2nd NATIONAL CONVENTION, BULLETIN #1
Please read and distribute widely
Students for a Democratic Society
II National Convention Bulletin #1
newsds.org/convention
(note: this information is also attached in both a pdf and a word file for
your printing pleasure)
Index
I. Introduction
1. Notes from Outreach Working Group
2. Save the Date
3. Fundraising Appeal
II. Organizing Process for the Convention:
1. Who and What is the National Convention Organizing Committee?
2. Working Groups for the convention and their contact information
3. Proposals passed by the National Convention Organizing Committee
III. Proposals Submitted for the Convention:
1. Format for proposals
2. Example of a Proposal
IV. Workshops:
1. Call for Workshop proposals.
2. Workshop proposal format
V. Schedule and Agenda:
To be determined
I. Introduction
1. Notes from the Outreach Working Group
June 9, 2007
Hello! In your hands is the first bulletin of the 2nd SDS National
Convention. We plan to send out these bulletins each week, with each one
containing an updated list of resolutions, proposals, amendments, ideas
for structure, and planned workshops for the convention. Also included in
every bulletin is contact information for each of the working groups
organizing the convention, and the contact information for the National
Convention Organizing Committee is listed in this bulletin as well – so if
you want to be involved in the planning process for the convention, please
get in touch. Finally, we need proposals to start coming in. The momentum
is building, but this convention will only be as strong as what each of us
brings to it – so please send us (nationalconvention-outreach@riseup.net)
your suggestions for workshops, proposals on national structure, and
resolutions for our politics and direction in the coming year. We don't
know if there will be time at the convention to address every proposal
that is submitted. However, the Outreach working group will try to connect
people with similar proposals so that they can collaborate.
Seize the Time – Onwards to the 2nd National SDS Convention!
The Outreach Working Group (nationalconvention-outreach@riseup.net)
Alex Grosskurth - Philadelphia SDS; Babken DerGrigorian - University of
California-Los Angeles SDS; Jasper Connor - George Mason University SDS;
Kati Ketz - University of North Carolina-Asheville SDS; Kosta Harlan –
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill SDS; Madeline Gardner -
University of Minnesota Twin Cities SDS; Mike da Cruz - Brown University
SDS; Sicily Amaris McRaven - Detroit SDS
2. Save the Date
Save the Date!!!
2007 SDS National Convention
Friday, July 27th – Monday, July 30th
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
Students for a Democratic Society invites you to be a part of history this
summer, at our 2nd National Convention since reforming on Martin Luther
King Day, 2006.
In less than a year-and-a-half, SDS has grown to thousands of members at
hundreds of chapters across the U.S. and represents one of the largest
radical multi-issue voices on the American student left. SDS has proven
itself to be an emerging force against imperialism, leading targeted
actions to shut down the war machine from New York to Washington State.
SDS is also combating the multi-layered forms of oppression that exist
within our organization and the society at large, including but not
limited to class, heterosexism, racism, and sexism. SDS incorporates a
vision of environmental and climate justice, working to reverse the trend
of ecological destruction that threatens the planet. And through it all
SDS remains committed to participatory democracy as not only a goal but as
our basic operating principle.
As last year’s National Convention resolved, the main priority this July
will be to decide on issues of national structure, meaning the way that
SDS chapters will be linked together to form a coherent whole. SDSers from
all over the nation will gather to resolve those issues, during four days
of food, fun, networking, strategy and training.
The burning question this summer is “How do we organize ourselves?” How
do we effectively build student power, fight oppression and the
militarization of society, ensure internal democracy and at the same time
have a functional framework to support the thousands of new students that
will join SDS in the coming year?
To answer these questions, as the old SDS saying goes, we need to
“Let the People Decide!” And as a member of SDS, that means YOU!
Here’s 2 easy steps you can take to participate in this conversation and
help SDS decide on national structure:
1) Come to Detroit this July (and bring your chapter!!!)
2) Send your ideas and proposals for how SDS should be structured, *early*
so they can be circulated and read by SDSers across the country before the
convention. Next week we will send info on how to format your proposals,
keep an eye out! In the meantime, brainstorm…
The 2007 SDS National Convention may become a pivotal event for our
generation, not unlike what the 1962 Port Huron convention became for the
generation that preceded us. The world faces some of the same grave
challenges that it did in the ‘60s, the stakes may be higher today, but
the struggle continues. Come help turn the tide this July.
<<** See you in Detroit **>>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Questions, concerns, etc.? Check out the website (updates coming):
http://newsds.org/wiki/index.php?title=National_Convention
To contact an SDS organizer on the ground in Detroit, rock an email to
eightbitriot@gmail.com (Aaron at Wayne State)
3. Fundraising Appeal
Build the grassroots anti-war movement! Help support SDS!
*SDS is back!* And just in time...
Although you would not know it from the corporate media, students & youth
from across the country have been out organizing non-stop this past year
on high school and college campuses against the war, for civil rights,
against racism, and for free speech.
One of the main reasons for the huge surge in student activity, especially
around the ongoing disaster in Iraq and the pending invasion of Iran, is
the emergence of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Asked why they chose the old name, they say "Students for a Democratic
Society says
Perfectly who we are." They think they can learn something from SDS' history
of community and campus organizing, direct action politics, and
anti-imperialist
perspective. As of today, SDS counts almost 250 high school and college
chapters, many of which are active. Right now they need our support!
For some background please check out the April 16 cover story in the Nation:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070416/phelps
For report backs on SDS related actions over the past year see
http://www.newsds.org
For an early analysis of SDS and its politics by one of its members see
http://www.leftturn.org/node/561
This summer SDS is planning two major activities for which they need
immediate financial help: their second annual convention, to be held July
26-31 in Detroit, and a series of regional "Action Camps" to train chapter
organizers. They hope that the convention will produce a national
structure, now that the local and regional structures have begun to be
built. The Action Camps are intended to build organizing skills, including
strategic planning, developing campaigns, coalition-building, as well as
address
issues around antiracism, patriarchy, class privilege and white supremacy.
But in order to accomplish this, it will take financial contributions from
all of
us. Along with the huge costs of organizing a national convention and a
series of
organizing trainings, they are trying to hire a part-time convention
coordinator to
help the Detroit organizing committee and the camp coordinators. Both the
convention and the camps will entail considerable physical expenses,
including
travel, food, and housing for the students. All money raised will go
towards these
summer activities.
Please help! To start us off, former SDS’er Mark Rudd has pledged the
first $1000 and Michael Albert of Z Magazine/ZNET has pledged another
$1000 once the fund-raising hits the $9000 mark.
In all, SDS hopes to raise in the neighborhood of $20,000 over the next
two months. Please forward this to others and pitch in and give whatever
you can. The original SDS of the 1960s only grew to be so big with the
generous support of others who wanted to see a strong and vibrant student
anti-war movement.
Please send tax-deductible contributions to:
Alliance of Community Trainers
P.O. Box 161270
Austin, TX 78716
*** please put in memo line: "SDS" ***
If you have a paypal account, you can make non-deductible online
contributions at:
www.newsds.org -- look for the "donate" icon on the right side of the page.
Thank you in advance,
Students for a Democratic Society. May 2007
Please circulate this letter widely to friends, family, activists and
organizers. We need funding to make this convention happen!
II. Organizing Process for the Convention
1. Who and What is the National Convention Organizing Committee?
The National Convention Organizing Committee is a group of SDS activists
from across the country that meets on a weekly basis to organize and plan
for the 2nd National SDS convention. The conference calls are open to
anyone who is active in an SDS chapter. The Committee was put together in
early May. You can subscribe to the listserv by visiting this link:
http://groups.google.com/group/sds-national-convention-2007
The next conference call will take place this Monday, June 11 at 9:00pm.
To access the conference call, dial1-605-725-1900 and use 62769 as the
access code. The agenda is posted to the convention planning group
listserv.
2. Working Groups in the National Convention Organizing Committee
There is a division of labor among the folks meeting on the weekly calls.
The work has been divided into several working groups. Below is a list of
all the working groups with their contact information. Please feel free to
contact any of these working groups with concerns or offers of help.
Outreach – Jasper Conner– GMU SDS (nationalconvention-outreach@riseup.net)
Logistics – Aaron Petcoff - Wayne State University SDS
(eightbitriot@gmail.com)
Scheduling – Tracy Molm - University of Minnesota SDS (tracy0581@gmail.com)
Media – Dave Shukla - University of California-Los Angeles SDS
(dshukla@techemail.com)
Fundraising – Max Uhlenbeck - New York City SDS (max.uhlenbeck@gmail.com)
3. Proposals Passed by the National Convention Organizing Committee
*** Note: The Organizing Committee uses 2/3rds majority vote (abstentions
not counting) to reach decisions on proposals ***
Content Proposal (Joshua Kahn Russell, Bay Area SDS) – 6/04
That the workshops at the SDS National Convention should revolve around
issues relating to structure; specifically, they should fall under three
broad categories (power-sharing, anti-oppression, and how to make change).
Passed: 14 yay, 2 nay, 5 abstentions.
Quorum Proposal (Mary, Portland SDS) – 5/28
For the SDS Conference National Convention Organizing Committee, quorum
shall consist of at least 12 individuals. This group shall consist of at
least one person from a majority (3 or more) of regions and a majority (3
or more) of working groups.
Passed: Yes – 14, Abstention – 4, No – 3
Proposal to change official dates of National SDS Convention (Max, NYC
SDS) – 5/28
Given the fact that many SDSers will have to take off several days from
work already just to travel to the national convention in Detroit this
summer, and given that many are also planning (again taking off of work
etc) on attending the action camps as well as the US Social Forum, this is
a proposal to formally shorten the dates for the national convention.
Proposal to hold national convention from late afternoon/early evening
Friday, July 27th -- Monday morning, July 30th.
Included in this proposal is the friendly amendment to have all important
decision making take place over the weekend from Saturday July 28th-Sunday
July 29th. Friday would be some kind of introductory series of workshops
or opening panel/event/cultural performance and Monday would be to tie up
any loose ends and go over next steps before people get back on the road
to head home.
Friendly Amendment: Save the date email will only say July 27th – 30th
Passed: Yes – 12, Abstention – 4, No – 3.
Proposal – Jonathan, Boston SDS (5/21)
To suspend the participation of Monty Kroopkin, Ray Zwarich and Jeffrey
Holman (a.k.a. Cloudy) in the planning of the 2007 sds national convention
on calls and listservs, based on repeated disruptive behavior. This
behavior is not isolated to this working group but has been exhibited
continually over the past year within sds organizing efforts.
€ Use of derogatory/oppressive language
€ Dominating of discussions/Speaking too much and over student and youth
voices
€ Deliberately disregarding the meeting agenda after its been approved
€ Abusing convention listserv for long off-topic discussions that get in
the way of organizing
€ No respect for the democratic process and the democratic decisions of
the volunteer working group
€ Misrepresenting the decisions of the convention planning group to the
rest of both sds and mds
Proposal does NOT address the issues of the relationship between sds and mds.
It does NOT address the issues of what constitutes an sds membership.
It does NOT address the age of participants.
It does NOT address attendance and participation at the convention.
Proposal DOES address the importance of accountability in democratic
decisions within the volunteer National Convention Working group.
Passes unanimously; two abstentions.
Proposal on Goals – Madeline, UMN SDS (5/21)
1. Decide on issues of national structure. Not necessarily create one, but
decide if we want one, and what it is.
2. Leave the convention with a plan to make sure what we decided about
structure actually occurs.
3. We provide every opportunity for the SDSers at the convention to
educate themselves on the different proposals for national structure. Pros
and Cons of each, and learn a good process for deciding (for example we
have workshops on consensus and process, anti-oppression and
how-change-is-made, as well as scheduled time to debate different proposals.)
4. Everyone is included in the process of determining structure at the
convention
5. Everyone has a positive experience at the convention
Passed by unanimous vote.
III. Proposals Submitted for the Convention
1. Suggested format for proposals
Note: for purposes of clarity, we are asking people to please use this
format for submitting proposals. Please submit your proposals to the
Outreach working group, at nationalconvention-outreach@riseup.net.
Proposals will be collected and distributed on the national convention
website and in the weekly convention bulletin. –Outreach Working Group
Name and Chapter, followed by the date.
Title: Title of your proposal. Please keep it short but also distinctive,
for easy reference at the convention.
Category: How would you categorize your proposal? Structure, resolution,
action, etc?
Proposal: Be as specific as possible, and number your points so that they
can be easily referenced.
Explanation: This is where you explain why you are putting forth your
proposal.
Implementation: Here is how our proposal will be implemented, if passed at
the national convention. Feel free to write “not applicable”, but the
point in asking about implementation is to avoid idealist proposals, and
have people think about how to implement what they are thinking about.
Other Signatories:
Name, Anywhere University SDS
2. Example of a proposal
Submitted by the Outreach Working Group, June 4
Title: Removal of all capital letters from SDS
Category: Proposal, capitalization convention for literature,
publications, propaganda and other SDS materials involving text.
Proposal: Remove capital letters from all SDS text. The proposal is
broken into segments to allow for portions of it to be adopted and others
left out and for each part to be debated in full.
First Point: Removal of capitalization from the SDS acronym; the acronym
will always be written sds, rather than SDS, this includes things like
pins and logos on banners as well as literature and other publications.
Second Point: Removal of capitalization from SDS internal text. All text
produced for internal use by SDS, including text in electronic format will
be written without capital letters. This applies to text put out by both
working groups and by individuals. As such all communication on SDS
internal listserv will be written without capital letters, as will
schedules for conventions, organizing literature, and anything else
written by SDSers for SDSers. This would include things like the SDS wiki
and other websites written for internal SDS use rather than external
outreach or communication.
Third Point: Removal from capitalization from SDS external text. All text
produced by SDS for external use, including text in electronic format,
will be written without capital letters. This applies does not apply to
individuals but only text that speaks for a larger SDS entity, at least of
chapter or working group size, individuals are still encouraged to follow
the convention, but it is not binding. As such all press releases,
flyers, handbills, pamphlets, and other SDS literature directed towards
the public will be written without capital letter. This applies to
websites designed as outreach tools as well.
Explanation: Capitalization is a form of hierarchy and oppression and as
a group dedicated to a non-oppressive, democratic society the way we write
must be as non-oppressive and non-hierarchal as possible.
Implementation: Here is how our proposal will be implemented, if passed at
the national convention.
Other Signatories:
Name, Chapter – and today’s date
IV. Workshops
1. Call for workshop proposals
The Scheduling Working Group cordially invites all chapters and members of
SDS to submit proposals for workshops to be held at the 2007 National
Convention, July 27-30.
We ask all proposals use the form that is enclosed in this bulletin.
Please read and follow directions contained in it before devising your
proposal.
Regarding the content of workshops at the 2007 Convention, please keep in
mind that as per the 2006 National Convention there was a resolution that
this Convention should concentrate on decisions
regarding organizational structure and other internal matters. Workshops
that help inform those decisions will receive priority.
To help guide proposals, the convention planning group asks that workshops
categorize themselves by the following content areas:
* How Change Is Made: On organizing in general.
* Power Sharing: On building an organization that is democratic and
accountable.
* Anti-Oppression: On working toward a common understanding of the
problems and issues the organization faces both internally and externally.
All forms should be sent to SDS.workshops@gmail.com.
Your Name(s):
Your Contact Info (email & phone):
(Title)
Title of Workshop
(20 characters max):
Type of Workshop: (pick one)
0Power Sharing
0Anti-Oppression
0How Change is Made
Materials Needed:
(materials)
Description of Workshop (max 200 words):
(workshop description)
PLEASE SEND COMPLETED FORMS TO: SDS.workshops@gmail.com
V. Schedule and Agenda
To be determined.