Left Spot Student Movement Blog

Here is some excellent coverage of the March 20 student day of action against the war. It’s from Fight Back News Service.

SDS March 20 National Day of Action:
Thousands of students walk out, take to streets

By Josh Sykes

“Stop the war, yes we can! SDS is back again!” This was a popular chant heard around the country as students in high schools and colleges walked out of classes, held rallies, marches, teach-ins and other creative actions in response to the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) call for national coordinated student actions on March 20, the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. The call was put out by SDS groups that met at the School of the Americas protest last November, where 100 students from 20 campuses voted unanimously to make March 20 a national day of student action against the war. Those 20 schools quickly became 83, as colleges and high schools from the Northeast to the Midwest, from West Coast to the South, signed on to the call.

The call for action read, “We, students and young people here in the U.S., support the right of the Iraqi people to self-determination. We refuse to accept this new strategy to ‘expand the military,’ and reject any means the government may use to make these new troops materialize - whether through the implementation of a draft or the continued use of manipulative and deceptive recruitment techniques. We refuse to be subtle in our outcry against this war, we refuse to do nothing and be silent while people are killed in our name for profit for the rich and we refuse to be sent overseas in a war for oil.”

Kati Ketz of the University of North Carolina -Asheville SDS, one of the lead organizers for the national March 20 day of action, said, “It’s incredibly inspiring to see students taking up this call to action and organizing on a local level. Students are becoming united and organized across the country against the war, and we’re really going to see a new student movement emerge out of these actions.”

Veterans and Their Families Speak Out

SDS students at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa chanted, “What do we want? Troops Out! When do want it? Now!” as they rallied and marched. Corbin Martin, a veteran of the Iraq war who fought in the battle of An Nasiriyah said, “The American people, in 2006, made it clear that they want our troops out of Iraq, with their vote, yet President Bush will not listen. Instead President Bush has increased the number of troops and continues to do so. This is unacceptable. This is more than a failed policy; this is injustice.”

Martin said that his experiences in Iraq led him to oppose the war. People in the audience wept as Martin told them that, “After the battle of An Nasiriyah, my unit occupied a small farm community south of Baghdad. I learned to speak a little Arabic and had become relatively proficient with my translating book, so I was in charge of handling civilians that needed to come through our position. One day, an old Arabic woman drove up to our position. She was crying and walked right up to me speaking very fast. It took some time, but I finally realized what she was saying. She said that a helicopter had shot missiles at her town and her grandson was injured during the attack. I looked in the back of her car and saw the little boy sitting there. I walked over to the car with the boy’s grandmother. I still have nightmares about what I saw. One of the little boy’s arms and one of his legs were gone. All that remained were bloody stubs, wrapped in dirty rags. I ran over to my Staff Sergeant and told him about the boy and his grandmother. He told me to send them away, that the medical supplies were for us, not them. I am ashamed to say that I followed that order. I sent them away. I don’t know if that boy got help, but I pray every night that he did.”

In Rock Hill, South Carolina, students from the Winthrop University Socialist Student Union signed onto the call and led a rally of 100 students. Summer Lipford spoke about her son, Steven Sirko, who had been a medic in Iraq for exactly four months when he was killed in 2005 at the age of 20. Courtney Hunt, one of the organizers at Winthrop, said, “I underestimated the Winthrop student body. They aren’t as apathetic as I thought. It shows the students are looking for an outlet like this, and I want to provide it for them.”

In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers Against the War led a walkout and rally of 400 students “My son was a Rutgers graduate,” said Sue Niederer, speaking of her son, Ceth Dvorin, who died in Iraq. “My son went here. My son paid the ultimate sacrifice. He was 24 years old and he had just been married. And the recruiters were on this campus and all the other campuses around and they got him by their lies, deceit and deception.” During the march, protesters blocked traffic on southbound Route 18.

High Schools Join the Walkout

Numerous high schools came out to oppose the war on this historic day of action. In South Jersey, Cherry Hill High School East students held a rally to oppose the war. “Why are we spending billons of dollars on a war that doesn’t matter?” asked Lai Wo, 17, a Cherry Hill student. Over 300 high school students at Maria Carrillo walked out of classes in Santa Rosa, California, in one of the largest of the high school walkouts.

With chants of “No blood for oil - U.S. off Iraqi soil!” students from the University of North Carolina-Asheville SDS walked out and marched downtown, where they were joined by dozens of high school students who had walked out of Asheville High. “We’re letting people know that we don’t believe in this,” said Carla Michelle Moore, an Asheville High senior. “I don’t want to watch people go home in body bags.” Charla Schlueter, one of the organizers of the UNCA SDS walkout said, “Any great change that this country has seen, whether it has been in the workplace or in ending unjust wars, it has been achieved by the people taking to the streets and demanding it, not by the government suddenly realizing its own benevolent nature. Student movements have often been at the core of these changes.”

Many Raleigh, North Carolina high schools came out for March 20 to join with demonstrating students from North Carolina State University, including Enloe, Southeast Raleigh, Cary, Green Hope and Raleigh Charter High Schools.

Struggle Builds on the University Campuses

Many major universities from around the country participated in the day of action as the wave of protests swept every corner of the country. SDSers from Brown University in Rhode Island staged a die-in in downtown Providence in front of Textron Inc., a corporation contracted to manufacture helicopters, armored vehicles and munitions. Harvard University students held a candlelight vigil and read the names of Iraqi and American casualties. 500 students marched at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

At New York University, students held a rally called ‘Red Tuesday’ where students dressed in red to symbolize the human cost of the war held up giant banners reading “658,000,” representing both the Iraqi and U.S. casualties of the war.

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill SDS organized hundreds of students to walk out of classes and march through the streets. SDS members marched alongside the Black Student Movement and Student Action with Workers as they chanted antiwar slogans such as “Walk out! Resist! Carolina, raise your fist!” and blocked traffic. “The dead are our age,” said Tara Ilsley. “They’re in their 20s. What are we doing now? The war isn’t accomplishing anything. In my opinion, it’s become another Vietnam.” One sign at the protest read, “ACC Champs against the occupation.”

At the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, over 300 people came out, including clerical workers from the campus, community members and students. One clerical worker voiced solidarity with the growing student movement, saying, “If workers and students work together the sky is the limit!” Other speakers talked about the importance of ‘surge’ in the student movement - a reference to Bush’s plan for a ‘surge’ of 21,500 more troops to Iraq - noting the importance of escalating the movement in response to the escalation of the war. Protesters took to the streets, occupying a busy intersection for 20 minutes. They then took their energy to the campus, marching through, chanting, “Money for schools, not for war! Hands off Iraq!” and “Who is the terrorist? Bush is the terrorist!”

In Chicago, Students for Social Justice at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) led hundreds of students in the largest protest on campus since the start of the war. Sussan Navabi, an organizer from UIC, reported on the new student movement. When she said, “Let’s hear it for the students that walked out of classes today to protest this war,” the crowd roared its support. At the rally, Bill Ayers, a leader of SDS in the 1960s spoke to the assembled crowd. Ayers encouraged the current generation of student activists to see the impact they are having, telling them, “Students today are inspired by what we did in the 1960s, but then feel they can’t compare. But the largest anti-war rally I ever attended in Chicago was in March 2003 when the invasion of Iraq occurred.” Nearby Wright College organized the first ever anti-war rally on their campus, with 30 students. Two Iraqi women students spoke, calling for troops out now. Students from both schools joined thousands of others marching in downtown Chicago.

Build the Student Movement - Build SDS!

A great deal of the momentum for the March 20 day of action was built by the 27 schools, mainly on the West Coast, who held student strikes and walkouts on Feb. 15. Momentum is building, and as the war drags on into its fifth year we are seeing a new wave of student activism emerge. A national student movement is a necessary weapon against Bush and the right wing. Building the newly emerging Students for a Democratic Society is a major component to building a strong anti-war movement.

The following press release was received from New York Students for a Democratic Society (SDS):

SDS Occupies Recruiting Station in Manhattan

At noon, Monday, March 12, 2007, nearly 100 students from area universities marched to the armed forces recruiting station on 157 Chambers Street. Twenty-three members of Students for a Democratic Society entered and occupied the recruiting station shutting down recruitment activity for nearly two hours. Outside dozens more protesters supported those being arrested with chants including, “Troops out now,” “No justice, no peace. U.S. out of the Middle East,” and “Stop the war. Yes we can. SDS is back again.” Member of Pace University SDS, Uruj Sheikh said, “The fourth anniversary of the occupation of Iraq is in one week. Billions of dollars are being spent and hundreds of thousands have been murdered. Military recruitment has been systematically deceptive and we as students, as targets of recruitment, say something must be done to stop the war aboard and at home.” Protester Rakshan Kateeb, sophomore at Pace University said, “The action was successful in that we are building up to the big mobilizing actions at the end of this week and the continued actions that will end this war.” Visiting on Spring break from the University in Central Florida, SDS member, Matt De Vlieger said, “This demonstration was empowering and necessary. We need to step up our resistance to the war against Iraq and U.S. imperialism. As the war escalates, so does our resistance.” Jessica Rapchik, member from Antioch College SDS in Ohio said, “It was really encouraging to be there locking arms with our brothers and sisters who used civil disobedience for something they believe in.” Jail solidarity is being held across from New York State court on 100 Centre Street.

Contact:
Matt De Vlieger: 954.536.7461
Uruj Sheikh: 201.407.8670

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!

From Fight Back News: (see link for photos)

‘Closed for Business’
NC Students Arrested at Anti-War Sit-In

By Kosta Harlan

Chapel Hill, NC - Six students were arrested at Congressman David Price’s office Feb. 17 for holding a sit-in against the Iraq war. 40 people held a picket line outside while the students locked arms and occupied the office, demanding that Price vote against Bush’s Iraq war supplemental funding bill and oppose any aggression, including military action or sanctions, against Iran. Similar actions are taking place across the country in a campaign of pressure on Congress to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

David Price voted against going to war in 2002, but only after he was forced to take a stand by the pressure from protests, petitions and an office occupation by students that led to three arrests. Since then, Price has repeatedly stated he has always been opposed to the war, but like many other Democrats, refuses to take any effective action to end it. Specifically, Price says he will not vote to cut off war funding as this would “not support the troops.”

A statement from the organizers of the protest, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), said:

“The Democratic Party won the 2006 midterm elections on the basis of mass opposition to the war. Now, three months later, they are betraying the anti-war mandate handed down by the people on November 7th and escalating this criminal war, which has already resulted in the deaths of over 650,000 Iraqis and 3,000 young Americans. Any politician who claims to be against the war has to prove it. We demand concrete, immediate, effective action - not lukewarm resolutions about “phased withdrawal” or “troop redeployment.” We want all funding cut off and the troops out NOW, and we will hold the politicians’ feet to the fire until the will of the people is met!”

Inside the office, David Price’s aides talked to the student protesters, took notes during the discussion and asked questions. When the students refused to leave without a guarantee that Price would vote against funding for the Iraq war, the aides called the police. Within 30 minutes the police began to haul away the students, one at a time. Meanwhile a banner that read, “Closed for business” was unfurled from the roof of Price’s office while protesters on the picket line chanted loudly in support of the detained protesters.

Alisan Fathalizadeh was reading the SDS statement to the press and Price’s aides when Chapel Hill police broke her lock with the other activists and handcuffed her. It was Fathalizadeh’s first time being arrested at a protest. Asked how she felt about the demonstration afterwards, she said, “This is the least we can do. It’s nothing compared to all the anguish and suffering that people in Iraq are dealing with, the people who are seeing others die everyday.”

Fathalizadeh continued, “We are fed up with the system - and with the old tactics. We’ve petitioned, we’ve done rallies; we’ve even had members of the community go directly to Price and talk to him, to express our concerns in a more ‘civil’ manner. But this demonstration shows how much we are fed up with what’s going on. It’s horrible that it’s come down to this, but it shows how big the problem is and how it needs to be changed now. We won’t wait any longer.”

All six students were released on bail and are scheduled to appear in court on March 26 at 9:00 a.m. in Hillsborough.

In the meantime, UNC-Chapel Hill SDS and antiwar activists in the area plan to increase the pressure on David Price and other elected officials until they respond to the people’s demands.

From Fight Back News:

California: Anti-war Protests Escalate

By Chapin Gray and Kati Ketz

What began as a student strike to protest the war in Iraq quickly escalated on Feb. 15, as over a thousand students at the University of California-Santa Barbara took to the streets and completely shut down California Highway 217 for over two hours. After a standoff with law enforcement and the arrest of two protesters, the crowd marched back to campus and demonstrated in front of the chancellor’s office to confront university officials about the school’s involvement with the war effort.

UCSB students put out the call for the student strike against the war - “No school, no consumption, no business as usual.” Over 25 other high schools and universities held actions as well, walking out of classes, staging ‘die-ins’ and holding rallies to demand an end to the occupation.

“I didn’t have much faith in this community in terms of breaking away from the apathy in order to bring, not only consciousness, but change; however, I was completely proven wrong,” said Nicole Borba, an student at UCSB who participated in the strike. “Over 1000 students at UCSB and 26 campuses across the nation took action to stop this war. We took back our voice as students and gave that voice form.”

This was the largest antiwar demonstration at USCB since the 1970s. Students there plan on organizing another student strike and rally on March 17 and other universities across the nation are taking up the call put out by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to mobilize against the war on March 20, the 4th anniversary of the war in Iraq.

Reprinted from Fight Back News (see photos on original site too):

Student Protest Shuts Down the Minutemen at UCLA

By Eric Gardner

Los Angeles, CA - Chanting, “What do we want? Legalization! When do we want it? Now!” a group of over 200 University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) students and community members gathered outside of a campus lecture hall where Carl Braun, executive director of the California Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was scheduled to speak, Feb. 6.

The rally was organized by members of UCLA’s Moviemento Estudantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) chapter, the Association of Raza Graduate Students and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) along with a number of other student and community groups. It had originally been called to denounce the vigilante Minutemen and protest the presence of their statewide leader at the university. As news of the protest spread, the university administration - clearly fearing a repeat of the incident that took place at Columbia University last fall, where a group of students disrupted a talk by the Minutemen and ultimately forced them to leave - cancelled Braun’s invitation, citing security concerns.

While the right wing on campus has attempted to label the events of the evening as a violation of the Minutemen’s rights, the protesters emphasized that this was not an issue of ‘freedom of speech.’ Demonstrators from the whole range of participating groups were clear: They were not denouncing a mere opinion group.

“It’s a human rights violation, what these people are doing,” said Cynthia Flores of UCLA MEChA. “If [the Minutemen] aren’t assassins, I don’t know what they are.” Erika Coronado, from the Raza Graduate Student Association, described the Minutemen as paramilitaries. “We know that this organization is the ignorant byproduct of a greater power structure that seeks to exploit our people, that benefits from seeing our people earning miserias, earning crumbs. And still they deport us, and still they separate our families? No. We will not stand for that. We are on our land and we will not be kicked off,” Coronado said.

“Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion,” read a statement about the event by the UCLA SDS chapter. “Like Hitler in pre-Nazi Germany, the Minutemen attempt to demonize foreign-born poor people, blaming ‘illegals’ for society’s problems.”

Between the speeches, many took up the chant of, “We didn’t cross the border - the border crossed us!”

The general mood at the rally was one of victory. Organizers felt that by organizing a protest they were able to prevent a man who is considered by many to be morally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of undocumented workers from spreading his message on their campus. “I hope that students at other schools will look at what we accomplished here as an example,” said Gurujiwan Khalsa of UCLA SDS, “just as we were inspired by the students at Columbia University.”

Reprinted from Fight Back News:

North Carolina:
Students Rally Against Anti-Arab Hate Crime

By Staff

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 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapters at University of North Carolina-Asheville and UNC Chapel Hill.

The three Palestinian students at Guilford College were attacked and beaten by fifteen Guilford football players on Jan. 20. The victims, Faris Khadar, Osama Sabbah and Omar Awartani, were residence neighbors with the assailants and had no history of violence. They were kicked and beaten with fists, bricks and brass knuckles, while being called ‘terrorists’ and ‘sand n___’ among other racial slurs. One received nerve damage in his hand, another a fractured nose, and the third a fractured jaw, according to the students’ attorney. Only five of the fifteen alleged assailants were arrested.

Following the brutal attack, Guilford students took it upon themselves to organize a mass walk-out in protest of the attack and to call for justice. Bryan Dellinger, one of the student organizers, explained how the unplanned protest came together.

“There were about eight core people who organized the walk-out,” said Dellinger. “It was on the 25th of January, and around 300 students total walked out in protest. It was an opportunity for everyone - students, faculty and community members - for people to share their thoughts and feelings about what happened. It was a really positive experience.”

A week later, SDS chapters and other progressive organizations at UNC-Asheville and UNC-Chapel Hill were quick to mobilize local actions on their campuses. Calling for an end to anti-Arab attacks and discrimination, SDSers handed out flyers, discussed ways to show solidarity to Guilford students and demand action from the administration.

“We will not tolerate violence or bigotry in our communities,” said Haley Koch, of the UNC-Chapel Hill Solidarity with Palestine through Education and Action at Carolina. “We want to send a clear message of compassion, solidarity and inclusion to marginalized communities in North Carolina, the United States and across the globe.”

As of yet, there still has been no timely response of the Guilford administration in determining whether the attack qualifies as a hate crime or not. The case is being tried in the Guilford Judicial Board and may take several weeks longer for results. Greensboro police have stated that they dropped their investigation due to supposed lack of evidence.

Students in North Carolina and across the country have voiced strong opposition to attacks on oppressed nationalities. In the wake of 911 and the ongoing Iraq War, anti-Arab hate crimes and Islamophobia have risen throughout the U.S. and must be countered with mass mobilization, education and protest. Swift justice is needed for those who are the victims of such oppression.

If you would like to help, please call or contact the Guilford College president’s office at 336-316-2146 to demand a swift and thorough investigation.