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A two-day conference featuring socialist, anti-war and pro-Palestinian activists at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters is drawing criticism from an education advocate who says the gathering reflects priorities far removed from the classroom.
The conference included workshops on protest and media tactics, approaching port workers, tracking weapons shipments, fundraising, coalition building and strengthening ties with labor and community groups in Latin America and Africa, according to AWAN’s website.
“I’m not sure that has much to do with empowering teachers in the classroom,” North American Values Institute (NAVI) Chief Advocacy Officer Josh Weiner said about the conference.
“We’ve seen the barriers and boundaries between this political activism and the classroom break down in a lot of different circumstances. Certainly, the classroom is not the priority. It’s a political agenda that’s very extreme.”
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CTU was not listed as an official conference sponsor, although the venue featured union signage and a mannequin wearing a CTU T-shirt, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Conference rooms were temporarily named by conference organizers for political figures and activists including Fidel Castro, Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores, Rasmea Odeh, Ibrahim Traoré and Patrice Lumumba.
Speakers addressed attendees from behind a podium draped in a Palestinian flag. The program included representatives of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Anti-War Action Network, Anti-War Committee Chicago, the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, according to the conference program.
Other speakers were Michigan preschool teacher Jessica Plichta, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which describes itself as a Marxist-Leninist organization fighting for socialism. Plichta was arrested on camera immediately after finishing a television news interview in support of Maduro. Police accused her of blocking a roadway and failing to follow commands to move.
Another speaker, U.S. Palestinian Community Network Chairman Hatem Abudayyeh, previously served as a spokesperson for the Rasmea Defense Committee.
Conference resolutions called for ending U.S. aid to Israel, supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns, and expanding pro-Palestinian activism, while another resolution referred to the Iranian government as “anti-imperialist” and pledged support for Iranian sovereignty, according to NAVI.
Weiner accused the union of intentionally keeping “themselves at arm’s length of something” while sharing “the same circles” as organizers.
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“CTU didn’t sponsor this conference, they weren’t officially a part of it, but that’s on purpose to keep themselves at arm’s length of something that, clearly, they’ve been in the same circles as,” he said.
NAVI also noted that CTU Vice President Jackson Potter and CORE, the union’s governing caucus, follow Anti-War Committee Chicago on Instagram.
Weiner said children are being taught “that the U.S. is imperialist, that it is the purveyor of violence throughout the world” while “platforming leaders that, frankly, are majorly oppressive.”
“Public education is meant to really teach foundational knowledge and formulate our future citizens of our country and to prepare students to be productive, happy, successful citizens within our country and our country is a democratic capitalist system, albeit imperfect, but it still is,” he said.
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AWAN says on its website that it aims to “build a country-wide movement of people who will fight against U.S. imperialism in the streets and in the halls of power.”
Weiner called the conference “the opposite” of what education should look like, saying teachers are “bringing extremism” into the classroom.
“It’s totally anti what education is supposed to be about, and this is an intentional play,” he said. “These teachers believe education is about teaching kids about power, and how to take back power and where to seek power, and to make it a political act in and of itself.”
The conference comes after the Chicago Teachers Union previously faced criticism in April for its collaboration with the National Education Association on a “curriculum build” to bring “social justice into the classroom” ahead of May Day.
But Weiner said the union’s tactics won’t stop in Chicago, warning that “you’re going to see that playbook essentially happen in other cities,” adding “It’s not as though we think it’s going to happen. They’re saying, it’s going to happen.”
“I think every time they push a boundary and break it, you see it pop up somewhere else and you see them pushing the boundaries further,” he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Chicago Teachers Union and the Anti-War Action Network for comment.
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