Gregg Robinson

Articles by Gregg Robinson

Gregg has written 16 articles for the OB Rag!

Who’s Behind the Big Money Takeover of San Diego County Schools?

November 2, 2016 by Gregg Robinson

Rick Shea versus Walmart and Company

By Gregg Robinson, President, San Diego County Board of Education, and Jim Miller, Vice President, American Federation of Teachers Guild, Local 1931

Somebody is trying to buy control of San Diego’s education system and few in the local media seem to have noticed until Sunday’s San Diego Union-Tribune finally covered it.

The Voice of San Diego has been quiet on this front, perhaps because, as the SDUT article reports, its co-founder Buzz Woolley is part of the action. He and his fellow corporate education reformers have San Diego in their crosshairs and are spending big money to drive their agenda.

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A Hard Look at San Diego: The Story of One Latino Family and What Foreclosure has Meant

June 26, 2012 by Gregg Robinson

By J. G. Robinson / San Diego Free Press

As I said in my last column, Latinos in our community have been among the groups most affected by the foreclosure crisis. In the next two columns I tell the story of one Latino family and what foreclosure has meant to it. I found this story moving, and it is one of the strongest indictments I know of the politicians and business people who have done so little to help people facing foreclosure. In this first installment I will look at what led up to the foreclosure for this family, and in the following column I will examine what happened after the foreclosure took place. This is the story of someone I will call Jose.

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“Solidarity Summer 2012” – A Call to Action

August 8, 2011 by Gregg Robinson

In the summer of 1964 SNCC’s (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Council’s) Robert Moses put out a call for college students to come to Mississippi to register African Americans to vote. Known as Freedom Summer, this was one of the major struggles of the Civil Rights movement and it marked a turning point in African Americans’ campaign for the right to vote. This movement also helped energize idealistic college students across the country, and was, in no small way, the basis of the activism of the 1960’s. I believe the labor movement should put out a similar call for next summer to once again defend the kind of rights those college students fought and died for in 1964.

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San Diego Protest Against State Cut-backs

June 24, 2009 by Gregg Robinson

by Gregg Robinson

Yesterday roughly 150 people showed up at the California State building on Front Street to demand rejection of Gov. Schwartzenegger’s draconian cuts to state services. Rally attendees heard speakers from religious, trade-union, and community groups speak out against the cuts.

With nearly one million children threatened …

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Rally to stop State budget cuts Tuesday June 23rd

June 22, 2009 by Gregg Robinson

People United Against Cuts is a local coalition formed to oppose the Governor’s recent “All Cuts” budget. The Governor’s proposed budget will have a catastrophic impact on children, seniors, people with disabilities, low income families, college students and HIV/AIDS patients. On June 23, 2009, we will hold a rally, march, and press conference in front […]

Political Distractibility and the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice

February 13, 2009 by Gregg Robinson

by Gregg Robinson

These are going to be tough times for the anti-war movement. With a popular Democrat in the White House and depression economics on the front pages, it is going to be hard to turn out people for anti-war demonstrations. Most people’s attention is going to be on their pocket books and their sympathy for Obama is going to mean they are unlikely to demonstrate against a war that he is making attempts to “carefully” end. For these reasons the anti-war movement cannot afford to be easily distracted.

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The United States of Goldman Sachs: The Bailout, The Bankers, and the Billions We Are About to Lose

September 22, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

The British Economist John Maynard Keynes famously referred to capitalism as the “Casino Society”. What Americans are quickly learning, however, is that this gambling works according to the principle “Heads Wall Street wins, tales Main Street loses”. Very few people really understand what is going on with the bailout, but we should at least be […]

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McCain and the Depression of 2008

September 15, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

“The Fundamentals of the American Economy are strong.” John McCain before the 2008 election “Prosperity is just around the corner.” Herbert Hoover just before the 1932 election At a time when this country faces the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people seem set to elect the modern version of Herbert Hoover. […]

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Obama Babies and the Ten Per Cent Solution

August 21, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

Grow up! When I listen to the squabbles between those on the left that support Obama and those that don’t I feel like I should drag out an old copy of Dr. Spock (for those of you not old enough to have heard of him, Dr. Spock was the baby doctor who wrote a book […]

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Local Forum on Foreclosures: From Bad to Worse

July 3, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

State Assemblywoman Lori Saldana and San Diego Councilman Tony Young Presented Gloomy Forecasts Gregg Robinson, one of our regular irregular bloggers, is also the Chair of the San Diego Housing Coalition, and incidentally also is vice-chair of the Peninsula Planning Committee, former stalwart of the Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization, and sociology professor at Grossmont Community […]

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Obama, Class and the Racist Undead

May 14, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

Watching Hilary Clinton these days is like watching a re-run of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. In this film the undead rise from their graves and feed on the flesh of the living. The problem, however, is that they don’t know they’re dead, so they return to the places with which they were most […]

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The Rich to America: Sucker! (as in “suck-CAAH!”)

March 17, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

by Gregg Robinson (reposted) Leona Helmsley said it best. Rules, the billionaire real estate investor was famous for saying, are for little people. The last few years have taught us that Ms Helmsley was right about how the American economy works. The rules of the market must be allowed to operate if they punish poor […]

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The Ralph Nadir

March 3, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

First Time as Tragedy, Second Time as Farce, Third Time as Footnote — (I Hope) I don’t feel the anger so many do when I think of another Nader presidential campaign. Mostly I feel sad. I feel sad for the values that Nader has so long championed. I feel sad for what it may mean […]

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REPOSTED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND: San Diego’s Foreclosure Crisis and the Depression in the Credit Market

February 19, 2008 by Gregg Robinson

[Ed.: We decided to repost Gregg Robinson’s very recent article on San Diego’s foreclosure crisis, due to several factors, including the interest shown in it immediately, plus we posted 4 articles after his, burying Robinson’s very timely piece. So, here it is again. If you’ve read it, go to the articles below it.] THE RETURN […]

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Future Direction of the Peace Movement – the Continued Debate

December 18, 2007 by Gregg Robinson

Ed: With Gregg Robinson’s post, we continue the much needed debate on the future direction of the antiwar movement. Gregg originally wrote “Why no mass antiwar movement? The Case of San Diego,” which was followed by Rick Nadeau’s lengthy comment, and then Frank Gormlie’s “The Antiwar Movement Needs This Debate: Why Is there No Mass […]

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Why No Mass Anti-War Movement: The Case of San Diego

December 8, 2007 by Gregg Robinson

Introduction The contradiction between the mass opposition to the war in Iraq expressed in polls and the minimal opposition in the streets is a central concern of the antiwar movement. This quietism is all the more surprising given the history of the last major American war disaster: Viet Nam. By the late 1960s and early […]

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