The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are holding a public meeting in Chicago on Saturday, March 22 to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to destroy public education and a political strategy for the working class to stop it.

Trump and Musk have eliminated half the Department of Education workforce and plan to shut it as they slash free school meals and funding for low-income, disabled and English learners, and vastly expand school vouchers to privatize education. The administration has criminalized free speech, abducted Mahmoud Khalil and other pro-Palestinian activists, and deployed ICE agents to Chicago and other cities to snatch parents dropping off their children at school.  

Far from opposing this, the Democrats have functioned as the fascist president’s enablers. They have voted for Republican spending bills, allowing Trump and Musk to purge the federal workforce, gut Medicaid, Social Security and other programs, and establish the framework for a dictatorship.  

Chicago educators can and must play a leading role in the counteroffensive of the working class to defend public education and democratic rights. For this, they must break free from the Chicago Teachers Union bureaucracy, which has spent decades collaborating with the austerity program of the Democratic Party.

WSWS Labor Editor Jerry White will lead the discussion at this meeting.  We encourage the widest participation by educators, workers and student youth.

Saturday, March 22, 2025
Chicago Public Library Uptown branch
929 W. Buena Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613
2 p.m.

Meeting Guidelines: The Socialist Equality Party and the IYSSE takes the pandemic seriously and aims to minimize risk of COVID transmission. We encourage all attendees to wear an N95 mask at meetings to protect yourself and others.