2005 - December

Welcome to the final issue of Dynamic for 2005!

Irene Schwoefferman is the Director of the Student of Color Campus Diversity Project of the United States Student Association (USSA). The United States Student Association is the country's oldest and largest national student organization, representing millions of students. USSA believes education is a right and works on building grassroots power among students to win concrete victories that expand access to education at the federal, state and campus level.

What if someone were to offer you stability, employment, a college education, community, personal development and a chance to see the world? What would you say? What if in your community, there were no jobs, the public schools sucked, you did not have enough money for college and your future was uncertain? Would this influence your decision? This scenario gets played out everyday across the country between young people and military recruiters.

In February 2004, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon surprised all of Israel, and perhaps the world, when he announced his readiness to dismantle -- under the veil of his “disengagement” plan -- 17 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. Another surprise was that he actually put his words into action over the course of two weeks in August 2005. All of Israel’s soldiers and settlers left the Gaza strip. Four more West Bank settlements were dismantled later.

Predicted as the largest ever grassroots based film release, the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price is set to open at 7,000 locations around the country Nov. 13-19. Wal-Mart executives, apparently terrified of the new negative publicity on top of an already burgeoning anti-Wal-Mart movement, have launched an attack campaign against the movie.