Green Party throws political muscle behind statewide UC student protests, compares actions to young people's role to overthrow of dictator in Egypt

Green Party of California officials this week threw their political muscle behind statewide student-based protests Wednesday at UC and other campuses against continued hikes in fees and tuition.

The Green Party's California 2010 gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells called the student response to the attacks on higher education and UC workers similar to "how great numbers of people – many of them young – took to the streets and took down an Egyptian dictator."
 
Noting that Greens will participate in the March 2 statewide protests, the party encouraged students to make their own political statement by de-registering Democrat and Republican, and registering with the Green Party.
 
"Students are seeing through the warning that 'there are no alternatives,' whether it comes from a Democratic or Republican governor. They see the wars and prison budgets, while their opportunities for a better education are cut," said Wells.
 
"They recognize that the Brown budget is a 'Tax the Poor' scheme,' added Wells, who urged students to "take to the streets, and vote."
 
"Registering as a Green is a political statement...Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly support military spending at the expense of programs that service our communities. A small slice of our current military spending would pay for a lot of college educations," said Barry Hermanson, co-chair of the Green Party of California.
 
Education is key to the Green Party's platform in California. It's very critical of fee and tuition hikes which threaten the very existence of the state's institutions of higher learning.
 
"A good education system is the most important insurance we have that our country's basic principles of social justice will be preserved," explains a key plank in the Greens' platform.
 
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Contacts:
Laura Wells, Spokesperson, 510.504.4254, lwells@cagreens.org
Derek Iversen, Spokesperson, 323.481.8984, diversen@cagreens.org 
Cres Vellucci, Press Secretary, 916.996.9170, cvellucci@cagreens.org
 
The Green Party of California
PO Box 2828
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
County: 
Alameda