Clarke Speaker Series - The Port Huron Statement: A Declaration of Interdependence?

250 years after the Declaration of Independence, where does The Port Huron Statement stand in relation? The Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) 1962 manifesto, and catalyst for the 1960s student movements, sought to provide a “truly democratic alternative to the present.” The statement called for a “participatory democracy” to meet citizens’ unfulfilled capacities of “reason, freedom, and love.” After a brief history of SDS, this talk will turn towards examining the connections and divergences between the Declaration and the Statement.