We, the members of the UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society, stand by the Raleigh sanitation workers in their struggle for social and economic justice, and we support their demands for paid overtime, voluntary overtime, an end to manager harassment, the full time hiring of all temporary workers, and the right to organize.

On October 5th, over 50 youth and students rallied against the war on Iraq in the central part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus, while hundreds of students listened to the speeches.

UNC-Chapel Hill SDS led the hour-long rally calling for unconditional U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with endorsements from UNC-CH Feminist Students United and Student Action with Workers. Protesters rallied with signs and banners while students and anti-war activists gave speeches demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and calling their fellow students to action. Despite threats and intimidation from the campus police, UNC-CH SDS held firm in its stance against the ROTC and military recruiters on our campus, as several student speakers drew connections between the struggle against the military on campus to the larger struggle of shutting down U.S. imperialism.

The protest was the first organized solely by UNC-Chapel Hill SDS and sparked a significant amount of debate among students on campus. UNC-CH SDS will continue to protest the war on Iraq in the coming months, and is already planning a protest for November 7.

UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society
October 12, 2006

Join us for a presentation by anti-war activists on the war in Iraq. Special focus will be placed on exposing the media's story about "sectarian civil war" as a way of hiding the struggle of the Iraqi people against occupation. We will discuss the history of Iraq's struggle for sovereignty, U.S. counter-insurgency operations, and the popular resistance movement for national liberation.

Presented by:
Kosta Harlan, UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society
David Hungerford, New Jersey People's Organization for Progress

Wednesday, October 11 at 7:00pm
Bingham Hall Room 317

Mass Demonstration - Thursday October 5th, 12 noon at the Pit.

Join UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society, the Feminist Students United, Student Action with Workers and many others for a national day of action against war and occupation. Stand up and speak out against the war in Iraq!

On September 12, the UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society (UNC-CH SDS) led a protest of over 120 people against John Ashcroft's visit to our campus. We chanted, we rallied, we disrupted his speech and we walked out to say NO to the "war on terror", Ashcroft's racist attacks on immigrants and Arab-Americans, the PATRIOT Act, and his legislative attacks on women's reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. We are opposed to the use of $10,000 of our fees to pay for a speech from this bigot.

The protest was a success, thanks to the participation of the Feminist Students United, the Radical Cheerleaders, the Young Democrats, and dozens of students. Palestine, Colombia and Iraq solidarity activists, among others, spoke at the rally. Uniting together in a common cause, we were able to project our message loud and clear: "John Ashcroft go home! War criminals off our campus!"

We promise to keep exposing the phony "war on terror" for what it really is—a war for empire, from Iraq to Palestine, from Colombia to the Philippines. We vow to fight back against the attacks on our democratic rights. With a broad alliance of progressive students and student organizations, we can build a truly democratic university where heterosexism, homophobia, racism, and national oppression have no place. Protesting reactionaries like John Ashcroft whenever they rear their ugly heads on campus is a good first step to that goal.

UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society
September 17, 2006