SDS and Committee to Stop FBI Repression statements on Californian repression and the wars

See also:  new-students-for-a-democratic-society.ghost.io/tag/statements/

Originally posted, March 7th, at:  new-students-for-a-democratic-society.ghost.io/national-students-for-a-democratic-society-stands-with-the-goodwin-forum-protesters-at-cal-poly-humboldt-with-rick-toledo-and-all-students-suspended-and-fired-by-the-university-for-prot/

National Students for a Democratic Society stands with the Goodwin Forum protesters at Cal Poly Humboldt, with Rick Toledo and all students suspended and fired by the university for protesting for Palestine!

Three students - Rick Toledo and two others, including a housing resident assistant - were suspended, fired, banned from campus, and are facing further discipline from Cal Poly Tech Humboldt for a student sit-in for divestment from Israel that took place on Feb 27.

On Feb 27, Students for a Democratic Society, the Young Democratic Socialists of America, and other students at Cal Poly Tech Humboldt attended a public forum with administrators in the quad calling for the university to divest from apartheid Israel. They were also demanding that the striking union staff workers get raises they were promised, as well as a noncompliance policy with ICE. The forum event itself was a concession by the school, something that administration agreed to plan only after a student sit-in for divestment on Feb 20. When it was clear that administrators had no interest in addressing their demands, the students began a sit-in in the quad, then marched to Nelson Hall where they took over Goodwin Forum. The forum takeover lasted until 1am.

Students attempted to set up another tent and create another encampment for Gaza, and administrators stole the tent. Administrators and police locked down the nearby buildings and the building's bathrooms, and manhandled anyone who came and went. They sent in police at 1am under the cover of night to threaten students with arrest. Even though students in the end complied with leaving the building, now as many as three were suspended, banned from campus, and are now fired from their jobs. Rick Toledo was falsely accused of assault, in one of many blatant lies told by administration. What’s even more shameful is that the students currently being targeted with charges also were not even the ones in the building.

It is not wrong to continue protesting for Palestine. All these students did was exercise their First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. The university promised that they would consider divestment from apartheid Israel and a sanctuary campus policy, and thus far they have delivered none of those promises. Moreover, they are now creating an atmosphere where support for Palestine can be punishable by withdrawing your degree, taking your livelihood, and leaving you without a job. We condemn these violations of the students' rights to free speech and right to express solidarity with Palestine.

We in National SDS reject administration's lies about the students, and we stand firmly with the students at Cal Poly Humboldt. Just as it was heroic to take a building for Palestine in 2024, that is still true today in 2026. The genocide has not ended, US support for Israel - now manifest in a war even on Iran and Lebanon raging on today - has not ended, and therefore the student movement for justice for Palestine has not ended. The suspensions should be lifted, Toledo and the other students should be reinstated into their classes and jobs, and the university should cease its attacks on the free speech of Toledo, the other student protesters from Goodwin Forum, and any other pro-Palestine students at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Originally posted, March 12th, at:  stopfbi.org/news/dont-charge-rick-toledo-pro-palestine-grad-student-at-cal-poly-tech-humboldt/

Don’t Charge Rick Toledo, Pro-Palestine Grad Student at Cal Poly Humboldt! Defend the Right to Speak Out for Palestine!

We invite all organizations to sign onto the following call, in defense of grad student Rick Toledo, pro-palestine student and member of Students for a Democratic Society, at California State Polytechnic University Humboldt: You can find the link here and after the statement.
 

We stand with grad student Rick Toledo of Cal Poly Humboldt Students for a Democratic Society against his arrest and targeting by the state of California for protesting on Feb 27 for campus divestment from Israeli apartheid and in support of Palestine.
 

In the middle of the night, on March 6, CPH university police officers raided the home of Rick Toledo, nearly breaking down his door, and took him into custody without bail. Though he has not been charged at this time, he is facing four counts of serious felony charges: false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit a crime, assault, and battery. These charges carry up to 14 years in state prison combined. The attorney general of California himself has signed off on a civil lawsuit complaint against Toledo, filed by the university. Just days before, Toledo had been suspended and fired from his university teaching job. His first court appearance is scheduled for April 20, 2026.
 

These rotten attacks and attempts to expel him from school and to throw him into jail stem from a one-day building occupation for Palestine done by students on Feb 27. Aside from calling for the university to divest from Israeli bonds, they also called for sanctuary policies to keep ICE off campus and for striking workers to get raises. Toledo supported this building occupation and the protesting students, and in our eyes, he did nothing wrong. He deserves not only support from students, workers, and faculty all across Cal Poly Humboldt, but from progressives and people of conscience all across the country.
 

Students at Cal Poly Humboldt have a proud history. In 2024, during the spring encampment movement for Gaza, students took Siemens Hall in the name of divestment and held it for 9 days. Millions across the world watched videos of these students courageously standing up for Gaza, in the face of brutal police repression. Now the university and the state of California have decided they want someone to pay for this heroic moment, and their target of choice is Toledo. In our opinion, this is the real reason underlying the targeting and unleashing of state repression on Toledo, for a simple campus protest.
 

We condemn this arrest, the university crackdown, and now the threat of these criminal charges. We view this as an attack on the right to speak about Palestine, as well as to protest in the name of Palestine. No matter what you believe about the situation in Palestine, we should be able to agree that students should be able to freely express their view, to protest, and to take a stand.
 

We call on all organizations to sign onto this letter, release a solidarity statement, and to demand to District Attorney Stacey Eads of Humboldt County that no charges be filed against Rick Toledo at Cal Poly Tech Humboldt. We will be mobilizing for his first court appearance, on April 20, 2026. We stand with the students of Humboldt to march for Palestine, on campus and everywhere else, and we will defend that right to the end.

Don't Charge Rick Toledo!
Protesting for Palestine is Not a Crime!
 

Steps to Take:

1. Sign Onto the Above Statement Here on behalf of your organization or as an individual, to show support for Rick Toledo.
2. Release a solidarity statement on behalf of your organization and email it to stopfbi [at] gmail  [ ] com.
3. Donate to the fund for legal fees and hardship (due to being fired from his university job) at this link here: https://chuffed.org/project/172807-rick-toledo-legal-defense-fund
4. Look out for our call to action come April 20, 2026, the date of his court appearance, to call into the District Attorney Stacy Eads' office and more.

Originally posted, February 22nd, at:  new-students-for-a-democratic-society.ghost.io/national-sds-stands-in-solidarity-with-cuba/ 

National SDS Stands in Solidarity with Cuba

On January 29th, president Trump released an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on any country that provides Cuba with oil, tightening the nearly 65-year embargo and blockade on the country. These escalated sanctions and the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela have compounded into an acute crisis that threatens the lives of the Cuban people. The U.S. continues to shamelessly wage a brutal conquest for control over Latin America to boost the profits of U.S. multinational corporations and crush the outposts of resistance to U.S. domination. Join us for our National Day of action on February 26 to demand: Hands off Cuba!

With the overthrow of the American-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista, by the Cuban people in 1958, the U.S. has continuously tried influencing Cuban politics and has been linked with hundreds of plots for assassination and destabilization. The most blatant example of U.S. imperialist aggression against the Cuban people was in 1961 with the Bay of Pigs invasion, in which the U.S. attempted a full-scale, amphibious invasion of Cuba with the goal of overthrowing the government and reestablishing Cuba as an American colonial outpost.

These attacks on Cuba are not isolated, but a core feature of the ongoing American imperialism that’s been exacted on Latin America and the Caribbean since the issuing of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, imperialist incursions across the region by the U.S. have been commonplace: the Obama administration supported the attempted coup d’etat by Juan Guido in Venezuela and the Eisenhower administration led the Bay of Pigs invasion.

It is unacceptable that Cuba must suffer under U.S. sanctions, especially when they have served as the largest exporter of doctors in the world and a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples. Trump may claim that Cuba “supports terrorism and destabilizes the region,” but we know that this accusation is merely a confession of U.S. foreign policy. Students for a Democratic Society stands in solidarity with the Cuban people and opposes U.S. economic aggression and intervention. We demand an end to the U.S. embargo and blockade on Cuba, and an end to U.S. intervention in Cuba.

HANDS OFF CUBA!
U.S. OUT OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN!

SDS Stands in Solidarity with Venezuela

On January 3rd 2026, the U.S. military bombed Venezuela and kidnapped the president Nicholas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. National SDS condemns the U.S. military and the Trump administration for this unjustified attack on Venezuela and the total violation of their national sovereignty.

Since September, the U.S. military has escalated attacks on Venezuela and the Venezuelan people. This has included the bombing of civilian ships off of the coast of Venezuela, murdering at least 80 fishermen, and seizure of oil tankers. Donald Trump’s administration and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, have attempted to justify these cowardly attacks by spreading lies of drug trafficking and narco terrorism — all unsubstantiated. We reject this attempt at justifying military aggression and war crimes in the name of US “security”. This same bogus narrative of narco terrorism has driven Trump’s expansion of ICE.

The U.S. government and military has spread lies about Venezuela and its government for decades- as it’s also imposed sanctions, made failed attempts at regime change, and imposed blockades. At this moment we need to reject these lies and demand no war in Venezuela. We know the truth — US intervention is motivated by the US’s desire for natural resources and political control. Trump’s threats to now put Venezuela under US occupation make this clear.

SDS demands no war with Venezuela, an end to the bombings, to free Nicholas Maduro and Cilia Flores, and hands off Venezuela! National SDS calls on all of our chapters, and all students to stand with Venezuela. As the spring semester begins, students should return to campus prepared to call protests in solidarity with Venezuela and demand no war and intervention. Join us for our National Day of Action on January, 15th, to demand hands off Venezuela!

No war with Venezuela!
Free Nicholas Maduro and Cilia Flores!
Stand with Venezuela!
No War for Oil!

Originally posted, December 23, 2025, at:  new-students-for-a-democratic-society.ghost.io/sds-stands-in-solidarity-with-venezuela-against-trumps-blockade/

SDS Stands in Solidarity with Venezuela Against Trump's Blockade

National Students for a Democratic Society stands in complete and total opposition to the U.S. military's illegal seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. The action was taken to enforce Donald Trump's declaration of a total air and sea blockade against Venezuela, pushing the U.S. closer to total war. The seizure goes against international law and violates the right of Venezuela to trade with other nations.

At this moment over 25% of the U.S. Navy is deployed to the Caribbean bombing innocent fishermen from Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, and Columbia. They wait on stand-by to receive orders from President Trump to strike and invade Venezuela in yet another illegal US war for oil and economic dominance. The US is attempting to implement a 21st century medieval siege on Venezuela in hopes of worsening the economic crisis so that the people will overthrow President Nicolás Maduro. This ill-fated and naïve attempt at regime change has so far been met with total failure. The people of Venezuela have made their choice, they chose to defend democracy and control their own destiny!

SDS stands with the people of Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution, and with democratically elected President Nicolás Maduro! SDS denounces the war mongering of the Trump administration and all its allies!

No to war!
No blood for oil, U.S. off Venezuelan soil!