From: pwr@andrew.cmu.edu
Date: Mon Jul 07 2003 - 20:16:49 EDT
PWR is planning to attend the USAS convergence in early August
in new york city -- please email pwr@andrew.cmu.edu if you're
interested in going or meeting us in NYC.
thanks. (details below)
ps - http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/ftaa/ has great info
on a local campaign against the FTAA, which is a really
important issue regarding global trade and corporate
globalization.
and also, if you're interested in the events
and actions around CAFTA (http://stopcafta.org)
contact matt at <mtoups@andrew.cmu.edu>
| People for Workers' Rights
| United Students Against Sweatshops affiliate
| web: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/usas
| email: pwr@andrew.cmu.edu
| bboard: assocs.pwr-usas
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 27 Jun 2003 04:17:14 -0000
From: United Students Against Sweatshops <organize@usasnet.org>
To: pwr@andrew.cmu.edu
Subject: Hey, Register for the USAS Annual Summer Convergence!
Greetings,
[ you can see a really pretty version of this e-mail at
http://www.unionvoice.org/studentsagainstsweat/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=10784
]
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In this special Convergence announcement:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. REGISTER NOW FOR THE USAS CONVERGENCE ALREADY!
2. Submit Your Proposals: Help Determine the Direction
of USAS!
3. Put Your Message Out: Get a Table or Space in the Program!
4. Help Support and Coordinate Student Labor Justice Nationally!
5. Limited Travel & Registration Scholarship Applications
Available!
6. Apply to Host the 2004 Winter USAS National Conference!
7. Want to Get Involved in Convergence Planning?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
REGISTER NOW FOR THE BEST USAS CONFERENCE YET!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Students from more than 50 high schools, colleges, and
universities have already registered for "Breaking Down
Borders, Building a Movement," the United Students Against
Sweatshops Affiliates' National Convergence this August
7-10 in New York City!
Please register NOW at http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/register.html
*************************************************
Eight and a Half Things You and Your Group Can Do if You
Come to the USAS Affiliates' National Convergence
1. STRATEGIZE about USAS' work and how to serve our core
mission of combating oppression at large and in our own
organizing.
2. PLUG INTO national and international campaigns. Learn
how the work you're already doing fits into the broader
work of USAS, discover new campaigns to work on, and help
decide how to coordinate the work of USAS affiliates to
leverage large-scale victories.
3. HEAR FROM amazing leaders in the movement for social
and economic justice, such as Colombian trade unionists;
laundry workers from Cintas; garment workers from across
the globe; worker center leaders; GRACE CHANG, author
of Disposable Domestics; and others!
4. LEARN SKILLS in workshops that help us be more effective
in the work we do including workshops on how to support
sweatshop worker organizing; using the media; fighting
the Free Trade Area of the Americas; community organizing;
campus worker solidarity; facilitating good meetings;
immigrants rights; fundraising; and many more!
5. LEARN AND DISCUSS what race, gender, class, and sexuality
have to do with sweatshops, poverty, and our efforts to
combat them.
6. NETWORK with other student activists. Make new friends
and allies, from your region and around the country, so
you can support each other's work in the year ahead.
7. GET INSPIRED in an open, energizing space where you
can gain perspective on your work and bask in the enthusiasm
of a diverse national grassroots network.
8. HELP SHAPE USAS. Affiliates gatherings determine the
direction, structure, goals, and path of USAS for the
next year. Run for the national Coordinating Committee!
This is your organization; make sure you have a voice.
8.5 WIN MAJOR VICTORIES when you get back to campus!
*************************************************
_What does USAS get out of your coming to the National
Convergence?_
USAS is a student-built, student-led, student-maintained
organization. Your involvement in the decision-making
processes at this conference make USAS what it is. Your
input on structure, campaigns, caucuses, and goals for
the next year will help maintain the democracy and diversity
that we wish for this organization. Your shared ideas,
experiences, and activist wisdom make this happen, and
the diversity and experiences of your affiliate group's
delegation contribute to the ongoing struggle in which
we are engaged.
WORKSHOPS!
REGIONAL MEETINGS!
STRATEGY SESSIONS!
IDENTITY CAUCUSES!
AMAZING SPEAKERS AND PANELS!
NETWORKING!
SHARING IDEAS!
AND A DAMN GOOD TIME!
Please register NOW at
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/register.html
Registration costs a wicked cheap sliding scale of $15-25
for local/crash housing folks and $55-$90 for a bed!
For suggestions on fundraising to get to NYC, check out
our "Fundraising How To" at http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/docs/fundraising.doc
[Beds are costing us $90 each, so if you can pay the
full price, please do!]
LIMITED registration and travel scholarships are available.
See below for more information. Scholarships will be prioritized
to delegations that reflect a diversity of identities.
*************************************************
USAS affiliates have all committeed to fighting racism,
sexism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of oppression
within our society, our organizatoins and ourselves through
affirming the USAS Principles of Unity. At the upcoming
Affiliates' National Convergence, USAS is proud to recommit
itself to "Breaking Down Barriers and Building a Movement."
In that spirit, we ask each school's delegation to reflect
the diversity of identities in our organization and patricularly
to ensure the inclusion of historically oppressed and
marginalized identities. USAS cannot sustainably and legitimately
fight for economic justice and universal worker rights
if even its own resources and leadership are not accessible
to everyone. Consequently, we request that every delegation
consider who is empowered in terms of attending the conference
and holding voting power, considering queer identities
and class identites as well as race and gender.
Please register NOW at
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/register.html
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Submit Your Proposals: Help Determine the Direction of
USAS!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitting a Proposal to the United Students Against Sweatshops
Affiliates Gathering 2003
FINAL Deadline for proposals is August 1st!
United Students Against Sweatshops is a grassroots member-run
organization of affiliated student groups. Decisions about
USAS' campaigns, priorities, and structure are made in
plenaries at the annual affiliates conference. The discussion
in the plenaries is directed to proposals that affiliates
have submitted, and all affiliate groups attending the
conference discuss and vote on the proposals.
Below are the guidelines for submitting a proposal this
summer. Please read these before drafting a proposal.
Please feel free to circulate your proposal to any USAS
list for comments before submitting it; we also strongly
urge you to submit proposals by July 25 to organize@usasnet.org
so we can distribute them to people registered for the
conference for any advance comments. You can edit your
proposal from those comments and resubmit it by August
1; the final deadline for all proposals is August 1.
_Who is eligible to submit a proposal?_
Proposals can only be submitted by USAS affiliate groups
or their members or USAS standing committees. Proposals
should be submitted on behalf of either your entire group
or several members of your USAS affiliate group; proposals
should not be submitted by only one individual. Several
groups may submit a proposal jointly. One or two members
of your group should act as liaisons in presenting the
proposal at the Affiliates Gathering.
_Requirements for Proposals_
Your proposal must fall within the following boundaries:
- Your proposal must be consistent with the USAS Principals
of Unity (available at http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/about.html).
- Your proposal must contain an action plan-numbered steps
for implementing the proposal.
- Your proposal must contain a timeline - approximate
dates by which the various steps of your proposal's action
plan should be completed.
- Your proposal should be designed with respect to the
current projects of USAS. In other words, if you are suggesting
a dramatic rearrangement of USAS' priorities, you should
delineate how your proposal would affect USAS' ability
to fulfill current commitments and continue current projects.
_Layout of Proposals_
Please structure your proposal as follows:
TITLE OF PROPOSAL
AUTHOR(S) OF PROPOSAL & AFFILIATION OF AUTHOR(S)
The author(s) should be listed as either (1) the name
of a USAS affiliate group if the whole group is the author,
or (2) the names of individual authors plus the USAS affiliate
group of the authors.
TYPE OF PROPOSAL
Please identify the type of proposal you are submitting
as dealing with either:
- STRUCTURE/POLICY (for example, a proposal augmenting
caucus representation on the coordinating committee or
directing outreach resources to the southeast or to women's
colleges)
- CAMPAIGN (for example, a proposal on boycotting Taco
Bell(tm) -- though proposals that ask only for an endorsement
are not voted on at the conference and should be sent
to the coordinating committee)
BRIEF SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL
A brief, one-or-two-sentence summary of the proposal for
quick reference.
BODY OF PROPOSAL
The body of your proposal should not exceed 500 words.
Your proposal should be presented in bullet points so
as to facilitate conversation and amendments. Make sure
to include a clear action plan and timeline.
Proposals are due NO LATER THAN AUGUST 1, 2003!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Put Your Message Out: Get a Table or Space in
the Program!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
USAS doesn't gather together as a national coalition very
often, so when we do, it's a great opportunity to get
your message out to students from across the country.
We encourage our allies and others to take advantage of
this opportunity, and provide information and opportunities
to our gathered affiliates by purchasing table space or
space in the convergence program. For more information,
contact Emma or Lenore at (212) 265-7000 x815 or register@usasnet.org.
Please return the tabling/program form below to Lenore
by e-mail or by fax at 212-489-6026.
Name of organization:_____________________________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________________________
City:________________________ State: ________ Zip Code:
______
Contact Person:__________________________________________________________
Title:________________________ Phone Number:______________________
Email:___________________________________________________
Tabling Rates:
_______ $200 for national student groups
_______ $200 sliding scale for local groups
_______ $300 for national NGOs
_______ $300 for local or statewide unions
_______ $1,000 for national/international unions and
for-profit groups
Interested in space in the program? Let us know.
-- Business-card size: $150 -- Quarter page:
$300 --
-- Half page: $600 -- Full page: $1,200
--
-- Back page: $1,500 --
Please send your ad information to register@usasnet.org
Return to:
United Students Against Sweatshops
1710 Broadway, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10019
or Fax to 212-489-6026
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Support and Coordinate Student Labor Justice
Nationally!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
APPLICATION TO RUN FOR ELECTION TO THE USAS COORDINATING
COMMITTEE
DUE AUGUST 1ST
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is a national
grassroots network of students and youth with contacts
at more than 300 high school, college and university campuses,
working for labor justice on our campuses, in our communities,
and internationally. We are a five-year-old student organization
that started by working in solidarity with collegiate
apparel workers internationally, and expanded into the
national grassroots student labor and economic justice
organization we all know and love, in solidarity with
the struggles of working people everywhere. We also are
part of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition,
a broad-based and diverse youth and student coalition
that has worked 'against the war at home and abroad' for
almost two years.
The USAS Coordinating Committee is elected yearly by USAS
affiliate groups to help coordinate and support the student
grassroots nationally. The Coordinating Committee functions
as a USAS hub, with students participating from every
region and identity caucus in the organization -- helping
to connect students to each other as well as facilitating
organizational development and strategy, coordinating
with allies, and building diverse leadership. The CC also
works to bottomline the different campaign committees
and build the caucuses, and helps with staff communications,
fundraising, and finances.
All student leaders are encouraged to apply! Applications
for the CC are due by August 1st to register@usasnet.org
to be distributed at the conference. All applicants will
have the opportunity to speak at the conference, and candidates
who are not in attendance may write an additional statement
to be read aloud or specify that they want their application
to stand alone. For questions, please contact Lenore at
Lenore@usasnet.org or Ben at ben@usasnet.org.
Name:
School:
Affiliated Group:
Contact info:
(Summer)
(Fall)
(Parents/Permanent)
Year of graduation:
Position applying for:
Do you identify as a woman/ genderqueer, as working class,
as a person of color, and/ or as queer/ LGBT?
Please answer each question below in a short paragraph.
1. What organizing have you done with your local activist
group? What other organizing have you done as a student
activist? What organizing, if any, have you done nationally
or regionally with USAS?
2. How do you see fighting racism, sexism, homophobia,
and other forms of oppression as part of USAS' organizing?
3. What would you do to support the constituency that
elects you (ie, your region or caucus)?
4. How can you, as a member of the Coordinating Committee,
remain accountable to USAS at large, and to your constituency
in particular?
5. What committees or work within USAS are you most interested
in (Campus/Community Solidarity Committee, International
Solidarity Committee, Alliance Building Committee, Farmworker
Solidarity Committee)? [see http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~fragola/usas/involved.html#committees]
6. What are your goals for USAS?
7. Where do you see USAS in 3 years?
8. If you've been on the CC before, please reflect on
the accomplishments and challenges of your tenure.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Limited Travel & Registration Scholarship Applications
Available!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Application for Scholarships to Come to the Affiliates
Conference in New York City
Unfortunately, we have very limited funds for conference
scholarships this year. In addition to submitting this
application, you should try to raise money to fund your
trip to the conference from local organizations; for a
guide on local fundraising, see our website www.usasnet.org
or call the USAS national office at 202-NO-SWEAT, where
staff will do their darndest to get you to NYC. In allocating
scholarship money, we seek to maximize the number of schools
represented at the conference and promote diversity in
our organization. Significant priority will be given to
underprivileged students, people of color, and working
class, female, and queer students.
Applications are due July 10 and we will notify you by
July 17 about whether funding will be available. Please
submit applications electronically to register@usasnet.org.
If you have questions or need more information about the
conference, contact our New York office at 212-265-7000
ex. 815 or email organize@usasnet.org.
Name:
School:
School Group:
Is your group a USAS affiliate? (y/n):
Email:
Phone:
Address:
Expected Graduation (month, year):
Check if you're applying for scholarships to cover:
__ registration
__ travel: from (city) _____________________
- Are other students from your school planning to come
to the conference? If so, how many, and are any of them
applying for scholarships?
- How did your group decide whom to send to the conference?
- Do you identify as a person of color?
Working class?
Queer or genderqueer?
Female?
- Have you attended a USAS conference before? If so, which
conference(s)?
- Have you made, or do you plan to make, an effort to
raise money to come to the conference from local organizations
or unions? Which organizations or unions will you ask?
- Please describe your work and involvement with your
group(s).
- What is your group working on now?
- What do you think your group would get out of your coming
to the conference?
- What would you hope to get out of coming to the conference?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CALLING ALL USASers! Have you been thinking about hosting
the USAS annual conference on your campus? If you've been
planning on it -- or keeping it at the back of your mind
or if you never thought of it but it sounds like a good
idea -- now's your chance!
SUBMISSIONS WANTED: NATIONWIDE SEARCH FOR
THE LOCATION OF USAS' 2004 WINTER NATIONAL CONFERENCE
(Preference for locations in the Midwest)
What is the USAS Winter National Conference?
United Students Against Sweatshops now hosts TWO annual
national gatherings: the upcoming Affiliates Convergence
in New York City, a smaller meeting held during the summer,
is a chance for representatives from schools affiliated
with USAS to meet to plan and strategize for the coming
year, whereas the winter National Conference is a chance
to for people new and old to USAS to meet student activists
from across the country and get together for education,
training, and fun.
Why Host the National Conference?
You'll be in a national spotlight; USASers from all over
will be in solidarity and direct contact with the struggles
at your campus and community; it's a great opportunity
to develop and show leadership, and a way to re/activate
progressive people in your campus. Plus, you will earn
the undying love of student activists everywhere.
OK, Sounds Good. Now What?
Please let us know by SUNDAY, July 20th if you want us
to consider your campus for the national conference; just
write to organize@usasnet.org If you don't have time to
write out an
application then just drop us a line to say you want to
be considered; but if possible, please tell us also:
* When is your campus available (preferred dates: the
weekends of Jan 23-24 and Jan 30-31)?
* How much meeting space (large and small) is available?
* What's the food and housing situation like?
* How expensive are all of the above?
* Ease of transportation: Closest airports and approximate
costs from different cities.
* Number of people available for on-the-ground coordination
this summer
* Other activist attractions in the area
* And any other supporting reasons to have it in YOUR
town!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to Get Involved in Convergence Planning?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, when we say grassroots participation, we mean grassroots
participation. If you want to help plan the United Students
Against Sweatshops Affiliates' National Convergence this
August 7-10 in New York City, join our conference-planning
listserv by sending a blank e-mail to peoplegetready1-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
-- we'd love your help!
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about
the amazing, stupendous, more-than-adequate "Breaking
Down Borders, Building a Movement" United Students Against
Sweatshops Affiliates' National Convergence this August
7-10 in New York City!
http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.html?domain=studentsagainstsweat&r=9patx-E12717
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign
up for United Students Against Sweatshops at:
http://www.unionvoice.org/studentsagainstsweat/join.html?r=9patx-E12717E
--------------------------------------------------
| People for Workers' Rights
| United Students Against Sweatshops affiliate
| web: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/usas
| email: pwr@andrew.cmu.edu
| bboard: assocs.pwr-usas
| to unsubscribe go to http://www.cmu.edu/lists
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