Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Announce Formation of a National Organization

Several chapters of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) announced today,
Monday, January 16, 2006, their intent to form a national organization and hold
the first SDS national convention since 1969.

"It seemed appropriate to make this announcement today, on the observed Martin
Luther King day", said SDS regional organizer Thomas Good. "We have an anti-war
movement that is addressing the issue of stopping the bloodletting in Iraq but
the civil rights issue remains unaddressed", he added.

The national convention is scheduled for Summer 2006 and will be preceded by a
series of regional conferences occurring on the Memorial Day weekend. The newly formed
SDS national organization was the idea of a student anti-war activist who contacted
other student and veteran organizers. Good joined thenew SDS when Stonington
High School (Connecticut) senior Pat Korte contacted
him with the idea of linking nascent SDS chapters into a national structure.
"Although I have been an active participant in the anti-war and student activist
movement, I have become frustrated with the groups collective inability to unify
enough people under a common goal/vision to address the overall problems with
our society. Historically, SDS was able to address many of the issues pertinent
at the time through Tom Hayden's Port Huron Statement. This document has stood
the test of time, thus several fellow activists from across the country and
myself decided to form a national SDS movement, only to discover that chapters
already exist! Because of this we decided to hold a national conference", said
Korte.

At his request, members of Korte's informal network of student activists from
across the country began contacting Good and very quickly the informal network
was replaced by a national structure that now includes a website, discussion
forum and mailing list, all of which are now based at
studentsforademocraticsociety.org.

Korte, realizing that the original SDS suffered from not having alot of veteran
activists, WHO UNDERSTOOD THE IDEA OF STUDENT POWER, reached out to some older
activists, including several members of the 1960s era student organization, to
help ground the project and provide logistical support.

The first original SDSer to come on board was Alan Haber, president of SDS
1960-62. Today, Haber speaks of "re-membering SDS" rather than eulogizing it.
Never giving up on the Dream, Haber is looking forward to the "the next meeting
of SDS". And the next meeting will be a national event linking any and all SDS
chapters interested in taking part.

Today chapters exist at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, at the
New School in New York City, at the University of Michigan and at Eastern
Michigan University. In the western part of the US chapters that sprang up
independently in Santa Ana, California and at Reigs University in Denver,
Colorado have signed on to the national organization. Connecting these chapters
and their organizers proved less difficult than Korte and Good initially
thought. Technology was the key.

"We should reconnect our networks. We should reassert the continuity of the
radical movements in American politics. The new technologies of communication
and independent media make this more possible than ever", said SDS founder Alan
Haber. Korte and Good took this advice and ran with it.

As the project coalesced, Good, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW) contacted labor historian Paul Buhle, co-editor of a graphic history of
the IWW ("Wobblies") and former SDSer from the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter. The
timing was right on. Buhle, who teaches at Brown in Rhode Island, is working on
a new project: a graphic (i.e. comic book) history of SDS from the perspective
of the individual chapters. Working with artist Gary Dumm, Buhle looks to avoid
the usual history of the SDS national office by focusing on the street activists
and their local branches. Buhle is asking that members of the original SDS with
stories to tell contact him via e-mail at
pbuhle@studentsforademocraticsociety.org.

In addition to the book, Buhle has a personal interest in SDS. Describing
himself for a recent article in Next Left Notes he noted: "Founder and
publisher of Radical America, Paul Buhle was active in Champaign-Urbana, Storrs
and Madison SDS chapters, 1965?1969. He hasn't been all that happy since, but
he teaches at Brown."

In the piece on NLN Buhle talks about the historical parallels between the 1960s
and the present noting that the US empire is over-extended, liberal Democrats
are not the answer to vexing problems and the Port Huron Statement remains as
vital today as it was in 1962 when Tom Hayden presented it to the third SDS
national convention.

"Today, students of all backgrounds can be shown the need to mobilize, to help
prevent the ongoing devastation of our world, to help empower the lowly as
students learn to empower themselves, and to set out a vision of a really
democratic society. There's the key. The Industrial Workers of the World had it
long before. Decentralized democracy, democratic decision-making at all levels
is the most radical idea ever hatched in North America and the only one with
real lasting appeal", said Buhle who has joined the new SDS.

The new SDS plans to continue the independent radical tradition in America:
political education and demonstrating, advocating and organizing for democracy
and justice, unions, civil liberties, peace and freedom. According to Korte the
meetings this spring and summer will focus on building an infrastructure that
facilitates these goals as the new SDS, like the old, is an organization of
activists. Friends of peace and justice, those students who want a voice, a say
in their own destiny, should visit SDS where regular updates will be posted and
contact information is now available.

SDS is an education and social action organization dedicated to increasing
democracy in all phases of our common life. It seeks to promote the active
participation of young people in the formation of a movement to build a society
free from poverty, ignorance, war, exploitation, racism and sexism.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Post Office Box 7213
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
Email: info@studentsforademocraticsociety.org

Contacts:
Pat Korte 860.912.3524
Thomas Good 347.524.5631
Paul Buhle 401.863.3994