Open Letter

Dear SDS members and supporters,

As many of you have heard, three SDS members (Jeremy Miller of UNC-Asheville, and Christine Jackson and Alyse Deller of Tuscaloosa) and Jason Hurd, president of the Asheville chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested last March after a mock-raid at the University of Alabama.

Hurd was invited down by our chapter to speak about his experiences in occupied Iraq. To advertise for the talk that was scheduled for that evening, our chapter did guerrilla theater in the Student Center, which was meant to dramatize the effects of the U.S. Occupation on the Iraqi people.  The “soldiers” wore Hurd’s which are old military-issued clothes, the “Iraqi civilians” wore kaffiyehs*.  The demonstration was a success, and we left the building as onlookers clapped.

A few minutes later, four of the protesters were surrounded by campus police, and, after being questioned, were taken into an isolated room on campus and interrogated. After four hours with no outside contact, the four were charged with disorderly conduct and hauled away to jail in handcuffs, their bail set to a total of $2,500.

Poem

by Alex Niculescu DC SDS
Those horns of a rabbit
grow, tier by tier, and the
stasis
between them is a dirty lie,
toothy and thick.

When once there were creatures
of the forest and air, that knew
how to open doors, or set the
table for tea.

Day of Rage

Day of Rage by Eric Blasco

They watched as the banks burned.

Some hearts churned,
And some curdled (pickle juice and milk)
For the wives
and children
The lives
That made up their world–
Vastly different
From these kids
On the hill.

Were they strung out?
Unshaven?
Or just misbehavin’?

Lancaster Reportback

What Lancaster SDS is up to by Amber Nitchman & Josh Graupera, Lancaster SDS

Lately Lancaster SDS has been focusing on anti-war and environmental work. We joined with the Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Lancaster Interchurch Peace Witness to form Lancaster Support the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Lancaster Supports IVAW held a series of fund raisers for IVAW that helped raise awareness about and support for IVAW: a concert, a booze not bombs festival, and a film festival featuring Turtles Can Fly, The Ground Truth, Why We Fight, and Sir No Sir!. Through those fund raisers we raised almost $5,000 for IVAW. Some of that money was saved for the soon to be Lancaster chapter of IVAW. Lancaster SDS plans to continue supporting G.I.’s by helping the Lancaster chapter of IVAW and working with churches in Lancaster to expand the support network for servicemen and women. Lancaster SDS also helped organize the rally for the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War in downtown Lancaster. The night before the rally, Jana El-Horr, a Fulbright Scholar and member of the American Islamic Congress, spoke about her work with the American Islamic Congress and her experience as a Muslim women in America. Over 700 people attending the rally, town hall meeting, and candlelight vigil the next day.

Recently we collected and sent care packages to U.S. soldiers in Iraq and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is now going to be a monthly event and we hope to gather people in the community, no matter their stance on the war, to provide physical aid to those who need it. Additionally, we’re working to get informed recruitment materials in the guidance offices of all the public high schools in Lancaster County.

Regarding environmental work, Lancaster SDS partnered with the Lancaster Free Market to sponsor two community forums: one in December about environmental friendliness during the holidays, and recently one for Earth Day featuring speakers on Urban Agriculture and Recycled Jewelry. Also for Earth Day Lancaster SDS held a trash pick-up and picnic open to the community. In our schools we have been working on getting and improving recycling. Our future plans include a basketball tournament to raise funds for the Threshold Foundation and their community garden Dig It!, which sponsors a summer program for inner-city youth to learn about organic farming and sustainable living.

Finally, we are planning a meet-up for all student groups in Lancaster working for social change. We hope to create a network of student organizations that can support each other in the future.

Climate Change

Reportback by Jon Booth, White Plains High School SDS

On Friday, April 18th, White Plains High School SDS held a teach-in titled “Confronting Climate Change.” Despite a great deal of difficulty from the administration the event was a smashing success. The first two periods consisted of Dr Elan Gandsman speaking about the causes and effects of climate change. He railed against coal and false solutions such as carbon trading. We overbooked the 2nd period, and had at least 100 kids filling every desk in the room as well as the floor. After Dr. Gandsman spoke, activist Evan Greer facilitated a workshop about Climate Justice. With music and audience participation, the scores of students present were able make the connections between climate change and other social justice issues, including capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and industrialism. The workshop was very effective and a good time was had by all. To learn more about climate justice, check out risingtidenorthamerica.org!

RNC

Organizing to Shut Down the RNC by ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS)

SDSers–in both the Twin Cities and elsewhere–are actively organizing against the Republican National Convention (RNC) happening this fall in the Twin Cities.

The SDS RNC Working Group is holding bi-weekly conference calls to discuss the RNC protests and is working to inform SDS about what is happening at the RNC (sign-up for the listserv at sdsprotestnc2008@lists.riseup.net to get involved). Macalester SDS is offering up its campus as a “home base” for SDS groups.

Our chapter–ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS)–recently put out a call to for SDS chapters to endorse and participate in a three-tiered strategy to shut down the RNC on its opening day. The strategy–developed at a meeting of over 100 anti-authoritarians from around the country in the summer of 2007 (facilitated by the Twin Cities’ RNC Welcoming Committee)–calls for blockades around the Xcel Center, immobilizing the delegates’ transportation structure, and blocking the bridges that connect St. Paul (where the convention is) and Minneapolis (where many of the delegates are staying).

We are encouraging SDS chapters to begin planning how they can fit into the strategy. SDS chapters can select and utilize the tactics with which they are most comfortable, whether that be lockdowns, roving street
marches, or anything in between. The strategy allows for a diversity of tactics, and “a zone system” with color-coded zones based on the level of risk is in the process of being developed by folks in the Twin Cities.
Just as the tactics will be diverse, the messages can be as well–SDS chapters could develop actions aimed at criticizing the two-party system, the Iraq War, or the rising cost of tuition. Regardless of the specific
actions chapters chose, the RNC offers a tremendous opportunity for SDS to plug into what will likely be a major mobilization.

Since issuing the call in late March, it has been endorsed by Animas SDS (Durango, CO), Chicago SDS, Ignite SDS (Lansing, MI), and THS SDS (Tuscarora High School Frederick, MD). We are continuing to circulate it
within SDS and are committed to mobilizing SDSers to attend the RNC.

To view the call visit Activategr.org.

Funk

Can’t Fake The Funk Sam Miller & Legba Carrefour, DC SDS

“Funk the War! Yes, we can! Disco beats are back again!”

On March 19th’s unprecedented day of mass direct action in Washington DC against the occupation of Iraq, the core of the largest and most militant action – among a whole field of radical and brave departures from the anti-war norm – was a red wagon, a car battery, an mp3 player, and a 300 watt speaker. And a guy in a polar bear costume. And women in fairy wings. And glitter. And paint balloons. And 600 kids from all over the US roving through the streets of DC, blocking traffic at will, dancing into war-profiteer’s offices, mussing up the facade of a military recruiting station (twice), and locking down in intersections in complete defiance of a somewhat hapless Metropolitan Police Department–all to the backing of the occasional Donna Reed vocal and a LOT of M.I.A.

Uniting Women

Overcoming the Acrimony that Divides Women by Maggie & Sylvia University of Mary Washington SDS

We need each other. Discouraging words, belittling other girls in front of boys, laughing looks…have no place here. Dialogue does. Let’s make girl love real, okay?”- Kathleen Hanna

To make girl love real, we need to get over girl hate. Cattiness and bitchy attitudes toward other women are an everyday experience of many American women, and for some reason it is rarely questioned or thought of as a problem.

Our whole lives, the society and culture we live in have taught us that it is acceptable for women to hate each other. This is really convenient for the patriarchal men that run the system we live in, since it is one more thing that allows them to divert our attention away from their control over us. They produce the media we absorb, the products we consume, the institutions we belong to; almost everything. Everywhere we look, we see negative interactions and relationships between women of all races and backgrounds, and because this is the world we have grown up in, we have come to accept this without question. This arbitrary hate of other women is a rarely tackled obstacle which is preventing us from successfully working together to achieve the feminist objectives that we believe in.

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism, Debt, and War by Atlee McFelon, New School SDS

There is an obscene amount of debt piling up on our backs. As we become more and more in debt, our government has invaded and occupied at least two countries on a massive scale. I believe this government acts in the interests of global capitalism and those same financial institutions that we as students, households and developing nations are in debt to.

We as students are becoming indebted to the major banks, financial institutions and student loan corporations in the US: Bank of American, JP Morgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, and Sallie Mae, etc. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in 2004 roughly 66% of students ended up with loan debt by the time of their graduation, averaging out to be $17,600 or more. As UCLA economic historian Robert Brenner noted in his book The Economics of Global Turbulence, private household debt reached all-time highs in 2005 at 120% of yearly disposable income.

As graduates, we enter into a declining job market, providing lower wages with which to pay off our loans. It’s a vicious cycle. The National Energy Policy Development Group reported in May 2001 that US corporations need cheaper access to raw materials and resources, especially energy-related resources, if they are to be competitive around the world. And this smaller job market into which we are entering is smaller for a reason though. In the late 60’s and 70’s the US economy was in a severe crisis.