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News and Views from the People's Struggle

AustinTX

By staff

Texas students protest attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Austin, TX – On Wednesday, April 5, Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) met on Speedway at UT Austin with the Texas Students for DEI Coalition to protest recent Texas legislative and administrative attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The rally was also called in solidarity with the Tampa 4, a group of University of South Florida SDS members currently facing felony charges after being brutalized and arrested while protesting Florida's attacks on DEI programs.

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By staff

Austin SDS action in defense of Indian Child Welfare Act.

Austin, TX – On Wednesday, March 22, members of Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gathered on a busy street, Speedway, on the University of Texas-Austin campus to speak out against the judicial attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

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By staff

Austin TX SDS marks International Women's Day.

Austin, TX – On Wednesday, March 8, around 15 students at the University of Texas at Austin rallied for International Women’s Day. The rally, called by Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), was held in front of the UT Tower.

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By staff

Austin SDS protests the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Austin, TX – On Tuesday evening, November 1, a small group of students from the Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter gathered in front of the Perry Castañeda Library at University of Texas at Austin campus to protest against the national “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

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By Jake Holtzman

Texas students stand up for women’s and LGBTQ rights.

Austin, TX – On Thursday evening, October 29, a group of around ten students gathered on the University of Texas at Austin campus to rally for women’s and LGBTQ rights. Led by the Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the rally focused on student demands of the UT Austin administration, calling on the university to provide free menstrual products and contraceptives in all campus bathrooms. Students are also demanding the university declare itself a sanctuary campus for trans youth in light of legislative attacks earlier this year against trans youth receiving gender-affirming care.

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By staff

Texas students fight for reproductive rights.

Austin, TX – The Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a rally at the University of Texas at Austin on September 15 in defense of women's and reproductive rights, as a part of the National SDS Day of Action. About 35 students rallied at 6 p.m. at the corner of Speedway and 21st Street on UT campus. Speakers from six other organizations gave speeches condemning the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Texas Heartbeat Act.

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By Jake Holtzman

Austin, TX protest against overturning Roe v. Wade.

Austin, TX – In the middle of thunderstorms and a tornado watch, around 200 people gathered in central Austin, May 5, for a march and rally for abortion rights called by U.T. Austin student groups, Students for a Democratic Society and the Feminist Action Project. The organizations called the protest in response to the draft opinion that suggests the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.

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By staff

Texas students demand justice for Amir Locke

Austin, TX – On Thursday evening, February 24, students at the University of Texas at Austin gathered at a campus plaza to demand justice for Amir Locke, who was murdered by Minneapolis police earlier this month. The group held signs and chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, these racist cops have got to go!” and “Say his name: Amir Locke.” A few passersby joined the speak-out upon hearing the chants and reading the signs.

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By Jake Holtzman

Texas students fight for abortion rights

Austin, TX – On the evening of February 1, around 15 students at the University of Texas at Austin rallied on the steps of UT Tower to speak out for abortion rights.

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By staff

Austin students rally against police crimes.

Austin, TX – On the evening of September 9, a small group of students rallied in front of the University of Texas at Austin’s Littlefield Fountain to protest against police crimes and racism. Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called the rally as part of the national SDS day of action to stop police crimes.

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By staff

Austin protest against attacks on reproductive rights of women.

Austin, TX – Around 100 people rallied at the Texas State Capitol on September 1 to protest against the statewide abortion ban that went into effect that same day. Texas abortion clinics have been forced to stop taking appointments in order to avoid what could be thousands of lawsuits against them. The new law especially affects low-income and working-class women who don’t have the resources to take time off work, since the ban forces women in Texas to drive an average of 248 miles one way to access an abortion clinic out of state.

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By staff

Austin Land Day rally.

Austin, TX – On March 30, around 30 students and activists from all over Austin converged on the State Capitol building in solidarity with Palestine on Land Day. The action was organized by Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), a local group dedicated to organizing in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle against the Israeli occupation.

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By staff

Austin protest demands justice for George Floyd.

Austin, TX – Protesters gathered in front of the Capitol building to listen to speeches in solidarity with Minneapolis on March 8, the first day of Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd.

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By staff

Austin rally demands aid for those abandoned to Winter Storm Uri.

Austin, TX – On February 21, a crowd of around 50 people gathered in front of the Homeless Memorial Tree, a local landmark that bears dog tags with the names of 256 homeless people who died in Austin in 2020 alone. In the wake of Winter Storm Uri, community members gathered to participate in the Street Memorial ATX Arctic Week of Crisis, an event organized by Stop the Sweeps Austin, Human Kindness/House the Poor, and The Challenger Street Newspaper. They gathered to mourn the lives lost after unprecedented freezing temperatures wrecked the state, and to express outrage over the city’s inaction in providing any meaningful aid.

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By Jake Holtzman

Post election speak-out action in front of Austin City Hall.

Austin, TX – On November 4, members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and other local organizers held a speak-out action in front of Austin City Hall.

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By Jake Holtzman

Dr. Mario Garza conducts a blessing at the Sacred Springs Powwow on October 19,

Austin, TX – The Miakan-Garza Band of the Coahuiltecan people is calling for the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) to return three stolen sets of ancestral remains, so that they can be properly buried in the tribe’s Reburial Grounds in San Marcos, Texas. The university currently has the remains stored away in cardboard boxes in a warehouse at the Texas Archeological Research Center Laboratory, along with over 2400 other indigenous remains labeled as “culturally unidentifiable.”

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By Jake Holtzman

Texas workers demand 600 dollar unemployment benefit.

Austin, TX – On the morning of September 8, a group of around 100 unemployed artisans, designers, technicians, stagehands and other entertainment industry workers held a protest to push for $600 in unemployment benefits and pass the HEROES Act now. The protest was organized by IATSE Local 484 and Local 205, along with many independent contractors.

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By staff

Austin, TX – A Texas law known as Senate Bill 4 will take effect Sept. 1, except for the parts blocked by a federal judge. The law will do serious harm to the immigrant community and to other communities as well.

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By staff

Austin, TX – A major march, and concert, is planned for Saturday, Sept. 2, here, against Texas's Senate Bill 4. Senate Bill 4 is an anti-immigration bill that seeks to turn local police into an arm of the federal immigration service.

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By Dan Sullivan

Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, TX

Austin, TX – Over 300 students and activists marched at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Austin on Jan. 30. The large crowd of both students and community activists rallied at the University of Austin campus to hear speeches and then marched to the Texas state capitol building.

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