Colorado Springs, CO – On May 30, the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition (CSPC) gathered outside the South Gate entrance of the United States Air Force Academy to tell Kamala Harris that she is not welcome in Colorado Springs while supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Before gathering outside the gate in protest, two banners were dropped in the city in preparation for Harris’ unwanted arrival. The first one was displayed over Interstate 25 and hung from the Bijou Bridge. The second banner displayed off of Fillmore read: “Go home Killer Kamala.” Later that day a third banner drop took place outside of the North Gate of the Air Force Academy off of I-25, where the vice president was set to leave by motorcade. This banner said, “You all have blood on your hands.”

A protest of around 30 people set up in front of the Air Academy gate with a canopy overhead, displaying large banners, and signs hung all around – all calling out Kamala Harris’s genocidal actions.

The mornings’ action saw military personnel on ATVs or loaded into vans first surround the protest at a distance, trying to intimidate protestors with their obvious presence. Throughout the day, multiple Colorado Springs police officers showed up. Despite police presence, activists set up a canopy shelter in the morning that provided food and water for all who came to the action. Banners and signs affixed to its sides unequivocally called for a free Palestine. Protesters held signs condemning the violence committed by Israel, so that every person entering the South Gate entrance was confronted by their messaging.

UCCS Students for Justice in Palestine, SDS Denver, Denver Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Denver Anti-War Action endorsed the action. Several CSPC and UCCS SJP members gave speeches that called for the immediate end to all aid going to Israel.

A member of CPSC gave a speech about Israeli military tactics and how their rules of engagement in fact consider massive civilian casualties.

The message was clear, people demand freedom for Palestine, and offer no sanctuary to killers like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Genocide is not welcome in Colorado Springs, and anyone who supports genocide will not remain unchallenged.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #Palestine #CSPC #UCCSSJP #SDSDenver #DenverFRSO #DenverAntiWarAction

Denver, CO – On November 9, Students for a Democratic Society Denver joined a national walkout for Palestine to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel. In addition to the walkout, organizers took to the streets and marched to the Denver Capitol building, where approximately 500 people were gathered for a rally called by the Colorado Palestine Coalition. The rally also included local high school students who had walked out in solidarity with Palestine. Students were met with applause from onlookers and joined in with chants and songs

Alex Bornstein, a member of the Denver chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace, stated, “All elected officials continue to demonstrate their loyalty to Zionism, to imperialism, to colonialism, to capitalism, and apartheid. And we’re here today to shame them for that. We refuse to let our tax dollars be used to finance death and the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

Members of the coalition also took part in planning a sit-in at the capitol. In response to the event, the State Representatives decided to close the capitol early that day and protesters counted this as a successful shutdown of the offices that day. This is a victory for the pro-Palestine cause in Colorado, as it continues to expand as a movement.

On the march back, SDS added to their march and amassed over 150 participants to take the streets back to campus. Denver’s streets were filled with chants like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”

Paul Nelson, a member of the Denver SDS and a member of the MSU student government, said, “Don’t get it twisted, this is a Palestinian liberation movement. Different political friends united under a common cause of national liberation.”

SDS will continue its campaign to demand that the university administration divest from companies that support and fund the genocide of Palestinians and calls for the end of the United States' involvement and funding of Israel.

#DenverCO #FreePalestine #ColoradoPalestineCoalition #SDSDenver #JewishVoiceForPeace

Denver, CO – On February 1, about 40 students from the Auraria campus community came out to show solidarity with the latest wave of victims of police brutality. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), alongside the Black Student Alliance, held a vigil for Tyre Nichols, Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, and Keenan Anderson – each of whom were murdered by police in January. Students had the opportunity to speak out and voice their grief and anger towards these murders that continue to happen in the United States.

On January 3, Keenan Anderson, a cousin of a Black Lives Matter co-founder, was attempting to find help after a traffic collision when officers confronted him. After interacting with one officer, more responded to the scene and held him to the ground. The officers then yelled contradictory orders at Anderson, demanding he roll onto his stomach, while another officer simultaneously rendered this impossible by holding him on the ground on his back. Once Anderson inevitably was unable to comply with these demands, officers began tasing him while he begged for help, even saying, “They’re trying to George Floyd me,” in the process of being tased six times, which would lead to cardiac arrest and his death shortly after the interaction.

On January 7, Tyre Nichols was stopped by a violent group of police who chose to immediately escalate a non-violent traffic stop. After complying with all orders perfectly, these five officers deployed mace, tasers, and their fists while Nichols was already on the ground. Fearing for his life, Nichols ran into a suburb, where the gang of police found him yet again and continued their attack, savagely beating Nichols to the point of sustaining serious injuries which he would pass away from three days later.

On January 18, Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, 26, was killed in Atlanta by police during a demonstration defending the Weelaunee Forest in Georgia. The occupation is part of an ongoing struggle to stop the building of a police training facility, dubbed “Cop City” by the protesters. Tortuguita was murdered on the frontlines of the ongoing struggle. Activists known as forest defenders have been occupying the forest and opposing the attempts to begin construction on the project with militant tactics for over a year.

The vigil was filled with grief for the lives lost across the country, but there was also a tone of optimism that through organizing a better world can be fought for.

Student Julia Swezy, a member of SDS, states, “Therefore, even in times of insurmountable grief, even when we collectively express our devastation surrounding even more loss of life at the hands of cops, the flame of our goal is only burning brighter. Our grief will not fuel nihilism, but action.”

Another member of SDS, Paul Nelson, followed this sentiment in his speech, “We students are at a historical crossroads that many before us have arrived at, we can just go about our way and go towards the well-worn path of the status quo, or we can stand up and dare to struggle for a better way.”

SDS Denver has been fighting to demilitarize the police on Auraria Campus and stands in solidarity with victims of police brutality wherever it happens.

#DenverCO #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #SDSDenver