good that is essential for a democratic and vibrant society. We have to stop that, and we need to provide our alternatives and strengthen that sector."
Teacher, student, and community-based attendees alike left the 11th Trinational Conference feeling energized and optimistic that the struggle for education justice is being and will be won. "I think it kind of jumpstarted us," said Chicago middle school teacher Nancy Serrano. "I feel like we're going to move faster now because of the success we had this weekend."
The significance of winning the struggle for education was summed up in the remarks that CNTE's Juan Melchor shared about the three goals that have guided the CNTE teachers' fight in Mexico: first, democratize the teachers' union. Second, democratize the schools. Third, democratize the country.
If the teachers, students, and education activists of the Trinational Coalition In Defense of Public Education are successful, it would mean much more than better schools. It would mean more critical and engaged citizens. It would mean a blow to corporate imperialism and control. It would mean a more just society where education is seen as a human right and a public good, not as a private commodity or an economic market.
With the 2016 Trinational Conference In Defense of Public Education tentatively slated to take place in Vancouver, the education activists of the Trinational Coalition have their work cut out for them. But they can count on a growing base of support as more and more people across the continent -- and across the globe -- start to realize the harm that corporate education reform is doing to our communities, our schools, and our future. So as the Mexican delegation's favored chant from the weekend says, "La lucha sigue, sigue!"
This article was originally published in Popular Resistance.
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