Tag Archives: students for justice in palestine

Activist Dezeray Lyn speaks on justice for Palestine, June 3

On Wednesday, June 3, at 7pm, the Civic Media Center and Students for Justice in Palestine will welcome guest speaker Dezeray Lyn. She will give a report back from two months in the occupied Palestinian Territories.

Dezeray Lyn has been a long-time community organizer around issues of animal rights, houselessness, and economic injustice. After watching Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza during last year’s “Operation Protective Edge,” which left thousands of Palestinians dead, many of them children, Dezeray co-founded Block the Boat Tampa, to contribute to the ongoing Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement making Israel pay an economic cost for its human rights violations, atrocities, and occupation of Palestine.

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June 2015 Gainesville Iguana

june 15 iguana coverThe June 2015 issue of the Gainesville Iguana is now available online, and it’s got lots of good stuff (Bernie Sanders, an oral history interview with David Barsamian, a Florida Legislative update from FL NOW, a Sleep Creek Lands/Adena Springs report, and more!). You can also pick the issue up at any of our distribution spots, which you can find here.

Students for a Democratic Society say ‘Demilitarize UF’

by Tristan Worthington

Gainesville’s own chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is actively fighting this semester to make their 2014–2015 campaign, “Demilitarize UF,” a success. Lead organizers have worked in collaboration with other student and community groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), UF Libertarians, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), to raise awareness about the Federal 1033 Program and the increasing militarization of police forces in local communities and on college campuses. This campaign is synchronous with similar campaigns taken on by SDS chapters at FSU and USF.

The 1033 Program, also known as the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, was founded in 1997 as a means for law enforcement agencies across the country to strengthen the war on drugs. Since 1997, over five billion dollars’ worth of military equipment has been transferred to local and state police departments, including an armored personnel carrier to the University of Florida, grenade launchers to the University of Central Florida, etc.

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