Chapel Hill, NC – Eight students are risking arrest by sitting in at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) administration headquarters, April 17, demanding that Chancellor Moeser take a stand in opposing the production of UNC clothing by sweatshop labor. Earlier, 50 students, faculty and staff rallied outside to show their solidarity with the sit-in. The protesters, members of the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition – a coalition of 20 student groups at UNC – are demanding that UNC cut ties with sweatshops and adopt the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP).

Students and Workers Blast Censorship at UNC-Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC – A delegation of fifteen city and university workers, student activists and union organizers delivered a petition of over 500 signatures on Oct. 26 to the University of North Carolina System General Administration, charging that workers’ voices were being silenced at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The petition was addressed to Erskine Bowles, who is president of the UNC general administration, and who is responsible for all 16 state universities in North Carolina.

Chapel Hill, NC – Campus and city workers, union organizers and students held a press conference at the university here, Sept. 13, to denounce University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill administration’s censorship of an article on collective bargaining. In June, an article that described the growing statewide movement for collective bargaining rights was cut from the University Gazette, an official publication distributed to all UNC workers. The North Carolina Public Sector Workers Union, UE Local 150, organized the press conference to demand the article be published.

Asheville, NC – “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” Over 40 students with the Justice at Smithfield campaign began their countrywide tour here with a spirited picket of a local Ingles supermarket. Ingles stocks Smithfield products from the notorious Smithfield hog processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. The Justice at Smithfield campaign will visit several major cities in the United States in a tour to raise awareness and build solidarity between trade unions, community organizers, student activists, and the Smithfield Tar Heel plant workers.

On Sept. 1, 2008 the Republican Party will hold its national convention at the Xcel Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They will be there to nominate John McCain for president, and justify the wars against – and occupations of – Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republicans will gather to celebrate economic policies that have brought riches to the few and foreclosures, homelessness and unemployment to the many. Republican delegates will cheer the anti-immigrant attacks as party leaders try to use racism to cement their reactionary supporters. We can also expect attacks from the podium on women’s rights to control our own bodies and attacks on gay marriage.

Los Angeles, CA – On the April 17, a coalition of campus peace groups led by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a protest against the U.S. war on Iraq. After a spirited rally at the site of the 1969 assassination of Black Panthers Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, the crowd marched through the campus, chanting the slogan, “Iraq for Iraqis! Troops out now!” before symbolically 'seizing' the student union building. Once inside, onlookers gawked in astonishment or gave the thumbs-up, as the deafening sound of anti-imperialist chanting, accompanied by the stomps, whistles, cheers and claps of the crowd, filled up the enclosed space. Finally, the protesters rallied in front of the building for more than hour, giving speeches, performances and thought-provoking materials to the passers-by before dispersing.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Action Alert from the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Applause and cheers erupted in the courtroom at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, May 2, when the judge threw out the charges against four anti-war protesters. “As I was waiting outside to give my testimony, I heard the roar of clapping from behind the door,” remembers Tom Keenan, a member of the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “A mass of people flooded out of the court room, saying ‘We won!’”

Asheville, NC – Students and community members confronted North Carolina congressperson Heath Shuler at the University of North Carolina at Asheville March 26.

Minneapolis, MN – In a great display of unity and solidarity, activists from around the country gathered on the University of Minnesota campus, Feb. 9-10, for an organizing conference to plan the anti-war protests at the Republican National Convention.

Defend Equal Access to Education

The following is a statement from the Minnesota / Madison District of Freedom Road Socialist Organization on the attempt by the University of Minnesota to shut down the General College.

Los Angeles, CA – Students, teachers and parents demonstrated here with Latinos Against War on March 20, the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, marching from Roosevelt High School to the building that houses a military recruiting center and the Eastside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.

Minneapolis, MN – 16 demonstrators were arrested here, March 27, after shutting down the offices of the Army National Guard Recruiting Office and protesting five years of war and occupation in Iraq.

New Brunswick, NJ – “Yes to peace! No to war!” rang out in Arabic over the campus of Rutgers University as more than a thousand students walked out of classes on March 27 to protest five years of the occupation of Iraq. The walkout came a week after over 90 SDS chapters and progressive student organizations held demonstrations denouncing five years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

ACTION ALERT: Tell St Paul officials to grant permit for RNC anti-war march

Fight Back News Service urges all of our readers to respond to this action alert from the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. Please forward it as widely as possible.

New Brunswick, NJ – A large anti-war demonstration is set to take place March 27 at Rutgers University.

Oakland, CA – “The Power of the youth, don't stop, don't stop,” chanted hundreds of students at the statewide youth conference held at Oakland's Freemont High School, May 6. The youth set the path for change in a state known for its repressive laws against young people and people of color.

People across the country marked the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war by taking to the streets in protest. Students turned out in full force. Members of Students for a Democratic Society, whose call for a week of action against the war brought together over 90 SDS chapters and other progressive organizations committed to rallying, marching and walking out to protest the war. This week of actions was the largest student-organized anti-war protests since the war on Iraq began.

Asheville, NC – Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of North Carolina Asheville and the Asheville chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) staged an exciting counter-recruitment action here, Feb. 5, that brought the war home to students at UNCA.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Four protesters from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested here, Feb. 29, at the University of Alabama for performing a mock raid meant to demonstrate the effects of the U.S. occupation on Iraqi civilians.