You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘SDS’ category.
PRINT and DISTRIBUTE to your Chapter, Campus and Community!
The SDS News Bulletin working group is proud to bring you our fourth issue, the best yet. From front cover to articles to action reports to poetry to art, we loaded this issue up for maximum Dangerousness, and once again you made it all possible by sending in your work, thoughts, ideas and love.
Now here’s the result:
Print Version
Online Reading Version
(You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view the PDF file, which is FREE software you can download Here)
Enjoy! and Distribute widely!
Send us your stuff to be published in Issue 5: sds.bulletin@gmail.com
Want to join the bulletin working group? Get involved by signing up for our email listserv: http://groups.google.com/group/sds-news-bulletin
-The SDS News Bulletin Working Group
From March 17-21, 2008, Students for a Democratic Society led over 90 student actions across the country to mark the 5th Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq! (See newsds.org/march20 for more details of the nationwide SDS actions)
One of the most exciting actions was in Washington DC. DC-SDS’ “Funk the War 3″ dance party brought together 500+ youth and students to shut down K Street, where War Profiteers like Lockheed Martin and Bechtel are headquartered.
Those companies were shut down by the mobile antiwar dance party, which also hit up the Armed Forces Recruiting Center and spread the love there.
The action culminated in an SDS-organized blockade of Connecticut and K Sts., where 11 students chained themselves to school desks and demanded money for education, not for war. The intersection was held for over an hour by 200+ youth, despite pouring rain, until it was apparent that police were not willing or able to break up the blockade, and the students declared victory!
The SDS action was the largest and most energetic event of United for Peace and Justice’s “5 Years Too Many” events in DC on March 19th. The week of action brought major media attention to SDS, including 3 days straight of “The Return of Students for a Democratic Society” headlining the front page of MichaelMoore.com, an awesome article in The Nation, and a feature in the New York Times. It seems that SDS has gained a new prominence in the antiwar movement and is taking off right now!
See below for articles, video, audio and images from the 5th Anniversary Actions. Read the rest of this entry »
Students for a Democratic Society:
Drop Debt Not Bombs Dance Party
on the 5th Anniversary of the War in Iraq!
****************************************************************************************************
FUNK THE WAR with Philadelphia Students for a Democratic Society on March 21st as we dance through Penn and Drexel Universities to demand an end to war and student debt! We are celebrating the launch of our Drexel and Penn chapters with a sonic boom for the 5th anniversary of the War in Iraq. Across the nation, Students for a Democratic Society is holding walk outs, nonviolent actions for student power, peace, and affordable education.
The $500 billion dollar war in Iraq has been paid for with cuts in education and student aid. A struggling economy, rising tuition, predatory loan companies and expensive textbooks have shouldered more than 2/3 of students with an average of $19,000 in individual debt. Universities should be actively rejecting the Federal cuts to education by funding loan education programs, providing more need based financial aid, freezing tuition, and creating more opportunities for low income students.
Meet us on FRIDAY, MARCH 21st:
UPENN MEETUP: 12 noon at the Compass (37th + Locust)
DREXEL MEETUP: 1 pm at MacAlister Hall (33rd + Chestnut)
Join us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10449978635
Philly SDS website: http://www.phillysds.org
DC SDS Funk the War 2 Video http://www.vimeo.com/736378/
Nationwide Actions on the 5th Anniversary of the War
http://www.newSDS.org/march20/
http://www.5yearstoomany.org/
PRINT and DISTRIBUTE to your CHAPTER, CAMPUS and COMMUNITY!
The SDS News Bulletin working group is proud to bring you our third issue, much improved over the first two issues in our humble opinion. We amped up the articles, poetry, art and layout from Issue 1 & 2, and you made it all possible by sending in your work, thoughts, ideas and love.
Here is the result:
Print Version
Online Reading Version
(You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view the PDF file, which is FREE software you can download Here)
Enjoy! and Distribute widely!
Send us your stuff to be published in Issue 4: sds.bulletin@gmail.com
Want to join the bulletin working group? Get involved by signing up for our email listserv: sds-news-bulletin@googlegroups.com
-The SDS News Bulletin Working Group
Originally on the DC SDS Blog.
11 Students for a Democratic Society, including 9 members of DC SDS drove out to Annapolis Wednesday morning to participate in a rally and civil disobedience to bring attention to the neglect of students in Baltimore public schools.The Baltimore Algebra Project, a student-led inter-school coalition of inner city youths, called for a die-in at the State House in Maryland’s state capital of Annapolis. Chanting “No Education, No Life!” 25 members of the Baltimore Algebra Project and their supporters were arrested for presenting a coffin to Governor O’Malley in absentia, representing the social death (and, chillingly pointed out by the picture on the coffin of Zachariah Hallback, a Baltimore Algebra project member who was recently shot to death in a robbery, actual deaths) of students who are denied a proper education. No charges were filed on any of the participants. Students for a Democratic society were 7 of the 25 arrests.
DC Students for a Democratic society applauds the self-organization of students for student liberation and the democratization of education that the Baltimore Algebra Project organizes, and hopes to work with them again in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Issue #2 of the SDS News Bulletin is Here!!!
PRINT and DISTRIBUTE to your CHAPTER, CAMPUS and COMMUNITY!
The SDS News Bulletin working group is proud to bring you our second issue, much improved over the first issue in our humble opinion. We amped up the articles, poetry, art and layout from Issue 1, and you made it all possible by sending in your work, thoughts, ideas and love. Here is the result.
There is only one version of the document, which you can download by clicking HERE.
(You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view the PDF file, which is FREE software you can download from this website:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)
Enjoy! and Distribute widely!
Send us your stuff to be published in Issue 3! – sds.bulletin@gmail.com
Want to join the bulletin working group? Get involved by signing up for our email listserv – sds-news-bulletin@googlegroups.com
-
SDS News Bulletin Working Group
SDS News Bulletin Working Group
Originally published on ZNet.
By Robin Markle (Drew SDS) and Becca Rast (Lancaster SDS).
On December first and second, over 150 youth converged on the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University for the new Students for a Democratic Society’s fourth Northeast Convention, hosted by Philly SDS. This convention was a landmark event for northeast SDS. Since SDS reformed as a national youth run and led organization in March of 2006, with over 50 chapters in the northeast alone, we have been engaged in a gradual process to come together under common goals, theory and practice. Additionally, many of our members are new to the concept of strategic activism and organizing. It is important to SDS that we organize for and with the people around us in our communities and campuses. The members of SDS are not just activists; they are change agents who realize that there must be a long term struggle for their beliefs. In order to reach this we must engage those around us. The members of SDS are going through a collective process of learning to organize together. Not only was this convention the region’s most well-attended to date; the planners also used the space to explore some daring new approaches to organizing and collective liberation strategy. Their efforts paid off in what was undoubtedly the northeast’s most successful convention yet. There were a multitude of workshops, times set aside for networking, a report-back from the summer’s national convention, voting plenaries for action proposals, and new approaches to liberatory work. Members who stayed through Monday also took part in a successful direct action at a recruitment center. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by Alex Wong, Getty Images
Today, as part of a solidarity action with folks struggling to save public housing in New Orleans, members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) helped to organize a civil disobedience as a part of a larger demonstration outside the D.C. office of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) organized by the Hip Hop Caucus and the Advancement Project. At the culmination of the rally where the crowd demanded the right of return for New Orleans residents, 6 members of SDS and a local high school student rushed into a nearby intersection and laid down, effectively blocking traffic at three intersections in northeast D.C. When it was clear that the cops were taking their time, the folks lying down, with the support of the rest of the protesters who were standing with them, picked up and moved further into the intersection, shutting down a total of six intersections around the HUD office. After an hour of disrupting busy D.C. streets, folks stretched out on the ground declared victory as the demonstration concluded with protesters marching through the lunchtime streets.
Residents of New Orleans public housing have called on folks from around the country to come down to Louisiana to support their efforts directly or to organize actions in their own cities. The recent Northeast Convention in Philly endorsed this call. This particular D.C. action, due to short notice, was only endorsed by the George Mason University (GMU) chapter of SDS, although members of most local chapters were in attendance. The fight is still going on down in Louisiana, so organize a demonstration in your city to support folks at this critical point in their struggle to return to their homes.
Check out the USA TODAY article for a picture of local SDSers and more details on the situation in New Orleans.
Here is the New Orleans Indymedia article on the D.C. action.
Article by Jasper Conner, GMU SDS
On December 3rd 2007, the Philadelphia chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) transformed the recruitment offices of 125 N. Broad St. into a functioning community center. Dozens of local students built an interactive art exhibit in front of the recruitment station, raising a banner over the recruitment office that read “Philadelphia People’s Community Center”. The students cheered “Replace this base with community space!” and passed out leaflets with career alternatives to military recruitment.
Recruitment, the students argue, drains valuable resources from the Philadelphia community. “Army recruitment offices are taking concerned Philadelphians away from Philadelphia,” said Alessandra Lobasso, member of Philly SDS. “The youth that actively want to make a difference are being lured away from their community by the false promises of military recruiters.” According to the New York Times, approximately one in five United States Army recruiters were under investigation in 2004 for threatening and coercing applicants. More pictures… Read the rest of this entry »
Philadelphia Students for a Democratic Society has just hosted the fourth Northeast Regional Convention at UPenn!
Over 150 SDSers from 40 chapters all over the northeast gathered together in Philadelphia to share victories and plan for the coming year.
We held workshops and learned new skills, we brainstormed new organizing opportunities, we started working together on joint actions and campaigns, we built student power at the root. Read the rest of this entry »
Calling all Northeast Students for a Democratic Society!!
Philly SDS invites you to the City of Love (for All Genders) to participate in the SDS Northeast Regional Convention, Friday Nov. 30th through Sunday December 2nd!
Are you ready to Build the Movement and Amplify the Resistance? Read the rest of this entry »
On November 16th, SDSers had a ‘cough-in’ and ‘die-in’ from the terrible fumes coming from Bank of America, as part of Rainforest Action Network’s ‘Nationwide Day of Action’ against new Coal-fired power plants and destructive mining practices such as Mountaintop Removal. more pics below…
Every day for the last week has seen nonviolent activists attempting to physically block a shipment of Stryker military vehicles, returning from Iraq, from unloading off the Port of Olympia, Washington to be refitted and sent back to the war. Police in riot gear have responded with violence and chemical weapons. Resistance to the war machine continues to grow.
Read the “Tear it Down” article by a Northwest SDSer below. And here’s video:
Port Militarization Resistance — Peppersprayed in Olympia
Port of Olympia Anti-Militarization Action Nov. 2007
Port of Olympia War Shipments Halted 11/9/07
Stop Wars — a day of struggle in Olympia
TEAR IT DOWN (while building sustainable alternatives)
Guy Dobyns
Northwest SDS Joins Port Militarization Resistance, Others in Halting Military
Shipments
Dozens of SDSers from Olympia, Tacoma, Bellingham, and Portland have all been present in the newest round of protesting military shipments through Olympia, Washington this week. Anti-war activists from across the region, ranging in age from toddlers to the grey-haired, have come out to protest–and to blockade with their bodies–the movement of Stryker vehicles through the Port of Olympia. The Strykers were from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Combat Team which resisters tried to prevent from leaving through the port in May 2006. Since then port actions have occurred in Tacoma and Aberdeen, WA against military shipments. Most likely, the returning materials will be shipped out again, even though the last tour of Iraq resulted in 48 deaths of American soldiers and an unknown number of Iraqi civilian deaths. Also, a high-ranking official in the US military leaked out that all the vehicles and weapons aboard the ship are contaminated with depleted uranium. The presence of the ship and the movement of Strykers act as a hyper-militarization of an already militarized town.
What has been amazing about the actions is the level of resistance displayed. Never before, in the port actions in Olympia, Tacoma and Aberdeen, have people displayed these levels of resistance, adapting quickly to changing situations and fighting back. There is something beautiful happening in Olympia. Liberals, radicals and everyone in between are working together. They are on the same page and because of this they are able to act in the manner they did. It is a true expression – no, a true act of solidarity. Read the rest of this entry »
[This is only one person's perspective, and not meant to be an authoritative report. Other SDSers, especially womyn and trans folks are encouraged to step up and write about No War, No Warming. -ed.]
“War Pollutes Our Democracy; Sexism Militarizes Our Bodies”
26 members of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) blocked traffic next to the House of Representatives Monday morning, October 22, as part of No War, No Warming, which drew hundreds to the Capitol. Traffic was stopped on Independence Ave. for over an hour. After the initial wave of 27 people was pulled off the street by cops, a second wave, which included minors, jumped into the street and linked arms, halting traffic once again. The goal of the protest was to dramatize that Congress has failed to stop the war and failed to address global warming, and to show that the two issues are deeply connected by Oil.
Nearby, polar bears rapped, giant Condaleeza and giant Bush danced, Iraq Veterans Against the War staged a Blackwater mission, Billionaires for Bush whined, a bike brigade did Critical Mass, and Oil Change International demonstrated for the “Separation of Oil and State.” 61 were arrested overall.
The most fun part was in prison, when we integrated the holding cell across gender (or perceived gender) lines. Starting on opposite sides of the room based on what gender the cops considered us, we sneakily inched together over the course of hours, until we ended up in a big circle and had a meeting! The power dynamic was flipped and the cops were stunned.
Everyone is out of jail, healthy and safe.
“No War! No Warming! Resistance! is Forming!”
some good coverage:
Democracy Now! video coverage (requires Realplayer)
Youtube video #1 (skip the weird 1:00 intro)
more pics: Read the rest of this entry »
The First Issue of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) News Bulletin is HERE!
GET IT OUT to your CHAPTER, CAMPUS and COMMUNITY!
There are two versions – one, the electronic version, is meant to be read on a computer, and the pages appear in the order they are supposed to be read in. Please do not print this version out, it will waste a bunch of paper.
The other version is the print version, and is meant for that purpose. The pages are arranged in such a way that if printed on both sides of some sheets of paper and folded down the middle, you can read through the document like a book. But if you try to read it electronically it will look like the pages are out of order. The easiest way to print this is with a double-sided printer; if that is not available, just print half of the pages (odd or evens) and then feed the paper back in for the other set.
Enjoy, and Distribute widely! Distribute! Distribute! Distribute!
(and if you want to contribute to the next issue to make it even more fun, e-mail us at sds.bulletin@gmail.com!)
(and sign up for the listserv too – http://groups.google.com/group/sds-news-bulletin)
Recent Comments