On August 19th, at 1pm we will have a planning meeting for the September 9th SDS All-Chicago conference on determining goals and targets for a united anti-imperialist campaign. The location will be at UIC's west campus at 1853 west pope, college of medicine room 120.

Below is the Callout for the September 9th All-Chicago Conference.

Chicago is a city in a communication vacuum. Hundreds of autonomous organizations continue the struggle for a participatory democracy oblivious to the existence and accomplishments of the others. Without coordination and communication isolated communities of activists remain weak and unable to seriously rock the oppressive system they fight against.

We do not want to create a single issue alliance. Without a thorough understanding of how racism, gentrification, environmental annihilation, foreign imperialism, capitalism, and discrimination against women and the LBGT community are intertwined any action is doomed to be compromised and ineffective.

However, what is needed is not necessarily a forum for discussion among the myriad of groups resisting the current American order, but instead a table to gather around and plan how to dismantle it. At this point in the struggle we need more than symbolic actions that lead to symbolic arrests.

We need to identify and strike at the weakest points in the American imperialist system. The necessity of exploiting the most fragile points of the system cannot be stressed enough; we can achieve tangible victories with our collective strength.

In addition, any campaign undertaken must be inclusive of all those willing to engage in struggle; those who can afford to be arrested and those whose situation is too precarious to risk arrest. Diversity of tactics is essential to victory. Even more essential to victory is involving as many people as possible in any action to break the spell of helplessness cast upon most of society’s discontents.

The goal of Students for a Democratic Society is to be the literal manifestation of the planning table. As a coalition it intends to unite other organizations striving for the below values of participatory democracy;
• that decision-making of basic social consequence be carried on by public groupings;
• that politics be seen positively, as the art of collectively creating an acceptable pattern of social relations;
• that politics has the function of bringing people out of isolation and into community, thus being a necessary, though not sufficient, means of finding meaning in personal life;
• that the political order should serve to clarify problems in a way instrumental to their solution; it should provide outlets for the expression of personal grievance and aspiration; opposing views should be organized so as to illuminate choices and facilities the attainment of goals; channels should be commonly available to related men to knowledge and to power so that private problems -- from bad recreation facilities to personal alienation -- are formulated as general issues.
The economic sphere of participatory democracy would have as its basis the principles:
• that work should involve incentives worthier than money or survival. It should be educative, not stultifying; creative, not mechanical; selfdirect, not manipulated, encouraging independence; a respect for others, a sense of dignity and a willingness to accept social responsibility, since it is this experience that has crucial influence on habits, perceptions and individual ethics;
• that the economic experience is so personally decisive that the individual must share in its full determination;
• that the economy itself is of such social importance that its major resources and means of production should be open to democratic participation and subject to democratic social regulation.
If you share the above vision for a radically changed society please join us at the next planning meeting. We all know the stakes of the “War on Terror.” Every successful action on our part inches wider the chinks in the system’s armor. With our collective strength we can strike a menacing blow where it will hurt the most. Consider this as an invitation to join SDS.