SPARC stands; We are an organization of students devoted to increasing the awareness of and responsibility towards the political happenings in our communities and in the world in which we live. We offer education, share emotion, and provide encouragement in hopes that we can all make effective and responsible strides towards bettering a world which is far from perfect.
We are the Student Political Awareness and Responsibility Collective. We are defined as we persist, proud to operate by consensus, and confident in the virtues of our goals. We seek students, faculty, community members, families of friends, and others to offer their voices, their feet, and the ideas and passions that move them.
For decades, SPARC has operated as the alternative speaker's bureau, and the alternative film forum. SPARC serves as a central organizer and portal for student activism and involvement, which institutions of higher education are usually unwilling to promote or acknowledge.
SPARC. has a long and storied past, filled with its share of glory; we've been doing this stuff since the seventies, and these are some of the recent highlights. . .
SPARC along with the Vermont Action Network (VAN) brought 102 seats (two buses) down to A16 to rally for the end of Corporate Greed. SPARC hosted events such as The A16 Roadshow, 2 Direct Action Trainings, and others to prepare for this event and has produced both a video and a newsletter of SPARC's involvement in this continuing campaign.
Large Photo of Protestors in Washington
Find out more at our Economic Globalization
Check out Photos of/by SPARC members
SPARC topped off its continuing resistance against the prevailing problems with Genetic Engineering by attending a Conference and Rally in Boston during the Spring of '00. SPARC also hosted a BioTech. Teach-In (including Brian Tokar), organized Direct Action Training, held Speak-outs and attended actions in the local Burlington area.
Get lots more stuff concerning the rally at:
IndyMedia
NERAGE's
Site
SPARC members and members of the UVM Community fasted to help shut down the School of the Americas (SOA). SOA is located in Georgia, and trains Latin American soldiers for war on drugs and counter-insurgency. Graduates of the SOA have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America's history.
Get lots more stuff the School of the Americas at:
School of the Americas
Watch
In April of 1999, S.P.A.R.C. sent two vans down to Philadelphia, Pennyslavania filled with UVM students and community members to participate in the Millions for Mumia March:
Learn more about the movement to fight for Mumia's freedoms(s): Refuse and Resist Site
Check out Photos of/by SPARC members
SPARC ran informational tables, held speak outs and held other events such as a large Debate (Real Player) in a speak-out/protest campaign against NATO's bombings as well as Direct Action in the Spring of '99.
On September 26, 2000 (S26), SPARC members marched in Burlington, against capitalism and economic globalization, in solidarity with the protests in Prague, Czech Republic. September 26th is the International Day Against Capitalism.
Check out information and photos on the Burlington protest, and links to information on the protest in Prague.
This has been but a taste of what SPARC has been doing recently, but not even the ever changing web can document our activism.