Left Spot Student Movement Blog

On March 17 many students will join the huge and important March on the Pentagon. To follow up on our campuses to the momentum and energy from March 17th, there is a growing movement for a student day of action against the war on March 20th, the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Check out the website for the March 20 Student Day of Action Against the War.

There are already 28 schools (and counting!) that are planning actions on that day, including many SDS chapters as well as other anti-war student groups. With three weeks left to go until March 20, there is still plenty of time to plan an action on your campus and build it into something that can have a big impact.

The call for a March 20 student day of action originated at the SDS meeting that happened at the School of the Americas protest at Fort Benning, Georgia last November. There were about 100 students from 20 campuses there at that meeting. Many were from the South, but there were also students from other parts of the U.S. and from Canada there too. The meeting unanimously decided to organize for a student day of actions against the war on March 20.

We are at an important historical moment. The movement can make the leap, is making the leap, from protest to resistance. We will continue to protest the war, but that is not enough. The movement is stepping it up - getting out more broadly - while also stepping up to more direct action and advanced tactics to make it clear that we will do whatever we can to stop the war machine. This is an imperialist war that was built on lies. We must stop it and make sure the U.S. doesn’t now attack Iran too.

Historically students have played a leading and catalyzing role within the anti-war movement. The dramatic student strike and march against the war at UC-Santa Barbara on February 15th which took over a major highway for two hours (and the smaller but important actions that happened at other schools that day too) marked a turning point for the student anti-war movement. UC-Santa Barbara has set the standard. Now it’s up to the rest of us to build the student anti-war movement on campuses across the country.

March 20 is the next step. Check out the website. Organize an action on your campus. Email the March 20 clearinghouse to get your action listed on the website. Join with the 28+ campuses who are already signed up as of Feb. 27: (more are being added regularly)

1. UNC-Asheville Socialist Unity League of SDS: Walk-Out at 11:30, Rally, March Downtown
2. University of Alabama SDS: Rally at noon at the Denny Chimes
3. University of Minnesota Anti-War Organizing League (AWOL): Rally in front of Coffman Union, 12:00 pm
4. UIC Students for Social Justice (S4SJ-SDS): Walkout, Rally, Feeder March
5. UIC CAN/ISO
6. Rutgers R.A.W (Rutgers Against the War): Walk-Out and Rally at 1:30, Vietnam Memorial
7. UNC-Chapel Hill SDS: Walkout, Rally at the Pit 12pm, March
8. UNC-Charlotte SDS
9. George Mason University SDS: Die-In
10. Winthrop University Socialist Student Union (Winthrop, SC)
11. Elmhurst College SDS (Chicago)
12. Columbus, Ohio SDS
13. UCLA SDS: Speak-Outs on the 14-15th (Spring Break)
14. Western Illinois University MAAPJ:Rally 1pm Chandler Park (on the 24th)
15. Green Hope High School (Cary, NC)
16. Mt. Hebron High School (Baltimore, MD)
17. Wildlake High School (Columbia, MD)
18. Animas SDS Fort Lewis College (Durango, CO)
19. Macalester College Peace and Justice Committee(St. Paul, MN): Walk-Out
20. Georgia State University SDS
21. Kennesaw State University Campus Greens (Kennesaw, GA)
22. American University Community Action + Social Justice Coalition (DC)
23. SPAN (Student Peace Action Network): March 19 Actions
24. Auckland University Students for Justice in Palestine: Student Strike
25. Depaul DSAW/SDS
26. University of Chicago SDS
27. School of the Art Institute of Chicago SDS
28. Northeastern Illinois University CAN

Let’s make history!