Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Since early 2016, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) has been at the forefront of protests to stop Trump. Chapters and affiliates led protests from coast to coast, even helping to completely shut down his speaking event in Chicago. This summer, we attended and spoke at the March on the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. From the beginning, SDS has said that Trump’s agenda of bigotry, misogyny, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic attacks should not go unopposed.

Upon his election win, Clinton officially remarked that “We owe Trump an open mind”. The same rich politicians and corporate media pundits who told us that Trump could be defeated at the ballot box have offered no real solutions for how to stop his policy measures. Like in 2008, these politicians backed by Wall Street, bankers, and billionaires have proposed that we compromise, but SDS calls for students to mobilize.

We call upon students and all people to channel their anger into organizing, so we can defend our communities, and build sustainable movements independent of the political establishment that provides both Trump and Hillary as viable candidates.

On Inauguration Day, Jan 20th, SDS will hold a national student walkout, in alliance with many other student groups. We will disrupt operations on campuses everywhere. Whether it’s against segregation, deportation, or war, history shows that the fight for an education system based on peace, equality, and justice has always been spearheaded by students and youth, and never by the White House.

While we anticipate continued attacks on undocumented youth, we’ve already seen more deportations in the last eight years under President Obama than we’ve ever seen in US history. SDS has protested to end them every step of the way.

SDS will continue to fight for #EducationForAll and #LegalizationForAll. We will be joining the fight to establish sanctuary campuses everywhere.

We demand free tuition and equal access to education for Black, Chicano, Latino and specifically undocumented students. We demand sanctuary campuses everywhere, the preservation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and an end to deportations.

Demands:

1. Free tuition! Accessibility at all public institutions.
2. Affirmative action, the end of racist testing, and quotas for admissions of African-American, Chicano, Latino, Asian, and students from other oppressed groups who are underrepresented at our institutions.
3. Equal access to education for undocumented students, from tuition equity to financial aid.
4. Non-cooperation with Immigration Customs Enforcement agents.
5. Protection of students’ information from law enforcement agencies, including residency status, religious affiliation, and other information from educational records protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
6. Federal protection for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, regardless of any Supreme Court ruling.

Moreover, we demand a just and fair education system on the basis of a just and fair society: no more wars, no US intervention, no police crimes, and no deportations. We will continue to mobilize until a fair and just society is won.

• Stop Trump!
• Sanctuary for All!
• Legalization For All!
• Education for All!

#UnitedStates #ImmigrantRights #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #inauguration