News and Views from the People's Struggle
Washington D.C. – Over 500 students, trade unionists and solidarity activists gathered here, March 4 – 6, for the National Venezuela Solidarity Conference. They founded the Venezuela Solidarity Network and united the forces struggling against U.S. intervention in Venezuela. The conference was a huge success. Attendees gathered in support of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, lead by President Hugo Chavez.
Letter Delivered to Administration Demands Boycott and Divestment
Chapel Hill, NC – A delegation of students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) delivered a letter to Chancellor Thorp's office, Feb. 25, demanding that UNC divest from Israel. Holding a banner that said, “End U.S. aid to Israel!” the students explained their demands to the university administrator who received the letter in place of Chancellor Thorp. “We want our university to stop investing in the murder of Palestinian civilians,” said Maddy Miller, a member of SDS.
Chicago, IL – Hundreds of Latino students from the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) and Chicago high schools packed into the UIC Forum on Oct. 27 to defend their right to an education. The occasion was a hearing on the Status of Latinos at UIC held by the Illinois Latino Legislative Caucus.
For nearly five months in the fall and winter of 1968-1969, San Francisco State College was paralyzed by a student strike.
“You don’t care about Black People”
Chicago, IL -“I feel about UIC like Kanye West said about George Bush: You don’t care about Black people,” snapped Lou Jones, state representative from Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. She was confronting administrators at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) about charges of neglect by Black and Latino medical students.
Asheville, NC – Over 40 students confronted North Carolina Army National Guard recruiters on the University of North Carolina at Asheville campus during the university’s Career Fair, Feb. 21. The UNCA Socialist Unity League, a progressive and antiwar student group, led the effort for students to protest the recruiters’ presence.
Students and community activists march at University of Illinois-Chicago, Feb. 25. The protest opposed military recruiters and ROTC on campus. Students from area colleges and high schools and veterans of Iraq and Vietnam joined the action. After a conference on the lessons of counter-recruitment efforts in the public schools and colleges in the Chicago area, the group occupied the front of the ROTC building on campus for fifteen minutes.
To: Planning Committee SDS National Convention
On August 4, student activists and others will be meeting in Chicago to launch a new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). In the 1960s SDS was one of the largest and most influential radical student organizations.
Chapel Hill, NC – Over 120 students rallied against John Ashcroft at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill campus Sept. 12, disrupting his speech. Ashcroft was Attorney General under Bush. He is responsible for the repressive PATRIOT Act, legislative attacks on women's reproductive rights and policies aimed at criminalizing immigrant workers.
Minneapolis, MN – The Anti-War Committee and the Anti-War Organizing League co-sponsored a lively protest here, Nov. 15, to voice opposition to U.S. wars in the Middle East and to challenge the presence of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.
Chapel Hill, NC – Chants of, “Out of Iraq, out of our schools!” rose above the noise of afternoon traffic as protesters marched to Chapel Hill’s new Army Career Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Led by UNC-Chapel Hill’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, the group of about 50 marchers was joined by another several dozen protesters at the recruiting station. Demonstrators held a rally and a press conference condemning the war against Iraq and the predatory tactics of military recruiters.
for Honoring Black and Puerto Rican Liberation Heroes
New York, NY – The New York Police Department is on the defensive because of mass outrage over the police’s murder of Sean Bell. Bell, a 23-year old unarmed African American man was killed by the NYPD in a hail of 50 bullets Nov. 25 a few hours before he was going to be married. His murder has sparked large protests against racist police brutality.
Greensboro, NC – Students from colleges across North Carolina rallied Feb. 2 against a recent hate crime committed against three Palestinian students at Guilford College. The regional protest was organized by the University of North Carolina at Asheville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter and UNC-Chapel Hill Solidarity with Palestine through Education and Action at Carolina (SPEAC). UNC-Chapel Hill SDS helped to mobilize students for the demonstration.
Detroit, MI – The new Students for a Democratic Society has just completed its second annual National Convention in Detroit. The convention, held on the campus of Wayne State University, spanned from July 27-30 and drew over 150 student and youth activists from around the United States.
”'They say 'Jim Crow,' we say 'hell no!'”
Tuscaloosa, AL – Across the country, students held rallies in solidarity with the Jena 6. At the University of Alabama, over 100 students, faculty and staff gathered on the library steps, Sept. 20, the day after the massive rally Jena, Louisiana, demanding justice. The protest, organized by the Social Work Association for Cultural Awareness, the University of Alabama chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and the NAACP. The NAACP chartered a bus of students to attended the rally in Jena, which is being reported as the largest civil rights march in years, with crowd estimates around 20,000.
Champaign-Urbana, IL – A protest by University of Illinois students shut down a meeting of the Board of Trustees in November. Chanting, “No excuses, no delay, ban the chief today,” 35 students stood up with signs after the Board refused to vote to get rid of the school mascot, ‘Chief Illiniwek.’ 50 more people were chanting from the hall, because the Board refused to move their meeting to a larger room to accommodate the public.
February 20, 3:30 a.m. – Under a banner that read, “The Whole World is Watching,” fifty-four students, workers and concerned community members slept in the office of University of Wisconsin Chancellor, David Ward. They occupied the chief administrator's office to protest university links to sweatshop labor. The peaceful scene was shattered by the approach of over 60 police dressed in riot gear, with billy clubs at their side and tear gas rifles ready.
Asheville, NC – Around 25 student activists and organizers from seven cities throughout the southeast came to Asheville, North Carolina, April 4, for a conference called “The Crisis of Imperialism and Building a Revolutionary Movement.” This regional student conference was hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
_Colombian Trade Unionists Deaths Will Not Be Ignored, Pollution in India Will Not Continue _
Chicago, IL – Students boycotting Coca-Cola have won another victory. At Chicago’s DePaul University on July 7, university administrators from across the U.S. agreed to an independent investigation of the murder of nine Colombian trade unionists who worked at Coca-Cola.
Asheville, NC – Demonstrations were held in Asheville, North Carolina and neighboring Hendersonville Oct. 12 against recent raids by ICE, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. ICE recently raided Mills Manufacturing, a military contractor that produces parachutes for the Army. Over 50 workers were detained in the raid. Many of these workers have families and strong ties to the community.