The small front room of Boxcar Books darkened shortly after 7 p.m. A projector screen glowed and members of the group Students Against State Violence outlined the group’s beliefs and discussed plans for the coming year.
Students Against State Violence is an “anti-capitalist organization of students/community members building a movement against forms of state violence,” according to the group’s PowerPoint presentation.
They defined state violence as “any form of repression by which the privileged elite perpetuates economic, social and political disenfranchisement of the masses” in their presentation.
Group members spoke to a room of about 30 people about their collective wish to fight socioeconomic inequality, unequal wealth distribution, imperialism, patriarchy, white supremacy and anti-blackness.
Freshman Jen Bale was one of the newcomers to SASV. After speaking with members from SASV at an involvement fair, she decided to go to the callout meeting.
“Of all the callout meetings I’ve been to, this is the one I’ve been the most passionate about,” she said. “It seems like there’s more of an initiative to change things.”
Bale said she doesn’t feel safe when she sees police cars and doesn’t understand why officers seem to constantly patrol IU’s campus.
Now, she said she plans to become involved with the Revolutionary Strategy Film/Reading Series the group is planning to hold sometime this year. She said she wants to help educate people about social issues.
“I definitely want to get involved,” Bale said.
The group doesn’t have officers or a heirarchy of structure, a group member said. But they do have separate committees for varying issues.
Along with the series, SASV has other developments in the works.
The Campaign Against Patriarchal Assault works to educate people about patriarchal issues — namely sexual assault. The CAPA has already orchestrated demonstrations. In the future, it plans to start a late-night safety escort service, hold a film series and begin offering self-defense classes.
The group also plans to continue its prisoner support program. This semester they will hold a Q&A session with Keith LaMar, a prisoner on Death Row whom members of SASV believe to be falsely accused.
It will also continue work with the Black Lives Matter movement in Gary, Indiana and Cincinnati and with undocumented activist organizations like the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance.
The group meets at 8 p.m. every Monday in Woodburn Hall 202.
