This is an edited version of the document passed at the 2007 National SDS Convention.
Who We Are, What We Are Building
As Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) we affirm that another world is possible; a world where people have power over their own lives. We know that our planet faces great challenges: unjust wars, environmental destruction, and growing social inequalities. But we also are at a time of great opportunity. A renewed progressive movement for social change is gaining ground in America and around the world.
WHO ARE WE?
We are here to win.
We do not have the luxury of cynicism, that’s why we are building a movement to win. We are organizing for meaningful changes in our communities and schools. We are winning gains all around the nation that push towards bigger changes for a better America. Our victories build power towards a more democratic society.
We are organizers.
There is more to social change than hitting the streets for the day. As organizers, we meet people where they are, listen to their concerns, and amplify their voices. As organizers, we constantly reach out to new people and other organizations whenever we can. We strive to see the big picture – not simply our own viewpoint and agenda. We are building a popular movement. We seek to be an organization that students and youth from all walks of life can see themselves joining.
We are relevant.
A large majority of young people in our society are ready for change. We know that social change, in our communities and our government, is always the result of grassroots people power. We inherit a history of successful and powerful movements for social justice, and we will learn from that legacy. Therefore we are organizing around issues that provide tangible, concrete gains to meet real needs in our campuses and communities.
We are growing.
We are the largest youth and student led organization in America. We are a grassroots chapter-based organization with over 110 chapters and counting. Pace University SDS has won a tuition freeze and pressured their corrupt president to resign. Olympia and Tacoma SDS blocked weapons shipments to Iraq from a local military port for weeks, prompting some soldiers stationed at the base to go AWOL. Harvard and Columbia SDSers went on hunger strikes to win better wages and working conditions for school employees and security guards. In 2007, SDS chapters organized walkouts in over 90 schools to demand an end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We just celebrated our two year anniversary, and we’re just getting started.
We are strategic.
We have a plan. We will continue to organize and grow our chapters and campaigns. We will keep building student power to demand democracy in our schools and our communities. Our movement will be a space where new members can learn how to organize and take action. It will be a place where we are all leaders and mentors. We are learning from the past, from each other, and reinventing a movement that is stronger than ever before.
WHAT WE ARE BUILDING
An Organization That Makes Connections
Students for a Democratic Society will make the connections between students’ struggles and other popular struggles, between “single issues” and the bigger systems they are a part of. We will make new friends and find new allies when we base our work in an understanding of how our issues intersect and how our struggles are connected.
An Organization for Liberation
We are still fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, because many Americans are excluded from this dream. Therefore, we are committed to learning from, and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities. At our schools and cities, we will prioritize accessible education, workers’ rights, women’s rights, affirmative action (in admissions and curriculum), queer rights, and environmentalism, among other issues.
We realize that having a verbal commitment to this work is not enough. We must be doing this work. We are committed to leveraging whatever resources we have, respectfully and openly, for the benefit of larger communities and movements.
A Democratic Organization for a Democratic Society
As Students for a Democratic Society, we demand and practice nothing less than direct democracy in which everyone participates in the decisions that affect their lives. In other words, we want an organization (and a government) of, by, and for the people.
We are fighting for democracy and self-determination alongside the communities most affected by inequality: for youth and student power in the schools, for workers’ power in the workplace, for empowerment of communities of color, for people of all genders and sexualities, and for community control over our lands, homes, economies and environments.
We are committed to an organization where those with limited time and resources can participate. We are committed to a process that ensures that all voices get heard.
An Organization of Support
We are all on the same team. Our organizations and movements must support us as real people. They must be fun, nurturing, open, and positive. We will see one another as allies, even when we disagree, and we will work to find common ground. We will meet one another where we are, and support each other in the process of becoming political. We will move forward together.
CONCLUSION
As Students for a Democratic Society, we have launched a project to renew American democracy. This is a project of hope, based on our country’s long history of successful social change. Every positive change that appears to come from the powers above actually comes from below, through the struggles of ordinary people, organizing together. We are winning change all across America. Another world is possible, and we are building it. Will you build it with us?
