A Sunrise Movement training guidebook calls for students to ‘take action monthly’ to ‘disrupt business as usual’ to bring about a ‘political revolution’
Investigations
SUMMARY
Sunrise Movement training guidebook obtained by Defending Education urges college and K-12 students to “take action monthly” and “disrupt business as usual” in pursuit of a “political revolution.” The 25-page guidebook calls on students to engage monthly in “mass non-cooperation to halt the authoritarians’ advance,” including the boycotting of “businesses propping up ICE” and walking out of school in order “to prove this country can’t run without us.”
The document asserts that the “system is captured by billionaires and the politicians they’ve bought” and asks what if “people took actions that imposed a real political and economic cost on any corporation or politician who sides with Trump and his billionaires.” The organization calls for a “political revolution” and demands a “political party of workers and students, free public college, no more wars, a jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal.” The group also states that by students “organizing and refusing to cooperate,” they are “taking down one of the many ‘pillars’ holding up the regime.”
Additionally, the guidebook intended for K-12 and college students trains them on how to grow their protest ranks through recruiting from homeroom, sports teams and clubs, how to get organized, how to pick targets and make demands, and how to increase long-term participation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The training document states that the authors are “here to prove that no politician can keep their job, no school can run as usual, no business can turn a profit if they side with ICE’s violence over us.”
- The guide asserts that the “system is captured by billionaires and the politicians they’ve bought” and that they are “organizing millions of students and workers to disrupt business as usual on May Day 2026.”
- Some of the listed supporting organizations include Higher Education Labor United, American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Socialist Alternative (SA).
- The document asks what if “people took actions that imposed a real political or economic cost on any corporation or politician who sides with Trump and his billionaires instead of us.”
- The Sunrise Movement declares that “by organizing our schools and refusing to cooperate, we’re taking down one of the many ‘pillars’ holding up this regime” and that they are “here to win a political revolution.”
- As examples of successful mass “non-cooperation” actions, Sunrise Movement notes how “Minneapolis youth held noise actions nightly so Hilton hotels kicked ICE out.”
- The authors also promote being on the lookout for “trigger moments” that can be leveraged to advance their agenda and increase those involved in the movement and organization.
- As part of the May Day 2026 plan, students are to “practice mass non-cooperation” by boycotting “businesses propping up ICE, walk out of school and work to prove this country can’t run without us, and disrupt business-as-usual.”
- The guidebook calls upon students to begin taking action monthly leading up to May Day 2026 through “walking out of class and disrupting business-as-usual.”
DOCUMENTS
ICE Out Walkouts
The opening paragraph of the guidebook states that the student activists are “here to prove that no politician can keep their job, no school can run as usual, no business can turn a profit if they side with ICE’s violence over us.” The section includes strategies for facilitating a school day walkout, including how to host planning meetings, recruit students to join the walkout, execute the walkout itself, and develop long-term involvement in the movement. The guide explains that walkouts “disrupt business as usual” and describes them as a “simple form of non-cooperation.”
Students Rise Up
In a section titled “Students Rise Up,” Sunrise Movement states that the “system is captured by billionaires and the politicians they’ve bought.” It continues: “We’re organizing millions of students and workers to disrupt business as usual on May Day 2026.” A list of supporting organizations includes Higher Education Labor United, American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Socialist Alternative (SA).
The Vision: Political Revolution
Sunrise Movement describes its vision as a “political revolution,” which aims to “turn millions of people taking action for the first time into real people power.” The document then states that after the protests, “people go back home, and their power goes with them.” It then asks what if instead of protests, “people took actions that imposed a real political or economic cost on any corporation or politician who sides with Trump and his billionaires instead of us?”
The guidebook then calls for a “political party of workers and students, free public college, no more wars, a jobs guarantee, a Green New Deal.”
Under the organizations “political vision,” the guidebook claims that “throughout history and around the globe, students and workers have always been key to bringing down dictators” and that “workers have organized strikes and boycotts that bring massive corporations to their knees until they give us our demands.”
The document proclaims that in Minnesota during the winter of 2026, “non-cooperation is working here and now.” The guide celebrates alleged tactical wins such as when “Minneapolis youth held noise actions nightly so Hilton hotels kicked ICE out,” “people boycotted Spotify and Avelo Airlines until both companies dropped their DHS/ICE contracts,” and when “students and workers at nine universities got a ransom letter from Trump: kick out immigrants or lose your federal funding” they “walked out and won.”
The guidebook concludes that “by organizing our schools and refusing to cooperate, we’re taking down one of the many ‘pillars’ holding up this regime,” while acknowledging they are not “going to get there overnight.” It re-affirms: “We’re here to win a political revolution.”
In order to achieve their “political revolution,” the guidebook states that they “need to do three things” which include to “disrupt” through “mass non-cooperation to halt the authoritarians’ advance,” to “clear house” by defeating the “billionaire establishment of both parties in November” and “open the door to changing our political system,” and to “un-rig” by channeling “people’s fear and outrage into organized power so that any politicians or college leader who wants a job has to work for us.”
May Day 2026
Part of the overall goal of the guidebook is to prepare the youth for May Day 2026 walkouts and protests. The section states that “May Day 2026 is much more than just another street protest.” It is how they “practice mass non-cooperation” by having students use “tried-and-tested tactics to boycott businesses propping up ICE, walk out of school and work to prove this country can’t run without us, and disrupt business-as-usual,” how they prove their power so they “can pick bigger fights” through “structure tests,” and also “set the Movement’s agenda.”
Trigger Moments: Turning Mass Outrage into Power
The section titled “Trigger Moments: Turning Mass Outrage into Power” states that while they can not plan for everything, “there will be moments – trigger moments – that force us to respond to new crises and suddenly spark masses of new people into action.” The guide explains that it is their “job to make sure that mass outrage turns into long-term people power” by “responding quickly, giving people meaningful actions to take, and absorbing them into your membership once they take action.”
Your May Day Organizing Plan
The section titled “Your May Day Organizing Plan” includes subsections such as “Building Majorities at your school,” “Pick your target and demand,” “Planning your campaign arc,” “Planning your May Day non-cooperative action,” and “Absorbing from May Day into long term power.”
Take Action Monthly on the Path to May Day
The guidebook calls for student activists to “take action monthly” by “walking out of class and disrupting business-as-usual.” The guidebook continues, “for the rest of the school year, students will begin taking action the first Friday of each month to build power on campuses across the nation.”
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