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“Ravens in the Storm: A Personal History of the 1960s Anti-War Movement”
by Carl Oglesby
2008 by Scribner
Carl Oglesby, former top-security-clearance defense contractor stooge-turned SDS President, writes a personal view of SDS and the movement against the Vietnam War that is insightful, amusing, and cutting. However, Oglesby has a clear bias and it’s hard to know how much of his account (which is largely based on his memory of various heated conversations) is completely fair or accurate. Also, Oglesby’s account ends up being more depressing than inspiring, as he falls into some pessimism about the prospects for movement building in the US, largely based on his experience of SDS cannibalizing itself.
Worth reading though, mostly because it’s a quick and interesting read that cuts through a lot of bullshit about the romantic 60s, and attacks the reality of war and social change with simple and rough words like so many arrows. Read the rest of this entry »
Student Power and the Sit-in at Evergreen
written by SDSers and sit-in particpants Brendan Maslauskas Dunn, KTeeO Olejnik, Brooke Stepp, and Jamie Hellerman
May 30th marked the 10th day of the sit-in of Evergreen State College administrator Art Costantino’s hallway. Students are demanding the immediate reinstatement of Olympia SDS and have recently added the additional demands that Kelly Beckham, an SDSer be offered her job back as well as compensation for time lost, and a change in the process by which student groups lose their RSO (Registered Student Organization) status that is determined by those most affected, the students and members of these organizations.
The banning of SDS as a student group is an indication of the current political climate at The Evergreen State College, one that has been increasingly suppressing student dissent, which includes the aiding of law enforcement agents in the arresting of students, the handing over of student records to law enforcement agencies, punishing students for their political beliefs and activities. Read the rest of this entry »
“The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex”
by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
2007 South End Press
This is a pretty wonderful collection of essays, put together by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, covering the rise of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex and it’s vampiric and co-opting effects on radical movements for social change. Some of the essays are more compelling than others, but I particularly found the historical background of the NPIC undercutting and distorting radical movements of the last 25 years revelatory. Plus the case-studies of groups that went for the 501(c)3 tax status and got the foundation grants, only to have it delegitimize and undermine their organizing, were extremely worth reading. Read the rest of this entry »
Check out this awesome essay by Paul Kivel – it really helped me understand my class background (as a member of the “buffer zone”) and how I can relate to others in an accountable way to achieve social change! – Alex
Social Service or Social Change?
Who Benefits from your Work
by Paul Kivel
copyright 2000
MY FIRST ANSWER TO THE QUESTION POSED IN THE TITLE is that we need both, of course. We need to provide services for those most in need, for those trying to survive, for those barely making it. We need to work for social change so that we create a society in which our institutions and organizations are equitable and just and all people are safe, adequately fed, adequately housed, well educated, able to work at safe, decent jobs, and able to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. Although the title of this article may be misleading in contrasting social service provision and social change work, the two do not necessarily go together easily and in many instances do not go together at all. There are some groups working for social change that are providing social service; there are many more groups providing social services that are not working for social change. In fact, many social service agencies may be intentionally or inadvertently working to maintain the status quo.
The Economic Pyramid
I want to begin by providing a context for this discussion: the present political/economic system here in the United States. Currently our economic structure looks like the pyramid in Figure One in which 1% of the population controls about 47% of the net financial wealthii of the country, and the next 19% of the population controls another 44%. That leaves 80% of the population struggling to gain a share of just 9% of the remaining financial wealth. That majority of 80% doesn’t divide very easily into 9% of resources, which means that many of us spend most of our time trying to get enough money to feed, house, clothe, and otherwise support ourselves and our families.
Illustration by Alberto Ledesma Read the rest of this entry »
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/
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 »
The End of Capitalism 
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