Over 120 students, community members and political figures attended a teach-in focused on budget alternatives last Sunday in the University of Maine’s Bangor Room.
The event included a keynote from Washington activists Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, a five-member panel discussion of Mainers and ten workshops.
UMaine philosophy professor Douglas Allen, founding member of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine and advisor for Maine Peace Action Committee introduced Flowers and Zeese and welcomed attendees to invest in collaboration.
“So many people from around Maine often work in isolation,” Allen said. “We hope events like this can bring those together and allow them to realize they can organize for community empowerment,” Allen said.
In their presentation, titled ‘Budget for All — Why Not?’ Flowers and Zeese examined the direction of current economic and political environments using GDP, productivity and wealth imbalance data to suggest potential changes of course.
Flowers is a pediatrician in Baltimore, Md. and a prominent public policy protestor who frequently advocates in Washington, D.C. for a nationwide, single-payer health care system.
Zeese, who also lives in Baltimore, is an attorney who opposes corporatism and militarism and supports economic justice and criminal law reform, frequently voicing his opinions, as well, inside the nation’s capital.
Flowers and Zeese co-host Clearing the FOG on We Act Radio, 1480-AM and jointly founded It’s Our Economy in March 2011 — a progressive movement aimed at reducing the nation’s wealth divide through justice issues and democratization.
Panel discussion speakers included MPAC activist and UMaine graduate student Daniel White, Maine legislative member Rep. Adam Goode (D-Bangor), CODEPINK Maine local coordinator Lisa Savage, Team 350 Maine divestment coordinator Read Brugger and Community Health and Counseling Services in Ellsworth nurse Katrina Bisheimer.
Wright spoke on MPAC’s protest against ongoing, nationwide college and university student debt — specifically here in Orono. Wright says around 75 percent of recent UMaine graduates are, on average, $29,700 in debt, which is slightly higher than the national average of $26,600.
Allen says several students who are feeling the effects from this problem, prior to graduation, have approached him.
“Students come and see me [and] they’re in crisis,” Allen said. “They don’t have health care … they don’t have the money … it’s affecting their schoolwork.”
According to Allen, it’s also been affecting students’ health.
“I ask them: ‘Isn’t [Cutler Health Center] for free?’” Allen said. “They tell me ‘No, those were the old days… now it’s privatized. So what do they have? [Sometimes these students] have been sick for the past two months.”
State Representative Adam Goode, who has represented House District 15 since 2008, talked about money and politics, advocating a need for public funding in state campaign races.
Public campaign financing once allowed candidates to apply for help from the state to prepare for upcoming elections. This resource would also match privately earned funds raised by one candidate, providing all opposing candidates with the same amount to sustain fairness.
This program came to a halt in 2011 when the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the resource of funding unconstitutional in Freedom Enterprise Club v. Bennett.
“Committing to public money creates fairness and allows for a more diverse group of candidates,” Goode said. “There are only so many hours in the day. You can spend 10 to 15 hours a week raising money, or, you can go meet constituents door-to-door.”
Savage spoke on feminist values and militarism. She tabled before the event, collecting signatures for the ‘We Stand With Bradley Manning Petition’.
Brugar and Bisheimer talked about the environment and labor organization, respectively.
Maine legislative member Sen. Geoffrey Gratwick (D-Bangor/Hermon) says topics surrounding the teach-in are directly related to students at UMaine.
“This is so important for students’ futures,” Gratwick said. “Our generation is has-beens. This is about your education, your jobs, and allowing America to have a middle class … I think this is where it’s at for students.”
Gratwick called attention to Goode, referring to the 23-year-old Bangor native as a “young, exemplary creature,” who has “made a big difference.”
“If you get young people involved, it makes an enormous difference at the legislative hearings in Augusta,” Gratwick said. “And they’ll tell you they have fun … they get involved and they know they’re making a difference.”
Gratwick is fairly new to the process himself, in terms of legislative experience. He was a doctor for 40 years before defeating Republican incumbent Nichi Farnham for Maine’s 31st District Senate seat in 2012.
“All of a sudden, I’m involved in this legislative process where you get to look at the larger picture — not just individual health but public health,” Gratwick said. “Instead of dealing with individuals, case-by-case, I’m now asking: ‘How can you get all sorts of different people to be healthier?’ It’s very exciting.”
According to Allen, there is a clear and evident relevancy between the teach-in and UMaine.
“When you’re talking about jobs, the environment, education, transportation, healthcare … all these things have — or will have — a huge impact on impact on students and what their future is going to look like,” Allen said. “Every one of these issues relates [to the students].”
Allen says some students are confused.
“They know something is wrong — you don’t have to convince them that — but they don’t have much analysis or sense of what they can do about it,” Allen said. “It’s disempowering to some … they’ll say ‘it’s so big’ and ‘those people have so much power … I’m just an individual’ and continue playing video games, tweeting, drinking or whatever they do.”
Allen believes Maine, as a state, is on the forefront of progressive changes.
“Sometimes we have out-of-staters who don’t think Maine has ever come up with a good idea, yet we’ve been saying the same things they speak of for a long time,” Allen said. “We have an amazing number of resources here.”
Right now, Gratwick says, politics is a great place to be: “It’s a very exciting time … and as they often say, ‘A crisis is too good to waste.’”
The teach-in’s first round of workshops varied in topic.
Stop the East-West Corridor statewide coordinator Chris Buchanan, who is also the Maine coordinator with Defending Water for Life, joined up with Thanks But No Tank communication manager Ken Agabian for ‘Protecting Maine’s Environment’.
Philip Caper, a founding member of Maine AllCare, and Gratwick took on the issue of healthcare in “Health Care for All,” while White and Eric Collins of MPAC presented “Student Debt.”
Maine painter Rob Shetterly, founder of Americans Who Tell the Truth, displayed samples of his work and hosted the “Art Activism” workshop while political organizer Bruce Gagnon presented “Bring Our War $$ Home.”
UMaine philosophy professor Deborah Hawkins, a member of Cooperative Maine, offered a workshop on ‘Alternative Economies’ and Resources for Organizing and Social Change director Larry Dansinger presented on ‘Nonviolence’.
Alliance for Democracy national council member Bonnie Preston and Maine Citizens for Clean Elections program director BJ McCollister offered a workshop titled ‘Money out of Politics’ while social workers Mary Beth Sullivan and Chris Rusnov presented ‘Challenging Austerity.’
Finally, the UMaine Green Team and Karen Marysdaughter put on a workshop focused on ‘Fossil Fuel Divestment’.
The event was co-sponsored by 19 groups, including Maine Alliance for the Common Good and MPAC. The Student Life Program Fund and the Office of the Vice President for Student Life of the University of Maine provided funding support.