Students for a Democratic Society

The following call to action is from DC SDS

Funk the War 9: Bad Romance
Student power against Obama's recession empire

Funk the War, light the bed on fire, and break free from this bad romance!
Washington, DC. March 19, the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.
Student mutiny against the War on Terror: Fund Education, Not War & Occupation.

Obama's got us singing like Lady Gaga, “I want your love and all your lover's revenge.” Thousands of anti-war youth fell in love with Obama and dropped everything to build his campaign. He seduced us with promises of hope and change from Bush's abuses, all the while refusing to give up his lust for the War on Terror.

We've been together a while now and Obama keeps expanding the War on Terror in the Middle East and Central Asia. He's taking advantage of record youth unemployment and skyrocketing college costs to drag young people into a war we've got nothing to gain from. More soldiers trapped in the War on Terror are committing suicide than ever before. Obama, “Baby, you're sick.”

March 19th is the 7th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq and the occupation's going strong. It's time to Funk the War, light the bed on fire, and break free from this bad romance.

“Walk, walk, fashion baby, work it!” DC SDS is calling for a massive student power dance party against empire to disrupt the corporate-political war machine in streets of the capital city. We refuse to let another year of war in Iraq and war on our youth pass by without resistance. Join us in the streets and help build an unstoppable student & youth anti-war movement in 2010.

Assemble your crew, practice your moves, and throw on them dancing shoes. We'll be hosting anti-imperialist education events, direct action trainings, dance floor mayhem, and smaller actions in the lead up to March 19th. Get in touch if you'd like to attend or host an event or if we can help support your resistance efforts: strategic planning, action trainings, logistical support, we'd love to help. We'll see you in the streets.

Upcoming events in Washington, DC:

* January 29: Funk the Warming – Down with the Fossil Hawks
* February 13: Funk the War 9 Consulta & Bad Romance Weekend
Consulta @ 4pm, RSVP to funkthewar9@gmail.com for more info.
* March 19: Funk the War: Bad Romance
* March 20: Mass march against the war; Funk the War post-action meet-up

More information:
visit us on the interwebs at dc-sds.org
email: funkthewar9@gmail.com
phone: Sam 202-436-2075; Rachel 609-529-6415

More reports coming soon. Please email sds-website@googlegroups.com to get your report posted here.

===

Drexel SDS

Things at Drexel are just starting up again, and our day of action on campus was pretty successful. Members of SDS managed to fight the windy elements and distribute over 200 flyers! The goal of the flyers were to not only promote the campaign, but to increase awareness of the SDS presence at Drexel to hopefully gain membership. After distributing the flyers at Drexel, we heaeded over to Temple, where there was a fair of sorts. They were able to get a table and pass out flyers also. We're both small chapters that are in the process of starting up again, so I believe our small steps will pay off in time.

===

Diablo Valley College March 4th Rally and March for Public Education

On March 4th, 2010 the students of Diablo Valley College rallied together in the Student Union plaza to call for an end to fee hikes and budget cuts to the education system. The rally, which consisted of speakers, music, and dance performances, was energetic and covered with students holding picket signs showing slogans such as “rise up against fee hikes” and “fund education not imperial occupation”. Speakers included college professors, the president of the faculty union, students, and community organizers. The rally of approximately 200 students was followed by a march around campus, with stops in the Liberal Arts quad, the main Quad, and continuing through the corridors of many buildings. They called for students to come out of their classes and join the movement to save public education. Following the march, students and others filled an 84 seat community bus across the street from DVC, heading into San Francisco for the central regional rally at 5pm.

Over the time of our rally we probably got around 1.200 people to come in and out of our rally with the consideration of classes starting and ending. The spreading of the message overall well.

===

In Chicago there was a forceful protest of over 250 at the University of Illinois-Chicago who came out to defend education and fight for fair contracts. Chanting "Chop from the top!" and "Whose university? Our university!", students, members of SEIU Local 73, the Graduate Employees Organization, and faculty joined in unison against the administration placing the budget crisis on their backs. Earlier in the day featured a forum by several professors speaking on the budget crisis, followed by a rally and march through the campus to the administrator’s building, and closed with a soup kitchen provided by SEIU to demonstrate for a fair contract.

"This is the first step toward more militant actions," says Kait McIntyre, a student at UIC and member of Chicago SDS. "Today we showed that you can't put this on the backs of students and workers, you can't cut our diversity centers without a fight."

Tuscaloosa SDS at the University of Alabama has been playing a big role in offering support to drivers of the school's shuttle buses, the Crimson Ride, as they fight for a living wage. Despite joining Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1208 last May, the drivers have been unable to get a fair contract with First Transit, a corporation notorious for unfair labor practices. In January, students in SDS began riding the buses to talk to passengers about the drivers' struggle and collecting petition signatures to present to University president Dr. Witt and First Transit. Encountering overwhelmingly positive support, the students also began an online petition as well to reach out to national supporters including other SDSers across the country, collecting hundreds of signatures urging Dr. Witt and First Transit to negotiate with the drivers to give them job security, a living wage, and benefits as well as respect on the job.

After hearing of student support, First Transit agreed to negotiate on February 18, and so Tuscaloosa SDS and the Network to Fight for Economic Justice set up a national call-in day for the day before the negotiations. Despite hundreds of calls, Dr. Witt said that the negotiations were not in his control and he said he would not make a statement about them. Once again, negotiations stalled when drivers were offered an insulting 17 cent raise. In order to put more pressure on their employer, Crimson Ride drivers decided to strike. Students made signs and stood beside the drivers on the picket line starting at 5am on March 1st. Later in the school day, they handed out flyers to students and urged them not to get on the few scab buses that were running or the scab vans driven by university office employees after Dr. Witt called them to drive under threat of job termination. Students also boarded these scab vehicles briefly to talk to drivers and pass out flyers to passengers. After a few hours of striking, First Transit agreed to come back to the negotiating table. Though the drivers will be back at work on March 2nd, students will be keeping up the pressure on Dr. Witt as the negotiations begin and ask that their supporters in solidarity with the Crimson Ride drivers do the same.

Call Dr. Witt at (205) 348-5103 and tell him that these drivers deserve a fair wage!

On March 4th, student groups and others across the country will be taking action to defend the right to education at all levels, from pre-K through 12, adult education, community colleges, to the university level. Budget cuts affect all, but especially the working class and oppressed nationality students that will be hit the hardest by further budget cuts that attack our right to education.

SDS supports the national call to action for actions on March 4th and is calling on all SDS chapters to take up the call to fight back and be a part of the nationwide resistance movement that is saying enough is enough – no more budget cuts on the backs of students and workers! While this country is continuing to spend millions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and giving our money to rich bankers, state universities are cutting scholarships for oppressed nationality and working students, and eliminating funding for women’s and cultural centers that focus on Black and Chican@ programming and education.

SDS works for the democratic transformation of education in this country through its national campaign, Student Power for Accessible Education. The goals of this campaign are:

1. Universal, free, equitably-funded schools at all levels
2. Schools run democratically by students, workers, teachers, and the
local community
3. Debt cancellation of all student loans
4. Affirmative action and a focus on anti-oppression to end all forms
of oppression in our schools and communities

We in SDS call on students across the country to stand up and take action against budget cuts at your university. Protest proposed budget cuts, sit-in at administrator or board of trustee meetings, call for walk-outs, host a teach-in, chalk or table on campus to educate your fellow students. Get out and make your voice heard against budget cuts and for accessible public education.

The national March 4th call states “Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions. Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.”

• To get involved, check out www.defendeducation.org
• To learn more about SDS, check out http://www.newsds.org
• To learn more about the SDS Student Power for Accessible
  Education campaign, email spfae@googlegroups.com for more information

Participating SDS Chapters:

1. SDS- UCLA
2. SDS- Tuscaloosa, AL
3. SDS- College Park, MD

]

4. Students for a Democratic Society, Animas, Durango, Coloardo
5. Students for a Democratic Society, Chicago
6. Students for a Democratic Society, College Park, University of Maryland
7. Students for a Democratic Society, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, California
8. Students for a Democratic Society, Gainesville Area
9. Students for a Democratic Society, Milwaukee
10. Students for a Democratic Society / Movement for a Democratic Society, Michigan State University
11. Students for a Democratic Society, Oklahoma
12. Students for a Democratic Society, Rochester
13. Students for a Democratic Society, Syracuse
14. Students for a Democratic Society, TFHS
15. Students for a Democratic Society, UNC-Asheville
16. Students for a Democratic Society, UNC-Chapel Hill
17. Students for a Democratic Society, UNC-Charlotte
18. Students for a Democratic Society, University of Houston
19. Students for a Democratic Society, University of Minnesota
20. Students for a Democratic Society, University of North Dakota
21. Students for a Democratic Society, University of Tuscaloosa
22. Students for a Democratic Society, West Chester, Pennsylvania

Confront the War Machine in the Nation's Capitol!

While the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is growing ever larger, the occupation of Iraq is still raging, nearing its seventh anniversary. With over 4,300 US soldiers and over 1.3 million Iraqi civilians estimated dead, something has to be done to stop this senseless slaughter.

This year Students for a Democratic Society will hold a national week of action March 15th to 20th where students will organize protests and direct actions at campuses across the country in opposition to the ongoing, brutal occupations.

The need for a vibrant anti-war movement has rarely been felt more than this very moment, while the United States drops trillions of dollars into unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the worst economic crisis in 80 years. Students are struggling to pay for school while tuition skyrockets, and states lose billions of dollars to two continuing occupations.

On Saturday, March 20th, SDS will participate in a massive National March & Rally in D.C. hosted by A.N.S.W.E.R. to finish the week of action with tens of thousands of people in the street!

We're calling on students and youth from across the country to join us the week of March 15-20th in demanding: Fund Education, Not Occupation!

For more information visit: http://sdsantiwar.wordpress.com/