Hey!
Before I forget!
Come party! We're not all about politics! And we know you're as stressed as we are from Finals! We'll have drinks and music!
This Friday (the 2nd May)
6th St. Community Center
638 East 6th Street (BTW B & C)
7.30PM - 1AM
Calendar
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Rally for a Responsible University II
Tuesday, May 6th @ 2:30 PM
13th St. and 5th Ave
Cut The New School's Ties to Torture
&
Rally for a Responsible University
Demands:
That the New School ends all their ties to L3 Communications, a company profiting off of torture
No Tuition Increase without Student Representation on the Board of Trustees!
No more University contracts to Labor-Rights-Abusing/Environmentally Destructive companies
Student Oversight over Investment and Financial Disclosure
New Contract for Dr. Barrie Karp, the vastly popular Anti-Racist Feminist Professor
This is our last Rally of the semester! Show your commitment to a Democratic University!
13th St. and 5th Ave
Cut The New School's Ties to Torture
&
Rally for a Responsible University
Demands:
That the New School ends all their ties to L3 Communications, a company profiting off of torture
No Tuition Increase without Student Representation on the Board of Trustees!
No more University contracts to Labor-Rights-Abusing/Environmentally Destructive companies
Student Oversight over Investment and Financial Disclosure
New Contract for Dr. Barrie Karp, the vastly popular Anti-Racist Feminist Professor
This is our last Rally of the semester! Show your commitment to a Democratic University!
Reclaim Student Space!
For the rest of the semester, New School SDS will be leading a campaign to reclaim student space. The meager three rooms on the ground floor of 55 West 13th Street are all that suffices as 'our' space, and yet even then we are routinely kicked out. The New School administration has promised to keep that area open for us at all times, and used their commitment to do so to justify a $3000 tuition hike. Yet, as usual, VP Murtha and others have showed themselves to be not as good as their word - students trying to study, amongst them Free Press reporters, were kicked out and forced to go to NYU's Bobst to complete the insane amounts of work we have.
It's our space. We're going to make it so. We're planning on setting up our computers and books, starting Thursday, and provide snacks, hugs and emotional support to our fellow students. So, starting at 10pm on Thursday and continuing till the end of Finals, stop by! We'll be hanging out, and we'll have food!
Also, we're working on ideas for next year, so come let us know what you think we should work on!!
It's our space. We're going to make it so. We're planning on setting up our computers and books, starting Thursday, and provide snacks, hugs and emotional support to our fellow students. So, starting at 10pm on Thursday and continuing till the end of Finals, stop by! We'll be hanging out, and we'll have food!
Also, we're working on ideas for next year, so come let us know what you think we should work on!!
Update!
Sorry this hasn't been updated, folks! A lot of stuff has been going on!
Most critical I think, in recent news, has been the acquittal of Sean Bell's murderers, NYPD Officers Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver and Det. Marc Cooper, who fired fifty times at the unarmed man, killing him on his wedding night. The acquittal shows the racism and authoritarianism inhereant in our justice system and implies that the New York Police Department is above the law, the constitution and the ethics we have in our society. If you shoot an unarmed person 50 times as an offensive action, you are a murderer.
Dozens of New Schoolers and other SDSers attended the rally and unpermitted march in Queens this past Friday to demand justice for Sean Bell's killers. Despite it being a spontaneous action, over 1000 people showed up to show support for Popular Justice.
Learn more about the Sean Bell case and what you can do to demand justice at
http://www.justiceforsean.net/
Wednesday Night, New School Students working in coalition with the Picture the Homeless campaign will be staging a Sleep-Out to protest the criminilization and gross neglect of New York's homeless population. Thousands of people in New York are deprived of the basic right to shelter, and what is more, treated like criminals for being unable to find housing in the City. All this is happening while millions of square feet lie unused, kept empty to inflate prices by greedy landlords. Help draw attention to the problem by joining us as we sleep out on the corner of 13th Street and 5th Avenue from 7PM Wednesday. Email sleepoutapril30@gmail.com for last minute info.
Most critical I think, in recent news, has been the acquittal of Sean Bell's murderers, NYPD Officers Gescard Isnora, Michael Oliver and Det. Marc Cooper, who fired fifty times at the unarmed man, killing him on his wedding night. The acquittal shows the racism and authoritarianism inhereant in our justice system and implies that the New York Police Department is above the law, the constitution and the ethics we have in our society. If you shoot an unarmed person 50 times as an offensive action, you are a murderer.
Dozens of New Schoolers and other SDSers attended the rally and unpermitted march in Queens this past Friday to demand justice for Sean Bell's killers. Despite it being a spontaneous action, over 1000 people showed up to show support for Popular Justice.
Learn more about the Sean Bell case and what you can do to demand justice at
http://www.justiceforsean.net/
Wednesday Night, New School Students working in coalition with the Picture the Homeless campaign will be staging a Sleep-Out to protest the criminilization and gross neglect of New York's homeless population. Thousands of people in New York are deprived of the basic right to shelter, and what is more, treated like criminals for being unable to find housing in the City. All this is happening while millions of square feet lie unused, kept empty to inflate prices by greedy landlords. Help draw attention to the problem by joining us as we sleep out on the corner of 13th Street and 5th Avenue from 7PM Wednesday. Email sleepoutapril30@gmail.com for last minute info.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The NorthEast Regional Convention
Last weekend, a number of us went up to Harvard for the Northeast Regional SDS Convention. We came to work on our regional unity, to get certain matters of business taken care of, to get in touch with the other people in our region who we don't usually get a chance to meet up with, and to have fun. Those who could took cars, but most of us took the china town bus.
On Friday, when we arrived at the palatial campus, there were break out groups in progress. We participated in these by exclaiming greetings to our friends who we had not seen in a while, and to our friends who we were just then meeting. We eventually settled down and got broken up into other groups to talk about sexual abuse and a culture of support in SDS. Some of our groups turned out to be inspiring and deep discussions about male privilege and our personal culpability in the social scenes we find ourselves in, while others tended toward dogma and platitudes. Later on there was an open mic which devolved into heavy socializing and an attempt to crash some Harvard parties which turned out to be awful.
The food was constantly edible and available in mass quantity throughout the convention.
On Saturday night, there was a very long discussion about the discussion of privilege and race/orientation/gender, and afterwards there was a valiant attempt at that actual discussion. Most people seemed to grow weary of the talk fairly fast, partly because the facilitation was not clear, and partly because people consistently failed to completely understand one another. It did become clear by the end of the night that we in SDS have no common language or even a common set of concepts for discussing these issues. Not enough of us have done enough reading on (or asking about) the struggles of our friends and co-organizers, and not enough of us have been brave enough to question our own privilege to the point where our own self-image is the same as what would be seen by someone with less privilege than us. However, those who were not as wearied by the length of time it took to come to no conclusion at all felt that the discussion was a vital first step if we are ever to seriously tackle and take down these issues. And we must deal with these issues head on if we are ever to create the truly Democratic Society we want.
Earlier on Saturday, there was an Info Share about those national working groups which are up and (at least mostly) running. There must have been about 20 or so, with things like creating standard welcome packets for new chapters, a better newspaper, better relations with other social justice groups, fundraising, and training some mobile chapter-starting people. Particularly of note were the chapter census and the welcome packet people, who informed us that we were growing at an alarming rate and they were worried because we don't have enough people to properly attend to all the new chapters which are forming up all over the country.
The convention dragged on and the agenda needed more and more adjustment as presenters and conventioneers were less and less punctual. That talk on Saturday night was supposed to have happened in two separate sections earlier the same day. People began speaking to one another in slightly pleading tones, and taking extended cigarette breaks under an arched brick entryway which channeled echoes. The only proposal brought up during the convention was brought up on Sunday, after most of the chapters had left. It concerned a reading list for the topics implied from the discussion on Saturday night. It was eventually tabled, which was not even an action provided for in the official convention rules of order. Many of our crew were exhausted from an exceptionally hard night of partying the night before, and thus, the convention dribbled to a close.
A declaration was delivered at one point by the delegate from Los Angeles (which is not in fact in the Northeast, but he's a friend of ours) to those who happened to be in the room. 'We have a long way to go,' he said something very much like, 'but we are moving very quickly. The new SDS has only been around for three years, and it's getting new chapters at a rate no one could have foreseen at the beginning. At this time next year, will either be a force to be reckoned with on a national level, or we will be irrelevant. Only time will tell, but we have incredible potential here'. We also have a lot of work to do.
On Friday, when we arrived at the palatial campus, there were break out groups in progress. We participated in these by exclaiming greetings to our friends who we had not seen in a while, and to our friends who we were just then meeting. We eventually settled down and got broken up into other groups to talk about sexual abuse and a culture of support in SDS. Some of our groups turned out to be inspiring and deep discussions about male privilege and our personal culpability in the social scenes we find ourselves in, while others tended toward dogma and platitudes. Later on there was an open mic which devolved into heavy socializing and an attempt to crash some Harvard parties which turned out to be awful.
The food was constantly edible and available in mass quantity throughout the convention.
On Saturday night, there was a very long discussion about the discussion of privilege and race/orientation/gender, and afterwards there was a valiant attempt at that actual discussion. Most people seemed to grow weary of the talk fairly fast, partly because the facilitation was not clear, and partly because people consistently failed to completely understand one another. It did become clear by the end of the night that we in SDS have no common language or even a common set of concepts for discussing these issues. Not enough of us have done enough reading on (or asking about) the struggles of our friends and co-organizers, and not enough of us have been brave enough to question our own privilege to the point where our own self-image is the same as what would be seen by someone with less privilege than us. However, those who were not as wearied by the length of time it took to come to no conclusion at all felt that the discussion was a vital first step if we are ever to seriously tackle and take down these issues. And we must deal with these issues head on if we are ever to create the truly Democratic Society we want.
Earlier on Saturday, there was an Info Share about those national working groups which are up and (at least mostly) running. There must have been about 20 or so, with things like creating standard welcome packets for new chapters, a better newspaper, better relations with other social justice groups, fundraising, and training some mobile chapter-starting people. Particularly of note were the chapter census and the welcome packet people, who informed us that we were growing at an alarming rate and they were worried because we don't have enough people to properly attend to all the new chapters which are forming up all over the country.
The convention dragged on and the agenda needed more and more adjustment as presenters and conventioneers were less and less punctual. That talk on Saturday night was supposed to have happened in two separate sections earlier the same day. People began speaking to one another in slightly pleading tones, and taking extended cigarette breaks under an arched brick entryway which channeled echoes. The only proposal brought up during the convention was brought up on Sunday, after most of the chapters had left. It concerned a reading list for the topics implied from the discussion on Saturday night. It was eventually tabled, which was not even an action provided for in the official convention rules of order. Many of our crew were exhausted from an exceptionally hard night of partying the night before, and thus, the convention dribbled to a close.
A declaration was delivered at one point by the delegate from Los Angeles (which is not in fact in the Northeast, but he's a friend of ours) to those who happened to be in the room. 'We have a long way to go,' he said something very much like, 'but we are moving very quickly. The new SDS has only been around for three years, and it's getting new chapters at a rate no one could have foreseen at the beginning. At this time next year, will either be a force to be reckoned with on a national level, or we will be irrelevant. Only time will tell, but we have incredible potential here'. We also have a lot of work to do.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Remembering Spain, Remembering Heroes!
**George Sossenko** is an 88-year old veteran of the **Spanish Civil War**.
At the age of 16, he left his home in France to fight against Franco's fascists
with the anarchists of the **Durruti column**. A dedicated, life-long
anarchist, George is still an active organizer as he travels and gives
lectures on this important period in revolutionary history.
The NYC Anarchist Bookfair 2008
Weekend Kickoff Event
**Thursday, April 10th 7PM**
at The New School (*65 Fifth Ave*.)
**Swayduck Auditorium**
Sponsored by:
**NEFAC-NYC* (www.nefac.net)
(Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists)
& *Students for a Democratic Society* (SDS)- New School University*
An opening talk about 'Us,- the Anarchists,-- the only dedicated
organization honestly caring about the working class, and also give some
examples from my Spanish experience, where entire towns were ran by
Anarchists, with order, and efficiency with our libertarian spirit and
concern. How the communists betrayed the proletariat world wide, creating
a bourgeois class (CEO and contractors), non compatible with our
libertarian ideal. How could you understand that the Soviet Union, after
70 years of communism, vanished without fire a shot.The Communists, and
also their Unions, are losing support from the working class all over the
world.'
'They were powerful in Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Not anymore! As
you know here in the States, for too long the Unions where dominated by
the Mafia and even now, less that 8% of the working class belong to
Unions. The capitalists, since the disappearance and/or weakening of the
Unions (Syndicates), became brazen; they are plundering the country
without any regard to the millions of homeless and millions of workers
being laid off. We have hundreds of thousands of homeless people,
including the 300.000 sick or wounded veterans who returned from Iraq,
while 160.000 contractors in Iraq make $ 1,000,00 a day, and capitalists
like Haliburton are plundering the oil of these countries after
slaughtering one million of their citizens. We need to restaure the
workers pride and dignity; they should join us the Anarchists, because the
capitalists will never give them a chance to improve their life. On the
contrary, they use the cheaper workers overseas.'
Of course, I will be ready to answer questions about my ideal for which I
fought during 70 years."
This event is in conjunction with the NYC Anarchist Bookfair 2008, which
will be on Saturday April 12 and 13th at Judson Memorial Church, 55
Washington Square South, and is also FREE!
www.anarchistbookfair.net
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Awesome Media
Today marks the release of two awesome media publications. The most important is the New School Free Press, which features an excellent front-page article on our 'Rally Against An Irresponsible University' (we framed it more positively, but whatever ^_^) by Kevin Dugan, a great article on the NCOR conference by SDSer Pat Korte, a great editorial on the war, and some awesome additional reporting on protests going on around the world. We can't stress enough how happy we are that our campus press has taken the time to report on a conflict that the mainstream media is all too ready to ignore, providing an objective viewpoint that nonetheless shows the full negative consequences of war.
In addition to that, our own news zine, which features a basic rundown of what we were up to in March, is now available stashed around the school, or at our tables. Yeah, that's right, we'll be tabling, starting tomorrow! It's exciting, since we haven't really had the chance to do as much field organizing as we'd like. We'll also be making dorm visits - so if you'd like us to come have a discussion in your dorm, apartment or classroom, let us know! We realize activists can be somewhat intimidating at times and we don't want to be constantly shoving fliers in your face. We'd rather sit down, hang out and just talk to you!
EDITZ: Also we have a new domain name! Bookmark : http://www.newschoolsds.org !
In addition to that, our own news zine, which features a basic rundown of what we were up to in March, is now available stashed around the school, or at our tables. Yeah, that's right, we'll be tabling, starting tomorrow! It's exciting, since we haven't really had the chance to do as much field organizing as we'd like. We'll also be making dorm visits - so if you'd like us to come have a discussion in your dorm, apartment or classroom, let us know! We realize activists can be somewhat intimidating at times and we don't want to be constantly shoving fliers in your face. We'd rather sit down, hang out and just talk to you!
EDITZ: Also we have a new domain name! Bookmark : http://www.newschoolsds.org !
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