On Thursday, March 31, from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., several on and off-campus organizations, including the UMass Chapter of the International Socialist Organization, held a daylong rally and demonstration called “UMass Boston Speaks Out.”
Some student groups represented at the rally included Casa Latina, the Muslim Student Organization, the Queer Student Center, the Student Trustees, Students for Justice in Palestine and representatives from the Faculty Staff Union. Other groups at the rally included PHENOM (Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts). Besides giving students a forum for anti-war and pro-education activism, the speak-out was aimed at building a UMB contingent for the anti-war protest, organized by the United Anti-war Committee (UNAC), scheduled for April 9 in New York City.
“We want to bring it back to UMass Boston,” said Judea Beatrice, a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO). “We were hoping to network with student groups and strengthen the political left through this rally.”
Besides being staunchly anti-war, the ISO believes in progressive politics in general. As well as advocating for the end of what they call “imperial” wars abroad, the ISO has held events aimed at advocating for LGBT and pro-choice rights. Beatrice explained, “We are a revolutionary socialist organization—which believes in putting human needs before corporate greed. We oppose all forms of oppression and imperialism.”
Through the speak-out event, the ISO signed up 16 people interested in attending the New York City protest on April 9. “We hope to have at least 20 people go to New York with us,” she said. The United Anti-War Committee is organizing two separate protests on the weekend of the ninth. One is in New York City on Saturday, April 9; the other is in San Francisco on Sunday, April 10.
A bus will be leaving from Roxbury Community College on Saturday at 7 a.m. to leave for Union Square in New York City. For more information on the ISO at UMB, visit http://www.BostonSocialism.com. Their Facebook page is www.facebook.com/pages/International-Socialist-Organization-UMass-Boston/185305518178099. For information on the New York protest or the United Anti-War Committee, visit http://nationalpeaceconference.org/Purpose_of_Conference.html.