The Universities have placed SDS on interim probation, refusing to reinstate the group’s status as a registered student organization. SDS has also been barred from leafleting and having meetings on campus, and the administration is pursuing conduct violations against student organizers. Many members have been placed on academic probation, and three students have been given suspensions.

Khalid Hamu, an organizer with Denver SDS, spoke: “For standing on the side of progress, for showing our seriousness in cutting ties to genocide, our admin has brought attack after attack on us. The repression from our administration is an attempt to hinder the student movement, but they will see that all their efforts will amount to is attempting to put a lid on a boiling pot already overflowing.”

“Palestine impacts us, impacts our lives, because we know that all of our tuition that’s going to kill people in Palestine could be going to our schools, could be going to places for us to live, better resources for students,” said Lucia Feast, another Denver SDS organizer. “They can’t stop us from showing up on this campus. We belong on this campus.”

The speeches were interspersed with chants of “While students are on hard times, admin’s funding war crimes” and “Bans won’t knock us off our feet, students have a right to meet.”

Students marched to show their administration that they demand an end to the repression of free speech, and that the people will not back down from the struggle to end their universities’ complicity in genocide.

#DenverCO #StudentMovement #SDS #DenverSDS

Signs reading “Was that legal?” “Pigtrain fires people for free speech” and “Pigtrain fires freedom fighters!” were raised above protesters’ heads as they circled just outside one of Pigtrain’s entrances. Speakers and written chants alike called for a boycott of Pigtrain after Raine Philips, a worker who had supported the Auraria Palestine solidarity encampment, was wrongfully fired four days prior for wearing her keffiyeh, something which is permitted under Pigtrain’s dress code.

On June 25, Philips was confronted by her manager and told to take off her keffiyeh or go home. After refusing to take off her symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, she requested to speak to a higher-up for an explanation and was fired for “misconduct and aggression.”

Philips also cited several times in which she and other queer and trans employees were targeted for their outfits that followed Pigtrain’s dress code, as well as workers’ rights violations and anti-BDS products being sold at all Union Station businesses.

Philips and Denver SDS chose the Saturday after her termination to stage the picket outside Pigtrain Coffee Company. Not only are Saturdays Union Station’s busiest day of the week, but June 29 was the first day of the Mile High Global Bazaar, a one weekend long, annual celebration showcasing cultural foods, music, and merchandise from around the world. With hundreds milling through Union Station and the Bazaar, visitors would be unable to turn their attention away from the glaring Zionist, bigoted, anti-labor business practices of one of Lower Downtown Denver’s most beloved coffee shops.

To further deter business from Pigtrain Coffee Company, free coffee was handed out to passersby, as well as flyers explaining the multitude of reasons why protesters were calling for a boycott of the café.

In an interview with Philips after the picket, she emphasized how solidarity with both workers and Palestinians is the most important message of the action, stating, “I would encourage people who frequent Union Station or are often downtown to, instead of spending money there, consider donating it to people who are in Palestine to help with aid.”

Philips said that she planned to go back to Union Station and protest Pigtrain Coffee Company again with Denver SDS in the future.

#DenverCO #DenverSDS #DAWA #Palestine

Superior, CO – On Saturday, June 1, a group of several dozen protesters marched to the home of University of Colorado Regent Callie Rennison in Superior, Colorado.

Rennison is the chair of the University of Colorado (CU) board of regents, and thus bears special responsibility for the board’s failure to meet the demands of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to divest from corporations involved in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine.

Additionally, the students recently concluded a 22-day solidarity encampment on the Auraria Campus, one of the longest lasting encampments in the country.

Despite the encampment and nearly daily protests, sit-ins and other direct actions, the CU board of regents has thus far been silent on agreeing to SDS’s demand and have refused to meet with students. With administrators mainly working from home and refusing to engage with them, the students decided to go the home of the chair of the CU board of regents.

Outside of Rennison’s home, protesters led chants and marched in a picket circle. They were confronted by a small, violent group of far-right Zionists. The Zionists verbally harassed students, shoved them and called for increased violence against the Palestinian people. Despite this, the students were unfazed, and continued the protest outside of Rennison’s home for around two hours.

“We are seeing a genocide that is continues to escalate and our administration can’t meet our basic demands to cut ties with genocide, apartheid and occupation. Gaza can’t wait!” said Khalid Hamu, an organizer with Denver SDS.

#SuperiorCO #DenverSDS #SDS #DenverCO #BDS #FreePalestine

Golden, CO – Around 3 p.m., November 16, the Students for a Democratic Society at Colorado School of Mines hosted a speak-out of around 80 people on the Colorado School of Mines campus in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. The students of this STEM campus relayed an undeniable message that they stand with Palestine, not the weapons manufacturers that litter their campus.

Joined by Denver SDS and the Colorado Palestine Coalition, these young activists passionately denounced the Colorado School of Mines’ deep ties with weapons manufacturers, the Israeli occupation, and reaffirmed their unwavering support for Palestinians fighting for liberation.

Mines SDS demands an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and as an engineering-focused school, demands that the Colorado School of Mines cut ties with defense contractors like Lockheed Martin. These war profiteers hawkishly target young engineering students to transform them into producers of terrifying weaponry.

Furthermore, speakers were able to connect with students on a level that spurred some to reconsider their lack of action. Speaker Paul Nelson called out to the campus asking, “What if it were your family? Your grandparents, siblings, parents, all wiped out in a second. What if you were facing genocide?” In response to this sobering question, many students stopped to listen to the event. Some even joined the audience.

From the beginning of the protest, a small group of around a dozen Zionist counter-protesters attempted to silence the students. These Zionists provided no real threat to the speak-out but did show their startling beliefs by laughing and cracking jokes amongst themselves when speakers called out the genocide Israelis waging on Gaza. As displayed by Zionists across this country, this behavior is commonplace. Zionism is a genocidal ideology.

Counter-protesters or not, mass student power will never be silenced. Mines SDS will continue to stand with the Palestinian resistance until their demands have been met and Palestine is free!

#GoldenCO #DenverSDS #FreePalestine #ColoradoSchoolofMines

Denver, CO – A group of 25 community members and students of Auraria campus gathered at the César E. Chávez Memorial Building, July 7, outside the office of Senator Michael Bennet. Protesters demanded that Bennet use his position within the United States Senate to advocate for the passing of a national law that would guarantee the right to an abortion in all 50 states.

Speakers chanted “My body, my choice” and “Not the church, not the state, they will not decide our fate!” as representatives of Senator Bennet attempted to placate the crowd with promises that the Senator will do “something.”

The July 7 action was called by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Auraria Campus and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and took place among a wave of nationwide protests in response to the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the legal precedent established in 1973 which, for the past 49 years, has prevented states from outlawing abortions within the first and second trimester.

“Because of this undemocratic decision, 28 states will likely ban or criminalize abortion, leaving half the population of the United States without access to safe abortions,” said Katherine Draken, speaking on behalf of FRSO. “This is not just a violation of bodily autonomy, it's denying people healthcare, putting their lives in danger.”

Speakers from SDS and FRSO addressed the crowd, advocating in favor of bodily autonomy for women and transgender people, as well as criticizing capitalism and for-profit healthcare, which they viewed as antithetical to these rights.

“This isn’t even just about our right to access healthcare; this is about our right to participate in society,” said Lyzzi Hahn of SDS. “We flat out refuse to be bred like cattle to perpetuate this terrible system!”

Other speakers decried the Democratic Party's response to the Supreme Court's decision, which was viewed by many as hypocritical.

Genevieve Gimp of SDS said, “I am tired of having my rights dangled in front of me. 'You want these rights? Vote us in so we can do nothing to protect you, so we can be performative activists for you, so we can play innocent while you suffer from our silence.’ What good has that ever done us?”

Denver SDS and FRSO said they will continue organizing students and members of the working class to ensure everyone can access the healthcare they need, and to ensure nobody is denied the right to an abortion.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #DenverSDS #AbortionRights

Denver, CO – About 50 students and campus community members gathered at Tivoli Commons for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) National Day of Action: “Cops Off Campus, Black Lives Matter!” Demands included the disarmament and defunding of Auraria Campus Police Department (ACPD) and more information regarding their participation in the Federal 1033 Program. Members of SDS and Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave speeches about strategies for community control of police and recounted stories of police violence, all while leading chants of “Down with mass incarceration, up, up with education!” and “Black lives matter!”

“No one is gonna do it for us, we have to continue to show up and say enough is enough. We don’t want a $4 million police department. We don’t want the same officers who were gassing us and beating us in the streets last summer to be policing our campus. We want our tuition dollars to go towards benefitting students, not a bloated, militarized police force,” says Shaine Carroll-Frey, SDS treasurer.

This National Day of Action comes on the heels of the recent indictment in the police murder case of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black youth who was killed by Aurora PD and paramedics in September 2019. Aurora Police officers Randy Roedema and Nathan Woodyard, former officer Jason Rosenblatt, and Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were each indicted for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. The 32-count indictment also included an additional charge of assault and one count of crime of violence against Roedema and Rosenblatt, as well as three counts of crime of violence and six counts of assault levied against Cooper and Chicuniec. Aurora Police used a chokehold to restrain McClain and directed paramedics to use ketamine to subdue him.

The indictment comes almost two years after the incident occurred – between protests in the wake of Elijah McClain in 2019 and the George Floyd Uprising in 2020, public outcry and militant organizing helped bring about this indictment.

While ACPD has an annual budget of $4.3 million, there is little to no transparency as to how these funds are being utilized. While it is publicly known that ACPD participates in the 1033 Program, the extent of their participation has been kept vague. The 1033 Program is a product of the “National Defense Authorization Act of 1990” and authorizes the transfer of excess military equipment to police departments, sheriff’s offices, and other civilian law enforcement agencies. After student attempts to gain this information via the Colorado Open Records Act, the request was deemed “contrary to public interests” to tell the public what firearms and other weapons the campus police possess. Given that police murder innocent people across the country, it begs the question what these “public interests” are.

SDS member Katherine Draken said in her speech, “The police don't serve us – they serve the rich and their politicians. Police don't protect the people – they protect the status quo of white supremacy and oppression of the working class. We need to continue organizing for community control of the police so we can change this corrupt system.”

Students for a Democratic Society says they will continue to organize and mobilize the campus community until their demands for community control of ACPD have been met.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #DenverSDS

“Recently, AHEC approved a new budget for the 2020-2021 school and, unbelievably, ACPD is actually receiving a larger percentage of the budget this school year than they did for last year, despite the fact that there’s hardly any students on campus,” said Shaine Carroll-Frey, a member of SDS.

“We believe that the 4.2 million dollars ACPD is receiving this year would be far better spent on educational services, health services, counselling and other resources that would actually benefit the campus community, and that’s what we’re demanding today,” Carroll-Frey continued.

The rally featured speeches highlighting the absurdity of the campus police budget and how the presence of armed officers puts all students, but particularly oppressed nationality students, at serious risk. Another speech by Jessie Crowe, a student at the University of Colorado-Denver and veteran, called attention to the prevalence of racism in the military and on police forces, and reiterated that racist cops don’t belong in our campuses, communities or cities.

At the end of the rally, SDS committed to continuing the fight to defund and disarm ACPD and to unite with other groups to achieve that goal.

#DenverCO #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #DenverSDS

The U.S. has claimed that they are backing off from war at this time, but will continue to add sanctions against Iran which will harm the people of Iran. One SDS member noted in his speech, “Sanctions are an act of war; countless citizens died in Iraq after sanctions blocked food and medicine, and we will not stand for this to happen again in Iran.”

The decades-long U.S. military presence across a dozen bases in Iraq has been denounced unanimously by every political party in Iraq. This occupation of Iraq is an attempt by the U.S. to keep a military presence in the Middle East.

Denver SDS will be participating in another peace event on January 25 at the Denver capitol building alongside the Denver Peace Council and others.

#DenverCO #International #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #Iran #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Trump #DonaldTrump #NoWarWithIran #DenverSDS