Salt Lake City, UT – During the early evening of Wednesday, April 15, dozens of demonstrators gathered at the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City, to protest their tax dollars being used to attack Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and Cuba.

After chants of “Not another missile, not another rocket, all these wars are just for profit!” Paris Lamb of the Utah Antiwar Committee told the crowd, “As a student I have seen the efforts of this firsthand as I struggle to afford tuition housing and food. A fraction of the military budget could provide universal tuition and healthcare to every student.”

Carson Bybee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “Your tax dollars have killed over 72,000 Palestinians. Your tax dollars killed more than 110 schoolgirls in Iran. Your tax dollars killed over 300 people in minutes, right after the ceasefire kicked in. Let that sink in.” The crowd then went into a revised 60s chant of “Donald Trump, what do you say? how many kids did you kill today?”

A member of Armed Queers said, “Over 100 years later, many of the issues brought up by the world's first socialist revolution haven’t been solved. That is, ‘Peace, Land, and Bread.’”

The responses of pedestrians and motorists passing by were overwhelmingly positive, as honks drowned out the few negative responses that were attempted. Answering a call from the Anti-war Action Network, the rally was sponsored by Utah Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Armed Queers.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #TaxDay #AntiWarActionNetwork

Salt Lake City, UT – On Wednesday evening, April 8, an emergency protest was held at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in Salt Lake City, showing opposition to the genocidal rhetoric from the White House the previous day.

Banners reading “End all U.S. aid to Israel!” and “Hands off Iran!” joined the Palestinian and Iranian flags in front of the federal building, as the crowd chanted for over an hour. The protest received much support from passing pedestrians and motorists. Protesters persisted despite attempts at intimidation by the police.

“Do we really want this done in our name?” asked Sebastian Miscenich, from the Utah Anti-War Committee, in a speech. “We must hold the government accountable for these war crimes.” Protesters chanted “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!” and “Money for jobs, not for war!

Carson Bybee, with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization told the crowd, “Imperialists do not sign ceasefires in good faith. They violate them in letter and in spirit whenever material interests demand it.”

“Stand firm in the streets,” Bybee declared in closing. “Link arms with the global anti-imperialist front. Build the revolutionary organization capable of challenging the war machine at its root. Victory belongs to the people who refuse to kneel.”

The action was called by the Utah Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Salt Lake City District.

All Utahns opposed to wars are encouraged to rally on Tax Day, April 15 at 6:30 p.m. in front of the federal building to demand “Tax dollars for housing, healthcare and jobs, not for war!”

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Salt Lake City, UT- On Saturday, March 28, tens of thousands of people gathered at Utah’s Capitol building for a No Kings protest. The protest comes in the wake of news that ICE is building a detention center in Utah, one of the largest in a series of centers which the Department of Homeland Security intends to build around the country.

Chants such as “El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” were commonly heard.

Opposition to ICE wasn’t the only message communicated at the capitol building. Amid plummeting support for intervention in other countries, Iran was a hot topic as well.

Robert Birch, one of the organizers for Utah’s No King’s rally in SLC, questioned the necessity of war in his speech on the steps of the capitol, asking why billions were being spent on “unnecessary war” instead of the less fortunate.

The Utah Anti-War Committee marched with a banner at its front reading “Hands off Iran!” in bold capital letters and leading chants focusing on Western intervention in Venezuela, Iran and Palestine.

Though much of the anger among Saturday’s protesters is currently directed at the Trump administration, when Trump is gone, the conditions which fuel this rising anger will remain.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #NoKings #Trump #AntiWarMovement

Salt Lake City – At least 50 people gathered at the Utah State Capitol on Saturday afternoon, March 7, for an International Women’s Day rally organized by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

The event was cosponsored by the Utah Anti-War Committee, Armed Queers of Salt Lake City and MMIR Utah.

The protest’s demands included “Free Venezuela’s First Lady Cilia Flores; justice for the schoolgirls killed in a U.S. strike in Iran; stop attacks on transgender health care for minors, and oppose anti-immigrant legislation such as HB 88. Participant chants included “Spencer Cox has got to go!” and “Abortion is worth fighting for!”

Speakers at the rally included a member of Armed Queers of Salt Lake City, Tammy Dee Platero of MMIR Utah and Sebastian Miscenich of Freedom Road Socialist Organization

“MMIR is not just a movement — it’s a mother up at 3 a.m. waiting for her daughter to come home. It’s a partner waiting for a phone call, or an auntie searching for her niece,” intoned Dee Platero of MMIR Utah, putting a human face to the epidemic of missing and murdered Native Americans in the U.S.

A member of Armed Queers of Salt Lake City said, “By being complicit and capitulating to their status quo we allow them to think that they have the power over generations of fierce trans and queer organizers that will not stop until we are free!”

““The bombing in Iran at Minab killed more than 100 girls at an elementary school. This exposes the lies of war apologists about how the rights of Iranian women and LGBTQ people make their criminal aggression against Iran justified,” Sebastian Miscenichof Freedom Road Socialist Organization said in his speech. “It is in the interest of the vast majority of women and queer people both in Iran and here in the U.S. that our common oppressors lose this war!”

Organizers encouraged the crowd to remain active in the movement, attend organizing meetings, and help plan upcoming events.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #WomensMovement #InternationalWomensDay

Salt Lake City, UT – On February 28, 20 community members protested in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City to demand an end to U.S. war on Iran. The emergency action was organized by the Utah Anti-War Committee the day after an unprovoked joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

Holding large banners reading “Hands off Iran!” and “End all U.S. aid to Israel!” the demonstration put Salt Lake City on the map as one of the over 20 cities in the National Anti-War Action Network that held emergency protests against the strikes. Despite rainy conditions, the protesters gathered on short notice to demand divestment from war profiteering and a refocus on the needs of everyday people.

“As a social worker, I have seen how cuts to welfare benefit programs have directly impacted Utah families,” said Adrian Romero of the UAWC. “Meanwhile, that money is allocated to destroy lives in the Middle East. The president doesn’t want peace. He wants global domination”

Sebastian Miscenich of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “One year after Trump campaigned on ‘No new wars,’ the drive to war has actually intensified, from the strikes on innocent fishers in the Caribbean, to the attack on Venezuela, to this new war on Iran.”

Miscenich continued by pointing out the inevitability of war under imperialism, saying, “We can expect more wars as long as the government and economy serve the rich, no matter if it’s a Democrat or a Republican in power.”

Protesters chanted “Hands off Iran now! Turn those Navy ships around!” and “Money for housing, not for war!” to the frequent cheers of late-night Salt Lake pedestrians and passing drivers.

The action was organized by Utah Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Salt Lake City, UT – On Sunday, February 22, over a dozen pro-Palestine protesters lined the busy 1300 East overpass in downtown Salt Lake City to bring local attention back to Palestine. With signs and a banner visible to Interstate 80 and surface street commuters, the protest called for an end to all U.S. support of Israel and investment in the needs of the people of Utah.

The demonstration was organized in response the Anti-War Action Network’s national call for a Week of Action for Palestine. Protesters chanted “Listen to the people, listen to the poor! We say no to U.S. wars!” and “Governor Cox, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” to countless honks and other signs of support from Sunday afternoon commuters.

Sebastian Miscenich of Utah Anti-War Committee stated, “The United States sends over $20 billion of our money to fund genocide, bombing and apartheid in Israel. This is money taken from your pockets at a time when we face high rents, low wages, and a growing police state here at the U.S.”

Protesters also criticized the complicity of the Utah state government in war profiteering and its participation in 47G, a public-private weapons industry consortium, chanting “Fund the people, fund our needs! Down with 47G!”

The demonstrators displayed their banner reading “End all U.S. aid to Israel!” and signs reading “Honk if you support Palestine!” for over an hour.

The action was organized by the Utah Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Organizers urge all those who support people’s needs over war and greed to follow the UAWC on Instagram @utahantiwar to stay in the loop, and to join them on Sunday, March 1 at 1 p.m. at the Beans and Brews on 2100 South for a campaign planning meeting.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #UAWC

Salt Lake City, UT — On Valentine's Day, February 14, about a dozen people gathered at the Riverside Library on the west side of Salt Lake for an educational panel hosted by the Utah Anti-War Committee. The event focused on the anti-war movement and the struggle for immigrant rights.

The discussion centered U.S. intervention abroad and immigration. Speakers criticized the Utah organization 47G, a public-private defense industry consortium, concluding that investment in war profiteering binds communities materially and politically to imperial violence overseas.

Adam Karotz, a longtime local activist and member of the Utah Anti-War Committee, traced the roots of the modern anti-war movement through opposition to the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“The bulk of U.S. troops stayed in Iraq until 2011. Millions of Iraqis have died as a direct result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. Generations will continue to suffer the health effects of depleted Uranium use, just as generations of Vietnamese people have suffered from the use of napalm,” said Karotz.

The panel connected environmental hazards, economic despair, opioid crisis, rising homelessness, labor trafficking and militarized policing in the U.S. to the same powerful groups that drive foreign intervention. Participants characterized the criminalization of addiction and poverty as a continuation of domestic war by other means.

Collin Grannis of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemned the kidnapping of Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, stating, “The United States does not have the right to pluck sovereign leaders out of their countries, even if they disagree with their policies.” Grannis called out the U.S. attack as a blatant violation of international law and national sovereignty, characteristic of the longstanding history of U.S. intervention in Latin America.

Adrian Romero, a local community organizer and Utah Anti War Committee member, shifted the focus to immigrant rights, stating, “Today, immigration and border policies have become super-militarized and increasingly, dangerously, hostile towards anyone that stands in their way.”

Speakers drew parallels between immigrant detention, the incarceration of homeless and mentally ill people, and labor trafficking and social control under the Trump regime. They urged attendees to see anti-war work not as a single-issue cause, but as part of a broader movement against imperialism, racism and state violence.

Earlier this year, The Utah Anti-War Committee organized a letter-writing campaign in support of President Maduro.

The Utah Anti-War Committee organized the event and will continue to fight against imperialism and war in Salt Lake valley. They invite community members to join their meetings and organizing efforts.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #UAWC

Salt Lake City, UT — On Saturday, February 7, over 100 campus and hospital workers at the University of Utah rallied to launch their “U for Who?” campaign. Workers are fighting to win parking stipends for all employees, safer staffing ratios for teachers and healthcare workers with compensation, respect for the university’s own meet-and-confer policy, and a sanctuary campus from immigration enforcement.

Utah Healthcare Workers United (UHWU) and United Campus Workers of Utah (UCWU) are units of Communication Workers of America Local 7765.

Workers turned out to make their power felt after weeks of shop floor conversations, phone banking, and canvassing the academic and healthcare sides of campus. The rally is a display of the growing organization of Utah workers in a state with “right-to-work” anti-union laws. Last year an attempt to ban public sector unions, HB 267, was defeated by labor and community activism.

“I have worked as a nurse at the University of Utah Hospital since 2014. I have personally watched the conditions at the hospital deteriorate over time,” said Jessica Stauffer, a nurse and president of CWA 7765. “You have value as a worker, and we are here to help support that. That’s why I got involved in our union.”

Ian Ferguson, an IT staff worker in the College of Law, said, “Our power comes from all of you acting together. Thanks to mass organizing by unions across Utah, HB 261 was sent to a referendum and repealed before it could even go to a vote.”

Echoing that the union is a vehicle for power in the workplace, Chapman Waters, a faculty instructor for the College of Humanities, stated, “One reason why our union exists is to give us mechanisms to exercise our collective power.”

To win their demands, university workers are now gathering petition signatures from workers and the broader community who support a safer and more dignified workplace for campus and healthcare workers at the University of Utah.

“You are here as part of a historic movement of ordinary working people,” said Ian Decker, a nutrition care specialist at the university hospital and Treasurer of CWA 7765. “This organization, after only two years, is the second largest public service union in the state.”

The rally was organized by Communication Workers of America, local 7765. University employees in Utah are urged to join their union if they have not yet done so, and all community members are invited to sign the workers’ campaign petition here.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #Labor #CWA

Salt Lake City, UT— On Saturday, January 24, anti-war protesters gathered at Washington Square in downtown Salt Lake City to demand an end to U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Braving the coldest temperatures in the Salt Lake valley so far this winter, the protest called for an end to U.S. wars and instead using resources to meet the needs of the people of Utah.

The demonstration was organized in response to the Anti-War Action Network’s national call to action demanding “Hands Off Venezuela” and “Free President Maduro.” Protesters chanted “From Venezuela to Iran, no more sanctions! No more bombs” to the approving honks of Salt Lake’s busy downtown.

Nova Morra of Utah Anti-War Committee spoke against Trump’s newest intervention in Venezuela and his deployment of ICE agents domestically and stressed the need to organize, “I am afraid, but I am not alone! Together we can stop it – together we can make things right!”

Morra blasted the government’s drive to war on Venezuela while the people of Salt Lake City face high rents, low wages and the crimes by police and ICE.

Despite the biting cold and wind, the demonstrators displayed their banner reading “Hands off Venezuela!” and signs reading “No more blood for oil!” for an hour.

“Venezuelans abroad and the anti-war movement at home will see where Salt Lake City stands, and it is important that we remain organized and intensify our anti-war activism,” said Sebastian Miscenich of UAWC.

“The same imperialists who oppress the people of the United States are attacking Venezuela. The more we oppose the imperialists, and the more we support Venezuela, the better of a position we will be as workers and oppressed people here,” concluded Miscenich.

Organizers urge all those who support people’s needs over war and greed to follow the UAWC on Instagram @utahantiwar to stay in the loop on a February 8 community educational meeting.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #AWAN #UAWC

Salt Lake City, UT – On January 11, Utah community members and activists gathered to write letters of support and encouragement to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Kidnapped by U.S. forces on January 3, the Venezuelan leader and First Lady Cilia Flores are currently held in a New York federal jail as political prisoners. The event also served as a planning and educational meeting for future organizing in Salt Lake City against war and Trump’s agenda.

In their speech, Adrian Romero of the Utah Anti-War Committee stated, “I woke up to a text from a friend of mine that read, ‘The USA just snatched Maduro after bombing the capital.’ I was horrified. I thought to myself. ‘How could this have happened?’”

Romero continued, “This is our opportunity to not just show President Maduro and his defense team support and human connection, but to reclaim the narrative,” continued Romero, citing the importance of past solidarity letter-writing campaigns for freed Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier.

Speakers emphasized that this brazen kidnapping is only the latest and most aggressive move in the U.S. government’s 25-year campaign against Venezuela and its democratically chosen Bolivarian government. American aggression has included coup intrigue against Presidents Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, constant U.S. media slander of Venezuela, and U.S. sanctions.

Sebastian Miscenich of Freedom Road Socialist Organization pointed out that the Trump administration’s stated excuses of combatting “narcoterrorism” and drug trafficking in Venezuela thinly veil the imperialist push to war and economic conquest, and that the U.S. government fears the example of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

“The bipartisan goal of the U.S. ruling class is to attack Venezuela’s viability as a sovereign competitor and to capture its domestic market and oil reserves for its exclusive profit,” stated Miscenich, citing the continuity between Trump’s recent strikes, Joe Biden’s $50,000,000 bounty on Maduro, and Barack Obama’s 2015 sanctions on Venezuela. “Failing to settle on a convincing lie, Trump now openly boasts that Venezuelan oil is ‘going to make a lot of money’ for U.S. oil monopolies!”

“Moreover,” Miscenich continued, “by striking and demonizing Venezuela, capitalists hope to diminish knowledge of the Bolivarian Revolution here, to hide this neighborly example from the working and oppressed people of the United States.”

This event was organized by the Utah Anti-War Committee and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. After dropping off nearly a dozen letters to Maduro, attendees were invited to return the following week for a planning meeting of the Utah Anti-War Committee.

#SaltLakeCItyUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #UTAWC #FRSO

Salt Lake City, UT – It is an exciting time to be a labor organizer in Utah. In the past weeks, workers at the SunTrapp Bar in Salt Lake City struck against unfair labor practices, winning the love and support of the community, and nine Starbucks stores in the state have organized under Starbucks Workers United. Now, campus workers at both the University of Utah and Utah State University are flexing their organizational muscle as the United Campus Workers swells its ranks, building a wall-to-wall union of staff, graduate student workers, career instructors and faculty.

This upsurge in the labor movement in Utah and across the country is a perfect time to celebrate the life of Joe Hill, a labor activist executed in Salt Lake City 110 years ago this November 19, 1910. Framed up on a murder charge by the police, who were in league with the railroad bosses, Hill was put to death in Sugarhouse Prison despite mass nationwide opposition. A coalition of personalities from AFL President Samuel Gompers to Helen Keller opposed the execution, which was carried out by firing squad.

A Swedish immigrant, Hill was an itinerant worker and musician. As an organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), songs like Everybody’s Joining It stirred workers to organization with a touch of relatable humor which earned Hill widespread movement fame and support:

The Boss is feeling mighty blue

He don’t know just what to do

We have got his goat, got him by the throat

Soon he’ll work or go starving.

Songs like Workers of the World, Awaken! written shortly before his death in 1915 demanded revolutionary change:

Workers of the world, awaken

Break your chains; demand your rights

AII the wealth you make is taken

By exploiting parasites.

Indeed, Hill was an activist who walked the walk with other organizers. He spoke to working people and delivered rousing speeches on their behalf as he traveled on freight trains, as many dispossessed workers did in the early 20th century. Salt Lake City had been a hotspot of union activity before Hill’s arrival here, as organized workers on a railroad construction site forced the bosses to concede food, bedding and a 25 cent pay raise after a strike.

The state of Utah killed Joe Hill. Hill’s now-famous last words before he was killed were, “I die like a true-blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize.”

To organize despite setbacks and repression remains an important lesson for those interested in fighting injustice. Murdering Joe Hill only exposed the Utah courts and police as tools of the bosses, and he became even more famous in death than in life, his music and message reaching new generations and an even wider working-class audience.

People should heed this call to organize by getting involved in movements for change. Join and participate in your union or organize your workplace. Attend and organize protests against racist and reactionary political schemes.

All workers at the University of Utah and Utah State University are encouraged to join the UCWU.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #Labor #Opinion #Commentary #JoeHill

Orem, UT – On Tuesday October 21, just over 40 students and community members gathered to protest any sort of Charlie Kirk memorial on campus. This protest was held about 200 feet from the spot where Charlie Kirk was killed

Utah Valley University has appointed a committee to oversee development of a memorial. Members include UVU administrators, a member of the UVU board of trustees, a member of the Utah House of Representatives, other Utah government workers, and three student representatives.

One of the protest attendees, and UVU Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) member, Oscar Guerrero stated, “We don’t want to prolong the trauma and memorialize hateful rhetoric.”

Guerrero continued, “This man constantly peddled misinformation and harmful rhetoric about minorities that has caused harm to both myself and others. To memorialize him would substantiate his harmful and divisive behavior that goes against the values of unity, inclusion and belonging that UVU claims to uphold.”

Another protest attendee, UVU SDS member Kareem Kasem stated, “He was a racist who didn’t believe in empathy,” and “I think it would be very divisive if there is a memorial in his likeness. I have a feeling that it will just be vandalized and students who had nothing to do with it will be threatened over it.”

Alexander Draper added, “I was there because I think it would be foolish for the school to make a memorial for someone who spoke so openly against college education, and who was vocally racist and hateful towards Islamic people, queer folks, and most anyone that didn't align with white American evangelism.”

The UVU Students for a Democratic Society plan to hold another protest before winter fully sets in on campus and before the semester ends.

#OremUT #UT #StudentMovement #CharlieKirk #SDS #TPUSA

Salt Lake City, UT – On Thursday, October 24, over 40 students and community members gathered in protest on the University of Utah campus to defend diversity in higher education. The protesters demanded that the school reopen the resource centers for Black, women and LGBTQ students closed by HB 261, the Utah Republicans’ bill attacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

The teach-in for diversity countered a racist event held by Young Americans for Freedom, a small and unpopular student group supported by Republicans. Despite the chilly temperatures, that group’s turnout was dwarfed by students chanting and listening as leaders from affected student groups and movements explained how HB 261 and racist attacks on education impact their organizations and constituencies.

“You can’t have true equality until you have equity,” said Nevaeh Parker of the Black Student Union. Parker explained that the BSU chose to end official sponsorship with the University of Utah due to its failures to Black students in the wake of HB 261. Protesters chanted, “Education is a right, not just for the rich and white!”

Alisi Fihaki of the Pacific Islander Student Association also sharply criticized the Republican bill, calling it a “flawed attempt that gives a variety of restrictions and consequences to students of color on campus.”

Speakers from MEChA de U of U also pointed out that the University of Utah went above the required steps to comply with HB 261, citing other Utah colleges which have maintained student resource centers. They called on students to protest the administration to win back DEI on campus.

As the night grew cold, hand-warmers were distributed to the crowd to maintain morale as speakers from the LGBTQ movement spoke on the Republican efforts to erase their presence on campus.

Ien Zielinski, the leader of the Utah Student Pride Center, said, “I started the Student Pride Center to show people that we all belong here.” Celeste Wallin of Utah Students for a Democratic Society said that “unlike the community centers, trans people are still here and always will be here. We can never be erased!”

Ruby Bollinger of Utah SDS ended the night, saying, “If we organize and protest, we can get the women's center back and all the other resources that we have lost. In fact, it is necessary that we do so.”

The teach-in was organized by the Black Student Union, the Pacific Islander Student Association, the Student Pride Center, MEChA de U of U, and Utah SDS.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #StudentMovement #SDS #BSU #Mecha #DEI

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 3, 50 students and community members gathered on the campus of the University of Utah to demand an end to the school’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa, an Israeli military college that practices discrimination against its Arab and Muslim students. Organizers also called for the University of Utah’s full divestment from companies involved in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, reinvestment in student resources, and for the University of Utah to respect students’ right to protest for Palestine.

The rally also celebrated the Palestinian resistance. Chris Loera-Peña of Mecha de U of U said, “It’s been a year of genocide, but also a year of non-stop resistance and fighting from the Palestinian people and the entire world.”

The student movement successfully pressured the university to publicly suspend study abroad with the University of Haifa for the academic year, although organizers demand a full severing of the relationship. The victory comes after Utah youth and students held campus speakouts and educational tabling events against the study abroad program and genocide profiteering on campus since the start of the fall semester.

“When we show up together and join the struggle for a free Palestine, we will be heard,” said Polly Redd of MECHA de U of U. “We are calling for our school to end its study abroad program with the University of Haifa and divest from Israel entirely.”

Students chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” Despite undercover campus police attempting to intimidate the rally participants, the speakers were greeted with loud cheers.

“The money currently spent on genocide and war should be reinvested in student services and resource centers,” said Sebastian Miscenich of Utah Students for a Democratic Society. “Tuition has gone up and up, yet DEI, student resources, and affirmative action in higher education have all been slashed by the Republicans.”

After the speeches, the rally marched two miles through the Utah heat, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners reading “Disclose and divest.” Chants of “There is only one solution – intifada, revolution!” filled the campus as the protesters reached Legacy Bridge, where they displayed their signs and banners to the honks of passing cars.

The rally was organized by Mecha de U of U, Utah Students for a Democratic Society, and the Vote Socialist 2024 Presidential campaign.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Mecha #SDS #Feature

Salt Lake City, UT – Nearly a dozen student activists gathered outside the University of Utah’s career fair on September 24 to protest military recruiters present on campus.

They carried signs reading “U.S. military off campus!” and “U.S. military backs genocide, students stand with Palestine!” The action was part of Utah SDS’s campaign for divestment from Israel and war profiteers.

Activists educated students entering the Student Union about the military’s strategic support for the genocide in Gaza as well as the military’s predatory recruiting tactics, which lure in low-income youth with the promise of free education and healthcare. “There’s no honor in joining a genocidal military,” said Gabriel Casados of Utah SDS, “not to mention that 22 veterans die per day from suicide.”

The protest got support from passing students, who took pictures, and maintained unity in the face of pro-war and pro-genocide hecklers. The hecklers quickly dispersed as the students chanted, “U of Utah! We’re at your door! We won’t fight an imperialist war!” and “Money for student needs, not for genocide and greed!”

Speakers called attention to the presence of U.S. military advisors in Israel, the redeployment of military assets to the Middle East to defend Israeli genocide, and the missile strikes on Yemen in January of this year. Chants of “Yemen, Yemen, stand your ground! Turn another ship around!” filled the University Union lawn. Speakers also condemned intensified recent Israeli attacks on the Lebanese people.

Even after two low-level university bureaucrats ordered Utah SDS to move away from the career fair, the chanting, speaking and education finished as planned, protesting campus military recruitment for the full hour. Utah SDS called for a sustained campaign for Palestine and invited the crowd to attend their rally for divestment on October 3, 12 p.m. in front of the University Union.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Lebanon #StudentMovement #SDS

On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, the University of Utah called the police to stop and detain several queer students who were drawing with washable sidewalk chalk on the concrete walkway by Gardner Commons to promote an approved queer pool party taking place at the Student Life Center the upcoming Saturday. These students were not properly informed that over the summer, the University of Utah changed its policy on “Signs, Literature, and Structures‌” to say that: “Messages or slogans of any kind shall not be painted or otherwise written on trees, buildings, sidewalks, grounds fountains, walls or other University structures or surfaces, or on the personal property of others”. Prior to this semester, chalking’s were a familiar phenomenon on campus. Why has this policy changed to further repress LGBTQ+ student speech?

Additionally, Utah SDS received an email threatening our club for posting flyers on campus outside of “approved posting areas,” despite the fact that other stickers and signage remain posted in the same places. On the other hand, our flyers calling students to exercise their democratic rights to protest, meet, and organize for Palestine, were torn down. This selective enforcement of rules is designed to intimidate the student and Palestinian movement, and Utah SDS condemns these antidemocratic attacks on our right to organize. We will not be told how we will meet, organize, and educate our fellow students on the grounds of our own campus, especially when it comes to a genocide. We call on the students and youth of Utah to defy this repression, join SDS and stand up for their right to speak and organize on their campus.

The exciting, dynamic upsurge in the student movement has been met with vicious political repression in Utah and across the country. Last spring, students encamped on the lawns of their campuses demanding an end to military profiteering and investment in Israel’s genocide were met with arrests and tear gas. From coast to coast, university administrators refuse to hear the demands of students, youth, and campus workers for divestment, diversity in education, and funding for student needs. Repression is a sign that the movement is growing and winning, and calls for more student organizing, not less. Students and youth of Utah, stand strong! We must stand together for our right to speak and protest!

Hands off the student movement!

Cops out of our protests!

President Randall, respect our right to organize!

#UT #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #FreeSpeech #PoliticalRepression #Statement

Salt Lake City, UT- On September 10, dozens of students gathered at the University of Utah to protest the university’s study abroad program with Israel and demand divestment. Utah Students for a Democratic Society called the demonstration, which took place outside the university’s Fall Learning Abroad Fair. Protesters chanted, held signs and banners, and displayed a Palestinian flag.

The University of Utah remains tied to the University of Haifa, which houses three Israeli military colleges and has reportedly barred Palestinian and Arab students from participating in the student council. Speakers criticized the University of Utah’s relationship with an institution responsible for training a genocidal army and actively practicing apartheid.

“As fall semester commences on higher education campuses around the world, Israel has destroyed every single university in Gaza, leaving 600,000 Palestinian students unable to return to school this fall,” said Polly Redd of Utah SDS. “As American students, we must stand in solidarity with Palestine and demand that our universities cut ties with Israel.”

Speakers also called attention to the repression faced by the Palestinian and student movements in Utah and called for solidarity. Demonstrators chanted “From Salt Lake to Tampa Bay, student speech is here to stay!” in reference to the successful Tampa 5 defense campaign led by National SDS in defense of the right to organize on campus.

The demonstration concluded with a call-in to the Utah Learning Abroad Office and demanded an end to the affiliation with Israel. You can participate in the call-in campaign by calling the University of Utah’s Learning Abroad Office at 801-581-5849.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS

Salt Lake City, UT – Over a dozen students and youth gathered on August 30 to launch a campaign against the University of Utah’s affiliation with the University of Haifa, an Israeli university with deep ties to the Israeli military and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Utah Students for a Democratic Society hosted the event, which was itself a victory in the aftermath of arrests, intimidation and repression of the student and Palestinian movement in Utah during the last academic year.

The full extent of the University of Utah’s ties to Israel remains unknown, as the administration has declined to disclose its investments and partnership portfolio with Israel. However, beyond the academic partnership, the University of Utah is involved with the 47G research consortium, which includes companies supplying the Israeli military, such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

Additionally, the university maintains relationships with Chevron and Intel, two companies singled out by the Palestinian movement for their profiteering off stolen Palestinian land and for aiding the Israeli occupation. Student activists will work to uncover and end all these relationships as part of the campaign.

“It’s easy to sign up for a study abroad program when you don’t know where that money is going,” said Adrian Romero of Utah SDS. “A bachelor’s degree in Israel costs about as much as one full-time semester in the U.S. The last university in Palestine has been destroyed. Education is an international right, not a way to enable a genocide.”

The activists resolved to unite as many students, community members and other organizations as possible around the divestment campaign, which will begin during the fall semester.

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