Bored of Regents! UC-Wide Convergence at UCSB, July 14-18
Regents' Meeting action, art, music, workshops, skillshares, and more!
To coincide with the UC Board of Regents' meeting at UC Santa Barbara this July, the Coalition to Demilitarize is hosting a UC-Wide, cross-issue convergence on July 14-18 at UCSB. From ucnuclearfree.org:,
Please join the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC at the UC Santa Barbara campus for a UC-wide convergence taking place from July 14-18, 2008. The "Bored of Regents" convergence will coincide with the bi-monthly UC Board of Regents meeting occurring at the same time on the UCSB campus.
This convergence will offer a space in which organizations and students across the UC system can come together to meet with each other and form connections across areas of concern and campus boundaries. As we act cohesively and in solidarity with each other's movements for social and environmental justice, our pursuits as individuals and issue-specific organizations will strengthen exponentially. We plan to focus on the many ways which movements for demilitarization and disarmament converge with other social and environmental movements. The goals of true environmental and social justice cannot be realized without a simultaneous focus on demilitarization and disarmament. This is a space in which we, as organizers and engaged students, may challenge ourselves to build power through solidarity and honesty and where we can meet new friends and reunite with old friends in struggle.
Read the full invitation here. For more information, including travel arrangements, click here to email Steve, or join the facebook event. |
Save the Date! Think Outside the Bomb 2008, August 14-17
Wildly popular youth and grassroots network on nuclear abolition hosts its fourth national conference in Boston, MA
This August, the Think Outside the Bomb Network will host its 2008 National Youth and Grassroots Conference on Nuclear Abolition in Boston, MA. Think Outside the Bomb is the only conference of its kind: fully organized and led by youth (roughly defined as under-29), TOTB does more than educate students and young people on the issues surrounding nuclear weapons, waste, and power -- it places us in the forefront of the movement, making change happen! As always, food, transportation, lodging are all provided at no cost to our participants!
The conference will provide a backdrop for nuclear abolitionists, peace activists, ecologists, and other advocates of social justice and a livable planet to learn in-depth about the threat of nuclear weapons, the destruction caused by the nuclear fuel chain, and current political opportunities to move toward nuclear disarmament. Meanwhile, it will explore such interconnected themes as localized resistance to militarism and empire, supporting indigenous resistance to nuclear colonialism, and turning back the resurgence of “poisoned power” (nuclear energy). It will include workshops, panels, dialogues, and skills trainings to strengthen our analyses of the role of nuclear weapons in the global political order, empower ourselves with new tools for effective community organizing, and deepen our commitment to building a better world.
Speakers from previous conferences have included Arjun Makhijani of IEER, Zia Mian of Princeton University, Myrna Pagan of Vieques, Puerto Rico, Hiroshima Survivor Shigeko Sasamori, and, of course, youth activists representing nuclear abolition organizations and communities from all over the country. A full speakers list for the 2008 conference, along with an application form and detailed conference schedule, will be available shortly at http://thinkoutsidethebomb.org. Apply now! |
Recap of recent UC Demil actions at ucnuclearfree.org
Just because this newsletter has been absent the last couple months doesn't mean the Demil coalition hasn't been busy -- in fact, that's usually a good indicator that we're more busy than ever! Here's a look at some recent actions from the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC that you may have missed:
Take Hold! University, May 13-15 at UCLA: Student activists at UCLA organized an event called Take Hold! University, centered around a meeting of the UC Board of Regents at which the Regents were expected to vote to raise student fees for the seventh time in eight years. The event, which received endorsements from a broad coalition of student activist groups and attracted attendees from four other UC campuses, attempted to transform the UCLA campus, however temporarily, into a true community area focused on students and self-directed, grassroots education, as well as serve as a gathering point for students to take action. At all of these goals, Take Hold! was overwhelmingly successful, culminating in the arrest of 16 students protesting student fee hikes and a surprising development in the camaign to end UC nuclear weapons lab management. Read More at ucnuclearfree.org...
Free the UC Day of Action, March 19 at UCSF: On the day of the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq, the UC Board of Regents had the gall to meet, discusing, among other topics, their continued management of the nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore. In response, a group of students representing the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC, and Berkeley group Free the UC Coalition, performed a daring direct action at the Mission Bay campus in UCSF, where the meeting was to take place, speaking out against the way their university is run and the horrible decisions that result from this undemocratic governance. Steve Stormoen, Youth Empowerment Initiative Coordinator at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, contributes a special report from the Free the UC Day, as well as other related events from around the Bay Area on the anniversary of the war in Iraq, titled "5 Years Too Many, 65 Years Too Many". |
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