National SDS Stands in Solidarity with Workers

Workers in the United States face a variety of poor working conditions: low wages; understaffing; long hours; little to no benefits; deportation for undocumented workers; and casual, blatant, and systemic racism, and other forms of bigotry. Especially in Right-to-Work states, workers also fight against anti-union ideology spewed by bosses and class collaborationist co-workers. On university campuses, wealthy administrators take raises to their hundred thousand dollar salaries while campus workers are paid minimum wage. Instead of paying workers what they are due, bosses divide the working class against each other. Bosses tell their employees that their struggles are due to other members of the working class, often falsely blaming immigrants for “stealing jobs”, and the workers themselves, arguing that they are undeserving of a decent wage. These poor conditions were sharpened by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way United States leaders prioritized profits over the lives of the poor.

National SDS stands in solidarity with organized labor, but we echo the most militant wings of the labor movement in their push to oust police from their unions. Police unions serve to protect racist police officers from the consequences of brutalizing, killing, and framing Black and Brown people for crimes they did not commit. More generally, Black and Brown communities are criminalized by law enforcement to further fuel the supply of incarcerated labor. Police unions are tools for advancing legislation that negatively affects the working class and frequently invests in political campaigns which uphold the police state, military-industrial complex, and prison-industrial complex. The implementation of Civilian Police Accountability Councils (CPAC) nationwide will put police accountability into the people’s hands and will help cease police crimes against the working class. Power must belong to the people!

Since its inception, New SDS has stood beside the labor movement. Recently, the labor struggle is growing rapidly as more and more workplaces fight to unionize and as unions authorize strikes for better working conditions. SDS and their affiliates have organized walkouts, strikes, and actively promote the creation of unions on campus. Recently, Appleton SDS along with some affiliates, the Lawrence Liberation Front and Sunrise Appleton, organized a student-led “Pay us $15!” demonstration in April 2021. The struggle continues and National SDS will continue standing in solidarity with students and all workers on and off university campuses until they receive a livable wage. Students are the workers of tomorrow, and it is our duty to fight for all current and future workers now so that we may have an equitable path forward . National SDS will continue standing with workers until economic justice is served and beyond!

Therefore, National SDS must resolve to:

Stay aware of the local and national struggles of workers. Campus unions and wage raises should be a particular focus for local chapters; Build long-term relationships to strengthen the student and labor movements and our ability to seize what is ours from those in power; Organize in solidarity with and at the direction of campus workers by demanding cuts to excessive administrative salaries to win better contracts and conditions for all;

Defend our campus unions against attacks by administration and support the creation of new unions for workers on our campuses.br> Call for national days of action in solidarity with workers when strikes are called;

Call local protests in solidarity with the campaigns and contract demands of unionized campus workers when in contract negotiations, particularly in the event of a strike;

Support the implementation of Civilian Police Accountability Councils (CPAC) nationally and locally as a means to eliminate qualified immunity, the power of racist police unions, and end police brutality;

Support undocumented and immigrant laborers by resisting ICE, defending DACA, and fighting abuse of said laborers. Support international student workers by demanding higher wages and better conditions for on-campus jobs, as they are unable to work off-campus due to legal obstacles;

Support incarcerated workers by divesting campuses from prison labor and forcing their demands for better conditions into the media spotlight.

SDS Demands Reproductive Rights!

In 2021 alone there have been no less than 90 abortion restriction bills passed by state legislatures. One of the most restrictive abortion bills passed this year came from Texas, known as S.B.8, which aims to restrict abortions to only the first six weeks of pregnancy when most people would not yet know they were even pregnant. Given that 90% of abortions in Texas occur following the first six weeks, it is clear that this bill aims to effectively criminalize abortion.

This is all to say that the current trend across the United States is that right-wing forces are seeking to effectively overturn Roe v. Wade, as evidenced by the Mississippi Attorney General asking the now conservative-majority Supreme Court to do just that as part of the deliberations regarding Mississippi’s anti-abortion legislation.

With this in mind, the Texas chapters of National Students for a Democratic Society (BCS SDS, UT Austin SDS, and UTA PSU) put forth this Resolution:

Call upon National SDS to have a National Day of Action in defense of abortion rights in this country;

Call upon local SDS chapters to share the statement posted by National SDS condemning the Texas Abortion Bill and struggle against any local abortion restriction bills;

Keep watch of the Supreme Court decision revolving the Mississippi Abortion Bill, who’s arguments will start on December 1st;

Call upon local SDS chapters on campuses who do not already have menstrual products to demand access to those products be accessible and freely available to the student body

Call upon local SDS chapters to demand their universities stand by Roe v. Wade and basic abortion rights in this country.

We are now in a time in which more people are at risk of losing their access to healthcare and abortion than ever before, and with this new Supreme Court, they just may be able to gut, if not outright strip Roe v. Wade. Texas chapters of SDS call upon National SDS and the wider student movement to dare to struggle for abortion rights and access to healthcare products.

If We Dare To Struggle, We Dare To Win!

Beyond the George Floyd Uprising: SDS Demands Police Accountability

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd’s life was stolen by killer cop Derek Chauvin and three other officers. The world watched on as the video of his murder captured the racist brutality and blatant disregard for human life so common in law enforcement. In this way, George Floyd’s murder laid bare the violence that Black people face every day at the hands of police in this country. Within hours, the streets of Minneapolis erupted in protest. Police precincts burned. Soon, the movement would spread across cities nationwide, with protesters demanding justice for George Floyd and all other stolen lives, such as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others. In Kenosha, the shooting of Jacob Blake sparked another mass mobilization for justice, where protesters lost their lives at the hands of a white supremacist vigilante who was supported and protected by the police. Everywhere that people hit the streets, they put their lives on the line.

Through months of sustained action, we learned many lessons about our power and the necessity of fighting back against the white supremacist system of policing. We learned the lengths that those in power will go to protect themselves, deploying militarized police and the National Guard to suppress protests rather than delivering on the most basic forms of justice and accountability. We also learned that despite repression, the power of the people cannot be stopped. If the people had not risen up to demand justice, we would never have received the indictment of the four officers who murdered George Floyd. The power of the people forced the hand of the criminal justice system in Derek Chauvin’s trial, and for the first time in Minnesotan history, a white cop was convicted for the murder of a Black man. Now, we must take up the fight to win real power over the police. We must demand community control.

In Chicago, after years of tireless organizing, the movement for community control of the police achieved a historic victory with the passage of ECPS, the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance. ECPS lays the foundation for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC). It empowers communities to determine CPD policy, police superintendents, police board members, and much more. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (CAARPR) is continuing to struggle for more community control by campaigning for an upcoming referendum which would remove mayoral authority from the process. We must stand by them in their fight, as well as support the work happening in many other cities to win community control of the police.

On our campuses, students and young people participated heavily in the Black Lives Matter Movement, organizing protests in response to local cases and standing in solidarity with the national movement for CPAC. Many SDS chapters took this struggle a step further and launched campaigns demanding police accountability or divestment from their own campus police forces. Nationally, SDS uplifted these demands by creating our National Campaign: Students Demand Police Accountability. We carry our commitment to this work forward, recognizing this struggle as a core component of the fight for Black liberation.

Therefore, SDS resolves to:

Fight for all victims, in national and local cases of police brutality or murder by participating in community protests and holding actions on our campuses;

Continue the National Campaign through calling consistent nationwide days of action in support of important organizing efforts in the movement against police crimes, such as but not limited to court dates, victim’s anniversaries, and emergency calls to action;

Commit ourselves to not only bettering the overall composition of our chapters, but also to promoting the leadership of Black, Brown and Indigenous activists, whose liberation rests on these struggles;

Support the nationwide movement for CPAC and wage campaigns to hold our own campus police departments accountable.

SDS National Defends Indigenous Sovereignty and Condemns the Expansion of Extractive Industry Projects on Stolen Land.

Over the past decade, Indigenous activists and their allies have fought the construction of Enbridge’s Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline that stretches from so-called Alberta, through North Dakota and Minnesota, and into northern Wisconsin. Calling for the revocation of construction permits in both national and state courts, Anishinaabe Indigenous peoples have attempted to assert their treaty rights, as the Line 3 corridor threatens their hunting, fishing and wild rice harvest lands. Being unsuccessful in the courts led them to take up direct action on the ground in opposition to extraction. But as of this month, oil flows through the completed pipeline, undermining Indigenous sovereignty and conspicuous climate science.

Line 3 is only one of many extractive industry projects currently ongoing in the United States, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline on the land of the Sissipihaw, Saponi, Shakori and Occaneechi peoples in Appalachia and Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline on Anishinaabe land in the Great Lakes region. Each of these projects work to maintain the power of the settler business-owning class, with the great effect of ever-worsening climate change while compromising Indigenous sovereignty and the national rights of tribes.

Therefore, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities chapter of Students for a Democratic Society resolves to:

Call upon National SDS to have national days of action around the climate struggle and Indigenous rights;

Call upon National SDS to support Indigenous sovereignty and the reclamation of all stolen land with full control by Native and Indigenous peoples;

Call upon local SDS chapters to condemn fossil fuel infrastructure projects and other ecologically harmful developments in their areas, and uplift the struggles of Indigenous leaders;

Call upon local chapters to release their own statements in support of Indigenous sovereignty and the fight for climate justice.”

As it stands today, climate change is at a tipping point that requires immediate action from the masses as well as systems change. Indigenous peoples have always been at the forefront of environmental and anticapitalist struggles. We must uplift their voices and follow their leadership in the struggle for a livable future.

SDS National Fights for Climate Justice!

With a surge in mainstream media coverage of the climate crisis globally, we need environmental justice now more than ever. The climate crisis is caused by the same root causes of multiple interlinked crises, of hunger, poverty, racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and natural destruction. These forms of oppression and inequality are linked with the cynical consequences of militarism and resource extraction for financial gain and profit.

We must demand the US to take real scientific approaches. We must hold all government officials accountable for failing to follow their climate policies. Not only are we, as students, to combat climate justice in our communities but we must also fight in our Universities as they are institutions that contribute towards the climate crisis. SDS calls upon all chapters to demand their Universities administration to go against all actions that may impact the climate negatively. This includes but is not limited to, divesting from fossil fuels, creating approaches to generating their own power on campus, investments into researching new ways to combat the climate crisis, and more.

Climate justice isn’t just about solutions that build sustainability and resiliency – it’s acknowledging the links of injustices affecting marginalized communities and bringing them to the forefront of environmental activism without minimizing or silencing overt and discrete forms of oppression. Racial disparities and lasting repercussions of colonialism similarly exacerbate the adverse impacts of climate change on marginalized communities worldwide.

Therefore, be it resolved that:

SDS Chapters shall seek out, show solidarity with, and participate in campaigns led by frontline communities.

SDS Chapters shall build relationships with Indigenous groups and environmental justice coalitions within their campus and community.

SDS Chapters shall develop an understanding of the environmental racism that has embedded their communities and the impacts people of color face because of it.

SDS Chapters shall take an approach that unites people of different experiences and identities to environmental justice, and educate their communities on how the climate crisis is deeply entwined with racial and social justice worldwide.

SDS Chapters shall take action in response to growing impacts of climate change that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities and deepen racial inequality.

SDS National Stands Against Racism on Campus

Universities across the nation are at the forefront in fighting back against racism in our communities. The U.S. has a prolonged history of upholding white supremacy through different educational institutions, such as universities, from rejecting education on the basis of race to most recently providing space for white nationalist speakers. As a result, students stand at the frontlines in fighting back against racism and oppression towards marginalized and oppressed peoples.

White supremacist propaganda fuels college campuses with the effort to spread white nationalist, racist, and chauvinist ideology that affects the safety of all marginalized and oppressed students attending these colleges. White nationalists often target campuses in hopes of recruiting individuals into their reactionary organizations. In response, University administrations turn a blind eye due to “free speech” policies. These responses demonstrate complacency and implicit support for racism on campus.

Our duty as students is to fight back against all forms of white supremacy on campus, through education, agitation, and mobilization. SDS has mobilized students to rally against racist acts, demanding their Universities take action against white supremacy on campus. These demands include but are not limited to: publicly condemn white supremacist actions, increase Black, Latinx, Chicano, Asian, and Indigenous enrollment, implement a promising retention plan for Black and Brown professors, and for campus recruiters to connect with Title 1 schools that have historically been neglected by these institutions. The student movement is imperative in terms of fighting back with the determination of creating a safe campus for all present and incoming marginalized students. As SDS student activists continue this militant fight, our wins bring us closer to seeing freedom in our lifetime!

SDS resolves to: Consistently organize on-campus rallies against white supremacy (i.e BLM Protest, No Nazis On-Campus Rally).

Call actions to protest white supremacist and racist acts on campus;

Centering the leadership of Black, Brown and Indigenous student activists in our organization;

Organizing Panels centering different movements such as Black Liberation, Chicano Liberation, Self-Determination for Latin American countries, and more;

Demanding University administrations to increase Black and Brown enrollment every year

Demanding University administration to increase hiring Black and Brown faculty

Creating a comprehensive list of demands that focuses on providing sufficient resources for oppressed students (i.e provide scholarships for students from Title 1 schools; increase in Black and Brown professors/counselors; limit budget funds to University Police Department; support programs focusing on Black, Chicano, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and any other oppressed people studies);

To call upon local chapters to learn more about “invisible minorities” at their specific campuses, learning about specific demographics, and taking local action.

Supporting community organizations in their struggle against racism outside of campus.

SDS Unites in Struggle for Queer, Transgender and Intersex Liberation

According to the 2010 Census, there are at least 1.3 million transgender youth in America, yet only 12% of trans youth say their schools and school districts have policies that offer them safety and support. The struggle for queer, trans and intersex and trans liberation is inextricably linked to all other struggles for freedom from oppression under capitalism. From the fight for Black and brown liberation and self-determination in the US to the international struggle against imperialism, queer, trans and intersex and trans people have been and always will be at the forefront.

Tallahassee SDS has been consistently involved in and at the forefront of the trans struggle, both on Florida State’s campus and in the larger Tallahassee area. Our chapter hosts yearly Pride events, centering trans voices and highlighting their struggles to the larger FSU and Tallahassee area. We have hosted annual vigils foron the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub tragedy and for the national Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th.. We collaborated with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee to put into place the country’s most comprehensive conversion therapy ban at the county level. Alongside Gender Odyssey, a student organization dedicated to creating a safe haven for trans youth at Florida State, we fought for a gender inclusive housing initiative on our campus, which went into effect in fall of 2021. We have dedicated ourselves to fighting for trans students in any and every way we can, because we deserve the undeniable human rights afforded to our cisgender heterosexual counterparts.

We invite SDS chapters across the nation to join us in making our chapters, and our organization as a whole, more inclusive and safe for queer students to take leadership roles, specifically trans, nonbinary and intersex and nonbinary, students on your campuses. This includes making the language in your literature and materials more gender inclusive/neutral, as well as recruiting more trans and nonbinary students into your local chapters.

National SDS resolves to:

Call upon SDS chapters to host one protestevent per semester surrounding trans rights and issues on campus or the larger area, centering trans and nonbinary students and community members’ voices;

Call upon SDS chapters, where there is a need, to advance/amplify trans inclusive housing campaigns on their campuses;

Call upon National SDS to have national days of action against attacks on queer, trans and intersex and trans people;

Call upon SDS chapters to host events against queerphobia and transphobia on their campuses.

SDS Demands Cops Off Campus

The protests following the murder of George Floyd saw a historic uprising with millions of people across the country rising up in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. City after city saw their streets filled with protesters demanding justice for the countless innocent lives taken. In the aftermath of the uprising, many students started organizing to demand justice on their campuses. In particular, students demanded divestment and disarmament of campus police departments.

Campus police departments were created in the late 1960s in response to the eruption of student activism against the Vietnam War and in solidarity with the Civil Rights Movement. Contrary to the justifications given by universities today, the purpose of campus police is to suppress student activism. This is why students across the country are fighting for the disarmament and divestment of their campus police departments, and in some cases are fighting for Civilian Police Accountability Councils(CPAC). The police have shown that they can not be granted the power to hold themselves accountable, so it should be the communities and campuses that do so. A CPAC allows the community to look over and determine policy, positions, and police action, effectively putting a stop to any nepotism and brutality of any police department. If the police are supposed to protect the community then the community should have control over who the police are and what they do. SDS continues to fight against the deeply rooted racism in our institutions so that all people have the opportunity to learn and feel safe.

Therefore SDS resolves to: Continue the nationwide battle for divestment and disarmament of campus police departments and fight for CPACs where appropriate

Fight against white supremacy and other racist actions on college campuses Build Black and brown leadership within SDS

Support other anti-racist organizations in the fight against racist actions/institutions/laws/etc.

SDS National Says: No Cuts to Education!

Over the last two years, there has been an economic crisis that has led to a recession in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic caused many to lose their jobs or quit due to egregiously dangerous working conditions. We have seen rates of unemployment these past two years comparable to the unemployment rates of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Universities are no exception. Administrations have been extremely unsupportive to staff, including mass layoffs and forcing employees to work in person without providing PPE or hazard pay.

Historically, in response to recessions, universities will opportunistically raise the cost of tuition, which makes higher education even more inaccessible to low income students. In addition, universities will implement budget cuts which disproportionately affect staff and students, downsizing available staff positions and cutting certain courses or majors. This is all happening while universities continue to fund, and even raise, the budget of their campus police departments and pay administrators excessive salaries and bonuses as seen at the University of South Florida.

Students for a Democratic Society has been at the forefront of the fight against budget cuts and tuition hikes at universities since its refounding. Recently, when the University of South Florida announced massive budget cuts in Fall 2020, Tampa Bay SDS launched a campaign, Chop from the Top and the Cops, calling for pay cuts to top administrators and the police department. The University of South Florida was at the time set on exclusively cutting the available budget of education (and the courses offered), student services, and staff positions with no change to the massive police budget or bloated administrators’ salaries.

During the campaign it was also announced that the university planned to cut the College of Education entirely. The USF College of Education supplies 70% of the public school educators to the tri-county area. It must also be noted that the College of Education's budget was around 6.8 million, and the university police department's budget was over 7 million. Tampa Bay SDS was successful in saving our College of Education from being defunded and shut down through collective actions against the cuts.

Around the same time, the state of Florida announced a plan to make significant changes to the Bright Futures scholarship program. Bright Futures is a program that gives Florida students a free ride through college, without which many students in Florida would be unable to afford a higher education. The Florida government was trying to lower the coverage of tuition from 100% and discriminate against majors that don't lead to high-paying jobs, which would affect underrepresented minority students the most as they are more likely to be Liberal Arts majors. Our organization stands and will always stand vigilant against those who would put money over the will and well-being of the people.

As National SDS we commit to:

Stay abreast of cuts the administration might be planning for their university budget and plan actions to oppose any budget cuts.

Pay special attention to vulnerable colleges/majors/courses such as Education, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Africana Studies, and Foreign Languages and fight to keep them available at our universities.

Advocate for more financial aid for students from vulnerable, underrepresented populations, such as African American students and undocumented students.

Stay aware of administration salaries, stipends, and benefits––specifically those of the president and top administrators––and call for them to take cuts instead of budget cuts.

Call for cuts to the budget of campus police departments instead of cuts to education.

SDS National Anti-War Resolution

Over the past year, we have witnessed dramatic victories against U.S. militarism. After 20 years, the brutal occupation of Afghanistan––which claimed thousands of innocent lives––has finally come to an end. SDS welcomes this development and wishes the best to the people of Afghanistan in building an independent, sovereign nation, free of U.S. interference.

We also witnessed historic resistance take place in Palestine against the U.S.-funded apartheid government. These events sparked massive protests across the globe, and brought a renewed attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. This marks a real turning point in the struggle against the occupation, and SDS reaffirms its commitment to a free Palestine.

It should be apparent that global U.S. control is now in a period of decline and that these defeats will be a sign of things to come. However, the fight is far from over. The Pentagon will continue to interfere in the affairs of other countries, either diplomatically or by force, and thus the anti-war movement must remain ever vigilant.

The history of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is one deeply intertwined with the resistance against the US participation in the Vietnamin Vietnam War, and our legacy is therefore boldly anti-war and anti-U.S. aggression. New SDS reaffirms that as students in the heart of a global empire, fighting back against U.S. military aggression must remain at the core of our organization.

Therefore, SDS resolves to:

Oppose all U.S. wars and military partnerships with regimes such as “Israel,” Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines;

Oppose the growing U.S. aggression against China, Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as they could become potential sites of conflict;

Demand an end to U.S.-imposed sanctions on countries seeking an independent path, namely Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Syria, and the DPRK;

Lead local campaigns to divest our institutions from the military-industrial complex; not only should this include divesting from corporations who profit from wars, but it should also call for an end to ROTC programs, military recruiters, and other arms of the U.S. war machine on our campuses and in our communities.

Dedication to Fight for Disability Justice

In the United States of America, everything is built for able-bodied people; people with disabilities have to fight and organize for simple accommodations. However, through much persistence, they were able to achieve victory after victory, such as the 504 Regulations of 1977. Disability rights activists held the longest peaceful occupation of a federal building in the United States of 25 days. This marks the peak of the Disability Rights Movement. They won the demand to make nondiscrimination a human right. They won the demand to make federal buildings accessible to everyone by installing ramps and wider restroom stalls. They laid the foundation of the 1990 American Disability Act, which was modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. SDS dedicates themselves to the same persistence and militancy those protestors exhibited.

It is important to recognize disabled people have been treated as second class citizens for centuries, even though they make up a sizable portion of the United States (US). Twenty-six percent of people in the US have some form of disability. This number is likely low, considering that not everyone is able to get a diagnosis, or has access to the medical attention they need. That means at least one in four people has a disability. That is a significant amount of people being overlooked, mistreated, and attacked by others and by police because they do not necessarily live in a way that produces profit.

It is imperative that the fight for Disability Justice be pushed to the forefront. Many people with disabilities rely on government funding to survive which is often inadequate and has many limitations. Furthermore, their labor continues to be exploited through loopholes where they can legally be paid less two dollars per hour.

Therefore, National SDS must resolve to:

Build relationships with students with disabilities and their organizations to understand and improve the University's disability services;

Organize in solidarity with and at the direction of students and workers with disabilities;

All chapters should provide relevant accommodations for disabled students at all meetings, events, and actions. Accommodations should be determined by consultation with disabled students, disabled student organizations, or with the campus disability resource center;

Demand equal pay for disabled workers;

Demand that students with disabilities have full control in evaluating and improving their University's disability center each academic year. Students with disabilities must also be represented in all disability center decisions being made.

SDS Stands in Solidarity with Demands for Indigenous Sovereignty

The past year has seen a surge of publicity toward Indigenous-led political movements. These movements include fights against high-profile and wide-reaching environmental issues of resource extraction for profit and financial gain, such as the destructive Line 3 pipeline. They also include more local or regional demands for redress for historical wrongs, as exemplified by the Search the School campaign in Morris, which seeks to search the grounds of the UMN Morris campus - formerly a boarding school for Indigenous children - for unmarked graves.

These seemingly disparate movements are bound together by a historical context of white supremacy and settler-colonialism that has imposed violence and generational trauma onto Indigenous communities, both here in the so-called United States and across the globe. This pattern of violence and repression carries forward into the present-day, in forms including, but not limited to, the continuing destruction and desecration of cultural sites, the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit, and relatives (often abbreviated as MMIW), the commodification and appropriation of Indigenous cultures, and the continued institutional neglect that leaves Indigenous communities without access to essential resources. Challenging and breaking this pattern is an essential step toward fulfilling the right of Indigenous communities to self-determination, land back, and the development of true Indigenous sovereignty.

While our work must address the systematic biases and historical traumas that continue to affect Indigenous communities, it is also imperative that we develop not only an understanding of the struggles that Indigenous communities face, but also a respect for the cultural practices of the communities we engage with. We cannot build solidarity if we do not understand and honor the traditions of those we intend to support. We must also recognize the diversity of Indigenous beliefs and cultures and understand that there is no universal Indigenous experience. Understanding the history of the land that we now reside or organize on is an essential aspect of this process, a process that we must constantly engage with.

Therefore, be it resolved that:

SDS Chapters shall seek out, show solidarity with, and participate in campaigns led by Indigenous peoples

SDS Chapters shall build relationships with Indigenous groups within their campus and community.

SDS Chapters shall develop an understanding of the history of the land they organize on, and of the issues that the Indigenous peoples who have historically acted as the stewards of that land are facing.

SDS Chapters shall, in solidarity with Indigenous communities, assist in educating their communities about the needs and struggles of Indigenous communities, as well as on Indigenous sovereignty, land back, and other movements for empowerment and autonomy.

SDS Chapters shall work to protect Indigenous cultural sites, in solidarity with their communities.

SDS Chapters shall take action in response to violence against Indigenous people, or in response to the disappearance of Indigenous people.

SDS Chapters shall take action in response to the appropriation of Indigenous culture within their campus and community.

SDS National Fights for Climate Justice!

With a surge in mainstream media coverage of the climate crisis globally, we need environmental justice now more than ever. The climate crisis is caused by the same root causes of multiple interlinked crises, of hunger, poverty, racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and natural destruction. These forms of oppression and inequality are linked with the cynical consequences of capitalism. With the US being the leading contributor to climate change for the last century, we must take a militant approach and study how socialist countries combat the climate crisis.

Socialist countries, such as Cuba, are taking scientific approaches in combating the climate crisis. We must demand the US to take real scientific approaches. We must hold all government officials accountable for failing to follow their climate policies. Not only are we, as students, to combat climate justice in our communities but we must also fight in our Universities as they are institutions that contribute towards the climate crisis. SDS calls upon all chapters to demand their Universities administration to go against all actions that may impact the climate negatively. This includes but is not limited to, divesting from fossil fuels, creating approaches to generating their own power on campus, investments into researching new ways to combat the climate crisis, and more.

Climate justice isn’t just about solutions that build sustainability and resiliency – it’s acknowledging the links of injustices affecting marginalized communities and bringing them to the forefront of environmental activism without minimizing or silencing overt and discrete forms of oppression. Racial disparities and lasting repercussions of colonialism similarly exacerbate the adverse impacts of climate change on marginalized communities worldwide.

Therefore, be it resolved that:

SDS Chapters shall seek out, show solidarity with, and participate in campaigns led by frontline communities.

SDS Chapters shall build relationships with Indigenous groups and environmental justice coalitions within their campus and community.

SDS Chapters shall develop an understanding of the environmental racism that has embedded their communities and the impacts people of color face because of it.

SDS Chapters shall take an intersectional approach to environmental justice, and educate their communities on how the climate crisis is deeply entwined with racial and social justice worldwide.

SDS Chapters shall take action in response to growing impacts of climate change that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities and deepen racial inequality.