Protest rally is held on De Anza campus

By Cody Kraatz

About 100 De Anza College students and faculty marched through campus on May 1 to protest U.S. foreign policy and the treatment of immigrants in this country.

Organizers scheduled the protest for May Day, a widely recognized day to honor labor movements and rally for immigrant rights. Students were encouraged to walk out of classes to join the lunchtime march, carrying signs and shouting multilingual chants.

They ended up in the busy main quad of the campus, where hundreds of students pass through, eat lunch or socialize.

"If the public sees what the issues are, perhaps they will participate. If they care about the issues or they want to know what they are, they can ask," said Francisco Soberanis, a De Anza animation student who rushed to attend the march because he had missed on previous ones.

"I gave my students the choice--we could either carry on with the schedule or join the protest. I am glad to say that the overwhelming majority of my students chose to march, so we did," said Wendy White, a De Anza humanities professor who praised the audience and spoke of the interconnectedness of humanity.

Several teachers, teachers and alumni pressed the audience to get involved with a handful of social justice causes ranging from an immigration rally later that day to environmental activism.

"Take a stand. It doesn't have to be a big huge stand, but do something," said Ben Kline, world and environmental history instructor.

"It's a festival of awareness about everything that's going on in our country that we're not doing enough about," said Bobby Flores, an event organizer and member of Students for Justice.

Campus police officers followed the march and watched the event, but there were no problems.

English teacher Karen Chow called for solidarity with Latin American immigrants.

"They don't want to leave their homes. They don't want to leave their families," she said, arguing that U.S.-brokered trade agreements such as NAFTA are responsible for the poverty that brings Latin Americans to the United States.

The event was organized by the Students for Justice club, the Muslim Student Association and the college's Office of Community and Civic Engagement, which provided $200 for drinks and pizza. Some students around the campus reacted with shouts of support, while others simply watched.

Students for Justice tries to organize one rally this size each quarter, said Rehana Rehman, vice president of the club. In March, the club arranged for a bus and took about 40 students to San Francisco to protest the war in Iraq.

Students for Justice meets Tuesdays from 12 to 1:30 p.m. in room AT-202 at De Anza, according to the college website.

 Another Test

The Prospect of Planet Wal-Mart:
Why We Should Care and What We Can Do

A Socio-Ethical Commentary by Unitarian Universalists
for a Just Economic Community

By this time, we are all aware of just how hard it is to find consumer products that are not made in China. We know these products sell because of their low prices. Still, we are troubled by the ethics of corporations who would exploit people and the environment to bring us cheap goods.

This year, UUJEC has chosen to focus its action campaign on how Wal-Mart and other big box retailers are restructuring the global economy entirely for their profit. The campaign's goal is to encourage UUs to take specific, powerful actions that prevent big box retailing from profiting from injustice.

It is true that for many people Wal-Mart is the answer to how to make ends meet. But poor people do not necessarily shop at Wal-Mart because they want to, but because they have to. And they have to because they can't afford not to, considering the below poverty level wages they make. Such wages depend, in turn, on the standard set by the nation's largest private employer Wal-Mart.

Moreover, in many communities, Wal-Mart has made sure it is the only place to shop. Using predatory pricing, Wal-Mart forces smaller community-based businesses to close. For poor communities with no other choices of where to buy essentials, Wal-Mart is the modern-day equivalent of the slave plantation store.

But Wal-Mart is also a creature of the prevailing economic order. Seeking justice, we must also consider actions to address income inequality, rampant consumerism, and growth for growth's sake.
As people of conscience, we must speak out against Wal-Mart using slave labor to subsidize our consumption in order to guarantee their profits.

A just economy indeed serves the common good. This is why we must reject Wal-Mart's self-serving creed as a model for economic development. The choice is to take a stand for economic justice or live under the rule of a planet Wal-Mart.

The text above is a partial quote from this website:
www.uujec.net

 Students for Justice

A Communist left-wing organization at De Anza College in Cupertino, California and other universities/community colleges who waste their time protesting against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, President George W. Bush, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and about raising tuition fees. They basically interrupt classes during sessions to grab students' attention for free speech.

Students for Justice is like a Marxist/left-wing organization, but formed by students and faculty members at De Anza College and other community colleges and universities in the South Bay Area. Students for Justice are a bunch of "girlie men"!