Video from Rally for Equality

After the rally, students marched to the Chancellors office, and occupied his building to demand the administration condemn racism in the student government.  Although the Chancellor's office was contacted, they refused to send anyone to talk to the anti-racist coalition.

Full story to come soon!

Rally For Equality

Time:
THURSDAY, October 29th
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location:
Spaights Plaza at UWM


Come out and show your solidarity against ignorance, hate, racism and sexism on campus.

This university needs to be a safe space for EVERYONE to feel like they are accepted and equal to everyone else despite their race, sex, gender etc...

So show your solidarity and help us put pressure on the administration to do something about the hateful tension on campus. Let your voice be heard. Let it be known that students will not tolerate inequality on OUR campus and the senators and students in the student government need to start representing us.

Join the National Day of Action for Education Rights - Nov 10th

Protest on Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Join students and youth across the country on Tuesday, November 10 as we raise our voices to demand an end to budget cuts, layoffs, and tuition hikes, and to say loud and clear: "Education is a right!"

Universities across the country are in a serious crisis. Many universities are responding to economic shortfalls by cutting vital university programs such as scholarships, women’s centers, and even jobs. Administrators are raising already unmanageable tuition and fees, while forcing staff to take furloughs.

Rising tuition, textbook prices, and extra fees, have made access to education even more challenging for poor, working class, immigrant, and oppressed nationality students. Many of these students depend on financial aid, or loans from bailed out banks that are now refusing to help low-income students pay for education. These attacks on working people are unacceptable, and must end.

We will not stand by while the rich are bailed out on the backs of students and workers. It is time for our generation to stand up to the plate and build a better future for ourselves and our children. Across the country, campuses are fighting back: from the historic walkouts and ongoing mass mobilizations at the University of California, to the Save our School campaign at the University of Minnesota, to the struggles against education cuts at Middle Tennessee State University, and at all points in between. Now is the time to carry the momentum forward into a nationwide movement for education rights.

We need to fight for the right to earn a living wage, the right to housing and healthcare, the right of self-determination, and the right to higher education for all people.

Send us your endorsements and let us know what you'll be doing on November 10. Organize a local action, teach-in, protest, or march, or contact us to find out what actions are happening near you.

Contact us at edurtscampaign@gmail.com, or visit our blog: http://educampaign.wordpress.com/

Campaign for Education Rights
Network to Fight for Economic Justice
October 25, 2009

In Solidarity with the California Campaign to Save Public Education

The following statement was sent by the National Working Committee of Students for a Democratic Society to the California Campaign to Save Public Education, in solidarity with their October 24 assembly.

Sisters and brothers,

On behalf of the National Working Committee of Students for a Democratic Society, we send our warmest greetings to this assembly.

The UC walkouts on September 24, and the movement that continues to carry that spirit forward, is an inspiration to students, youth, and campus workers across this country.

At a time when our backs are being pushed up against the wall; when the rich tell us we have to pay for their economic crisis; and when the wealthy are moving to take away the necessities we need to survive — at a stormy time like this, your walkout lights the way forward: the path of struggle and resistance.

As Students for a Democratic Society, we realize that we do not, in fact, live in a democracy. What we have is democracy for the few — for the rich and powerful. But we organize and struggle for a world where “democracy” is not a empty word. We believe that democracy must be transformed to serve the overwhelming majority of people, the working-class and oppressed nationality communities. And we believe that education must be revolutionized towards this end.

We believe in, and fight for, a world where knowledge is not enslaved to corporate profits, but is used to improve the condition of humanity; where higher education is not a means for climbing the ranks of society, but a means for the liberation of the oppressed; and finally, where education is no longer the privilege of the few, but is recognized as a universal and fundamental human right.

In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we must stand our ground and fight for what we believe in. And we must stand together, as students, campus workers, and faculty, for when we are united, there is no force that can stop us.

We have the power to change the world. Our organization extends its deepest solidarity to your movement, and inspired by your actions, we will continue our work on campuses and in communities across the country in the struggle for education rights.

Education is a right!
Chop from the top — make the rich pay for their crisis!


National Working Committee
Students for a Democratic Society
October 22, 2009

Students Participate in Economic Fight Back Movement

   Since the near collapse of the banking system, Americans have paid billions to banks that are now making record profits. Meanwhile, students, workers, and homeowners are facing unforgivable unemployment, homelessness, and debt. In spite of this, the Obama administration continues to escalate the occupation of Afghanistan and maintain troops in Iraq, adding trillions to our country’s deficit and financial crisis. It is the working people who will pay for these wars, just as we are paying for bailouts to greedy banks.

If we are to see the “Change” Obama promised, we need to organize and fight for it. Students and youth are a powerful political force. It is not the rich politicians who make change happen, it is the real working people who fight for, and win change. Students and youth are especially successful in winning radical social change and building mass movements. The right to vote, the right to organize, the right to public education, and the right to the 8 hour work day were won through years of organization, struggle, and sometimes death. Generations before us have taken the streets in the face of brutal repression to win the liberties we enjoy today.

In the past year, people across the globe have organized mass movements confronting all kinds of economic injustices. Last month, Rosemary Williams of Minnesota refused to leave her home when a bank seized her home, and sent the police to evict her. Last December, workers in Chicago occupied their factory when U.S. Bank cut funding to their operation, after receiving a federal bailout. This month, tens of thousands of students and faculty at California universities participated in walk-outs and sit-ins against the budget cuts that are crippling universities across the country. Two weeks ago, over 25 college campuses participated in protests and direct action against the 8th anniversary of war in Afghanistan. Just days ago, Puerto Ricans shut down their island with a general strike protesting huge layoffs, unemployment and budget cuts. These are just a few of the struggles people are organizing to fight for social and economic justice.

It is time for our generation to stand up to the plate and build a better future for ourselves and our children. If we want that future, we need to fight for the right to higher education, the right to earn a living wage, the right to housing and healthcare, and the right of self-determination. This November 10th, students will participate in a national day of action for education rights.

Students refuse to pay for failing corporations and imperialist occupations with cuts to education. We refuse to fight their wars to pay for school. We demand a student bailout, an end to budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes. Education is a Right!


Jacob Flom is a member of Students for a Democratic Society

JSOnline: SDS Protests 8th Anniversary of the war on Afghanistan

Students to Protest Afghanistan War on 25 Campuses

October 5, 2009

Contact: Natasha Morgan – 608-426-4252– nadashay@gmail.com

Students to Protest Afghanistan War on 25 Campuses

Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society to Demonstrate 8th anniversary of Afghan War--demand immediate U.S./NATO withdrawal

Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society, along with students on 25 campuses across the United States, will protest eight long years of war against and occupation of the people of Afghanistan, on Wednesday October 7, at 12:00pm in front of the Sandburg dormitories, 3400 N Maryland Ave. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a nation-wide student organization committed to activism for peace, justice and equality, are organizing the protest.

"We're participating in this day of action because the war in Afghanistan is wrong and we need the troops out now. This war is only benefiting benefit rich," said Maral Safabi, of Milwaukee SDS.

The protests come on the heels of the largest loss of life for U.S. occupation forces in a year. On Sunday October 4, anti-occupation fighters in Afghanistan killed nine U.S. soldiers in a series of attacks. So far, 869 U.S. troops are dead in Afghanistan since the occupation began in 2001 – with over a quarter of those killed in the past ten months alone. There are 4,000 U.S. wounded.

U.S. and NATO occupation forces do not keep track of civilian casualties, but many estimate that U.S. air strikes and gunfire have killed tens of thousands of Afghanis. Just last month, U.S. air strikes killed over 90 Afghan civilians in the northern Afghan village of Omar Kheil. A similar strike in Farah province on May 4 this year killed 147 civilians.

“The U.S. occupation is a disaster for Afghanistan, just like it is for Iraq. The Afghan people will never have stability and peace until the U.S. leaves”, said Stephanie Taylor, a member of SDS at the University of Minnesota.

The organizers of the October 7th protests note that the war and occupation of Afghanistan is linked to U.S. interests in controlling strategic energy resources and markets in central Asia. Jenae Stainer, an SDS organizer in Tuscaloosa, Alabama explains, “Our government wants to keep us ignorant about the real reasons and true costs of war both at home and in Afghanistan. That is why organizing to stop the war is so important.”

Organizers of the October 7th actions say they will continue to initiate demonstrations to protest the occupation of Afghanistan until all U.S. and NATO forces leave the country. “We will keep speaking out and organizing to support the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for independence from U.S. occupation,” said Daniel Ginsberg-Jaeckle of Milwaukee SDS. “We will continue to demand that the U.S. government stop spending money on war and occupation, and fund people’s needs here at home, including education, housing, jobs, and healthcare.”

U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now!

Fund Education, Not Occupation!

The SDS Anti-War Working Group exists to help coordinate national SDS anti-war activity. For more information, please contact Natasha Morgan at 608-426-4252. More information, reports, and organizing materials are available on the SDS Antiwar Working Group’s homepage at http://sdsantiwar.wordpress.com.

October 7th - National Day of Action

U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now
Eight Years of War and Occupation

This week eight years ago, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan to begin a lengthy and deadly occupation. Eight years later and with a new president, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have only grown in scope and violence. This Wednesday, October 7th, students will rally outside Sandburg Hall at noon, calling to “Fund Education, Not Occupation!”

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost Wisconsin taxpayers an unimaginable $14.5 Billion in the past eight years. The money from our public schools and universities has been drained into corporate coffers, and even used to pay off resistance fighters. This year, it was announced that UW schools will lose $174 Million in funding, creating a crises for students on financial aid, more tuition hikes, and widespread budget cuts. Even more unforgivable, is the loss of over 6,000 young Americans in these wars.

This year has been the deadliest year for U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan, as President Obama plays with different failed strategies there. As the President plans to send tens of thousands more troops, the cost of these occupations will continue to drain our communities and schools of the resources and attention they desperately need. The U.S. Government is expanding upon Bush’s mistakes by retaining the military presence in Iraq, and building a mass escalation of the occupation in Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, this occupation has become increasingly unpopular as it proves to lack any legitimacy, direction, or improvement. From the recent fraudulent election, to dwindling international support, to fiscal and social costs, this illegitimate war is a nightmare for the people of Afghanistan and for students and workers in our own communities.

The anti-war movement in the United States will unite this week in mass protests of the illegal war against the people of Afghanistan. Students and youth will demand “Books, not Bombs!” and an immediate end to occupation.

Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will participate in a national day of anti-war action organized by the National SDS Anti-War Working Group. Please join us outside Sandburg Hall at noon on Wednesday to join the rally.