Clarksville, TN – In less than one week, progressive students from throughout the country will attend the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) 8th annual National Convention, Oct. 11-13, at Austin Peay State University here. Featured at this year’s convention are Rebel Diaz, Sara Flounders and Kait McIntyre.

SDS is the nation’s largest multi-issue student organization. Since its re-founding in 2006, SDS is broadly building the student left – helping to lead mass campaigns against tuition hikes, school privatizations, and student debt. SDS is the leading voice of the student movement against U.S. wars and occupations.

Sara Flounders, anti-war activist and co-director of the International Action Center, will speak about the ongoing wars, occupations and so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’ of the U.S. government. Speaking with Flounders will be Kait McIntyre, an SDSer with the Chicago Anti-War Committee. McIntyre says about the convention, “As students, much of the technology utilized by the U.S. to further its wars and fuel the military-industrial complex begins at our college research institutions. I believe the SDS Convention will offer student organizers the tools to take back their campus and demand money for education and human needs, not war and destruction across the globe.”

Rebel Diaz will perform at the convention as well as host a workshop on Saturday called “Hip Hop and Immigration.” Rebel Diaz is a politically-minded hip-hop group based out of South Bronx, New York. Their workshop will focus on the historic role of immigration, the criminalization of immigrants and youth of color, and hip-hop’s role and responsibility in defending immigrant rights. Rebel Diaz will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 12 in Clement Auditorium. Admission is free and it is open to the public.

Other workshops will feature topics such as abortion rights, overcoming problems with organizing through student governments, revolutionary organizing in America’s heartland and the international student movement.

Preston Gilmore, a Clarksville SDSer and lead organizer on the SDS National Working Committee explains, “The SDS National Convention is of huge importance to the student movement. It allows all of us to learn from each other’s experiences and gain knowledge about how to synchronize our campaigns and build a national movement that unites students across the country. We are in a historical period where atrocities are being committed not only abroad, but also right here at home. From the murder of Trayvon Martin to the threat of U.S. war with Syria, students and young people are looking at the world they will be inheriting and are rising up to fight back. The convention provides an opportunity for us to meet each other. We will come together to build a more powerful movement together.”

The convention is free for everyone and is open to the public. Registration will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 in the University Center on the Austin Peay State University campus with introductions from speakers and organizers beginning at 7:00 p.m. On Oct.12 the convention will open at 9:00 a.m. in the University Center ballroom and will run until 7:00 p.m. Rebel Diaz will perform at Saturday night in the Clement Auditorium. On Oct. 13, the convention runs from 10:00 a.m. until around 1:00 p.m.

#ClarksvilleTN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #SaraFlounders #SDSConvention #RebelDiaz #ClarksvilleSDS

Minneapolis, MN – Cynthia McKinney, former six-term member of the House of Representatives, and Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center, spoke to a packed room of over 60 supporters, July 9, at the Plymouth Congregational Church. Both gave motivating speeches for how the U.S./NATO intervention in Libya is endangering and killing the civilian population and demanded an immediate end to the war on Libya.

President Obama claims U.S. involvement in Libya is not a ‘war,’ but McKinney’s firsthand testimony of the nighttime and daytime bombing of Tripoli, the country’s largest urban center, during her month long stay disputed that claim. She saw missiles fly over her head and heard drones and bombing attacks repeatedly. “The bombing for me, and I was only there for a couple of weeks, takes a psychological toll. If I’m subject to it, imagine the children. That first day of intense bombing took place on the day of national exams for the little kids…The first day of the super intensive bombing they started bombing at 11:30 in the morning and kept on going until 11:30 at night. We counted a total of 89 bombs that day,” McKinney told the audience.

During her stay McKinney had the opportunity to meet with people who were carrying out their everyday lives as an act of resistance to the U.S./NATO bombing campaign. She occupied the plaza in front of Momar Qadafi’s home with thousands of Libyans and Africans who support Qadafi, refuse to leave and are offering themselves as protection from bombing. She met with students who came to the university to take their finals despite the bombing raids because they refused to put their lives on hold because of U.S. imperialism. “They said they were not going to be deterred because of NATO.”

Both McKinney and Flounders addressed the roots of the conflict directly. They argued effectively that the U.S. and NATO are using the civil war as an excuse to carry out regime change in Libya. They articulated that the U.S. and European powers want to install a puppet government so they can control the largest oil reserves in Africa.

Flounders attacked one of President Obama’s main justifications for the war, “He says this war is for humanitarian intervention. This is an excuse. There is not a country in the world that is better off after U.S. warfare. Just ask the people of Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan!”

This event was a part of the national speaking tour of the Dignity delegation, which was lead by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. This tour is playing an important role in giving voice to the Libyan people during a time when an increasing number of Americans are strongly questioning the U.S. role in this conflict while state and federal governments are in debt and cutting needed social services. By a margin of 2-to-1, people in the United States oppose the war in Libya.

The Eyewitness Libya event was co-sponsored by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, the Emergency Committee to Stop U.S./NATO War on Libya, the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #AntiWarCommittee #SaraFlounders #CynthiaMcKinney #MeredithAby #Libya #InternationalActionCenter #Africa

Minneapolis, MN – Activists from around the country gathered here Feb. 9-10 for an organizing conference to plan the anti-war protests at the Republican National Convention.

The conference brought together more than 60 organizations and included the major centers of the anti-war movement, including United for Peace and Justice, International ANSWER and the Troops Out Now Coalition. Also present was Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War.

The event was organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

Podcasts available

Click on the names below for the mp3 of that person's speech, or right-click on a name and select 'save as' to save the mp3 on your computer.

Jess Sundin speaking for the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. Sundin is a founding member of the Twin Cites based Anti-War Committee. She has participated in or coordinated solidarity trips to Iraq, El Salvador and Colombia.

Leslie Cagan coordinator of United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war coalition with more than 1400 member groups.

Sara Flounders representing the Troops Out Now Coalition. She is also co-director of the International Action Center.

John Beacham representing International ANSWER, a coalition of hundreds of organizations with organizing centers in scores of cites and towns across the country.

Angel Buechner a leader of the Welfare Rights Committee.

Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #Iraq #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #ChicanoLatino #LeslieCagan #SaraFlounders #JessSundin #JohnBeacham