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By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com 06:03 23 Mar 2023, updated 12:16 23 Mar 2023

The radical president of Los Angeles' teachers union, who once said 'there is no such thing as learning loss' and attended an NBA game in a suite after announcing a solidarity strike, is among those in support of the LA schools' strikes.

Staff atLos Angeles's only public school districtbraved the rain to make good on their threats of a three-day strike Tuesday in hopes of obtaining better wages,shutting down the nation's second-largest school system in the process.

Educators and employees have been slammed on social media for failing families, saying they are using nearly 500,000 young people as 'leverage' in their own battle for better pay and other benefits.

SEIU99 Executive Director Max Arias has led the support staff union into the strike and insisted the strike was the 'workers' last resort', arrived at only after nearly a year of bargaining for better wages.

His union has been supported in a 'solidarity strike' by United Teachers Los Angeles and their union President Cecily Myart-Cruz, someone who has courted controversy in the past for her views on lockdowns and social justice.

Ahead of her election as president, Myart-Cruz spoke at the convention for the left-wing political group Democratic Socialists of America's 2019 convention in Atlanta, in which she stated 'I see teaching as a revolutionary act, just the way I see organizing.'

'It's hard, it's messy and sometimes it can be too much but you can never allow fear to win. We must engage folks to take action in different ways and we must work to make every work site an anti-racist one.'

She's seen elsewhere in the speech criticizing the 'neoliberal' Los Angeles Unified School District which she argues 'starved our schools' and claimed bosses in all walks of life 'prey on fear.'

Her union bio also shows her as a member of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, the 2020 rallies of which she used to suggest there is 'no such thing as learning loss' for children who were not in school during the COVID-19 pandemic.

'Our kids didn't lose anything,' she told LA Magazinein 2021. 'It's OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables. They learned resilience. They learned survival. They learned critical-thinking skills. They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup.'

Her other remarks included 'reopening schools without a broader improvement of schools will be unsafe and will deepen racial and class inequalities' and 'You can recall the Governor, you can recall the school board. But how are you going to recall me?'

Myart-Cruz won re-election in 2023 on a platform that included requests for schools to take pieces of a 'Green New Deal' into their district.

Their demands included expansion of outdoor education space, tech education in green energy fields, solar panels on all district buildings, increased electric school buses and extending free public transportation for students.

She also led the union while it planned to voteon joining the 'Boycott, Divest and Sanction' movement against Israel. The vote was eventually shut down after heavy criticism.

Before becoming head of the teacher's union, Myart-Cruz attended Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, then Mount Saint Mary's, a Catholic women's college inBrentwood.She graduated in 1995, and on to Pepperdine to gain her teaching certificate - where fees now stand at $80,000-a-year.

She began her teaching career in Compton, then went to an elementary school Westwood where kids first thought she was too strict but ended up 'loving her', according to a teacher who taught next door.

She is divorced from her husband of 16 years and the pair share a ten-year-old son.

She is now datingVanCedric Williams, an elected member of the Oakland Unified School Board, according to the Los Angeles Magazine article.

The pair attended an NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors with Assemblyman Matt Haney in a box suite just after declaring the solidarity strike.

She then went to teach at Mesa Elementary in Crenwshaw, where students and their families were less affluent - but didn't last there long, according to former colleagues.

In 2020, the former head of the union - Alex Caputo Pearl - reached his term limit and endorsed her to take over.

She stopped teaching 2014 to devote herself to the union full time and was part of the leadership team when dues were increased from $689-a-year to $917 in 2016.

She took over in February 2020 - a month before the pandemic closed schools all over America and the world.

There are 33,000 teachers in the union but only 5,000 voted in the election where she became president with 69 percent of the vote - about 3,500 votes.

Earlier this year, she blamed 'white wealthy parents' for wanting to get kids back into classrooms, claiming: 'Unfortunately, the plan reverts to deeply flawed ideas in Gavin Newsom's proposal in December to offer school districts more money if they open faster.

'If you condition funding on the reopening of schools, that money will only go to white and wealthier schools that do not have the transmission rates that low income black and brown communities do.'

The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has also heavily backed and worked with the unions. Myart-Cruz spoke at its convention in 2019.

The left-wing group has already held a 'Tacos for Teachers' event on Tuesday, and several days of phone banking efforts to campaign for the unions.

Their social media feeds have been full of DSA-LA members marching the picket lines with the union members.

Meanwhile, SEIU99 Executive Director Max Arias, promoted a march to Defund the Police and re-invest in schools in 2020.

At a rally on Monday, Arias led picketers in a chant of 'no justice, no peace' and said their campaign was about justice.

'It's about 65,000 education workers telling the district what it needs to do to improve the conditions of schools to ensure that every student can succeed and do what they wish in life. Listen to the voices of the people that do the work.'

He finished by saying the only thing that could stop their work was 'justice' before leading the chant.

The native of El Salvador notably has a plaque in his office stating 'it's on, motherf**kers!' according to the LA Times.

He proudly boasted of his membership: 'Once you learn you have power, its not easy to take it away. Theyve shut the district down!'

Now, more than 1,000 public schools are closed, and processions consisting ofsome30,000 non-teaching support workers and 35,000 teachers are sprouting up across the city.

The campaign for increased pay in the wake of rampant inflationand soaring housing costs saw thousands traversing the dark, rainy morning as early as 5:00 am Tuesday to march rain ponchos and jackets.

Union members behind the strike argue that the school support staffers - such as janitors, bus drivers, and lunch workers - on average, earn just $25,000 per year, forced to live in poverty in high-priced LA. The average annual rate of pay for a cashier at Burger King, for reference, is roughly $27,000, according to Glassdoor.

Taking to the streets Monday, workers affixed signs to their umbrellas while others offered pro-union chants in the storm of protests, which had been anticipated for weeks - and come as a somewhat unfavorable outcome for the district, as well as roughly a million parents, with more than 500,000 students now set to miss school.

Members of Service Employees International Union Local 99 were among those marching in the cold rain Tuesday, toting signs with messages that decried the district for not adhering to their demands - which include a 30 percent pay raise.

'We've had enough of empty promises,' Arias told the outlet, flanked by school staffers and supporters of their demands. 'If LAUSD truly values and is serious about reaching an agreement, they must show workers the respect they deserve.'

While citizens are fed up, public school workers in the embattled state - which is currently mulling over a proposal that would see roughly 1.8million black Californians gifted $360,000 in 'reparations' - are equally tired with the local government, leading to the planned walkouts that were announced last week.

'Workers are fed-up with living on poverty wages and having their jobs threatened for demanding equitable pay,'Arais said in a statement last week criticizing district for not bowing to their demands of an immediate wage increase.

'Workers are fed-up with the short staffing at LAUSD - and being harassed for speaking up.'

On Wednesday, Superintendent Carvahlo decried the possibility of a strike after prolonged campus closures interrupted students' learning during the pandemic.

'What are the consequences?' Carvalho said of the possible repercussions of yet another week of closures.'The consequences are once again learning loss, deprivation of safety and security that schools provide to our kids, deprivation of food and nutrition that many of our kids depend on.'

He added: 'I know that we focus our attention on the needs of the workforce. I need to focus my attention also primarily on the needs of our kids.'

Parents have expressed similar concerns. Local mother Yesenia Benites complained the closures will not only affect her young daughter, but her as well, as she divides her time between parenting and taking online classes at an undergrad university.

'Since I do go to college and take online classes, having to have a daughter that's here... it's gonna take my study time to do homework and all that.'

That said, the mom said she was most concerned about her daughter.

'She's going to miss being with her friends and learning,' she lamented.

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The Los Angeles union chiefs holding education of 500,000 Californian schoolkids to ransom - Daily Mail

A community organisation is taking over the running of Leicester's African Caribbean centre from the city council - with a cash boost to revamp the building too. The African Heritage Alliance will now run the popular venue in Maidstone Road, Highfields, which is currently owned and ran by the council.

The group has been granted a five-year lease with a peppercorn rent to run the centre under the city council's community asset transfer policy, after presenting a detailed business plan during an open bidding process. A range of organisations were invited to express interest in running the centre by the city council in June last year.

In the winning business plan, the alliance set out proposals such as new social activities and childcare services, to help meet the needs of the community. The group also intend to offer education, support and welfare services.

READ MORE: Leicestershire NHS boss outlines major recruitment drive to tackle staffing crisis

A grant of 60,000 will be given to the group by the city council from the council's Black Lives Matter funds to help with running costs during the first year of its lease. It will now take responsibility for repairs, maintenance and day-to-day running costs for the building and will also pay the council a token rent of 1 a year.

City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: Local facilities are often best run by the people who use them and, over the years, a number of centres have already successfully transferred to community groups through our Transforming Neighbourhood Services programme. The African Heritage Alliance have produced a business plan that demonstrates they have the capacity, experience and resources to take on the running of the African Caribbean Centre.

"I look forward to the implementation of this plan, which will bring benefits to the community while making a significant contribution to the social and economic wellbeing of the area.

The news comes after the council launched a public consultation in October 2021, where community members were asked how they would like the centre to be run. The consultation received 352 responses and over half of the respondents said that they would prefer community organisations to be given the opportunity to take on the lease and running of the centre.

One respondent said in the consultation: Having lived in Leicester for all of my life, the African Caribbean Centre has been a part of my Caribbean heritage living in Leicester. It is the one place we can call our own and know that the African Caribbean community who have been instrumental in managing the centre have African Caribbean communities best interests at heart. It needs to remain that way.

The handover of the Maidstone Road centre is now taking place. The African Heritage Alliance is expected to take over the lease in the next six to nine months.

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BAGHDAD, Iraq The Iraqi capital in 2023 is far different from Baghdad in 2003. Ramadi and Fallujah, once the hotbed of insurgency, are not only peaceful but also booming with construction and commerce. Sectarianism is, at least among the 50% of the population born after the war, in the rearview mirror. The parking lots of Baghdads malls and shopping centers are full of cars from Iraqi Kurdistan, predominantly Shi'ite southern Iraq, and largely Sunni al Anbar province. Baghdadis from across the religious and ethnic spectrum flock to the new cafes and restaurants that open on a daily basis.

On the 20th anniversary of the war, I visited a new complex developed by the mayor of Baghdad. Hijab-wearing Iraqi women and old men sat next to young boys and girls dressed in the latest Western fashions to smoke shishas and watch soccer games on huge flat-screen televisions. Every hour, they would watch an hourly light and water show on the Tigris with fountains set to Celine Dions "My Heart Will Go On" or Giacomo Puccinis famous aria "Nessun Dorma."

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Corruption throttles Iraqs potential. Political parties across Iraq no longer openly fight for turf, but they act as mafias who drain Iraqs economy and the aspirations of the youth. Many of the same political power brokers whom Americans engaged during the occupation remain paramount influences today. Time matters, though. Ayad Allawi, the one-time darling of the Central Intelligence Agency whom the United States installed as Iraqs caretaker prime minister prior to the countrys 2005 elections, is nearly 80 years old and is in ill health. Former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is only in his early 70s but is ailing. Masoud Barzani, whose family dominates Kurdish business, security forces, and politics, is also in his late 70s and in poor health.

STATE DEPARTMENT DOES IRAQ A DISSERVICE WITH ENERGY SCHEMES

Time matters. Few, if any, of Iraqs top warlords or political bosses will be alive to mark the 30th anniversary of the war, let alone the 25th. The question then becomes what impact their deaths will have on Iraqs political environment. Outside Iraqi Kurdistan, where Masoud has appointed his eldest son Masrour heir apparent and where Patriotic Union of Kurdistan founder Jalal Talabanis sons have already taken over from their late father, it is not likely that sons will succeed fathers or that political machines will stay alive.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al Sudani marks a generational change in Iraqs political leadership. He is the first post-war prime minister who was never in exile and who rose up through layers of bureaucracy from a low position. This pedigree undermines the populist appeal of Muqtada al Sadr, the volatile cleric who has long sought to cloak himself in Iraqi nationalism by juxtaposing his presence in Saddams Iraq with those who escaped to London, Damascus, or Tehran. Muqtada, however, is young: just 48. He will remain a force, though perhaps not as potent as in recent months. His own actions belie his anti-corruption rhetoric, and Iraqis resent his followers violence. His constituency is also soft. The fight against the Islamic State created new heroes, none of whom came from a Sadrist background. While Iraqis venerate his late father, the passage of time loosens Muqtadas claim to their loyalty.

Qais Khazali, a U.S.-designated terrorist, former prisoner, and current political leader, is also under 50 and a growing force. While he once killed Americans as head of Irans Special Groups in Iraq, he now signals a desire to work with the United States. While Washington has rebuffed his outreach, he will be important for a generation.

Washington need not rehabilitate Qais but as Iraq begins its third post-war decade, the Biden administration must focus more on the future than the past. It should stop puffing up aging warlords like Barzani, who holds no position but whom Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin nevertheless met, or believing would-be warlords like Muqtada are messiahs. It is time to end the era of personality-based diplomacy behind it, stop seeing Iraq only through the lens of Iran, and respect rather than undermine Iraqs democracy at this time of generational change.

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Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a contributor to theWashington Examiner'sBeltway Confidential. He is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Iraq in 2023 is a very different place to 2003 Iraq - Washington Examiner

Babylon, Iraq Mohammed Hakim climbs the marble staircase, looks at the Euphrates River flowing by a veritable oasis of palm trees that stretches as far as the eye can see and snaps a selfie.

He sure knows how to pick a good spot, he jokingly said, referring to former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. The expansive building that he is standing in is one of the palaces that belonged to the deposed leader.

Overlooking the ruins of ancient Babylon, the multistorey palace is a manifestation of the mighty empire that Saddam imagined: spectacular staircases sweep up from a majestic foyer to gigantic rooms that open to a view of the river.

The stately, golden-walled palace is about an hour south of Baghdad, sitting on a man-made hill built on the ruins of the village of Qawarish, which was demolished to free up the strongmans chosen location.

Twenty years ago, before tanks belonging to a United States-led coalition rolled into the capital, Baghdad, and sent Saddam fleeing, stepping on this land was beyond anyones wildest imagination.

The notorious leader was toppled on March 20, 2003, when the coalition invaded the country. After he fell, there was a fleeting moment when Iraq dreamed big: The removal of Saddam could maybe bring long-waited peace and prosperity.

Instead, the invasion set off nearly two decades of violence and conflict that plunged the entire nation into chaos and stripped generations of Iraqis of the aspiration to live a normal life.

The palace in Babylon, now reclaimed by the public, has borne witness to the troubled recent history of a country widely known as the Cradle of Civilisation.

Apart from that, the palace bears nearly no trace of the former splendour, with its shattered windows, walls covered in graffiti and doves nesting in the beams.

But for Hakim, a 22-year-old college student, entering the previously forbidden premises as an Iraqi citizen is cause for celebration.

Its surreal, Hakim told Al Jazeera, standing among many others who had come to the site to revel in the enchanting view. You dont need security or bodyguards to escort you to a place that used to belong to Saddam, and I think thats amazing.

Another young man, about the same age, chimed in: When I enter the palace, I can just imagine that guy [Saddam] sipping his coffee here, he pointed his finger at the entrance of the grand palace. He would probably be waving his weapons around, too.

Now that the large-scale violence has ebbed, Iraqs younger generation is again dreaming, hoping to build a future that looks beyond the turbulence that shaped their upbringing.

Iraqs youths are collectively reclaiming the places that either were previously forbidden under Saddams rule or were too dangerous in the period of conflict.

In Baghdads Adhamiyah district, part of a former palace belonging to Saddam has been transformed into an upscale shopping centre where restaurants with impressive views of the Tigris River host Iraqis late into the night.

By the citys Jadriyah Bridge, around sunset, youngsters gather in a square with their motorbikes, showing off their drifting skills. Families take their children for picnics to Abu Nuwas Park where entertainment facilities have been built. Young couples stroll along the Tigris, occasionally holding hands.

However, generations of Iraqis have seen only violence and conflict unfolding in their country.

The roaring rocket attacks on Baghdad that marked the beginning of the invasion, the looting that unfolded almost instantly after the fall of Saddam, the subsequent rebellion against the occupation, the sectarian conflict that escalated into a full-blown civil war in 2006, and the continuous violence that gave rise to the ISIL (ISIS) armed group these defined many Iraqis memories of their country.

We didnt have a normal childhood because no one should experience even 1 percent of what we experienced, Zainab al-Shamari, a 21-year-old student at the University of Baghdad, said. She lost her brother in 2006, and her father in 2011.

They suspected al-Qaeda was behind the killing; the armed group used Dora as their playground, al-Shamari described. She and her family moved to Basra, Iraqs second-biggest city.

My entire childhood was just fear, she told Al Jazeera while walking on Baghdads busy Inner Karada street, three years after returning to Baghdad with her family. Fear of killing, fear of displacement, fear of this and fear of that.

Al-Shamaris story is not uncommon in Iraq. Accurate data on civilian casualties in the past 20 years are hard to come by, but according to the Iraq Body Count project, roughly 200,000 civilians have been killed since the 2003 invasion. Nearly everyone has a story to tell about a lost family member or friend.

In October 2019, droves of people, mostly young Iraqis, took to the streets as part of the Tishreen movement to demand an overhaul of Iraqs political system. But members of that movement blame the countrys political elites, often backed by strong militias, for cracking down on the protests and ignoring the demands for change.

We were hopeful but soon we realised that the militias and political mafias will fight to deaths to keep their interest, Omar al-Hamadi, a 25-year-old engineer who participated in the 2019 protests, told Al Jazeera on the phone. He left Iraq for Istanbul weeks after militias opened fire on protesters and killed two of his friends in November 2019.

I will never forgive them, and I dont think any of my friends will either, al-Hamadi said.

But even for those who were spared the bloodshed on the streets, corruption and shaky governance in the past years have denied the countrys youth a sustainable future.

According to former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, in the past two decades, more than $600bn has been lost to corruption. The all-pervasive corruption has all but paralysed the young generations ability to carve out a future in the country.

The political elite have consistently failed to anticipate or tackle the long-term socioeconomic and environmental challenges likely to be inherited by todays youth, said Hayder al-Shakeri, a research associate at London-based Chatham Houses Middle East and North Africa programme.

For young Iraqis, the price is painfully high. There is no facility and there is no service in this country because all the money goes to the corrupt officials, al-Hamadi said.

Those who have means, like me, are leaving or have already left, and those who cannot leave are continuing to suffer.

Even if there are no car bombs any more in Baghdad, the country is killing young people every day.

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After the Iraq War, Saddams legendary palaces are open to all - Al Jazeera English

As we observe the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War, which claimed more than 4,600 American lives and countless Iraqis, we must make an honest assessment of the war. The war cost the U.S. trillions, upended Middle East stability, and ultimately benefited Irans aggressive and expansionist agenda by capturing much of the political and military institutions in Baghdad and Damascus. Despite its tremendous cost, the war weakened Americas geostrategic position and damaged our national credibility.

What can be learned from this calamity? As authors of the U.S. governments definitive study on the Iraq War, two somewhat conflicting central points stand out. First, the war should never have occurred. Second, once the war began, it should not have been abandoned without leaving behind a stable Iraq, even if that meant staying for years.

Invading Iraq in 2003 was strategic folly and one of the worst foreign policy decisions in the history of the Republic. Tainted and inaccurate intelligence provided justification for disarming Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction that didnt exist. Pretending that Iraq could be the hearth for democracy in the Middle East or that it was abetting Al Qaeda terrorists were similar delusions. But the decision to invade defied an even larger truth, one that was clear even before the war. Iraq provided a physical and practical buffer to Iran, a country that few disputed had an active weapons of mass destruction program in 2003 and which has consistently demonstrated the intent to use such a capability alongside its terrorist objectives.

Iran, which regularly calls for the destruction of the U.S. and actively supports our enemies, was the larger and clearer threat to our interests both then and now. Regime change in Iraq destroyed a status quo that, by extension, benefitted the U.S. In essence, Iraqs geostrategic position in 2003 helped regional security by focusing Irans attention and resources next door. In addition to this geopolitical damage, the preemptive invasion, conducted without U.N. Security Council authorization and on the basis of dubious intelligence, squandered our international standing and goodwill, which was abundant in the wake of 9/11.

Read More: There Were Many Ways to Die in Baghdad

Once the invasion occurred and Iraqs security forces evaporated those same considerations should have driven U.S. policy to restore the countrys stability, vis--vis Iran. The region represents a vital strategic interest for the U.S., as does blocking the expansion of Iranian influence. Unfortunately, the U.S. chose to ignore this reality and when politically expedient, withdrew from Iraq and hoped for the best. Beyond the error of the initial invasion, withdrawing was nearly as significant a strategic error, placing Iraqs future into the hands of a corrupt and sectarian Prime Minister who was intent to establish Shia domination and Iranian alignment. While Iraqs condition had improved significantly since 2003, sufficient signs existed in 2011 that progress was fragile. Prime Minister Nouri al Malikis sectarianism and authoritarianism, toxic components that would lead to further destruction of Iraq, had been on full display and reported to Washington. Iraq, shattered by decades of war, sanctions, and corruption, needed longer to heal and needed American help to prevent an Iranian takeover.

Although we had decided that we were done with Iraq and all its associated challenges, Iraq wasnt done with us. American strategic myopia enabled Malikis government to kill or disenfranchise Sunnis and financially isolate the Kurds, paving the way for the rise of ISIS and a return of U.S. forces. We are still in Iraq today, and still without a status of forces agreement that was used for political cover to end our military presence in 2011. But todays Iraq looks very different. Iranian-backed militias, on the Iraqi payroll, now outnumber the Iraqi Army. The Ministry of Defense now includes officers and generals who are designated terrorists. Iranian aligned militias have captured state resources through political representation in Parliament and by controlling key posts in lucrative ministries. Irans influence now waxes in an uninterrupted arc from Tehran to the Mediterranean, traipsing across Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

Retaining U.S. forces in Iraq would have been a difficult decision for a war weary America. But a residual force that was closely tied to key political objectives and aimed at reducing Iranian influence could have prevented the treacherous strategic situation we face today: Iraq as a broken and devastated nation, serving as a base and transit point for Iranian forces. Luckily, the U.S. retains some tools to steer Iraq to a more constructive and stable future. The U.S. can impose high economic costs on the Iraqi military and government to remove Iran-backed terrorists from its payroll, withhold U.S. banknote transfers that inexplicably continue despite their laundering by Iran, and remove sanctions waivers so Iraq can free itself from an artificial energy dependence on Iran. And perhaps most importantly, the U.S. must militarily deter Iran so that it retracts rather than expands its regional aggression. Only these measures are likely to reverse the tailspin of Iraqs perilous future, a future that we set in motion twenty years ago.

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How Iran Won the Iraq War | Time - TIME