The Infamous Ink

Greetings Fellow Students, Members of the Community and Infamous Ink Readers:
This Thursday, May 1^st, people will turn out across the country to demonstrate and march in celebration of International Workers’ Day, to march for immigrant and labor rights, continuing the struggle of progressive movements through out the history of liberal-capitalism to effect economic and social change. Thursday’s marches are the occasion to recognize and enumerate the intolerable social and political situations enabled by that system today and to demand:

universal amnesty, equal rights in the workplace, the right to unionize, the Employee Free Choice Act, fair wages and full employment, the end of the occupation in Iraq, equal access to education, universal healthcare

CALLING ALL STUDENTS:

Leave campus to join fellow progressive labor and community organizations to

WITHHOLD LABOR and MARCH AND RALLY DOWNTOWN

Take part in a movement to change our society!

Join major events in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, San Antonio, Dallas Texas, Atlanta Ga, Phoenix, other cities in the United States and Latin America.

Meet at 11:00 am at Ashland and Ogden, and march together to Union Park for a public rally!

Here are five reasons why students of conscience should take part in Thursday’s mobilizations:

1. Student movements have played a major role in social struggles for democracy and civil rights. Students have a unique place in public discourse, as the young people in national institutions of learning, we have the task and privilege to envision and shape the future of our society.

2. Students come from communities that are effected by today’s political problems; we have friends and family who are serving in Iraq, who are threatened by deportation because they do not have legal documentation to work in this country, who do not have access to healthcare, and who labor without just compensation.

3. Students have a unique role in international political discourse. We inhabit the international institutions of higher education, and we benefit from access to funds to study and travel abroad. We study with fellow students and professors from around the world, and are thus empowered to develop a critical international perspective on political issues in this country.

4. Our ‘workplace,’ the university, is an ideal place of political discourse, we have logistical and practical tools to share information and organize ourselves that people working in other parts of society do not have access to.

5. We need to create an international community of citizens of conscience, willing to stand up and send a message to our political leaders, and the rest of society. We need to show that the American public is demanding comprehensive immigration policy reform that protects the civil and human rights of all workers, both native and foreign, who work in this country and contribute to this nation’s wealth.

The Chicago Students for a Democratic Society stand with other progressive community and labor organizations to march on May 1^st.

Take a stand! Join more than 100 students across Chicago that are already planning to come out.

Please look at the following links for more information:

• [RIGHT HERE] Visit the site of one of the major coalition groups planning the May 1^st march.
• [RIGHT HERE] - Read an article on the state of progressive politics of immigration and labor rights.
• [RIGHT HERE] -Listen to an audio file of a panel discussion with organizers of the May 1^st marches for student organizers.

In solidarity,

Ben Blumburg, Ashleigh Campi, Ian Morrison

Chicago Students for a Democratic Society

The Platypus Affiliated Society