Please forward far and wide. And feel free to respond at maslauskas84@gmail.com. -Brendan Maslauskas Dunn

Student Power and the Sit-in at Evergreen

May 30th marked the 10th day of the sit-in of Evergreen State College administrator Art Costantino's hallway. Students are demanding the immediate reinstatement of Olympia SDS and have recently added the additional demands that Kelly Beckham, an SDSer be offered her job back as well as compensation for time lost, and a change in the process by which student groups lose their RSO (Registered Student Organization) status that is determined by those most affected, the students and members of > these organizations.

The banning of SDS as a student group is an indication of the current political climate at The Evergreen State College, one that has been increasingly suppressing student dissent, which includes the aiding of law enforcement agents in the arresting of students, the handing over of student records to law enforcement agencies, punishing students for their political beliefs and activities. This includes the firing of Kelly Beckham and the firing of students who were allegedly involved in the events of February 14th, but who have not been convicted or even charged as well as the selective enforcement of a "concert moratorium. The Evergreen State College is also on a path of becoming increasingly more mainstream which is pushing the college in a direction contrary to its original mission statement. The students sitting-in want to see an end to all of this.

Week of Events at Evergreen Sit-In!

All events are in the Sem 1 building on the 4th floor, just outside of administrator Art Costantino’s office. Every event is completely free and open to all. Students and staff (including faculty) are encouraged to come as well as community members. Take some time off from the stressfulness of class and work this week and relax at a musical performance, film screening or educational workshop.

Sunday June 1st A Night of Musical Acoustic Insurgency

7PM Sem 1 - 4th Floor (sight of the sit-in)

Featuring: * David Rovics * Danny Kelly & Mark Eckert (from Heliotroupe) Free admission. Fun times. The magic continues.

Monday June 2nd 7PM

Screening of Pan’s Labyrinth. 9:30PM Screening of Dark Side of Oz (The Wizard of Oz, minus the sound, plus the album Dark Side of the Moon equals insanity.)

Tuesday June 3rd 7PM Kimya Dawson live in concert!

She was kicked out of Evergreen by the administration before, but she’s back by popular demand.

Wednesday June 4th

People’s University reconvenes for classes. Education of, by and for the community. Workshops include: * Student activism in India – Local activist, pacifist and former UN peacekeeper Dr. Muhammad Ayub will give a talk about his experience as a student activist and organizer in India. * GI Resistance - The history of the role soldiers played in ending the Vietnam war and what it means for us today. * Sanctuary City – the project to make Olympia a sanctuary city for both GI war resisters and undocumented workers. * Community Accountability & Sexual Assault - A discussion on something very important that is often overlooked or ignored.

Bringing Resistance Home with Kathy Kelly
Thursday, Jan 24
7pm
The Evergreen State College
Lecture Hall 2

Kathy Kelly is the co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence which has deep, long-standing roots in active nonviolent resistance to U.S. war-making. Begun in the summer of 2005, Voices draws upon the experiences of those who challenged the brutal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and U.N. against the Iraqi people between 1990 and 2003. She is the co-author of Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison and appeared in Live from Palestine: International and Direct Action Against the Israeli Occupation.

Stryker vehicles that returned from Iraq last November are being repaired and restored for "combat readiness" according to The Olympian.

Do you want the war to stop? If so, what are you doing about it?

This is part 1:

I am posting the second half as a comment.

I also added this as a comment to my previous post.

Here's a link to video that was posted recently on the Portland Independent Media Center's website: link.

link to video

This is the best I can do thus far as far as posting.

I do have hi res dvds for those with an interest.

[Phan Nguyen's op-ed in today's Olympian:]

For two weeks in November, the Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) confronted war operations in Olympia's backyard. Depending on one's perspective, it was either a show of the determination of concerned residents standing up to an illegal and immoral war and occupation, or it was simply all hell breaking loose. The perspective depends on what one chooses to focus on.