Gainesville, FL – On March 21, Palestine solidarity activists came together on the University of Florida campus to protest inhumane Israeli prison conditions and the mistreatment of political prisoner Samer Issawi. In the middle of a 24-hour solidarity hunger strike, students sat in the center of Turlington plaza with blindfolds over their eyes and duct tape over their mouths.

Gainesville, FL – The Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force went before the Alachua County commissioners on March 12 to demand a solution to the wage theft epidemic in the community.

Gainesville, FL – On March 14, students from across the U.S. and Canada will demand an end to all fees and cuts to higher education. At their fall national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) published an “Education Rights Call To Action.” It is a response to the never-ending hikes in tuition and growing cuts to education, as well as the large amount of student debt burdening students. SDS chapters and student groups are setting up protests and teach-ins from as far north as Quebec, Canada to as far south as Tampa, Florida.

Gainesville, FL – The Alachua County Wage Theft Task Force has been working to stop wage theft in Alachua Coutny, Florida for the past year. Wage theft, or the stealing of earned wages, has increased during the economic downturn. Wage theft is responsible for stealing at least $30 billion a year from American workers. This crisis affects poor and immigrant communities the most, with over 60% of low-wage workers reporting theft of their wages each week. As a result, low-wage workers lose about 15% of their earnings each year to the bosses.

Gainesville, FL – The University of Florida (UF) chapters of Dream Defenders and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted a speak-out on the one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Feb. 26. Martin, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot dead on Feb. 26, 2012, in a racist attack by a neighborhood vigilante named George Zimmerman. Martin’s family created an online petition to arrest Zimmerman and it quickly grew into thousands protesting across the country. Six weeks passed before police arrested Zimmerman.

Gainesville, FL – On Feb. 26, University of Florida Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), allied with other student and community organizations, will organize a local action demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, a black youth who was brutally murdered by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on Feb. 26, 2012.

Gainesville, FL – At 12:00 p.m. on a cool and rainy day, the voices of 20 students rang through the halls of Emerson Alumni Hall at the University of Florida, “Education is a right! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” The students rallied at the meeting location for the Board of Governors. The students quickly discovered the Board of Governors had cut the meeting short and fled when they heard students were coming. The Board was set to discuss education cut backs affecting students in the state of Florida, but ran away before any student voices could be heard.

Gainesville, FL – A massive Palestinian flag with the words “Free Palestine” was raised in Turlington Plaza Nov. 15 as 40 students gathered to condemn the massacre in Gaza. Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized the protest in response to the latest wave of brutal Israeli attacks, which claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinians.

Gainesville, FL – 70 student activists from all over the country arrived in sunny Gainesville, Florida to attend the annual Students for a Democratic Society National Convention Oct. 27-28. The activists arrived from as far as Utah and Minnesota.

Gainesville, FL – On Saturday, Oct. 27, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will be hosting their national convention at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Since their resurrection in 2006, SDS has become the largest multi-issue, student-led organization in the U.S.