The Struggle for Education Rights

UNCA SDS will be hosting Charla Schlueter, a leader in the stuggle for education rights at University of California, Los Angeles to speak on the occupations and the heroic struggles of students and workers to demand a right to education and to resist cuts and furlough days. Afterwards there will be a discussion about some of the ways groups and activists are fighting for education rights here in Asheville and ways to get involved!

Wednesday, March 24 at 7pm

RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=354544297167&ref=mf

SDS Social – January 27th

UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society Protest Afghanistan Surge

By Michael Graham | Fight Back! News, December 13, 2009

Asheville, NC – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a demonstration at the Federal Building here, Dec. 4, to protest the escalation of the Afghanistan War and to demand an immediate end to the occupation. This action was one of many nationally-coordinated events responding to the recently unveiled troop escalation. 

Speakers at the rally addressed topics that included the right of Afghanistan to determine its own future without foreign occupation, Hamid Karzai’s family ties to the heroin trade and the need to replace the imperialist system of the United States with a society that serves the needs of working and oppressed people.

Local SDS chair Sarah Buchner said, “We oppose the decision to escalate this failing war. The plan from the White House, to ‘surge’ more than 30,000 additional U.S. and NATO troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to prop up the illegitimate Hamid Karzai puppet government is an injustice, not only to the Afghan people, but to the American people as well. Every dollar spent on bombs and bullets to kill Afghans is money stolen from people here at home. We are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and trillions of dollars are being spent on this war while that money could instead be spent here on people’s needs.”

SDS member Pete McKelvey explained why thought it was important for students to stand in opposition to the imperialist war against the Afghan people, “What this escalation makes even more obvious is that the U.S. war in Afghanistan is more than a war, it’s an occupation. It’s increasingly important for students to take a stand because it was the youth vote that came out in strong favor of Obama. Clearly, the youth voice has earned the ear of the president. As the policies of the president drift further from his promises, students of this country are in an ideal position to use that voice and tell the president what needs to change.”

According to the call to action released by the national SDS antiwar working group, “We categorically reject U.S. wars, occupations and bombings of the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. The Afghan people have a right to self-determination, to control their own resources and take care of their own affairs. It is not the place of the U.S. to bomb Afghanistan into submission and control its destiny. The only way for Afghanistan to be free is for the bombings to halt and for all U.S. and NATO troops to leave the country immediately. We support the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for liberation and freedom from foreign occupation and domination.”

SDS member Josh Sykes said, “No amount of troops will be enough to stop the Afghan resistance to U.S. imperialism. The Afghan people, throughout their history, have made it clear that they will not allow foreign troops to ride roughshod over their homeland. They want what everyone wants: self-determination. They will fight until have they have national independence, and nothing less. The sooner the U.S.-NATO forces leave, the better.”

Press Release: DECEMBER 4th – Emergency Demonstration to Protest Escalation of Afghanistan War

UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society

http://www.unca.edu/sds | uncasds@gmail.com

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2009 

CONTACT: Katie Sue Cambell – (814) 482-0775, Jeremy Miller – (336) 710-0078

Emergency Demonstration to Protest Escalation of Afghanistan War

On Friday, December 4^that 5:30 PM, UNC-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society will hold an emergency demonstration with other students and members of the Asheville community in front of the Federal Building to protest the escalation of the Afghanistan War and to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation. This action is part of a nationally coordinated response to the escalation by Students for a Democratic Society.

Local SDS chair Sarah Buchner said, “We oppose the decision to escalate this failing war. The plan from the White House, to ‘surge’ more than 30,000 additional U.S. and NATO troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to prop up the illegitamate Hamid Karzai puppet government is an injustice, not only to the Afghan people, but to the American people as well. Every dollar spent on bombs and bullets to kill Afghans is money stolen from people here at home. We are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and trillions of dollars are being spent on this war while that money could instead be spent here on people’s needs.”

According to the call to action released by the national SDS antiwar working group, “We categorically reject U.S. wars, occupations, and bombings of the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The Afghan people have a right to self-determination, to control their own resources, and take care of their own affairs. It is not the place of the U.S. to bomb Afghanistan into submission and control its destiny. The only way for Afghanistan to be free is for the bombings to halt, and for all U.S. and NATO troops to leave the country immediately. We support the people of Afghanistan in their struggle for liberation and freedom from foreign occupation and domination.”

SDS member Josh Sykes said, “No amount of troops will be enough to stop the Afghan resistance to U.S. imperialism. The Afghan people, throughout their history, have made it clear that they will not allow foreign troops to ride rough-shod over their homeland. They want what everyone wants: self-determination. They will fight until have they have national independence, and nothing less. The sooner the U.S.-NATO forces leave, the better.”

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DEC3-AFGHANISTA-PRESSRELEASE-FINAL

RSVP to our Facebook Event!

Education Rights Funeral for the EARN Scholarship: Video, Photos and Press Wrap-up

Here are links to news coverage of the event, to which we will add as more articles become available:

“Students hold funeral for scholarship benefitting low-income people” – Asheville Citizen-Times
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091110/LOCAL/91110030

“National Day of Protests for Education Rights” – Fight Back! News
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2009/11/13/national-day-protests-education-rights

November 10: Funeral for the EARN scholarship

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 4, 2009
CONTACT: Katie Sue Cambell – (814) 482-0775, Sarah Buchner – (828) 674-4928

Students to hold funeral for scholarship benefitting low-income people

On November 10, 2009, Students for a Democratic Society will hold a “funeral for the EARN scholarship” on UNC-Asheville’s campus as part of a national day of action for education rights called by the newly-formed Network to Fight for Economic Justice.

Students will assemble at 12:20 PM in front of the dining hall to begin the event. Sarah Buchner, the chair of the UNC-Asheville chapter of SDS, explained what will happen. “We’ll have pallbearers carry our mock-casket, with a few stops along the way, to the final destination on the quad where a tombstone will remain for the rest of the week to mark this scholarship’s short life struck down by the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.” SDS will also circulate a petition at the protest, collecting signatures that it intends to take to the North Carolina General Assembly.

The EARN scholarship, cut at the state-level due to ‘budget shortfalls’, was received by 10,700 students across North Carolina and was for persons that made less than 200% over the poverty line. The EARN scholarship was particularly for working class and low-income students.

According to a petition circulated by SDS about the scholarship, “Today, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, when millions are being put out of work and even out of their homes, we cannot let working class and low income students be put out of school while the government spends trillions on wars and occupations all over the world and while the rich continue to get bailed out here at home. We believe that education, like housing, a job, or healthcare, is necessary to live in the United States, and is therefore a right for all people, not a privilege only for those who can afford it.”

SDS member Viviana Moreno said, “We want to send a message to North Carolina General Assembly that youth, students, and workers will not stand for this. Working people will not foot the bill for this economic crisis which has been created by the rich. We don’t want the budget balanced on our backs.”

“The U.S. is fighting two unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, costing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Why can’t we use some of that money here at home to take care of people’s needs?” commented SDS member Angela Denio.

Students for a Democratic Society is demanding that universities “chop from the top” by cutting the pay of top administrators who make more than $100,000 rather than cutting scholarships and programs that benefit low-income and working class people.

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EARN-pressrelease-FINAL1.doc

Gender Dance Revolution

~featuring DJ Anwar Brown

You can win fabulous prizes for:

“best dressed”
“best moves” and
“most genderific”

• Date: Saturday, October 24, 2009
• Time: 8:00pm – 11:00pm
• Location: UNCA Alumni Hall (In the bottom of the Highsmith Student Union)

Party starts at 8pm, but we’ll be bending genders all night!

*come as you are, from fabulous to frumpy–bend your own gender or someone else’s!

Check out the facebook event!!!

Come out for this radical gender-bender dance party sponsored by UNCA Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Alliance!

November 10 – National Day of Student Action for Education Rights

On October 3 in Chicago, IL, the We Say Fight Back! Conference drew hundreds of trade unionists, community organizers, leaders of housing struggles, students, and many others to talk about how to fight back against the savage cutbacks now afflicting workers, students, the poor, women, and oppressed minorities across the United States.

A student and youth workshop was held with folks from campuses and communities across the US. We passed a resolution calling for a national protest for education rights on November 10, 2009 (text of the resolution below). The purpose of the day of action is to help build the movement to demand education as a fundamental right, not a privilege. While we are all facing particular battles in our local situations, having a unified day of action can help us spark a broader movement by demonstrating our solidarity with all those struggling for education rights.

We are meeting via conference call weekly to help make this action a success. If you are interested in getting involved, sign up for the listserv to get call information!

UNC-Asheville students: Come to SDS meetings, Wednesdays @ 8pm in the Highsmith Boardroom (HU235)

Students Protest 8 Years of War in Afghanistan

The following article is from Fight Back! News:

By Kati Ketz | October 10, 2009

In a day of action organized by Students for a Democratic Society, October 7 saw dozens of protests across the country against the Afghanistan war on the 8th anniversary of the U.S. invasion. Students marched, conducted die-ins and skits, and some were arrested as they demanded money be spent at home on education and healthcare, instead of two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

UNCA SDS’s response to the elimination of the EARN Scholarship

This statement is in response to the elimination of the North Carolina EARN Scholarship.
by UNC at Asheville Students for a Democratic Society

Description of the Scholarship:
EARN was established by the 2007 North Carolina General Assembly to provide grants to eligible students to enable them to obtain an education beyond the high school level at community colleges, public universities, and private colleges and universities in North Carolina without incurring student loans during the first two years of their postsecondary education.