Michael Graham
Michael Graham lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Fight Back! supporter
Fight Back! / ¡Lucha y Resiste! is a Facebook group for readers and supporters of Fight Back! / ¡Lucha y Resiste! the newspaper of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!
As of April 3 2021 members included Michael Graham.
National Party Building Conference
National Party Building Conference Hosted by Communist Party USA and People's World.
Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 12 PM – 6 PM EST
Join Communist Party activists and members in a national conference. You can register here https://tinyurl.com/ycdouk3y
The conference will take place November 11th to 12th to plan our work in the fight against the Trump Administration and its white supremacist ruling class backers. Find information here about how to participate. http://www.cpusa.org/2017-national-party-building-conference-resist-organize-vote-grow/
The conference will be streamed from Chicago to regional meetings in New Haven, Los Angeles, and Orlando. Whether you’re on the East Coast, West Coast, in the MIdwest or the South, you’ll be able to participate.[1]
Those invited on Facebook included Michael Graham.
No Koran burning
UNC Asheville SDS and allied community members assembled at Pack Square Sept. 11 2010, united to oppose bigotry, racism and war. The demonstrators stood determined to promote their peace and justice message in solidarity with the Gainesville chapter of SDS who were leading a large protest against Terry Jones and the Koran burning that same day.
SDS member Sarah Buchner, who had the good foresight to bring an umbrella, was pleased with the turnout, “It really says something when people will get out despite the rain and stand up against racism and bigotry and support the principle of religious freedom. We know events like this are going on all over the country and we know we are sending a clear message: bigotry and religious persecution are not compatible with the truly free society that we want to create.”
In a turn of events, Pastor Terry Jones, the leader of the Dove World Outreach Center, under heavy public pressure from groups including Students for a Democratic Society, broke and decided not to burn Qur’ans. “I am not surprised about it,” said SDS member Michael Graham, “When voices are unified against racism and xenophobia like this, the promoters of division and hatred will always break.”[2]
2009 delegation
Angela Denio was part of an August 2009, a delegation of U.S. students, trade unionists and anti-war activists who traveled to Colombia to meet with leaders in the struggle there. The Colombia Action Network and the Campaign for Labor Rights, two grassroots organizations here in the United States fighting against U.S. intervention in Colombia, hosted the trip.
“I knew what I heard in the U.S. media about the benefits of U.S. tax money and aid to Colombia was true only for the rich. I wanted to see for myself what the reality is for Colombians,” said Jeremy Miller, a member of the Colombian Action Network when explaining his decision to go on the delegation. Members of the Colombia Action Network and the Campaign for Labor Rights arranged meetings with peasant, indigenous and student groups, as well as with political leaders, unions, political prisoners and families of Colombians killed or imprisoned by the government.
The first union the delegation met with was the National Peasant-Farmer Federation, FENSUAGRO. They unite farmers from all over Colombia to struggle for land reform and everyday rights for rural workers. It is the largest rural labor organization in Colombia and is unwavering in its principled defense of workers. Because of the work they do, this union is the most targeted for violence by the wealthy and their pro-government death squads.
During a rural community meeting, a FENSUAGRO leader told the delegation, “75 of our members are currently in jail. We fight for a public policy that favors the peasant farmer and we are always clear about our demands. Because of this the government works daily, looking for ways to finish us off. The government tries to connect us to the FARC [the largest armed rebel group in Colombia], in attempts to discredit us. The Uribe government goes after anyone who defends the working class. They claim that we are not the victims of violence, that we are the aggressors. Farmers have no support from the government. No rights even to housing or health care. The government does not care for the poor and has completely abandoned us to poverty. Human life is worth only the value of a bullet.”
The stories from other groups told much of the same - of being afraid to leave the house in the morning, of being followed, of having family members killed by death squads, of being arrested for implausible charges - all of this because of the fight for the rights of workers and peasants, indigenous people and Afro-Colombians, everyday people. “I was shocked to hear the stories of the university students in Bogotá. They are doing the same kind of activism we are here in the U.S., but because of it, they are facing death threats, they are being imprisoned or assassinated,” said Sarah Buchner of New Students for a Democratic Society, another delegate on the trip, speaking one night after a particularly intense day of stories.
- During the trip, the theme that repeatedly came up was “what is most important for us as U.S. activists to bring back?” We decided to bring back the stories and pictures but also something more: to drive home the message that the terrible violence in Colombia is directly connected to the United States government. We can do something to change that, to stop it. It is the U.S. government that foots the bill for the war and violence that happens in Colombia. The people of Colombia are very clear on this. The people the delegation met with had all sorts of ideas about ways to build a better Colombia and about ways for peace. But all of them were united in saying U.S. intervention must stop, that the seven proposed U.S. military bases in Colombia would do nothing to end violence in the country and would serve only to increase it, that peace in Colombia would only come with the end of U.S. violations of Colombian sovereignty.[3]
References
Gay Space Communism Caucus
Members of the Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism Caucus, DSA, members, as of June 4, 2017 included Michael Graham;[4]
Minnesota SDS
Members of the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota Public group in 2017 included Michael Graham.
SDS
Asheville, NC - Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gathered for an emergency demonstration at the Asheville Federal Building, May 12 to protest the May 4 U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, killing over 130 civilians. The Obama administration has stated that they will not ban future air strikes.
Michael Graham, a member of the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) SDS said, “We oppose the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan and are greatly displeased with the plan to double the U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the end of the year. The people of Afghanistan have the right to determine what’s best for their country. People hated George W. Bush because of his wars, and what are we doing now? It's outrageous to trade one war for empire for another.”[5]