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on this page: [ Projects ] [ Meetings ] [ Links ] [ Who Are We? ] [ News ] working group sites: (under construction) [ Education ] [ Media ] [ Outreach ] [ Open Mic ] WALK-OUT! On Wednesday, March 5th, an estimated one thousand students walked out of the ETHS front entrances and marched in protest against war with Iraq. Youth for Social Action organized and led the student demonstration around the school, through downtown Evanston and south to the corner of South Boulevard and Chicago Ave. The protestors flooded the streets, forcing traffic off of Church, Orrington and Chicago. After the roughly two mile march to South and Chicago, a large number of the students marched up South and headed back to ETHS on Ridge Ave. Again, taking the streets. The marching route is marked in red on the map below  Campus Anti-War Network Media Release |
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YSA at the National Campus Anti-War
Network Confrence
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| Connor and Sam represented YSA
and ETHS at the national CAN confrence at Loyola University in Chicago
this weekend, Feb. 21-23. Over 180 campuses sent delegates and by Sunday
at 3:00, we chose official points of unity, a governing strucure and a endorsed
CAN's first national actions. CAN adopted four points of unity: No war on
Iraq, whether backed by the US or the UN; End the UN sanctions which have
killed more than 1 million Iraqis; Oppose the attacks on civil liberties
and racist scapegoating at home; Money for jobs, education, and healthcare
- not war. Two college students from each of five regions, and two high
school students were chosen to sit on the national coordinating committe
- a representative democratic body empowered to make decisions between confrences.
A national finance and treasury committee was also formed to coordinate fundraising
and spending. CAN's two national high school coordinators are Mat Hanson
of Woodrow Wilson High School in DC and YSA's very own Sam Swenson
. The national high school representative on the finance and treasury committe
is another of our own, Connor Murphy. Chris Roche of Lane Tech. in
Chicago was chosen as the high school representative on the Mid-West regional
coordinating committee. CAN officially endorsed national student protest
on March 5th. and the National Student-Labor Week of Protest Against War
on Iraq (March 30 thru April 5th) - planning is under way for massive student
demonstrations in major US cities (inc. Chicago) on Saturday, April 5th. |
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YSA members demonstrate against the war on 2/15
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Yes, we were there on what has
been billed as the largest day of protest (in number of protesters) in world
history. Look for our huge "Money for Schools Not for War" banner in news
photos. For the whole story and tons of photos check out
Chicago Indymedia Center
. The Chicago Tribune and the New York Times ran front page articles
on the demonstrations as well.
Connor (on left) and Sam holding our banner - Kim, Danielle and Max are hidden behind it |
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| YSA delates attended the National CAN confrence (see
above). The forum on mixed-level classes went well (2/20) - about fifteen
teachers and most of YSA showed up and discussed the problems with mixed level
classes. It became clear that teachers want to hear what concrete, realistic
suggestions students have about how to better teach mixed level classes;
this will be discussed on Thursday. The open mic is happening this Friday
(2/28, 8-11PM, W201) and preparation for that will dominate this week's meeting.
BRING ART SUPPLIES. Some anti-war actions (hopefully including some more
teach-ins) will possibly also be on the agenda. Tommorrow, a few YSA members
will be volunteering at the 49th ward polls for the
People's Refferendum on War
. If you want to help out at the polls, go to the Loyola Student Union building
before the polls close at 7PM, or come help count votes at the
Chase Cafe
starting at 7:30. |
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News: 2/16/03
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| A lot has happened since the last update and a lot
is happening this month. This coming Thursday (2/20) after school in A337a,
we are holding an open forum
on mixed-level classes
. The following Friday (2/28) is the night of
our second open mic
, this one in a much larger space, W201. Artist/Performer sign-up will
begin at 7:30PM and general admission officialy starts at 8:00PM. Entitled
" Speak Your Politics
" - the mic will be open to all types of performers who want to express
their political ideas. At Thursday's meeting (2/13), we had a packed agenda. By consensus vote, YSA approved the Education group's plan to build a prison cell in the ETHS main lobby as a hub for prison reform education and voted to oppose the US-led war in Iraq. At the meeting before last (2/6), YSA unanimously approved the Media group's plan to apply for a $9,000 grant from the Youth Media Collective to do a documentary short on a question posed by the YMC, either "What makes a school worth going to?" or "What makes a teacher worth paying attention to?" |
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News: 12/02 & 1/03
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| On --, YSA screened "What Color is Your Learnig?"
to a crowd of about forty students. Sadly, we lost most of the newcomers because
technical problems with the video projector meant that we didn't start screening
until more than twenty minutes after we had planned to. The Media group had
planned to screen their first mockumentary-short afterwards, but technical
difficulties messed that up too. We still had a good dicussion afterwards
and got some new YSA members out of the whole affair. On --, we held a filmed Question-Answer session with congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in the Radio/TV studio. It was open to YSA members only, but all but maybe two showed up, so we had a huge student audience. Junior member Kate Schwartz did an awesome job of moderating and a photo of her and Shakowsky was printed in the Evanston Roundtable. The video was aired on local cable. [ photos will be posted when they surface ] |
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News: 11/20/02
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| The Open Mic couldn't have gone better. Over three
hundred students packed the Beardsley Student center; so many students
showed up that security had to start turning people away. More than 30 performers
graced the mic. Performances included poetry, jazz, hip-hop, funk, folk,
rock, acapella, gospel, political debate and other social commentary theatre.
The features, Roy Rowe and crew, The Blue Tone Collaborative and Eleshiba
and Christina, rocked the house. Beardsley Student Center looked like nothing
you can find during a normal school day. it was packed with an unbelievable
diversity of students. We brought together students in a way that our tracked
classes and self-segregated cafeterias don't provde. The Open Mic was a
great first step, an ice breaker of sorts, in uniting students against systemic
segretion at ETHS. Don't belive it? Check out page 21 of this week's Evanston Round Table. [click here to view the article ] See photos from the Open Mic here . Heads up! We're eying W201 as the venue for our next Open Mic. It may be you rocking the mic next time. |
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News: 11/5/02 6:00 PM
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| The Open
Mic
is coming! This Friday, 8-11PM in the student center. Sign up at
the door to perform (5 minuite maximum time). This is going to be a groundbreaking
night of poetry, hip-hop, jazz and ideas. You may not see it in your
classrooms, not even in the cafeterias, but diversity is what this is
all about. |
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News: 10/11/02 9:13 PM
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| Sorry world, it's been a long time since I last
updated. This year is shaping up to be YSA's most productive and progressive
since the late 1980s. Our active member list is up to 49 and growing, the
new members seem passionate and excited about what we do. We've met five
times sice the summer meeting and a lot has happened. The meeting format
is a little different this year; we begin as group and discuss agenda items,
then break down into four smaller working groups and reconvene afterwards. The working groups (listed alphabetically) Education will be organizing teach-ins and other education oriencted actions. The group is currently planning a teach-in about the pros and cons of possible US Military action in Iraq (NOTE: YSA is not an anti-war group, but is simply bringing speakers on this issue to raise political awareness.) The group is planning a debate between invited speakers tentatively scheduled for October 22. This year you should expect a lot of teach-ins about institutional racism and tracking. [ read about last year's teach-ins ] Media will be working on a number of video and tv projects designed to expose students to information about tracking and other issues of institutional racism at ETHS. Media will begin filming for their first project next week. I'm not sure how much information I can release, but I know that it will include student interviews. Who knows what else? This year, the group is working with a Video Machete veteran, Mindy Faber. Keep your eyes out for some awesome productions. Open-mic is planning, well, an open-mic. Designed to bring together students of all races and social groups, the open-mic will feature poets, lyricists, singers, musicians, dancers and all sorts of performance artists sharing their reflections on life. We currently have administrative approval for the date and time, and the room request is being processed. As it stands: Friday, November 8th from 8-11PM in the Beardsley Student Center. Outreach is by far the largest group and has a fittingly large mandate. The group will act as the advertisers for YSA and all of its actions and events and is also charged with the responsibility of outreach to parents, community members and students at other schools. Outreach is currently working on a general publicity campaign, they will be holding a bake sale at parent-teacher confrences and they are working on our display case in the first floor H-hall. |
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News: 8/14/02 4:35 PM
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| A new year of social action begins. On Sunday,
August 18, YSA will meet to discuss plans for the 2002-03 shcool year at
ETHS. We have a million things to do before school starts, and the first
couple months will be packed. This will be a big recruiting year for
YSA because many members will graduate in 2003 and YSA needs to be carried
on. |
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News: 5/12/02 12:12AM
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| At the last two meetings, YSA decided to sponsor an open mic/ poetry slam in the student center (6/1: 9-11PM), and to pursue the first two goals of the detracking campaign. The open mic, yet to be named, will take place in the Beardsley Student Center on June 1st, from 9PM to 11PM. On Tuesday, May 14, YSA members will draft a proposal to the school board urging the promotion of high-achieving students in low-level classes. We WILL finish editing "What Color is Your Learning?" this week... Also, this friday is the anniversary of the landmark case of Brown vs. The Board of Education; listen up and look out! | ||
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News: 4/28/02 10:48AM
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| Website update: spiffy colors added, tentative goals for the detracking project above and in projects , and email list signup ... |
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News: 3/17/02 3:30PM
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| Thank you
Unity in Chicago
; thank you Reverend Edward Townley. Earlier today,
Youth for Social Action was awarded this
shiny thing
along with $1000 by the warm and giving ministry of
Unity in Chicago. We also recieved a generous independent donation
and made many valuable contacts. It was a great honor to be recognized
next to such groups as The American
Friends Service Commitee
, The
Night Ministry
, Cease
Fire
, and The Chicago Peace Museum. This money will
go to only the worthiest causes. Thank you. |
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News: 2/25/02 10:40PM
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| Well, we filmed the forum on
Wednesday, February 20. It went extremely well and we had
a diverse panel. Thanks to everyone who participated, Mr. Hill
and the camera crew, we should have some great raw footage.
Editing will begin soon, and we hope to collect some interviews
to add into the video. If time permits, we plan to enter the film in
the annual ETHS Film Festival; one way or another, the film shall be
broadcast. |
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News: 1/09/02 9:42PM
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| Happy new year!! Mr. ACLU didn't show up. No
explanation as of yet... Members met over the winter break and worked
out the structure of the video. We will be meeting tomorrow to form questions
for the forum and then the next Thursday to do a rehearsal of sorts. |
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News: 12/6/01 6:11PM
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| A dozen core members made it to a good meeting
today. Discussion centered around a new project. We will be putting
together, taping, and airing a forum on tracking and institutional
racism at ETHS. The project will air on ETHS' (Evanston) cable
channel 18. We may also arrange screenings with other projects in
and around Chicago. Also, if Winston stops screwing up, we'll have
an ACLU speaker and N112 booked for Thursday 20 December. Still up
for discussion is the Anti Kangaroo Court Campaign and benefit concert. |
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News: 11/8/01 9:18
PM
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| The Midwest Regional Student Ant-War Confrence
starts tomorrow. Hopefully we will represent well there and make
some good conacts. |
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| A progressive meeting was held today. The green armband campaign is being tabled and rethought for now. We will be having a picket-style rally on Thursday 11/1 outside the army recruiting office on Dodge Ave. by the school. There, we will have signs & flyers and plan to engage bystanders in dialogue about "operation infinite justice." Also, a benefit concert for the Arab/ Muslim legal defense fund and a bake sale for the same cause is in the planning. We will meet next on Thursday 11/1 in room A337A at 3:45 after the picket. We'd love you to come picket with us, but if you are not so inclined, just chill outside the room and we'll show up after the picket. | ||
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| At the meeting on 10/11 the group decided to begin selling green armbands to raise money for the (Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism) Targeted Arab and Muslim Defense Fund. Money raised will bee used to pay for legal defense and medical treatment of members of targeted minorities. The next meeting will be on Wednesday 10/17 at 3:45 in room A337A. | ||
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| The site has arrived!! Today's lectures went extremely well. On behalf of Youth for Social Action, I would like to thank the speakers, Neal Resnikoff, Samon Sepehri, and Caise Diab, for their educational and thought-provoking speeches. The meeting went from 4-6PM and students left feeling enlightened about US foreign policy in the Middle East. |
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| Welcome to the Youth for Social Action home page. It was
launched today, and is full of dead links and empty pages.
Thursday 10/4/01 will be the first of our War Education series of lectures and discussions. Thursday's subject is the history of US involvement in the Middle East since WW2. Our government's actions in Middle Eastern nations and reasons for these will be discussed. Issues of US oil and strategic interests will be raised as well as reasons for Middle Eastern anger towards the US. Please join us this Thursday in room N112. Three panelists from the Chicago Ad-Hoc Coalition Against War and Racism will speak on the aforementioned subjects. |
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| Youth for Social Action is an anti-racist student group at Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois. We work to shape a better society where discrimination and violence are obsolete. | Youth for Social Action meets every
thursday at 3:40PM in room A337A at ETHS (1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston.)
Meetings normally run for about two hours. All are welcome.
Irregularly scheduled meetings are announced on the news and events
sections. If you have any other questions, please email
us at
ethsaction@hotmail.com
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| American Civil Liberties Union |
| Associated Press Wire |
| Chicago Indymedia Center |
| Direct Action Network |
| Evanston Township High School |
| Human Rights Watch |
| Youth Media Network
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www.social-action.org
©2001-2003 Samuel Swenson
