Iraq Veterans Against the War:Come Listen to IVAW Speak

Date: Friday, May 14th, 2010 4-6pm
Location: University of California, Santa Barbara
Building: Student Resource Building
Room: Multi-Purpose Room

Members of IVAW will be speaking about the U.S. military occupation of Iraq by the Bush and Obama administrations, the role of transnational corporations in Iraq, and the ongoing organizing by veterans and war-resisters to oppose the war and occupation. Please come and show your support for these young veterans who have made the choice to oppose war and occupation, often at great risk.

Speakers include:
Rick Reyes
Robin Long
Bryan Casler
Ryan Endicott

Brought to you by:
UCSB Campus Left

Co-Sponsored:
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)
Diversity of Thought Club
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
Students for a Voluntary Society

Continuing the Struggle: Where does the student-worker movement go from here?

Continuing the Struggle: Where does the student-worker movement go from here?

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 7pm – 9pm – Webb 1100 – UCSB Campus

We will be holding an open forum event to discuss and reflect on the student-worker movement actions on March 4th and brainstorm plans and ideas for the future. EJ, Kelly Burns, Mitchell Stewart, Jeb Sprague and Megan White of Campus Left will give brief talks. All are invited to come and share or hear about experiences from March 4th. Talks will consider different approaches for radicalizing and organizing our campus and communities. What can we learn from last quarter? Where do we go from here? We will also be screening footage from recent student-worker movement protests in California and across the country, and look briefly at inspiring struggles ongoing in other parts of the world. And we will be providing an overview of the goals and activities of Campus Left. All are invited.

Sponsored by UCSB Campus Left For more info email: Campusleft@gmail.com

March 4th: A Recap

We had a super-inspiring day of action this last Thursday. Here are some URL links to media stories on the protests in Santa Barbara and UCSB:

Los Angeles Indymedia: March 4 ? Students Stage Actions Nationwide
(lots of stories, photos and videos here from grassroots journalists)

http://la.indymedia.org/

SB Independent: Protecting Public Education

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/mar/06/protecting-public-education/

UCSB Daily Nexus: Students Manifest Dissent During Rally

http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=20420

The Daily Sound: Locals take to streets in protest of education cuts

http://www.thedailysound.com/News/030510Protest

SB Independent: Protesting the Plight of Public Education:
Hundreds of Students, Parents, Teachers March on Downtown and UCSB

http://www.independent.com/news/2010/mar/04/protesting-plight-public-education/

LA Times: Rallies against education cuts begin; officials warn against violence

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/california-education-protest-rallies-schools-budget.html

Daily Californian: Live Blog: Protests Continue at Other Campuses

http://www.dailycal.org/article/108533/live_blog_protests_continue_at_other_campuses

I posted up some photos from the day of action on campus and downtown, see here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhsprague/sets/72157623432879091/

A Call to Stop Hate Crimes Against SJP

A Call to Stop Hate Crimes Perpetrated Against the UCSB Student Organization “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP)

To:
Chancellor Henry T. Yang
UCSB Division of Student Affairs
UCSB Associated Students
American Students for Israel (ASI)

We are writing to voice our concern over acts of intimidation perpetrated against the UCSB student organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

1) We request that UCSB Division of Student Affairs and UCSB Associated Students (AS) investigate in due haste and diligence the attacks against SJP.

2) We call on American Students for Israel (ASI) to publicly denounce the ripping down of SJP?s memorial for the victims of the 2009 massacre in Gaza, and that ASI publicly call for its members and supporters to cease and desist from engaging in any further hate crimes against SJP.

Members of our organization have witnessed and learned of different occasions over the last year where members and supporters of the student organization ASI have targeted SJP and its members with acts of discrimination and intimidation.

This has included, but is not limited to: ASI members/supporters posing as SJP organizers while handing out material in front of university-approved SJP events; ripping down of university-approved SJP fliers by ASI members/supporters; attempts by ASI
members/supporters at intimidating SJP leadership; the calling of local police by ASI members/supporters to harass and lodge bogus complaints to shut down a SJP university-approved event to educate the public on Palestine; erasing of SJP’s chalked messages on campus sidewalks; ASI members/supporters using tactics of intimidation in cooperation with off campus organizations to target critical academic discussion of Israel’s state violence; and racist remarks made against Muslims and Palestinians by ASI members/supporters at campus events on Palestine.

In late January of 2010 SJP put together a memorial for the victims of the 2009 massacre in Gaza. The memorial, painstakingly constructed with over 1,400 painted sticks representing the lives of the victims, was ripped apart and thrown in the trash the night after SJP members constructed it. One member of SJP filed a police report following the incident.

Faris Shalan, a organizer of SJP, on January 26th wrote an open letter to the campus community in which he stated ?This Monday, we set up a display commemorating the victims of Operation Cast Lead, which included 13 Israelis, and more than 1,400 Palestinians. The display was taken apart on Tuesday and we found it in the trash. With ASI’s history of sabotaging SJP’s events, I have little doubt it was a member of ASI.?

Soon after, Noa Yaari, president of ASI, in an email to SJP claimed that none of the members of her group were involved. However, ASI still has yet to publicly condemn the ripping down of SJP?s memorial or agree to end its long-standing tactics of intimidation targeting SJP.

We condemn the acts of intimidation meant to silence SJP and we ask that ASI and other students supporting Israel’s state policy respect freedom of speech on the UCSB campus.

Signed,
UCSB Campus Left
campusleft@gmail.com
http://ucsbcampusleft.wordpress.com/
February 1, 2010

UCSB Student-Worker Coalition Demands

UCSB STUDENT-WORKER COALITION DEMANDS
(as of January 28, 2010)

UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT RIGHTS & SANCTUARY STANCE

1.) We demand Chancellor Henry T. Yang publicly advocate for and lead efforts to increase access to institutional aid for undocumented students. We recommend the Chancellor actively participate in educating the campus community and build a broad base of support for undocumented students. We expect our Chancellor to vote in support of undocumented students when the time comes for the Regents to vote on the proposed amendment. This campaign is not limited to the UCSB campus and we expect our Chancellor to encourage other chancellors and public officials to advocate for the rights of undocumented students.

2.) We demand that UCSB become a Sanctuary campus/zone to preserve the dignity and equal rights for all workers and students by:

a.) Stopping Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) patrols on campus and in Isla Vista.

b.) UCSB providing zero cooperation and assistance from UCPD, Isla Vista Sheriff Dept, UCSB administrators and employees, etc. to ICE patrols.

c.) Chancellor Yang publicly declaring his support for:

1.) UCSB to become a sanctuary campus/zone

2.) Santa Barbara to become a Sanctuary city

3.) California become a Sanctuary state

d.) A series of meetings be established no later than the last week of winter quarter, with Ad Hoc committees consisting of workers, staff, and students (with at least 2 members from the student group I.D.E.A.S.), to facilitate the implementation of this demand.

Campus Left meeting Feb. 1st, 6pm in SRB

What: Campus Left meeting

Where: 1st floor Student Conference Room of the SRB (Student Resource Building)

When: 6pm, Monday Feb. 1st

Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer: “People who consider themselves to be non-political… have already been assimilated by the dominant political culture – they just don’t notice it any more.”

Welcome!

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