No raids, no ICE!

On Saturday afternoon over 130 community members and SDSers marched and rallied against the recent I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raid in Asheville, where 57 residents of Buncombe County were arrested.

UNCA SDS hosted the 2008 action camp in Asheville this weekend, which involves a series of workshop grappling with questions surrounding SDS and race, gender, class, sexuality, and other aspects of power and oppression. We were all excited to march in solidarity against the inhuman treatment of our neighborhood sisters and brothers.

The march began at the vance monument and weaved through downtown. Many community members joined in along the way. We chanted “If you want peace, raise up your fist! If you want justice, you must resist!” and “No raids, no ICE! We ain’t about to ask you twice!” The march concluded at Pritchard Park where people voiced their outrage concerning the racist federal policy that devastates families in our community.

Myths and Realities of Immigration

MYTH: Immigrants take jobs and opportunity away from Americans
REALITY: A recent national study found that in the last 15 years immigration did not hurt job opportunities for Americans. Most immigrant workers are concentrated in industries that are typically the most dangerous and lowest paying jobs. In NC, Duke University found “that since the mid-1990s, industrial sectors have been flagging largely because of…free trade measures passed by the US. Because of a combination of plant closings, cost-cutting, consolidation…, North Carolina lost 100,000 jobs in the textile industry and 70,000 more in the apparel industry.”

MYTH: Immigrants are breaking the law
REALITY: Entering the US without documents is a civil offense. Labeling immigrants as lawbreakers penalizes the individual rather than recognizing the larger economic and political forces at play. Each year, only 10,000 visas are available to low-skilled immigrant workers, while the market hires 450,000 low- skilled immigrant workers a year. Corporate and even local businesses benefit from this ready flow of undocumented, low-wage workers.

MYTH: Immigrants don’t pay taxes
REALITY: Immigrants pay taxes in the form of income, property, and sales taxes at the federal and state level. They pay the same real estate taxes and sales taxes as everyone else. The Social Security Administration has estimated that undocumented immigrants contribute $6-7 billion in SS funds that they will never be able to claim. In the Asheville area they spent $214.5 million in 2004, thus creating 2300 jobs.

MYTH: Immigrants come here to take welfare
REALITY: Immigrants come here to work and reunite with family members. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and most other public benefits. One study found that immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay $90 billion in taxes, and use about $5 billion in community services.
MYTH: Immigrants don’t want to learn English
REALITY: The NC Community College System reported an enrollment of over 37,000 adult students in English as a Second Language courses in 2003, not including church and community classes. Research shows that within 10 years, 75% of adult immigrants will speak English well. Nationwide, demand for English classes exceeds the supply, while key adult education funding continues to be cut.

Information taken from: Justice for Immigrants—Learn the Issues, The Washington Post/Pew Study on Immigration, Duke University Markets & Management Studies Program & Center for Participatory Change

The 2008 National Convention

Latest Convention Updates:

This summer, from July 24-28, join SDSers from around the country for our Third National Convention! SDS has grown in numbers, in organizational capacity, and in prominence over the past year, and it’s time to celebrate those successes and decide how to move forward as an organization. We left the second convention, and the subsequent ratification process, with several excellent instruments that have served us quite well, including many of the National Working Groups, the SDS News Bulletin, and more.

We still do not have a formal national structure yet, however, and it’s time to ask, once again, how do we organize ourselves? How do we make SDS as horizontal, diverse, and accessible as possible? How do we spread out national work and empower more people to take on leadership? How can we better provide support for chapters around the country? In short, how can we become a truly effective organization that can seriously challenge the power structure of this country, and work towards building a truly democratic society?

Join us in College Park, MD to discuss these questions and more, to build skills, to network, and build our organization! We’re working on travel stipends, so don’t let a lack of funds get in the way of participating in this important event!

Folks are encouraged to arrive on Thursday, July 24th and depart Monday, July 28th. Although all decision making will start July 25th and end the evening of July 27th, there will be social events and good times July 24th and possibly an action July 28th.

Summer Events!

This summer UNCA SDS will be hosting Action Camps from August 15th-17th! Please join our google group if you want to help organize!

Also, the SDS National Convention is coming up! Several of us are heading up to College Park July 24th-27th!

Heath Shuler at UNCA

Students and community members organized a demonstration at a town-hall meeting of North Carolina congressperson, Heath Shuler at the University of North Carolina at Asheville March 26^th. Shuler visited UNC-Asheville March 26^th to hold a “town hall meeting”, but was met with protest as members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness (HOLA) interrupted his talk to demand a stop to repression against immigrants and an immediate end to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq.

Shuler took office in the 2007 Congressional elections. The election resulted in the Democratic Party taking the majority in Congress. The November 2007 election was understood to be a referendum on the war and the backwards Republican agenda. People voted this way because they are sick of the war, spearheaded by Bush and the Republicans, which is bringing so much misery to the people of Iraq and working people in the United States.

Many people in Western North Carolina had high hopes for Shuler, but since his election he has done nothing to bring the troops home from Iraq. In fact, he has refused to vote against cutting funding for Bush’s war, which has been the main demand from the anti-war movement on congress since the election. Not only that, but he has since introduced a bill that would further persecute undocumented workers, the “SAVE act.” This act would further militarize the boarders by obtaining idle equipment from the Department of Defense including HUM-Vs, armaments, and surveillance equipment. The SAVE act would also require employers to investigate the immigration status of employees through an “E-Verify” mechanism. Everybody knows that this would further enable greedy bosses to squeeze their employees through the threat of blackmail. Heath Shuler has failed through inaction and excuses to end the illegal occupation of Iraq. He has now actively taken it upon himself to make life harder for immigrants. It has become increasingly clear that Shuler has no interest in challenging the status quo. The people of Western North Carolina elected Heath Shuler expecting at least some relief, but instead go inaction on the war and attacks on immigrants. And that’s why UNCA’ Students for a Democratic Society and HOLA, Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness organized a demonstration at Shuler’s “town hall meeting” at UNCA

Members of UNCA SDS sat in the audience through Shuler’s talk. Shuler talked a lot about the day to day life of a congressperson and how committees work. Later he began to speak about Iraq and how he wouldn’t vote to stop funding the war because he didn’t want to abandon the troops. No one in the audience was buying his garbage. A woman’s voice could be heard from the back of the room saying, “It’s a war crime!” And it was clear that most in the room agreed with her statement. During the following question and answer period, where softball questions were selected by Shuler’s aides, HOLA entered the room carrying signs denouncing Shuler’s SAVE act, and the members of UNCA SDS in the audience stood up and revealed the t-shirts they had been wearing that said “NO WAR ON IMMIGRANTS, NO WAR ON IRAQ.”

The crowd was surprised at first, but then the protesters began getting thumbs up from the remaining audience. When the demonstration spilled out into the lobby HOLA and SDS were joined by a great many community members who were also fed up with Shuler’s behavior.

Written by Michael Graham

(images credited to: http://ashevilleontheground.blogspot.com/ )

UNCA Walked Out!

Over 60 students walked out of classes here at UNC-Asheville on Thursday, March 20th, to answer the national call to action from Students for a Democratic Society. They were joined by members of the community, as well as members of the WNC Peace Coalition, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, No More Victims, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization for a march downtown and a rally at Pack Square. These organizations made up the Asheville March 20 Coalition, organized by UNCA SDS. Leaders from all of these organizations spoke at the rally downtown.

Angela Denio spoke to the rally on behalf of UNCA SDS. In her speech to the assembled crowd she noted, “Almost 4000 American soldiers have died in this war. 1.2 million Iraqi people have died. Beyond this there is mass displacement- 4 million refugees.”

She also said, “59% of Americans think the United States should end the occupation of Iraq. And the majority of Iraqis definitely think the US should be out now. When will this government listen? The main thing that will make them hear–that will force them to leave–is when the heroic Iraqi national resistance beats them on the ground in Iraq, because the resistance is already winning… but the other part is when the people of the U.S. get organized and demand that something changes, and in the word of Malcolm X, are willing to do whatever is necessary to see justice!”

Ninety schools accross the country particpated in the week of action.
http://www.newsds.org/march20/

WALKOUT! March 20th!

Also, SDSers will be holding a brief question & answer session in the dorms about the Iraq war and the nationwide walkout students have called for at over 75 universities!

Tuesday 03/18
Founders Hall - 6:30pm (2nd floor lobby)
Mills Hall - 7:00pm (2nd floor lobby)
Governors Hall - 7:30pm (1st floor lounge)

Wednesday 03/19
South Ridge - 6:30pm (1st floor lobby)
West Ridge - 7:00pm (1st floor lobby)
Governors Village - 7:30pm (Ashe Hall lounge)

Jason Hurd from IVAW, UNC-A and UofA SDS members arrested

Remember the Counter Recruitment Action that took place at UNCA a few weeks ago?

Last Friday, a member from UNCA SDS, Jeremy Miller and IVAW member Jason Hurd traveled to Tuscaloosa, AL to stage a similar mock raid at the University of Alabama. They, along with two members from Tuscaloosa SDS were arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct”.

Hurd, along with the members of Tuscaloosa- SDS and Asheville-SDS, were detained for over four hours on Friday, Feb. 29th, before being taken away in handcuffs to Tuscaloosa City Jail. During interrogation, UA-PD insinuated the protesters were terrorists and threatened to hand the case over the F.B.I. They bail was set for a total of $2,500. The non-students were also charged with trespassing and are now banned from university property.

The University has already released a statement condemning the action, claiming it “may have been alarming to those in the area” and that they “will not tolerate behavior that mimics a true emergency on our campus.” Several news sources have reported that the University plans on launching an investigation against the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, a registered student organization.

“If you are one of those people who was frightened, you had a glimpse of what it feels like to be an Iraqi man, woman or child who experience things like this and worse everyday,” said J VanBolt, a UA student who witnessed the mock raid. “I think the one thing everyone- whether you agree with what SDS did or not- can take from this is that people don’t like to be scared and have their lives interrupted! Try and imagine what it would be like if things like this happened to you everyday, and instead of just watching you were actually involved. That is life for people in Iraq.”

We, Tuscaloosa-SDS, condemn the actions of the University, which we feel was not only exaggerated, but violated our rights to free speech. We want all charges dropped. We want an apology from the University for their attempts to equate protesting with terrorism and violence.We refuse to be intimidated and harassed on our own campus!

We are urging supporters to contact the University President, Dr. Witt, to let him know UA’s actions will not be tolerated! We have a right to protest the unjust and illegal occupation of Iraq. We have a right to make students aware of the immense suffering the U.S. occupation is causing the Iraqi people. Please help us put pressure on the University to DROP ALL CHARGES!

PROTEST IS NOT A CRIME! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ!!!!!!!!

For more information, contact
Jenae Stainer, 661.477.4333
Chapin Gray, 251.605.7780

To call the University to demand that all charges should be dropped immediately: 205-348-5100

Iraq Body Count

Iraq Body Count is a display of over 3,700 white flags on the UNCA quad to represent the number of American soldiers that have died in the Iraq war thus far (since we ordered the flags, unfortunately even more casualties have occurred).

(more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24156468@N06/sets/72157603986371022/ )

IVAW Valentine’s Day Dance

We hope you will join us this Thursday at 7pm, in the Highsmith Union Grotto:

PS - There will be contra dancing!

Counter Recruitment Action

We, along with Iraq Veterans Against The War participated in a demonstration depicting a house raid scenario in the Highsmith University Union at UNCA Tuesday afternoon. This was in response to Military Recruiters coming to our campus.

(credit: John Fletcher)
More pictures from the Citizen Times can be found here.

We also have some footage that can be seen here:

Joint Statement on Counter-Recruitment Action of Tuesday Feb 5th, 2008

The members of UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Asheville chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) oppose the unjust and immoral war being waged by the U.S. government against the people of Iraq. We oppose this war for many reasons. In particular, we oppose the war because it violates the sovereignty of Iraq’s people and their national right to self-determination. Furthermore, the U.S. government forces service members to fight an illegal war. We recognize that the military-industrial complex, corporate profiteering and imperialist designs fuel this war on an oil-rich and strategically important region.

In order to voice our opposition, UNCA SDS and IVAW-Asheville chose to set up a counter-recruitment table across from the U.S. Marine Corps table. During this time, we staged a mock raid involving members of SDS and IVAW. Two IVAW members and two SDSers stormed the Student Union and seized three students playing the roles of Iraqi civilians. The “soldiers” were dressed in combat gear and the “civilians” were dressed in traditional Iraqi garb. The “soldiers” shouted commands (with profanity) to the “civilians” to get on the ground, forced them down, interrogated them, zip-tied their hands, placed sacks over their heads, and took them away. IVAW-Asheville president Jason Hurd said, “This scenario is based entirely in reality. It is based on the first-hand experience of Mike Robinson, a fellow IVAW member and participant in this action. I also spoke personally with many Iraqi citizens during my tour who explained that raids like this one occur daily in occupied Iraq.”

The guerrilla theater that took place on the 5th is in no way meant as an attack on individual military members, but rather as a statement against war and militarism as well as an indictment against the criminal regime here at home. Our government exploits U.S. soldiers who come predominantly from working-class and oppressed communities. Only the rich profit from this war. Therefore, we express solidarity with all U.S. service members; we see them as our natural allies in the fight against all oppression.

Unfortunately, we realize that our government trains military recruiters to use deception as a means to maintain America’s wars. For instance, military recruiters downplay the probability that new recruits will serve in combat. Furthermore, recruiters over-emphasize college money, job training, and other veterans benefits to gloss over every service member’s primary function: to fight and win America’s wars. Recruiters conveniently leave out details concerning combat service which may frighten potential recruits; instead, recruiters emphasize fun, travel and adventure.

In the real world, veterans age 20-24 are twice as likely as their peers to be unemployed. Only 5.6% of returning veterans use the college money available to them. On average, these funds only cover half the cost of public university tuition or one-fifth the cost at a private college. 75% of African Americans and 67% of Latinos experience racism while serving. 28% of women report being raped while in the service, and many rapes go completely unreported. Only 12% of males and 6% of females make use of skills they learn in the military. Finally, U.S. war veterans are twice as likely to kill themselves as ordinary civilians.

SDS and IVAW want all U.S. troops out of Iraq NOW! We realize the futility and criminality of this ongoing occupation and we see the correlation between high-levels of violence and U.S. presence in Iraq. SDS member and participant in Tuesday’s action, Angela Denio said, “This war is a complete injustice perpetrated against the people of Iraq. The anti-war movement must rise in solidarity with the Iraqi people and their just struggle for national liberation.” From this point forward, whenever any military recruiter sets foot on UNCA campus, SDS and IVAW-Asheville commit to countering their efforts by building a community movement that resists and disrupts war and militarism.

- UNCA SDS and IVAW-Asheville