Wear 'Anything but Clothes' rally Against Sweatshops by DC students next Wednesday

If anyone in the DC area can make it....really wish I could! One of the organizers is a former New Paltz student and my DC area host, Amy Washburn who always does great work!

Rebecca

Event Info Name: "Anything but Clothes" Rally/ March!
Tagline: In solidarity with other DC schools against use of sweatshop
labor in university apparel!
Host: Feminism Without Borders
Type: Party - Erotic Party
Time and Place Date: Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Time: 11:30am - 2:30pm (11:30am-rally, 12:50-march)
Location: McKeldin Mall at the Sundial to Administration
City/Town: College Park, MD
Contact Info Phone: 443.928.7121 (Jenna Brager)
Email: feminismwithoutborders [at] riseup.net

Description:
Last week, the UMD administration issued a statement rejecting the Designated Suppliers Program (http://www.workersrights.org/dsp.asp ), for which Feminism Without Borders is advocating. However, Feminism Without Borders, in conjunction with other student groups and DC Student Labor Action Project, is escalating the struggle. This Wednesday everybody should come out wearing whatever you want as long as it is NOT clothes (as this approach is one of the few ways to avoid wearing apparel not made in unfair labor conditions). Be creative! Use garbage bags, boxes, paper, saran wrap, paint, etc. to create your own sweat-free attire! In fact, we will be meeting this Sunday at 2pm in the Student Involvement Suite of STAMP to make our sweat-free attire and posters, so you are welcome to come and use our supplies (we have lots of money to use before the semester is over.) We will be rallying at the Sundial on McKeldin Mall at 11:30am and will be heading in the direction of the administration building at about 12:50pm. Come show your support or find out more about the issue while having some fun!

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United Students Against Sweatshops
1150 17th St. NW Suite 300 Washington DC 20036;
tel: 202-NOSWEAT; fax: 202-293-5308 http://www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org

Students Hold "Anything but Clothes" Rally/ March to Demand Sweat-Free Policy for UMD Apparel

The University of Maryland chapter of Feminism Without Borders (FWB) will join the George Mason University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, American University Solidarity, and George Washington University's PSU in the DC Sweat-free Day of Action, a series of solidarity rallies in which students will demonstrate that they would rather wear NO CLOTHES than sweatshop clothes, thus demanding respect for the rights of garment workers around the world.

Contact:
Feminism Without Borders (Jenna Brager)
feminismwithoutborders [at] riseup.net 443-928-7121
DC SLAP (Matthew Brokman)
dcslapintern [at] yahoo.com 914-907-0567

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 29, 2007- On Wednesday, April 4, students from Feminism Without Borders (FWB) and affiliated campus political groups will be rallying at the McKeldin Mall Sundial at 11:30am and marching to the Administration at 12:50pm to demand again that the University of Maryland sign onto the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). The University of Maryland has thus far refused to adopt the DSP, which would ensure that workers (usually
women of color in the so-called "Third World") who produce university apparel be allowed to form independent unions and negotiate living wages. FWB wants to raise awareness of the issue of sweatshop conditions in factories where University of Maryland apparel is manufactured, both to the Administration and the University's students. Students attending this rally and march will be wearing "Anything but Clothes" ( i.e., decorated garbage bags, boxes, saran wrap, paper, and paint, etc.) to make visually
clear the fact that they refuse to wear Terps' apparel while it continues to be made at the expense of workers' basic human rights. Students will be marching from the Sundial to the Administration Building at 12:50pm. For this protest, the University of Maryland will be joining other District of Columbia colleges and universities and more than 40 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada in an
international day of action demanding that colleges and universities hold brands, such as Nike, Adidas, and Reebok accountable for their continued labor abuses.

"Feminism Without Borders demands that university leaders learn about what is really happening in the factories they claim to be protecting, and work to end it. We ask for University President Dan Mote to sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program in order to make this possible. We will do anything to make this possible. We will even go naked rather than support sweatshops."

~Feminism Without Borders member Daniela Vann


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Feminism Without Borders (FWB) is an anti-racist anti-capitalist feminist organization. FWB's goal is to educate students and community members about the brutal realities of poor women's position, particularly poor women of color's position, transnationally, under global capitalism. FWB engages in critical dialogues, grassroots organizing, and direct action against corporate globalization, colonization, hunger and homelessness,
welfare and environmental racism, the prison industrial complex,
heterosexism, and sexual diseases and abuse, among other issues. FWB encourages all people from all backgrounds (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, sexuality, etc.) who care about social justice issues and actions to get involved. FWB has chapters at the University of Maryland, College Park (near DC) and the State University of New York at New Paltz (near NYC).