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Local Actions and Campaigns: Good Anti-War Calendars: Next BAUAW Meeting: |
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Thursday, March 10, 2005
OPEN LETTER TO BD. OF ED./NEWSLETTER
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OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF
THE SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT:
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Dear all,
I was very disappointed by the
March 8th meeting of the Board of Education.
I don't understand why the two
military men from JROTC got at least twice as
much time to speak as all 14 of
us anti-recruitment folks put together.
It seems they were given as much
time as they wanted and they said nothing.
Now I understand the March 17 meeting
has been changed and will take up
school closures instead, or that we
will have to share the time with this
equally urgent issue.
It is very awkward for us since we
are against any school closures. We feel
school closures are directly tied to
the billions spent on war just as the
military recruitment is tied to this
same horror.
As the Campus Antiwar Network put
it recently, "The counter-recruitment
movement is growing faster than the
military can recruit!" This should tell
you how important this issue is to
the community at large (If the
Proposition N vote didn't already tell you.)
We feel the issue of the war and the
military war budget overrides all other
issues having to do with lack of funds
for social services such as our
schools and hospitals, etc.
Not only is the giant U.S. War machine
robbing the coffers to kill and maim
an entire country and region, but
they want to use our kids to do it while
sacrificing their education!
We say HELL NO!
It is imperative for us to collaborate
in our efforts to turn this whole
situation around and demand that
the military budget be used for schools,
housing, healthcare-not for recruiting
our kids to kill and be killed in an
illegal and horribly unjust war.
All the antiwar groups in the city
are working together on this issue. And
there is a groundswell of protest
growing about it because of the war. You,
the leaders of our schools must take a stand with us.
Our group along with many others
has brainstormed all the things that could
be accomplished by the board; there
could be assemblies at each school
several times a year about the military
and alternatives to violence as a
way to solve problems-especially
political ones. We could have required
programs for parents to inform them
in person about the risks of the
military for their child and the urgent
need to get more money for schools,
etc.
The whole School District should march
in a contingent together March 19th
to demand an end to the war and to
bring the troops home now. We have
thought of hundreds of things the
schools in partnership with the board
could do to stop kids from going into
the military and getting both kids and
parents involved in a movement to
demand enough money for our schools
instead of more ammunition and
cannon fodder for the military.
As my mother said, "It will be a great
day when the schools get all the
money they need and the Navy has
to hold a bake-sale to buy a ship."
This issue is not going to go away.
And we don't care about being appointed
to any "advisory board." We will continue
to go to these meetings until we
get some results. We demand a full
and thorough discussion on these urgent
issues. We demand that we get
more than a minute to speak about them. The
war is a fundamental issue for all
of us if we are to survive as a
species-don't kid yourself or be
in denial. This is the sad and terrifying
reality of our world today.
Our job as parents, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, teachers is to give our
children the necessary tools to live
a full and productive life. Not to die
in a greedy and unjust war that
devastates millions and benefits only a tiny
few of the very wealthiest and privileged among us.
Please give this your immediate
and full attention. This is a job for all of
us together. We want to have
a thorough and full discussion with the Board.
Peace and solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
Www.bauaw.org
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1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) IRA Must Go, Demand Britain and U.S. (link only)
By Alex Richardson
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters)
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
March 9,2005
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050309/wl_nm/irish_dc
6) US officer: 'Why I disagree (link only)
with Bush's war for oil'
Brayden joined the US army not thinking he'd ever be sent
to war. He certainly hadn't entertained the idea that he
would turn against a war.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/618/618p12.htm
7) Subject: [MilLawTF] Sole Surviving Child -- or Lies
My Recruiter Told Me! From:
Harold Jordan
Date: March 8, 2005 8:36:54 AM PST
To: MLTF full list,
MLTF SC
Reply-To: MilLawTF@yahoogroups.com
8) NEWS: *USA Today* on Army Guard recruitment -
and on counter-recruitment
(with additional links)
9) FOR GUARD RECRUITERS, A TOUGH SELL (link only)
By Dave Moniz
USA Today
March 8, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-07-recruits-cover_x.htm
10) GLOBAL EXCHANGE ANTIWAR TEACH-IN MARCH 24
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the
Vietnam War.
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away for lack of funds.
11) Students Protest Military Recruitment
by Lachlan Maclean and William Roller staff writers
March 9, 2005 04:51 PM
A protest at San Francisco State University forces military
Recruiters to leave campus early without any recruits!
Read about it in theschool's newspaper, The Golden Gate [X]press.
There is also VIDEO online! Scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for links.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
12) CITY COLLEGE STUDENT COUNTER-RECRUITERS
CHARGED WITH FELONY ASSAULT
March 9, 2005
Counter Recruitment Watch
Projects from Peace No War Network
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
13) Ex-Marine Says Public Version of
Saddam Capture Fiction
United Press International
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1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
This is a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools. It is a dialogue
between the community and the School Board.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
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2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to
allow us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing
memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your
relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work and
in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced
following a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges:
The remainder of your letter should discuss whatever
you believe to weigh in favor of no jail time. If possible,
you should tell of an incident where she helped you
out or engaged in commendable community service.
Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of the
government's actions in bringing the charges; the
way in which the government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final
product to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask
that you forward your letter me so that the
lawyers can present it to Judge Koeltl with the
other letters being written for this purpose. This
is the manner in which letters will have the greatest
impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and
could cause the judge a substantial inconvenience
(and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have
any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact the defense committee at www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
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3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
· Urgent appeal for volunteers on March 19
· Volunteer opportunities this weekend.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
March 19, 2005: Global Day of Action - San
Francisco - Volunteers Needed!
No to War Occupation ˜ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere! Bring the Troops
Home Now! Money for People's Needs, Not War!
March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
Send this email to as many friends as you can.
March 19, 2005, will be an International Day of Protest
on the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
As on the first anniversary of the invasion last year,
millions of people around the world will march to say
„No to War and Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to
Haiti and Everywhere.‰
Volunteers are urgently needed in San Francisco on
March 19 to help with set-up, distributing placards to
spread the anti-war message, carrying banners for the
march, selling buttons and t-shirts to pay for the march,
leafleting to let people know how to get involved, take
down, monitoring, clean up and more.
Friends, families, and work groups can volunteer
in teams! Take a stand on March 19 against war
and occupation!
Come to the next Volunteer Orientation at the ANSWER
Activist Meeting on Tuesday March 15th at 7pm,
2489 Mission Street Room #30. Also with:
· Political update
· Volunteer sessions: banner painting, postering teams,
alert calls
· March 19 volunteer orientation discussion session.
No experience necessary! Whether you have volunteered
before or this is your first time your help is urgently
needed. Call 415-821-6545 for more information and
directions to this meeting.
If you cannot make the orientation, you can still
volunteer to help make March 19 Day of Global
Action protest happen:
Come to Dolores Park at 9 a.m. the morning of March 19
and sign in at the Volunteer ANSWER table to get the latest
orientation and take on an area of work for the protest.
Dolores Park is located at 18th and Dolores St. near the
16th St. BART station.
OR
Come to the Civic Center at 9 a.m. the morning of March 19
for a volunteer orientation and to get plugged in. Take BART
to Civic Center. Look for the sign-in table under the
ANSWER Volunteer banner.
Volunteers are needed ALL DAY. Any amount of time you
have to help is greatly appreciated.
Together we‚re building a powerful new movement against
war and racism. You‚re needed in the struggle to win money
for peoples‚ needs, not war and corporate greed. Email, call
or come to the volunteer orientation. Get involved today.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Don‚t miss this weekend‚s volunteer opportunity!
Sat. Mar. 12 ˆ 11 am in San Francisco at our office
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24. Get out in the sun or spend time
painting while you contribute your time to the anti-war
movement. Volunteer banner painting session and postering
teams going out around town.
Sat. Mar 12 ˆ 12 ˆ 12:30 pm in Oakland meet others in the
MacArthur BART parking lot to join a postering team to
spread the word about the protest. Organizer‚s cell phone
number: 925-917-1039, call for location details.
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
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4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME POWERFUL
ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
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5) IRA Must Go, Demand Britain and U.S. (link only)
By Alex Richardson
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters)
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
March 9,2005
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050309/wl_nm/irish_dc
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) US officer: 'Why I disagree (link only)
with Bush's war for oil'
Brayden joined the US army not thinking he'd ever be sent
to war. He certainly hadn't entertained the idea that he
would turn against a war.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/618/618p12.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Subject: [MilLawTF] Sole Surviving Child -- or Lies
My Recruiter Told Me! From:
Harold Jordan
Date: March 8, 2005 8:36:54 AM PST
To: MLTF full list,
MLTF SC
Reply-To: MilLawTF@yahoogroups.com
A few year ago I published this piece on the web. I've been searching
for the text for some weeks. I thought it might be helpful to folks-
Marti Hiken
A military recruiter told me that my son could sign up for the military
but not be sent to war because he is an only child. Is this true?
Contrary to what is often said by recruiters, no restrictions are
automatically placed on the assignment of only children. They
can be sent to war zones. Unfortunately this myth is widespread.
No restrictions are automatically placed on the assignment of
a service member to a war zone due solely to the fact of he or
she being an only child. The services do have a special provision
for "sole surviving sons or daughters," but this category is defined
in a very narrow way. A "sole surviving son or daughter" is the
only remaining son or daughter in a family where an immediate
family member has died as a result of service, is missing in
action (MIA), a prisoner of war (POW), or is 100% disabled and
unemployable as a consequence of military service.
This "sole surviving son or daughter" may request a discharge
from the service except in a period of war or national emergency
declared by Congress. A service member may forfeit this right
to be separated if he or she chooses to remain on duty or
re-enlist after he or she becomes aware of this discharge
provision. The military tries to screen for this possibility by
asking a question on the military enlistment documents.
The services do not want this issue to come up later for
someone who might have fallen into this category before
he or she enlisted.
Much of what the public has come to think about this issue
stems from the controversy surrounding the Sullivan family
tragedy during WWII. Two Sullivan brothers were among
700 sailors that died in the sinking of the Juneau near
Guadalcanal in November, 1942. At the time, the Navy
called the deaths,"the greatest single blow suffered by
one family...in American naval history." According to
current policy, siblings may serve in a war zone as long
as they are in different units.
The above exceptions apply to a small number of persons,
not to the average person who joins the military. Recruiters
should know better than to mislead young people and
their loved ones.
Harold Jordan
Executive Director
National Coalition of Education Activists
1420 Walnut St., Suite 720
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-735-2418
www.edactivists.org
• To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilLawTF/
National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force
Marguerite Hiken, co-chair
318 Ortega Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-566-3732
mlhiken@pacbell.net
Kathleen Gilberd, co-chair
1168 Union Street, Ste. 302
San Diego, CA 92101
619-233-1701
KathleenGilberd@aol.com
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8) NEWS: *USA Today* on Army Guard recruitment -
and on counter-recruitment
(with additional links)
[On Tuesday, *USA Today* published figures showing that the Army National
Guard fell 12.6% short of its recruiting target in 2003 and 12.1% short of its
recruiting goal in fiscal 2004.[1] -- In 2005, the target has been raised
12.5%, but "through January, four months into the recruiting year that began
in October, the Guard had recruited just 12,821 new soldiers, almost 24% below
its target for that period." -- The Marine Corps failed to meet it overall
recruiting goal in January and February for the first time in almost ten
years, and the active-duty Army is so far 6% below its target for the year.
-- "By contrast, the Navy and Air Force are having no trouble recruiting,"
according to *USA Today* reporter Dave Moniz, who noted: "Those branches play
only a small role in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan." -- *USA Today* also
published a longer, 1,300-word article on counter-recruitment: the effort to
inform potential recruits fully about the significance and consequences of
enlisting in the military.[2] -- A link and comment have been inserted
pertaining to San Diego Committee v. Governing Bd., the 1986 Ninth Circuit of
Appeals decision that is currently the legal decision governing
counter-recruiters' claim a right to enter schools; for more information on
counter-recruitment, see the resources listed by the Western Mass. AFSC.
(http://www.westernmassafsc.org/CR/counter_recruitment.html) -- Also, a
Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/counter-recruitment/) on
counter-recruitment activities has existed since 2000. -- Thanks to Tim
Smith for sending the *USA Today* piece on counter-recruitment. --Mark]
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2397/
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9) FOR GUARD RECRUITERS, A TOUGH SELL (link only)
By Dave Moniz
USA Today
March 8, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-07-recruits-cover_x.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) GLOBAL EXCHANGE ANTIWAR TEACH-IN MARCH 24
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the
Vietnam War.
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away
for lack of funds.
Dear UFPJ Bay Area,
On March 24th, Global Exchange is sponsoring a major anti-war
teach-in that will be held at Mission High School. This teach-in
(and teach-ins scheduled for the same day in Washington, DC
and Ann Arbor, Michigan) is being held in remembrance of the
wave of teach-ins about the Vietnam war starting in 1965 that
began the long awakening that led to the US public shaking
off the Vietnam war makers.
Please spread the word about the teach-in, and, of course
about the March 19 protest that ANSWER is organizing in SF
for the two-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion. The teach-in
won't just be people talking at the audience; we'll have
presentations by a panel and then break into smaller groups
for deeper discussion and strategizing.
Hope to see you there,
Andrea Buffa
Global Exchange
P.S. This is part of the education campaign adopted by
UFPJ at the recent national assembly.
**************************************************************
**Please forward widely.**
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the Vietnam War
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away
for lack of funds.
Two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the country continues
to bleed and suffer. The death toll soars on all sides and
especially among civilians. The cost of the war mounts daily
as vital services are cut at home. But many questions remain:
Did the January 2005 elections improve the situation in
Iraq? Is the US troop presence in Iraq helping stabilize the
country, or is it at the root of Iraq's deadly violence? And
what are the true costs of the war at home - its impact on
military families and returning veterans, its $200+ billion
price tag, and the looting of our economy by militarist
corporations?
Join people throughout the country as we consider these
issues and others at teach-ins in San Francisco,
Washington, DC, and Ann Arbor, marking the 40th
anniversary of the first Vietnam War teach-in in 1965.
Featured Speakers include:
•Rahul Mahajan, Anti-war Activist and Author of Full
Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond
•Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen Iraq war soldier, Co-
Founder of Gold Star Parents for Peace, and member
of Military Families Speak Out
•Fernando Suarez, father of fallen Iraq war soldier,
Founder of Guerrero Azteca Project and member of
Gold Star Parents for Peace
•Aimee Allison, Gulf War conscientious objector,
counter recruiter, and Oakland City Council candidate
•Howard Wallace, San Francisco Labor Council, National
Board of Pride at Work, and Steering Committee of
US Labor Against the War
•Sean O'Neil, US Veteran of the Iraq War and purple-
heart recipient
•Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of Global Exchange
and CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Sponsored By Global Exchange
For more information: www.globalexchange.org
or call (415) 255-7296.
AND DON'T FORGET:
March 19, 2005: Global Day of Action-No to
War & Occupation
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park; Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
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11) Students Protest Military Recruitment
by Lachlan Maclean and William Roller staff writers
March 9, 2005 04:51 PM
A protest at San Francisco State University forces military
Recruiters to leave campus early without any recruits!
Read about it in theschool's newspaper, The Golden Gate [X]press.
There is also VIDEO online! Scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for links.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
U.S. military recruiters left a campus career fair an hour early on
March 9 after extensive student demonstrations for and against
military recruitment.
Over 100 students surrounded U.S. Air Force and Army Corps of
Engineers recruiters' tables at the Career Center Employer Showcase at
Jack Adams Hall. A group of five College Republicans blocked
protesters and yelled "Don't join if you don't want to."
"Our military is racist, homophobic, sexist and screwing people," said
Students Against War (SAW) member Michael Hoffman, 24, a physics
major. "Recruitment on campus is wrong."
SAW members said they hoped the protest would rally students to take
action against recruiters on campus.
"We don't allow the recruiters on our campus because of the military's
discrimination of homosexuals," said Alex Schmaus, an environmental
studies sophomore. "(The) 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy ? goes
clearly against campus discriminatory policy. They shouldn't be on
campus."
Sarah Ballinger, liberal studies major, said the recruiters' early
departure was due to the protester's efforts.
"I think that if we weren't there, they would've stayed until
closing," said Ballinger. "They realized that we weren't going
anywhere and they weren't going to recruit anyone, so they left."
Support for SAW's protest was not unanimous, several College
Republicans waved banners that read, "You don't have to support the
war to support our military" and "end the commie occupation of SFSU."
Leigh Wolfe, 18, a broadcasting major and member of the College
Republicans said he was disappointed that students were not more
supportive of our nation's military.
"I wish they had a little more appreciation for what our troops are
doing overseas," said Wolfe. "They're fighting for us and dying to
protect us at home and (the protesters) are pretty much
anti-anything."
The two-day career expo was co-sponsored by the science and
engineering departments.Jack Brewer, the career center's director,
said the center treats all recruiters the same and doesn't distinguish
between corporations, non-profits or the military.
"It's my understanding that if a university would deny access by
military recruiters, that they could lose federal funding for
financial aid and also any funding from the department of defense,"
said Brewer.
"If there is a policy set up by the university about denying access to
(discriminatory employers) then obviously I'd have to follow that
policy. I'm not currently aware of any such policy."
Political Science professor James Martel said recruiters should be
kept off campus.
"The ban against gays in the military is pure discrimination, pure
bigotry on the part of the U.S. government with no rationale
whatsoever," Martel said. "It sends a signal to the entire nation that
it's OK to discriminate against lesbians and gay men."
Tyson Eckerele, a 25-year-old biologist with the Army Corps of
Engineering, couldn't recall any similar opposition or protests on
other college campuses.
"This hasn't happened to us before at UC Berkeley or at Stanford,"
said Eckerele, who is a self-described liberal.
According to Jim Fizzell, employee specialist at Stanford University's
Career Center, the Army has attended past career fairs on their
campus.
"There's never been a problem with them being here," said Fizzell
during a telephone interview. Brian Honeycutt, Master Sgt. and Air
Force recruiter, was undaunted by the SF State protesters.
"They have the right to protest peacefully if they want to," said
Honeycutt. "But we aren't leaving unless other employers want us to.
They can protest all day and we'll stay right here."
Most employers who paid to attend the fair respected the students'
right to express themselves, but some felt the protest detracted from
their goals at the job fair.
Nancy Peterson is a recruiter for John Muir and Mt. Diablo Health
Systems said the protest discouraged students from entering the job
fair and made the atmosphere uncomfortable.
"The temperature is about 98 degrees, we haven't seen any nursing
students, and you can't be heard over the yelling," said Peterson. "So
it's a bit disappointing for us here."
Peterson said her organization wasn't able to accomplish anything at
the fair and would definitely ask more questions before paying to
attend another job fair at SF State.
Pacific Medical Center recruiter Rachel Barnes has been to SF State
three times before.
"It was the most entertained I've been since I've been here," she said.
Jeff Boyette, an organizer with the International Socialist
Organization (ISO) at SF State, was pleased by the fact that the
recruiters left the career fair early. "Yes, it was indeed a success
because a lot of the students came out for this," said Boyette.
Ballinger said she wanted the military out of the school.
"They're a discriminatory organization that is taking our brothers and
sisters and classmates to a war for oil and empire," said Ballinger.
College Republicans vice-president Chris Finarelli demonstrated at
Malcolm X Plaza and at Jack Adams Hall.
"I support SAW's right to be here just like the Peace Corps has a
right to be here, just like the environmentalists who solicit me every
time I walk on campus here, just like UNICEF, they all have a right to
be here," Finarelli said.
"The military is an all voluntary organization, they're not soliciting
people they're simply sit behind the table with their hands in their
pockets and wait until somebody comes up and asks for some
information."
Ballinger said the recruiters' early departure was due to the
protester's efforts.
"I think that if we weren't there, they would've stayed until
closing," said Ballinger. "They realized that we weren't going
anywhere and they weren't going to recruit anyone, so they left."
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) CITY COLLEGE STUDENT COUNTER-RECRUITERS CHARGED
WITH FELONY ASSAULT
March 9, 2005
Counter Recruitment Watch
Projects from Peace No War Network
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
March 9, 2005
e-mail: wrigleyfield@nyu.edu
Press Conference:
Thursday March 10th 4pm
100 Centre Street, New York, NY
CONTACTS
Activist: Meredith Kolodner (917) 881-3896
Lawyers: Sean Maher, Darlene Jorif (212) 876-5500
WHO: City College Counter-Recruiters: Hadas Thier, Nicholas Bergreen,
Justino Rodriguez (pending their release) and their supporters:
representatives from civil liberties organizations, national anti-war
organizations, student anti-war organizations, veterans and military
family members, and the legal community
Three undergraduate students at the City College of New York (CCNY)
were arrested Wednesday in the course of a peaceful protest against
military recruiters. Hadas Thier, Nick Bergreen, and Justino
Rodriguez, along with approximately a dozen other protesters attended
a job fair organized by the college, and stood up in front of a
National Guard recruitment table chanting anti-war slogans. Private
security and campus peace officers immediately surrounded the
protesters, pushed them into an empty hallway outside of the job fair,
closed the hall door and assaulted two protesters and arrested a third
who was taking pictures. The two students who were assaulted are now
being charged with felony assault, and the third with obstruction of a
government administrator.
MILITARY RESPONDING TO COUNTER-RECRUITER'S SUCCESS
"Counter-recruitment" has become a national issue (USATODAY "Counter-
recruiters shadowing the military" 3/7/5), and it's working. Between
these efforts, and general disagreement about the war, recruitment is
down - according to a 3/6/5 Reuters report, "The regular Army is 6
percent behind its year-to-date recruiting target, the Reserve is 10
percent behind, and the Guard is 26 percent short."
After similar counter-recruitment efforts have taken off from New York
to Seattle, the military has clearly become concerned. At William
Patterson University in New Jersey an activist was arrested for simply
handing out counter-recruitment leaflets. Twice last semester, CCNY
student protesters drove military recruiters off the campus with
peaceful protests. This time campus security was ready. "We didn't
even get through one round of chanting," according to Tiffany Paul,
a junior at CCNY and a member of the Campus Anti-War Network,
who was one of the protesters. "We were completely peaceful, it
was the officers who were violent."
UNNECESSARY BRUTALITY
When Mr. Rodriguez was being arrested, his head was slammed into the
wall. He called out "look what they're doing to me!" According to Ms.
Paul, to silence him one of the guards pulled Mr. Rodriguez's hood
over his head and slammed his head into the wall
again.
"He just stood on the guy," remembers Mark Turner, a staff member at
CCNY, recalling the manner in which Mr. Bergreen was subdued by a
private security guard, Mr. Robertson. "His foot was on his back,
after he had tackled him. Private security are not supposed to touch
us."
Ms. Thier was arrested simply for taking pictures. Several witnesses
recall that the guards were pulling on her hair. Juan Alduey remembers
that the guards pushed Ms. Thier when she tried to give a statement to
students who began filming the event. "I'm being arrested for
exercising my right to free speech" Mr. Alduey recalled.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Ex-Marine Says Public Version of
Saddam Capture Fiction
United Press International
A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was
fabricated.
Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi
daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday,
Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.
"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who
searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and
we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as
announced," Abou Rabeh said.
"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of
Sudanese origin was killed," he said.
He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a
room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have
to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."
"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's
capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.
Abou Rabeh was interviewed in Lebanon.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE
RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
OPEN LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF
THE SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Dear all,
I was very disappointed by the
March 8th meeting of the Board of Education.
I don't understand why the two
military men from JROTC got at least twice as
much time to speak as all 14 of
us anti-recruitment folks put together.
It seems they were given as much
time as they wanted and they said nothing.
Now I understand the March 17 meeting
has been changed and will take up
school closures instead, or that we
will have to share the time with this
equally urgent issue.
It is very awkward for us since we
are against any school closures. We feel
school closures are directly tied to
the billions spent on war just as the
military recruitment is tied to this
same horror.
As the Campus Antiwar Network put
it recently, "The counter-recruitment
movement is growing faster than the
military can recruit!" This should tell
you how important this issue is to
the community at large (If the
Proposition N vote didn't already tell you.)
We feel the issue of the war and the
military war budget overrides all other
issues having to do with lack of funds
for social services such as our
schools and hospitals, etc.
Not only is the giant U.S. War machine
robbing the coffers to kill and maim
an entire country and region, but
they want to use our kids to do it while
sacrificing their education!
We say HELL NO!
It is imperative for us to collaborate
in our efforts to turn this whole
situation around and demand that
the military budget be used for schools,
housing, healthcare-not for recruiting
our kids to kill and be killed in an
illegal and horribly unjust war.
All the antiwar groups in the city
are working together on this issue. And
there is a groundswell of protest
growing about it because of the war. You,
the leaders of our schools must take a stand with us.
Our group along with many others
has brainstormed all the things that could
be accomplished by the board; there
could be assemblies at each school
several times a year about the military
and alternatives to violence as a
way to solve problems-especially
political ones. We could have required
programs for parents to inform them
in person about the risks of the
military for their child and the urgent
need to get more money for schools,
etc.
The whole School District should march
in a contingent together March 19th
to demand an end to the war and to
bring the troops home now. We have
thought of hundreds of things the
schools in partnership with the board
could do to stop kids from going into
the military and getting both kids and
parents involved in a movement to
demand enough money for our schools
instead of more ammunition and
cannon fodder for the military.
As my mother said, "It will be a great
day when the schools get all the
money they need and the Navy has
to hold a bake-sale to buy a ship."
This issue is not going to go away.
And we don't care about being appointed
to any "advisory board." We will continue
to go to these meetings until we
get some results. We demand a full
and thorough discussion on these urgent
issues. We demand that we get
more than a minute to speak about them. The
war is a fundamental issue for all
of us if we are to survive as a
species-don't kid yourself or be
in denial. This is the sad and terrifying
reality of our world today.
Our job as parents, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, teachers is to give our
children the necessary tools to live
a full and productive life. Not to die
in a greedy and unjust war that
devastates millions and benefits only a tiny
few of the very wealthiest and privileged among us.
Please give this your immediate
and full attention. This is a job for all of
us together. We want to have
a thorough and full discussion with the Board.
Peace and solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
Www.bauaw.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) IRA Must Go, Demand Britain and U.S. (link only)
By Alex Richardson
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters)
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
March 9,2005
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050309/wl_nm/irish_dc
6) US officer: 'Why I disagree (link only)
with Bush's war for oil'
Brayden joined the US army not thinking he'd ever be sent
to war. He certainly hadn't entertained the idea that he
would turn against a war.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/618/618p12.htm
7) Subject: [MilLawTF] Sole Surviving Child -- or Lies
My Recruiter Told Me! From:
Harold Jordan
Date: March 8, 2005 8:36:54 AM PST
To: MLTF full list
MLTF SC
Reply-To: MilLawTF@yahoogroups.com
8) NEWS: *USA Today* on Army Guard recruitment -
and on counter-recruitment
(with additional links)
9) FOR GUARD RECRUITERS, A TOUGH SELL (link only)
By Dave Moniz
USA Today
March 8, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-07-recruits-cover_x.htm
10) GLOBAL EXCHANGE ANTIWAR TEACH-IN MARCH 24
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the
Vietnam War.
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away for lack of funds.
11) Students Protest Military Recruitment
by Lachlan Maclean and William Roller staff writers
March 9, 2005 04:51 PM
A protest at San Francisco State University forces military
Recruiters to leave campus early without any recruits!
Read about it in theschool's newspaper, The Golden Gate [X]press.
There is also VIDEO online! Scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for links.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
12) CITY COLLEGE STUDENT COUNTER-RECRUITERS
CHARGED WITH FELONY ASSAULT
March 9, 2005
Counter Recruitment Watch
Projects from Peace No War Network
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
13) Ex-Marine Says Public Version of
Saddam Capture Fiction
United Press International
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
This is a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools. It is a dialogue
between the community and the School Board.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to
allow us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing
memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your
relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work and
in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced
following a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges:
The remainder of your letter should discuss whatever
you believe to weigh in favor of no jail time. If possible,
you should tell of an incident where she helped you
out or engaged in commendable community service.
Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of the
government's actions in bringing the charges; the
way in which the government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final
product to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask
that you forward your letter me so that the
lawyers can present it to Judge Koeltl with the
other letters being written for this purpose. This
is the manner in which letters will have the greatest
impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and
could cause the judge a substantial inconvenience
(and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have
any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact the defense committee at www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
· Urgent appeal for volunteers on March 19
· Volunteer opportunities this weekend.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
March 19, 2005: Global Day of Action - San
Francisco - Volunteers Needed!
No to War Occupation ˜ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere! Bring the Troops
Home Now! Money for People's Needs, Not War!
March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
Send this email to as many friends as you can.
March 19, 2005, will be an International Day of Protest
on the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
As on the first anniversary of the invasion last year,
millions of people around the world will march to say
„No to War and Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to
Haiti and Everywhere.‰
Volunteers are urgently needed in San Francisco on
March 19 to help with set-up, distributing placards to
spread the anti-war message, carrying banners for the
march, selling buttons and t-shirts to pay for the march,
leafleting to let people know how to get involved, take
down, monitoring, clean up and more.
Friends, families, and work groups can volunteer
in teams! Take a stand on March 19 against war
and occupation!
Come to the next Volunteer Orientation at the ANSWER
Activist Meeting on Tuesday March 15th at 7pm,
2489 Mission Street Room #30. Also with:
· Political update
· Volunteer sessions: banner painting, postering teams,
alert calls
· March 19 volunteer orientation discussion session.
No experience necessary! Whether you have volunteered
before or this is your first time your help is urgently
needed. Call 415-821-6545 for more information and
directions to this meeting.
If you cannot make the orientation, you can still
volunteer to help make March 19 Day of Global
Action protest happen:
Come to Dolores Park at 9 a.m. the morning of March 19
and sign in at the Volunteer ANSWER table to get the latest
orientation and take on an area of work for the protest.
Dolores Park is located at 18th and Dolores St. near the
16th St. BART station.
OR
Come to the Civic Center at 9 a.m. the morning of March 19
for a volunteer orientation and to get plugged in. Take BART
to Civic Center. Look for the sign-in table under the
ANSWER Volunteer banner.
Volunteers are needed ALL DAY. Any amount of time you
have to help is greatly appreciated.
Together we‚re building a powerful new movement against
war and racism. You‚re needed in the struggle to win money
for peoples‚ needs, not war and corporate greed. Email, call
or come to the volunteer orientation. Get involved today.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Don‚t miss this weekend‚s volunteer opportunity!
Sat. Mar. 12 ˆ 11 am in San Francisco at our office
2489 Mission St. Rm. 24. Get out in the sun or spend time
painting while you contribute your time to the anti-war
movement. Volunteer banner painting session and postering
teams going out around town.
Sat. Mar 12 ˆ 12 ˆ 12:30 pm in Oakland meet others in the
MacArthur BART parking lot to join a postering team to
spread the word about the protest. Organizer‚s cell phone
number: 925-917-1039, call for location details.
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME POWERFUL
ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) IRA Must Go, Demand Britain and U.S. (link only)
By Alex Richardson
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters)
2 hours, 36 minutes ago
March 9,2005
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050309/wl_nm/irish_dc
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) US officer: 'Why I disagree (link only)
with Bush's war for oil'
Brayden joined the US army not thinking he'd ever be sent
to war. He certainly hadn't entertained the idea that he
would turn against a war.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/618/618p12.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Subject: [MilLawTF] Sole Surviving Child -- or Lies
My Recruiter Told Me! From:
Harold Jordan
Date: March 8, 2005 8:36:54 AM PST
To: MLTF full list
MLTF SC
Reply-To: MilLawTF@yahoogroups.com
A few year ago I published this piece on the web. I've been searching
for the text for some weeks. I thought it might be helpful to folks-
Marti Hiken
A military recruiter told me that my son could sign up for the military
but not be sent to war because he is an only child. Is this true?
Contrary to what is often said by recruiters, no restrictions are
automatically placed on the assignment of only children. They
can be sent to war zones. Unfortunately this myth is widespread.
No restrictions are automatically placed on the assignment of
a service member to a war zone due solely to the fact of he or
she being an only child. The services do have a special provision
for "sole surviving sons or daughters," but this category is defined
in a very narrow way. A "sole surviving son or daughter" is the
only remaining son or daughter in a family where an immediate
family member has died as a result of service, is missing in
action (MIA), a prisoner of war (POW), or is 100% disabled and
unemployable as a consequence of military service.
This "sole surviving son or daughter" may request a discharge
from the service except in a period of war or national emergency
declared by Congress. A service member may forfeit this right
to be separated if he or she chooses to remain on duty or
re-enlist after he or she becomes aware of this discharge
provision. The military tries to screen for this possibility by
asking a question on the military enlistment documents.
The services do not want this issue to come up later for
someone who might have fallen into this category before
he or she enlisted.
Much of what the public has come to think about this issue
stems from the controversy surrounding the Sullivan family
tragedy during WWII. Two Sullivan brothers were among
700 sailors that died in the sinking of the Juneau near
Guadalcanal in November, 1942. At the time, the Navy
called the deaths,"the greatest single blow suffered by
one family...in American naval history." According to
current policy, siblings may serve in a war zone as long
as they are in different units.
The above exceptions apply to a small number of persons,
not to the average person who joins the military. Recruiters
should know better than to mislead young people and
their loved ones.
Harold Jordan
Executive Director
National Coalition of Education Activists
1420 Walnut St., Suite 720
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-735-2418
www.edactivists.org
• To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilLawTF/
National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force
Marguerite Hiken, co-chair
318 Ortega Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-566-3732
mlhiken@pacbell.net
Kathleen Gilberd, co-chair
1168 Union Street, Ste. 302
San Diego, CA 92101
619-233-1701
KathleenGilberd@aol.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) NEWS: *USA Today* on Army Guard recruitment -
and on counter-recruitment
(with additional links)
[On Tuesday, *USA Today* published figures showing that the Army National
Guard fell 12.6% short of its recruiting target in 2003 and 12.1% short of its
recruiting goal in fiscal 2004.[1] -- In 2005, the target has been raised
12.5%, but "through January, four months into the recruiting year that began
in October, the Guard had recruited just 12,821 new soldiers, almost 24% below
its target for that period." -- The Marine Corps failed to meet it overall
recruiting goal in January and February for the first time in almost ten
years, and the active-duty Army is so far 6% below its target for the year.
-- "By contrast, the Navy and Air Force are having no trouble recruiting,"
according to *USA Today* reporter Dave Moniz, who noted: "Those branches play
only a small role in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan." -- *USA Today* also
published a longer, 1,300-word article on counter-recruitment: the effort to
inform potential recruits fully about the significance and consequences of
enlisting in the military.[2] -- A link and comment have been inserted
pertaining to San Diego Committee v. Governing Bd., the 1986 Ninth Circuit of
Appeals decision that is currently the legal decision governing
counter-recruiters' claim a right to enter schools; for more information on
counter-recruitment, see the resources listed by the Western Mass. AFSC.
(http://www.westernmassafsc.org/CR/counter_recruitment.html) -- Also, a
Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/counter-recruitment/) on
counter-recruitment activities has existed since 2000. -- Thanks to Tim
Smith for sending the *USA Today* piece on counter-recruitment. --Mark]
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/2397/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) FOR GUARD RECRUITERS, A TOUGH SELL (link only)
By Dave Moniz
USA Today
March 8, 2005
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-07-recruits-cover_x.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) GLOBAL EXCHANGE ANTIWAR TEACH-IN MARCH 24
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the
Vietnam War.
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away
for lack of funds.
Dear UFPJ Bay Area,
On March 24th, Global Exchange is sponsoring a major anti-war
teach-in that will be held at Mission High School. This teach-in
(and teach-ins scheduled for the same day in Washington, DC
and Ann Arbor, Michigan) is being held in remembrance of the
wave of teach-ins about the Vietnam war starting in 1965 that
began the long awakening that led to the US public shaking
off the Vietnam war makers.
Please spread the word about the teach-in, and, of course
about the March 19 protest that ANSWER is organizing in SF
for the two-year anniversary of the Iraq invasion. The teach-in
won't just be people talking at the audience; we'll have
presentations by a panel and then break into smaller groups
for deeper discussion and strategizing.
Hope to see you there,
Andrea Buffa
Global Exchange
P.S. This is part of the education campaign adopted by
UFPJ at the recent national assembly.
**************************************************************
**Please forward widely.**
On the 40th Anniversary of the first teach-in on the Vietnam War
NATIONAL TEACH-IN ON IRAQ: How Can We End This War?
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Mission High School, 3750 18th Street (at Dolores)
$5 requested donation; Free for students; No one turned away
for lack of funds.
Two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the country continues
to bleed and suffer. The death toll soars on all sides and
especially among civilians. The cost of the war mounts daily
as vital services are cut at home. But many questions remain:
Did the January 2005 elections improve the situation in
Iraq? Is the US troop presence in Iraq helping stabilize the
country, or is it at the root of Iraq's deadly violence? And
what are the true costs of the war at home - its impact on
military families and returning veterans, its $200+ billion
price tag, and the looting of our economy by militarist
corporations?
Join people throughout the country as we consider these
issues and others at teach-ins in San Francisco,
Washington, DC, and Ann Arbor, marking the 40th
anniversary of the first Vietnam War teach-in in 1965.
Featured Speakers include:
•Rahul Mahajan, Anti-war Activist and Author of Full
Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond
•Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen Iraq war soldier, Co-
Founder of Gold Star Parents for Peace, and member
of Military Families Speak Out
•Fernando Suarez, father of fallen Iraq war soldier,
Founder of Guerrero Azteca Project and member of
Gold Star Parents for Peace
•Aimee Allison, Gulf War conscientious objector,
counter recruiter, and Oakland City Council candidate
•Howard Wallace, San Francisco Labor Council, National
Board of Pride at Work, and Steering Committee of
US Labor Against the War
•Sean O'Neil, US Veteran of the Iraq War and purple-
heart recipient
•Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of Global Exchange
and CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Sponsored By Global Exchange
For more information: www.globalexchange.org
or call (415) 255-7296.
AND DON'T FORGET:
March 19, 2005: Global Day of Action-No to
War & Occupation
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park; Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Students Protest Military Recruitment
by Lachlan Maclean and William Roller staff writers
March 9, 2005 04:51 PM
A protest at San Francisco State University forces military
Recruiters to leave campus early without any recruits!
Read about it in theschool's newspaper, The Golden Gate [X]press.
There is also VIDEO online! Scroll to the bottom of this e-mail for links.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
U.S. military recruiters left a campus career fair an hour early on
March 9 after extensive student demonstrations for and against
military recruitment.
Over 100 students surrounded U.S. Air Force and Army Corps of
Engineers recruiters' tables at the Career Center Employer Showcase at
Jack Adams Hall. A group of five College Republicans blocked
protesters and yelled "Don't join if you don't want to."
"Our military is racist, homophobic, sexist and screwing people," said
Students Against War (SAW) member Michael Hoffman, 24, a physics
major. "Recruitment on campus is wrong."
SAW members said they hoped the protest would rally students to take
action against recruiters on campus.
"We don't allow the recruiters on our campus because of the military's
discrimination of homosexuals," said Alex Schmaus, an environmental
studies sophomore. "(The) 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy ? goes
clearly against campus discriminatory policy. They shouldn't be on
campus."
Sarah Ballinger, liberal studies major, said the recruiters' early
departure was due to the protester's efforts.
"I think that if we weren't there, they would've stayed until
closing," said Ballinger. "They realized that we weren't going
anywhere and they weren't going to recruit anyone, so they left."
Support for SAW's protest was not unanimous, several College
Republicans waved banners that read, "You don't have to support the
war to support our military" and "end the commie occupation of SFSU."
Leigh Wolfe, 18, a broadcasting major and member of the College
Republicans said he was disappointed that students were not more
supportive of our nation's military.
"I wish they had a little more appreciation for what our troops are
doing overseas," said Wolfe. "They're fighting for us and dying to
protect us at home and (the protesters) are pretty much
anti-anything."
The two-day career expo was co-sponsored by the science and
engineering departments.Jack Brewer, the career center's director,
said the center treats all recruiters the same and doesn't distinguish
between corporations, non-profits or the military.
"It's my understanding that if a university would deny access by
military recruiters, that they could lose federal funding for
financial aid and also any funding from the department of defense,"
said Brewer.
"If there is a policy set up by the university about denying access to
(discriminatory employers) then obviously I'd have to follow that
policy. I'm not currently aware of any such policy."
Political Science professor James Martel said recruiters should be
kept off campus.
"The ban against gays in the military is pure discrimination, pure
bigotry on the part of the U.S. government with no rationale
whatsoever," Martel said. "It sends a signal to the entire nation that
it's OK to discriminate against lesbians and gay men."
Tyson Eckerele, a 25-year-old biologist with the Army Corps of
Engineering, couldn't recall any similar opposition or protests on
other college campuses.
"This hasn't happened to us before at UC Berkeley or at Stanford,"
said Eckerele, who is a self-described liberal.
According to Jim Fizzell, employee specialist at Stanford University's
Career Center, the Army has attended past career fairs on their
campus.
"There's never been a problem with them being here," said Fizzell
during a telephone interview. Brian Honeycutt, Master Sgt. and Air
Force recruiter, was undaunted by the SF State protesters.
"They have the right to protest peacefully if they want to," said
Honeycutt. "But we aren't leaving unless other employers want us to.
They can protest all day and we'll stay right here."
Most employers who paid to attend the fair respected the students'
right to express themselves, but some felt the protest detracted from
their goals at the job fair.
Nancy Peterson is a recruiter for John Muir and Mt. Diablo Health
Systems said the protest discouraged students from entering the job
fair and made the atmosphere uncomfortable.
"The temperature is about 98 degrees, we haven't seen any nursing
students, and you can't be heard over the yelling," said Peterson. "So
it's a bit disappointing for us here."
Peterson said her organization wasn't able to accomplish anything at
the fair and would definitely ask more questions before paying to
attend another job fair at SF State.
Pacific Medical Center recruiter Rachel Barnes has been to SF State
three times before.
"It was the most entertained I've been since I've been here," she said.
Jeff Boyette, an organizer with the International Socialist
Organization (ISO) at SF State, was pleased by the fact that the
recruiters left the career fair early. "Yes, it was indeed a success
because a lot of the students came out for this," said Boyette.
Ballinger said she wanted the military out of the school.
"They're a discriminatory organization that is taking our brothers and
sisters and classmates to a war for oil and empire," said Ballinger.
College Republicans vice-president Chris Finarelli demonstrated at
Malcolm X Plaza and at Jack Adams Hall.
"I support SAW's right to be here just like the Peace Corps has a
right to be here, just like the environmentalists who solicit me every
time I walk on campus here, just like UNICEF, they all have a right to
be here," Finarelli said.
"The military is an all voluntary organization, they're not soliciting
people they're simply sit behind the table with their hands in their
pockets and wait until somebody comes up and asks for some
information."
Ballinger said the recruiters' early departure was due to the
protester's efforts.
"I think that if we weren't there, they would've stayed until
closing," said Ballinger. "They realized that we weren't going
anywhere and they weren't going to recruit anyone, so they left."
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) CITY COLLEGE STUDENT COUNTER-RECRUITERS CHARGED
WITH FELONY ASSAULT
March 9, 2005
Counter Recruitment Watch
Projects from Peace No War Network
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
March 9, 2005
e-mail: wrigleyfield@nyu.edu
Press Conference:
Thursday March 10th 4pm
100 Centre Street, New York, NY
CONTACTS
Activist: Meredith Kolodner (917) 881-3896
Lawyers: Sean Maher, Darlene Jorif (212) 876-5500
WHO: City College Counter-Recruiters: Hadas Thier, Nicholas Bergreen,
Justino Rodriguez (pending their release) and their supporters:
representatives from civil liberties organizations, national anti-war
organizations, student anti-war organizations, veterans and military
family members, and the legal community
Three undergraduate students at the City College of New York (CCNY)
were arrested Wednesday in the course of a peaceful protest against
military recruiters. Hadas Thier, Nick Bergreen, and Justino
Rodriguez, along with approximately a dozen other protesters attended
a job fair organized by the college, and stood up in front of a
National Guard recruitment table chanting anti-war slogans. Private
security and campus peace officers immediately surrounded the
protesters, pushed them into an empty hallway outside of the job fair,
closed the hall door and assaulted two protesters and arrested a third
who was taking pictures. The two students who were assaulted are now
being charged with felony assault, and the third with obstruction of a
government administrator.
MILITARY RESPONDING TO COUNTER-RECRUITER'S SUCCESS
"Counter-recruitment" has become a national issue (USATODAY "Counter-
recruiters shadowing the military" 3/7/5), and it's working. Between
these efforts, and general disagreement about the war, recruitment is
down - according to a 3/6/5 Reuters report, "The regular Army is 6
percent behind its year-to-date recruiting target, the Reserve is 10
percent behind, and the Guard is 26 percent short."
After similar counter-recruitment efforts have taken off from New York
to Seattle, the military has clearly become concerned. At William
Patterson University in New Jersey an activist was arrested for simply
handing out counter-recruitment leaflets. Twice last semester, CCNY
student protesters drove military recruiters off the campus with
peaceful protests. This time campus security was ready. "We didn't
even get through one round of chanting," according to Tiffany Paul,
a junior at CCNY and a member of the Campus Anti-War Network,
who was one of the protesters. "We were completely peaceful, it
was the officers who were violent."
UNNECESSARY BRUTALITY
When Mr. Rodriguez was being arrested, his head was slammed into the
wall. He called out "look what they're doing to me!" According to Ms.
Paul, to silence him one of the guards pulled Mr. Rodriguez's hood
over his head and slammed his head into the wall
again.
"He just stood on the guy," remembers Mark Turner, a staff member at
CCNY, recalling the manner in which Mr. Bergreen was subdued by a
private security guard, Mr. Robertson. "His foot was on his back,
after he had tackled him. Private security are not supposed to touch
us."
Ms. Thier was arrested simply for taking pictures. Several witnesses
recall that the guards were pulling on her hair. Juan Alduey remembers
that the guards pushed Ms. Thier when she tried to give a statement to
students who began filming the event. "I'm being arrested for
exercising my right to free speech" Mr. Alduey recalled.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Ex-Marine Says Public Version of
Saddam Capture Fiction
United Press International
A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was
fabricated.
Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi
daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday,
Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.
"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who
searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and
we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as
announced," Abou Rabeh said.
"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of
Sudanese origin was killed," he said.
He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a
room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have
to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."
"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's
capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.
Abou Rabeh was interviewed in Lebanon.
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE
RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT
6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian
7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...where
we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi
8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART
9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.
10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm
12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005
13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!
14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/
15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM
16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay
17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.
18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program."
This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item. (It is not
clear whether comments from the public will be
under this point or under general comments
from the public. Just call and get your name
of the list to speak.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION
Thanks!
Mark Sanchez
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
This is a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools. It is a dialogue
between the community and the School Board.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing memorandum
that is being filed on Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your
relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced
following a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges:
The remainder of your letter should discuss whatever
you believe to weigh in favor of no jail time. If possible,
you should tell of an incident where she helped you out
or engaged in commendable community service. Do not
try to argue that she is not guilty or was unfairly conviction.
Focus on the unfairness of the government's actions in
bringing the charges; the way in which the government
portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present it
to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for this
purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have the
greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could
cause the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME
POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT
Thanks to everyone who offered us support and solidarity!
On Wednesday, February 23, the Kennedy High School chapter
of Youth Against War and Racism distributed counter-military-
recruitment information from a table during lunch periods and
held a teach-in after school. These events were successes despite
the attempts to ban our actions by the Kennedy administration and
the Bloomington Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent.
The Superintendent ultimately acquiesced to our demands to be
allowed the same rights as other student organizations and the
military recruiters because they were flooded by phone calls from
people involved in the anti-war movement from around the country,
and because they saw that our student group was organized and
not about the back down.
We were informed Tuesday afternoon that despite prior approval
and precedent, we would not be allowed to have a table at lunch
when the military recruiters were present. The local American
Legion had contacted the school Superintendent and threatened
to withdraw their significant funding from the school if we were
permitted to table.
We organized an emergency meeting that evening on hearing
the news, and plotted our next moves. Fourteen active members
showed up and decided that we would table in violation of the
administration's decry. If they demanded we take down our table
we would refuse, regardless of the consequences. This would
show them that we wouldn't back down easily, and would
create a scene that would reflect badly on the administration.
We drafted a flier and petition to hand out to students asking
them to support our free speech rights. We sent an appeal to
anti-war groups across America asking them to call the
Superintendent and Principal to demand they allow us our free
speech rights. Finally, we sent a press release announcing
a press conference at 2:30 on Wednesday. We intended to
show the administration that if they were going to violate the
constitution so flagrantly, they would do it over our resistance,
and they would do it publicly.
Several students met with the Principal of Kennedy the next
day. The Principal informed us that the decision to bar us
from tabling was that of the Superintendent and that any
student attempting to set up a table would be summarily
suspended for three days. We would be allowed to speak
with the Superintendent, but not until 11 A.M., conveniently
timed to coincide with the lunch periods we planned to table at.
When the first lunch period began, three students began to
assemble the tables we had brought from home, hang sings
from the tables, sell buttons, hand-out informational leaflets,
and play guitar. Even in the short time before the administrators
arrived to shutdown the table, we elicited a very positive
response from students.
The Principal and vice-Principal demanded that we remove our
table, which we refused to do. Once the administrators
themselves began taking our materials, we decided that they
would not allow us to table successfully, and accepted their
offer of meeting with the Superintendent. They informed
us that the assistant Superintendent had canceled our
teach-in that was planned for that afternoon.
This meeting produced the startling revelation that the only
reason we were unable to table, was that the fliers we
planned to distribute did not have contact information
on them. This seems incongruous with the Principal's
insistence that we could not table under any circumstances.
This miraculous change of heart could be due only to the fact
that both the Principal and Superintendent had been swamped
with phone calls and a press conference was scheduled for
2:30 that afternoon at the school. The resolutions reached
at this meeting were that Youth Against War and Racism would
be allowed to table in the future provided the fliers contained
contact information, and the teach-in scheduled for later in
the day would be allowed to happen (the assistant
Superintendent denied ever making any statement to
the contrary.)
Unfortunately, by the time we returned to school, the lunch
periods were almost over. Several months previously we
had also erected a table during lunch periods when recruiters
were present, and been immensely successful. We had
received 120 signatures to our petition to ban recruiters
from Kennedy, and distributed hundreds of leaflets.
The recruiters, on the other hand, were largely ignored
by the students and spent the day looking lonely and bored.
This had obviously left an impression on them, because
Wednesday, in stark contrast to the six to ten recruiters
usually present from sundry branches of the military,
only one recruiter from the Navy even showed up.
We were disappointed to miss such an opportunity,
but we had scored a decisive victory over the recruiters
and the administration, and won assurances that we
would be allowed to table when the military recruiters return.
The teach-in was highly successful. Youth Against War
and Racism organizer, Brandon Madsen, described the
events of the day and triumphantly declared the restoration
of our civil liberties. Speakers from Veterans For Peace,
Sabry Wazwaz of the Anti-War Committee, and Ty Moore
of Socialist Alternative performed admirably and gave
impassioned arguments against the war in Iraq.
Between 30 and 40 students attended, as did several
parents and approximately five members of the local
press (we got a story about us in the main Minneapolis
newspaper, the Star Tribune).
It remains to be seen if the administration will honor
it's promised, but for now we have come out on top.
This successful resolution could only have been possible
with the support of others in the anti-war movement who
called to protest the administration's disregard for our
First Amendment rights. With the press, all the solidarity
phone calls, and the anti-war groups showing up at our
school door, our Principal inadvertently revealed:
"Its been overwhelming."
Even Michael Moore put an article about us on his website:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1536
Within 24 hours we went from the brink of the elimination
of our group, to assurances that we would receive equal
access to all facilities in the future. To all those who
supported us and made our successes possible, thank you.
Matt Johnson, Senior at Kennedy
Organizer for Youth Against War and Racism
www.yawr.org - against.war@gmail.com
Also, here is an article written just a week ago about the
ongoing campaign the Kennedy students have been doing
around military recruiters in their school, written by
Kennedy activist Brandon Madsen. It was written for
upcoming issue of "Justice," the publication of Socialist
Alternative, which can be read online at
www.socialistalternative.org
"WE NEED TO MAKE OUR SCHOOLS OFF LIMITS
TO MILITARY RECRUITERS"
By Brandon Madsen
Kennedy High School, Youth Against War and Racism
On December 8, military recruiters showed up as usual
during lunch at Kennedy High School in Bloomington,
Minnesota. Unlike before, however, they did not go
unopposed. About 15 other students and I set up
a table near the recruiters with a counter-recruitment
display, informational leaflets, opt-out forms, and
petitions demanding that military recruiters cease
their activity at our school.
The recruiters' table was abandoned by all but a few
students who wanted to grab some free pencils and
water bottles. Meanwhile, our table was mobbed by
hundreds of interested students who asked questions,
signed petitions, took flyers and pamphlets, and
discussed politics. By the end of the day, we had
handed out hundreds of flyers, talked with all kinds
of students, and collected 120 signatures for the petition.
Teachers and students alike expressed excitement
that there was finally a voice at the school against
the war and against military recruitment. The students
involved with the tabling were thrilled by their
newfound ability to be heard. Some students even
skipped class so they could continue to table during
all of the lunch periods.
This huge success was only possible because of hard
work and planning. Two friends and I, all members of
Socialist Alternative at Kennedy, began planning before
the school year started how to launch an anti-war
campaign at our school. We found a supportive teacher,
a place to meet, and obtained official group status
through the administration. We held preliminary
teach-ins to try to draw people who would be interested
in joining an anti-war group.
Out of these efforts, Students Against War was formed
and began meeting weekly to discuss political issues and
to plan actions. We decided that a counter-recruitment
drive would be our first campaign. We drew up
a counter-recruitment flyer and began planning
to table the next time military recruiters showed up.
For two months, we battled with the administration
to get our flyer and table approved. The first time the
recruiters came, we were denied. Finally, our efforts
were successful when a school district lawyer affirmed
our right to table against the recruiters and provide our
own information. While this was lucky for us, we had
no intention of backing down a second time, regardless
of the administration's verdict, and had resolved to
table anyway once we had exhausted the official channels.
Spread the Campaign!
Out of our success, Kennedy students and the Socialist
Alternative Twin Cities branch are working to launch Youth
Against War and Racism, a metro-wide network for
students to come together and fight to end the occupation
of Iraq, to cut the bloated military budget and fund
education, to end military recruitment in schools, and
to oppose the government's racist attacks on civil liberties.
It is essential that we stand up and take action against
military recruiters. The entire U.S. war machine relies on
the willingness of young people to join the military and
carry out the imperialist policies ordered by corrupt
politicians. If we build a mass movement of young people
against the war that exposes the lies of Bush and the military
recruiters, the military will be unable to guarantee a stable
supply of youth to use as cannon fodder.
And just like in the Vietnam War, the spread of mass dissent
within the U.S. armed forces will be the key to bringing
down U.S. imperialism in Iraq and ending this brutal occupation.
We can't count on the government or our school
administrators to stop military recruiters from spreading
their lies. We need to take it upon ourselves to educate
and organize our fellow students, and to make our
schools off-limits to recruiters. If every time they show
up we provide an overwhelmingly unwelcome
environment, they will simply stop coming.
This is what we hope to accomplish at Kennedy and every
school across the Twin Cities, and this is what students
need to do at every school across the country.
REMINDER - if you want your message to go the entire
email list, be sure to hit "Reply to All" in your email
program, and make sure "StoppingWar@yahoogroups"
is listed in the "To/Recipient" field!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian
Racism is a uniquely reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest
crimes in history - the slave trade, the extermination of all original
inhabitants of the Caribbean, the elimination of every native inhabitant
of Tasmania, apartheid. The Holocaust was the ultimate, "industrialised"
expression of racist barbarity.
Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An
ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is
the slope whose end is at Auschwitz. That is why I detest racism.
No serious commentator has argued that my comments to an Evening Standard
reporter outside City Hall last month were anti-semitic. So I am glad
that Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews,
accepted on these pages that "Ken is sincere when he states that he
regards the Holocaust as the worst crime of the last century".
The contribution of Jewish people to human civilisation and culture is
unexcelled and extraordinary. You only have to think of giants such as
Einstein, Freud and Marx to realise that human civilisation would be
unrecognisably diminished without the achievements of the Jewish people.
The same goes for the Jewish contribution to London today.
As mayor, I have pressed for police action over anti-semitic attacks at
the highest level, and my administration has backed a series of
initiatives of importance to the Jewish community, including hosting the
Anne Frank exhibition at City Hall and measures to ensure the go-ahead
for the north London eruv.
Throughout the 1970s, I worked happily with the Board of Deputies in
campaigns against the National Front. Problems began when, as leader of
the Greater London Council, I rejected the board's request that I should
fund only Jewish organisations that it approved of. The Board of Deputies
was unhappy that I funded Jewish organisations campaigning for gay rights
and others that disagreed with policies of the Israeli governmen.
Relations with the board took a dramatic turn for the worse when I
opposed Israel's illegal invasion of Lebanon, culminating in the
massacres at the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila. The board also
opposed my involvement in the successful campaign in 1982 to convince the
Labour party to recognise the PLO as the legitimate voice of the
Palestinian people.
The fundamental issue on which we differ, as Henry Grunwald knows, is not
anti-semitism - which my administration has fought tooth and nail - but
the policies of successive Israeli governments.
To avoid manufactured misunderstandings, the policies of Israeli
governments are not analogous to Nazism. They do not aim at the
systematic extermination of the Palestinian people, in the way Nazism
sought the annihilation of the Jews.
Israel's expansion has included ethnic cleansing. Palestinians who had
lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence
and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the
Israeli state. The methods of groups like the Irgun and the Stern gang
were the same as those of the Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic: to drive out
people by terror.
Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for
settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of
the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return. Ariel Sharon,
Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not
in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared
responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
Sharon continues to organise terror. More than three times as many
Palestinians as Israelis have been killed in the present conflict. There
are more than 7,000 Palestinians in Israel's jails.
To obscure these truths, those around Israel's present government have
resorted to demonisation. Initial targets were Palestinians, and have now
become Muslims. Take the Middle East Media Research Institute, run by a
former colonel in Israeli military intelligence, which poses as a source
of objective information but in reality selectively translates material
from Arabic and presents Muslims and Arabs in the worst possible light.
Today the Israeli government is helping to promote a wholly distorted
picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe, implying that
the most serious upsurge of hatred and discrimination is against Jews.
All racist and anti-semitic attacks must be stamped out. However, the
reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on
black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of
the extreme right. For 20 years Israeli governments have attempted to
portray anyone who forcefully criticises the policies of Israel as
anti-semitic. The truth is the opposite: the same universal human values
that recognise the Holocaust as the greatest racist crime of the 20th
century require condemnation of the policies of successive Israeli
governments - not on the absurd grounds that they are Nazi or equivalent
to the Holocaust, but because ethnic cleansing, discrimination and terror
are immoral.
They are also fuelling anger and violence across the world. For a mayor
of London not to speak out against such injustice would not only be wrong
- but would also ignore the threat it poses to the security of all Londoners.
· Ken Livingstone is the London mayor
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...
where we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART
We hope that one or two representatives of your group will attend to
help shape this exciting event from the ground up!
For more information, please feel free to email awe@o...
or call (510) 456-1617 x 4
Looking forward to working with you!
Susan Quinlan, Alternatives to War Through Education/CCCO
Sandra Schwartz, American Friends Service Committee
Jim Haber, War Resisters League West
--- End forwarded message ---
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.
Please feel free to invite others and to forward this email.
___ I plan on attending the March 12 meeting.
___ I can arrive early to help set up.
___ I can bring a snack (encouraged but not necessary)
___ I have forwarded this email
___ Please send me the leaflet to distribute.
___ Please email the new bill.
___ Please remove me from this list.
Thank you.
Don Bechler
Chair
Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
Chair
California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
415-695-7891
The CALIFORNIA
HEALTH INSURANCE RELIABILITY Act
SB 840
A Health Care Plan for Californians that:
Insures Everyone
Saves Californians Money
Is Comprehensive
Is Publicly Accountable
On February 23, 2005, State Senator Sheila Kuehl introduced
Senate Bill 840. SB 840, by consolidating all health insurance
spending will insure everyone. It will save both businesses
and the people of California billions of dollars. Assemblyman
Mark Leno and State Senators Carole Migden and Don Perata
are co-authors of SB 840. Come to a presentation and
discussion of SB 840.
SATURDAY 3PM
MARCH 12
626 PACHECO, SAN FRANCISCO
(corner of 10 th Avenue, #6 Bus)
Sparkers to be announced. Sponsored by the San Francisco
chapter of Health Care for All, the California Universal Health
Care Organizing Project, and the California Physicians Alliance.
For more information call 415-695-7891 or email
dbechler@value.net
labor donated posted 2-22-05
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Our high schools are obsolete.
By obsolete, I don't just mean that they are broken, flawed and
underfunded - although I can't argue with any of those
descriptions.
What I mean is that they were designed 50 years ago to meet
the needs of another age. Today, even when they work exactly
as designed, our high schools cannot teach our kids what they
need to know.
Until we design high schools to meet the needs of the 21st
century, we will keep limiting - even ruining - the lives of millions
of Americans every year. Frankly, I am terrified for our workforce
of tomorrow.
The idea behind the old high school system was that you could
train an adequate workforce by sending only a small fraction
of students to college, and that the other kids either couldn't
do college work or didn't need to.
Sure enough, today only one-third of our students graduate
from high school ready for college, work and citizenship.
The others, most of whom are low-income and minority students,
are tracked into courses that won't ever get them ready for any
of those things - no matter how well the students learn or how
hard the teachers work.
In district after district across the country, wealthy white kids
are taught Algebra II, while low-income minority kids are
taught how to balance a checkbook.
This is an economic disaster. In the international competition
to have the best supply of workers who can communicate
clearly, analyze information and solve complex problems,
the United States is falling behind. We have one of the highest
high school dropout rates in the industrialized world.
In math and science, our fourth-graders rank among the top
students in the world, but our 12th-graders are near the
bottom. China has six times as many college graduates
in engineering.
As bad as it is for our economy, it's even worse for our
students. Today, most jobs that pay enough to support
a family require some post-secondary education. Yet only
half of all students who enter high school enroll in
a post-secondary institution.
High school dropouts have it worst of all. Only 40% have
jobs. They are nearly four times more likely to be arrested
than their friends who stayed in high school. And they
die young because of years of poor healthcare, unsafe
living conditions and violence.
We can put a stop to this. We designed these high
schools; we can redesign them.
We have to do away with the outdated idea that only some
students need to be ready for college and that the others
can walk away from higher education and still thrive in
our 21st century society. We need a new design that
realizes that all students can do rigorous work.
There is mounting evidence in favor of this approach. Take
the Kansas City, Kan., public school district, where 79% of
students are minorities and 74% live below the poverty line.
For years, the district struggled with high dropout rates and
low test scores. In 1996, it adopted a school-reform model
that, among many other steps, requires all students to take
college-prep courses. Since then, the district's graduation
rate has climbed more than 30 percentage points.
Kansas City is not an isolated example. Exciting work is
underway to improve high schools in such cities as
Oakland, Chicago and New York.
All of these schools are organized around three powerful
principles: Ensure that all students are given a challenging
curriculum that prepares them for college or work; that their
courses clearly relate to their lives and goals; and that they
are surrounded by adults who push them to achieve.
This kind of change is never easy. But I believe there are
three ways that political and business leaders at every level
can help build momentum for change in our schools.
First, declare that all students must graduate from high
school ready for college, work and citizenship. Every politician
and chief executive in the country should speak up for the
belief that children need to take courses that prepare them
for college.
Second, publish the data that measure our progress toward
that goal. We already have some data that show us the extent
of the problem. But we need to know more: What percentage
of students are dropping out? What percentage are
graduating? And this data must be broken down by
race and income.
Finally, every state should commit to turning around failing
schools and opening new ones. When the students don't
learn, the school must change. Every state needs a strong
intervention strategy to improve struggling schools.
If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never
get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their ZIP
Code, their skin color or their parents' income.
That is offensive to our values.
Every kid can graduate ready for college. Every kid should
have the chance.
Let's redesign our schools to make it happen.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives
at latimes.com/archives .
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005
Translated by Eva Milan, ZabrinskyPoint
I am still in the darkness. Last Friday was the most
dramatic day of my life since I was abducted.
I had just spoken with my abductors, who for days kept
telling me I would be released. So I was living in
wait. They said things that I would understand only
later. They talked of transfer related problems. I had
learned to understand which way the wind blew from the
attitude of my two "sentinels," the two fellows who
watched over me every day-especially one of them, who
attended to my requests, was incredibly bold. In the
attempt to understand what was going on, I
provocatively asked him if he was happy because I would
go away or because I would stay. I was surprised and
happy when, for the first time, he told me, "I only
know you will go, but I don't know when."
To confirm that something new was happening, at one
point they both came in the room to reassure me and
joke: "Congratulations," they said, "you are leaving
for Rome." To Rome, that's what they were saying.
I had a weird feeling, because that word immediately
evoked liberation but also projected a void inside
myself. I realized it was the most difficult moment of
my abduction and that if all I had lived yet was
certain, now an abyss of heavy uncertainties was
widening. I changed my clothes.
They came back: "We'll escort you, but don't give
signals of your presence, otherwise the Americans might
intervene." That was not what wanted to hear. It was
the happiest and also the most dangerous moment. If we
ran into someone, meaning American troops, there would
be an exchange of fire, and my captors were ready and
they would have responded. I had to have my eyes
covered. I was already getting used to a temporary
blindness.
About what happened outside, I only knew that in
Baghdad it had rained. The car ran safely in a muddy
area. There was the driver and the same old abductors.
I soon heard something I didn't want to hear. A
helicopter flying low over the area we had stopped in.
"Don't worry, now they will come look for you . . .
within ten minutes they will come." They had spoken
Arabic all the time, some French and much broken
English. Now they spoke in this way, too.
Then they got out of the car. I stayed in that
condition of immobility and blindness. My eyes were
stuffed with cotton, and covered by sunglasses. I was
motionless. I thought . . . what do I do? Should I
start counting the passing seconds to another
condition, the one of freedom? I had just started
counting when I heard a friendly voice: "Giuliana,
Giuliana, this is Nicola, don't worry, I've talked to
Gabriele Polo, don't worry, you're free."
He took my cotton blindfold and sunglasses off. I felt
relieved, not for what was going on, which I didn't
understand, but for Nicola's words. He kept talking
nonstop, he was uncontainable, a flood of friendly
words and jokes. I finally found comfort, almost
physically, a warm comfort I had long since forgotten.
The car proceeded on its way, through an underpass full
of puddles, almost skidding to avoid them. We engaged
in incredible laughter. It was relieving. Skidding
along a road full of water in Baghdad and maybe have a
bad car crash after all I had experienced would not be
really explainable. Nicola Calipari sat by my side. The
driver had notified the embassy and Italy twice that we
were heading to the airport, which I knew was
controlled by the American troops. It was less than one
kilometre, they told me . . . when. . . . I remember
only fire. At that point a rain of fire and bullets
came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a
few minutes earlier.
The driver started shouting we were Italians, "We are
Italians! We are Italians . . ." Nicola Calipari dove
on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean
immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me. I
must have felt physical pain, I didn't know why. But I
had a sudden thought: I recalled my abductors' words.
They said they were deeply committed to releasing me,
but that I had to be careful because "the Americans
don't want you to return." Back then, as soon as they
had said that, I had judged their words to be
meaningless and ideological. In that moment such words
risked to take the taste of the most bitter truth away.
I can't tell the rest yet.
This was the most dramatic moment. But the month I
spent as a kidnap victim has probably changed my life
forever. One month alone with myself, prisoner of my
deepest belief. Each hour was a pitiless test of my
work. Sometimes they kidded me. They even asked me why
I would leave and asked me to stay. I pointed out that
I had personal relationships. They led me to think to
such priorities that too often we put aside.
"Ask for your husband's help," they told me. And I did
so in the first video, the one I think you all have
watched. My life has changed. Same as Ra'ad Ali
Abdulaziz's, the Iraqi engineer from "Un Ponte per" who
was abducted with Simona & Simona. "My life is no
longer the same," he told me. I didn't understand. Now
I know what he meant. Because I have experienced the
hardness of the truth, I realize the difficulty of
communicating it, and the weakness of trying to.
In the first days of my abduction I didn't shed a
single tear. I was simply mad. I told them directly:
"How can you abduct me, if I am against the war?" And
they started a fierce debate. "Yes, because you want to
speak to the people, we would never abduct a reporter
who stays shut in the hotel. And then the fact you say
you're against the war could be a cover up." I would
reply, almost provoking them: "It's easy to abduct a
weak woman like me, why don't you do it to the American
officers?" I insisted that they couldn't ask the
Italian government to withdraw its troops; that they
had to address the Italian people who were and are
against the war, not Italian government.
It was a month of ups and downs, moments of hope and
moments of deep depression. Like when the first Sunday
after my abduction, in the Baghdad house where I was
prisoner and where there was a satellite television
dish, they let me see the EuroNews. I saw my poster on
the Rome city hall building. I was relieved. Soon
after, however, a claim from the Jihad announced I
would be executed if Italy didn't withdraw its troops.
I was frightened. But they reassured me that it wasn't
them, that people should have mistrusted those
proclamations, that they were a "provocation." I often
asked the one who seemed more approachable and who
looked more like a soldier: "Tell me the truth, you
will kill me". Nonetheless, many times, we talked.
"Come see a movie on TV," they told me, while a Wahhabi
woman, covered from head to foot, hung around the house
taking care of me.
The abductors seemed a very religious group, constantly
praying the Koran verses. But on Friday, at the time of
my release, the one who seemed the most religious and
who used to wake up at 5 o'clock every morning to pray,
"congratulated" me and incredibly shook my hand-it is
not a usual behaviour for an Islamic
fundamentalist-adding "If you behave, you'll leave
soon." That was followed by a rather humorous episode.
One of my two guards came to me astonished because the
TV showed my photographs displayed in European towns
and also on Totti. Yes, Totti (the Rome football team
player, T.N.). The guard said he said he was a Rome
team fan and he was amazed that his favourite player
had taken to field with "Free Giuliana" on his T-shirt.
I now live with no more certainties. I find myself
deeply weak. I failed in my belief. I had always
claimed there was need to go tell about that dirty war.
And I had to decide whether to stay in the hotel or
going out and chance being abducted because of my work.
"We don't want anyone any more," the abductors told me.
But I wanted to tell about the bloodbath in Falluja
through the refugees' tales. And that morning the
refugees and some of their "leaders" didn't listen to
me. I had in front of me the evidence of what the Iraqi
society has become with the war and they threw their
truth in my face: "We don't want anyone. Why don't you
stay home? What such interview can be useful for?". The
worst collateral damage, the war killing communication,
was falling on me. On me, who had risked it all,
challenging the Italian government that didn't want
reporters gong to Iraq, and the Americans who don't
want our work that gives witness to what that country
has really turned into with the war, despite what they
call elections.
Now I wonder. Is their refusal a failure?
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/030605Sgrena/030605sgrena.html
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!
The House and Senate Budget Committees are meeting
next week to come up with a budget resolution! We need
to tell our Senators and Representatives that we are
counting on them to produce a responsible resolution
that makes children's services a priority for our nation.
We must stop attempts to sacrifice health care for millions
of children, end legal guarantees of protection for abused
and neglected children, cut child care programs, deny
children Head Start services and more. We need them to
vote to make sure that our most vulnerable children and
families do not bear more budget cuts, caps, freezes or
eliminations in order to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy.
Call Tuesday, March 8th at toll-free 1-800-247-2971
You'll be connected to your Senators and Representative
or directly call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American
Friends Service Committee. Don't be discouraged if the
lines are busy -- we want calls to pour into the offices!
Please ask your members of Congress to:
* Protect programs like Medicaid and assistance for
abused and neglected children. Do not cut or cap the federal
funding of, or destroy the guarantees and legal framework
of, these critical child health and child protection services.
* Protect successful domestic programs that invest in
children including child care and Head Start. Do not adopt
President Bush's proposals to cut or eliminate programs that
will result in fewer children receiving child care, access to
Head Start, and other children's health, child welfare, and
education services.
* Stop considering shredding federal guarantees that
reduce child suffering while stacking the deck in favor of
the wealthy. Do not adopt budget rules that cap programs
for children while continuing to give massive tax cuts to
the wealthiest Americans and adding their cost to the
national debt our children will inherit.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM
The US Military is getting hard hit
in Iraq with the death toll. They Know
that starting an unpopular draft
for an unpopular war is suicide; they've
upped recruitment bonuses and
promises of college money as tuition is going
up nationwide. The reality of $80
billion more for the occupation is only
possible due to the massive cuts
in health care, education and the soon
be "social-security reform."
The Army Corps of Engineers and the
US Navy are coming to San Francisco
State University in the hopes of recruiting
students to become cannon fodder for
the US occupation effort. We have
a different plan: we are organizing a protest
to block the recruiters and kick them off our campus.
Hundreds of students at low-income
colleges and high schools nationwide have
participated in protests like this one,
and have successfully forced
military recruiters to pack up and
leave their campuses. Now is is SF State's turn.
Join us to demand:
End the Occupation! Troops Out Now!
No Recruiters on Our Campus!
For more information contact:
Katrina Yeaw
916.716.9817
kyeaw@sfsu.edu
You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay
This calendar will be updated weekly. Please submit your entries
each week by Wednesday noon. Also, please notify us at
awe@objector.org if you do not want to receive this calendar.
Our apologies, due to a series of technological problems, this
calendar is not as complete as we would like it to be. Please let
us know if there are important facts to be added for next week
or if there is inaccuracy in your listing.
March 15, Tuesday, 5 pm - Press Conference
Picket and Press conference in front of 670 Davis St. San
Francisco recruitment office to publicize the March 19 protest
and the anti-recruitment contingent. ChretienTodd@aol.com
for more information
March 15, Tuesday, 7 pm - First meeting to organize for the
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference, at the
American Friends Service Committee, 65 9th Street, San
Francisco, between Market and Mission, near Civic Center
BART. For more Information, awe@objector.org or
(510) 456-1617, x4
March 16, Wednesday, 7 pm - < FONT>When Soldiers
Say "No to War"
International Socialist Organization. Public meeting
and discussion on resistance in the military.
110 Capp St. (between 16th and 17th -buzz 202), San Francisco.
ChretienTodd@aol.com for more information
March 17, Thursday, 7 pm (revised date) - San Francisco
Board of Education "meeting of the whole", To address
military recruitment at our schools and Jr. ROTC, 555 Franklin St.
Thursday, March 17th(revised date): The meeting will be
devoted solely to the issue of military recruitment at our
schools. This meeting is designed to be a very large meeting
that will address the war and this issue only.
caroseligman@aol.com has more information if needed.
March 18, Friday - Albany High School Students for Peace Rally
Against military recruitment and Against the War in Iraq.
Students, parents, and teachers will march in a contingent at
the March 19th SF March Against the War.
Dr. Carlos Munoz, Jr., 510-642-9134
http://socrates.berkeley,edu/~ethnicst/cs/munoz.html
March 19, Saturday, 10:30 am - Campus Antiwar Network -
Military Out of Our Schools!
The San Francisco group College Not Combat Committe
will join with students at 16th and Mission BART Station
at 10 am. There will be a banner "Military Out of Our Schools".
Then the contingent will march up to Dolores Park to meet
up with the rest of the demonstration at 11:00.
SAWSFSU@yahoo.com
March 26 and 27 San Francisco Civic Center and Union
Square (27th) EYES WIDE SHUT outdoore exhibition presented
by AFSC. The exhibit highlights the human cost of war.
More information about the exhibit
http://www.afsc.org/eyes/default.htm.
Volunteers to publicize the event and to set it up are needed: S
teve Leeds, Volunteer Coordinator at
415 565-0201 ext 15 or sleeds@afsc.org.
March 27, Sunday (Easter) - Berkeley Unitarian
Fellowship CR Event
Workshop on Conscientious Objection and
Counter-Recruitment (2-5 pm). Press conf.
at 1 pm with Military Families. Morning service at
10:30 am is "Evolution of a Decision".
APRIL 2, Saturday, 11:30 am - Bay Area United
Against War (BAUAW)
Military out of our schools. 474 Valencia St., SF
(First floor, to the left and all the way back to the
Companeros del Barrio Children's Center).
Caroseligman@aol.com may have more information.
April 9, Saturday - West Coast Campus Anti-War
Network Conference
For student activists and anti-war groups.
General theme - CR and campus demilitarization.
Location tentatively set for City College.
Contact: Ellie Houston (Students Against Was - SFSU)
Campus Anti-War Network. elliehou@hotmail.com
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.
California has the highest rate of Death row inmates in the country
(649), followed by Texas. Most death row inmates are poor People
of Color, mostly African Americans and Latinos.
We oppose the death penalty for 5 main reasons:
* It is racist
* It is not a deterrent to violent crime
* It targets the poor
* It is the ultimate part of the growing prison industry (Toyota,
Kmart, Microchips are employing inmates at 11 ct/hr)
* Most executions are modern lynching of innocents (given
inexperienced public defenders).
The current Death Row execution in California is STILL cruel and
unusual punishment: Nothing humane about lethal injection; too
often times the tranquilizer administered before the drug
stopping the heart is ineffective, and the inmate goes through
the long agony of a heart attack.
We have supported our District Attorney Kamala Harris, in spite
of the pressure of the POA, for not pursuing the death penalty
against David Hill for allegedly killing Officer Isaac Espinoza.
In spite of the ongoing refusal from our governor to spare the
lives of Kevin Cooper (with whom ISF has been actively
corresponding), Stan Tookie Williams (5 times nominee for
the Nobel prize for his anti violence children books) , together
we can abolish the atrocity of the death penalty in California,
following the path of Illinois !
Would you kindly forward this message to your lists ? This month,
we are launching a vast outreach effort to our community
churches in BVHP, and would be more than happy to facilitate
forum discussions in your organizations as well.
Blessings,
mesha Monge-Irizarry
(415) 595-8251 (24-HR Crisis Line)
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Next meeting:
Monday, March 21, 7 p.m. at ISF 4921 3rd St.,
Women on Death Row, Chowchilla, CA
Refreshment and snacks, hope yall can come !
We are also planning a big event
on April 30, 4 to 6 P.M.,
hopefully at the at the Bayview Opera House
(pending approval from their management) about Tookie.
Barbara Baker, author of "Redemption" about his life
and incarceration, will be the keynote speaker
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America's San Francisco
Bay Area chapter will again be participating in the San Francisco St.
Patrick's Day Parade and is once again organising an Anti-Imperialist
Contingent as part of its participation.
The parade is taking place this year on Sunday, March 13th. While we never
have many details this much before the actual parade date, the contingent
will undoubtedly assemble between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m., somewhere south of
Market and, of course, details will be forthcoming once we know them.
The focus of the Anti-Imperialist Contingent this year will again
be on ending the occupation of Iraq and of Ireland, and the slogans
we are putting forward are:
British and American Imperialism, Out of Iraq! Out of Ireland!
No War but the Class War!
These are both slogans of the IRSP, raised during demonstrations against
the war and occupation during the past year. As always, the
Anti-Imperialist Contingent welcome participants to have their own
identifying banners as well, and accepts any banners or signs addressing
the theme of this years contingent or in support of the Irish struggle for
national liberation and socialism.
We will extend a special invitation to ANSWER to participate,
because the date demonstration against the war and occupation they are
building for is a week after the St. Patrick's Day parade, making it the
last major opportunity to building for the demonstration. If any of you
receiving this message who are participants in the coalitions
engaged in building for that demonstration in the Bay Area, we
would welcome you giving voice to this offer in coalition meetings. In
addition to marchers, we would welcome members of the coalition to
circulate along side our contingent hand-billing for the demonstration.
Those who have participated with us in the past know that we generally
also have a van converted into a mobile bulletin board of sorts, which will
be the case again this year. The van will be used to also draw attention to
the 30th anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish
National Liberation Army, which just took place in December and the 21st
anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America,
which were founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in March 1984
We need to know which organisations we can anticipate joining our
contingent this year, so please let us know by the 1st of March, if at all
possible. And, individuals planning on coming for the weekend from out of
town to participate need to let us know right away, if they want us to
try to supply lodging for them.
Following the parade, we welcome all those marching with the contingent to
join us at 2057 15th Street, Suite B (between Church and Market Streets)
for margaritas and a light buffet of Mexican food--because it is the firm
belief of the IRSCNA (Bay Area chapter, anyway) that it just isn't St.
Patrick's Day, if you haven't had a margarita!
As veterans of the parade know, we will march come rain or shine, and that
time of the March in San Francisco, rain is the more likely forecast--so
dress for what may come, as we don't want spirits dampened.
This year is again important for us to have other socialists and anti-
imperialists with us in a display of solidarity, as we expect to be
the sole unit in the parade challenging the American occupation of Iraq.
Is mise le meas,
IRSCNA, Bay Area Chapter
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE
RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT
6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian
7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...where
we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi
8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART
9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.
10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm
12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005
13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!
14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/
15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM
16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay
17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.
18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program."
This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item. (It is not
clear whether comments from the public will be
under this point or under general comments
from the public. Just call and get your name
of the list to speak.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION
Thanks!
Mark Sanchez
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
This is a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools. It is a dialogue
between the community and the School Board.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing memorandum
that is being filed on Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your
relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced
following a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges:
The remainder of your letter should discuss whatever
you believe to weigh in favor of no jail time. If possible,
you should tell of an incident where she helped you out
or engaged in commendable community service. Do not
try to argue that she is not guilty or was unfairly conviction.
Focus on the unfairness of the government's actions in
bringing the charges; the way in which the government
portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present it
to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for this
purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have the
greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could
cause the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME
POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT
Thanks to everyone who offered us support and solidarity!
On Wednesday, February 23, the Kennedy High School chapter
of Youth Against War and Racism distributed counter-military-
recruitment information from a table during lunch periods and
held a teach-in after school. These events were successes despite
the attempts to ban our actions by the Kennedy administration and
the Bloomington Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent.
The Superintendent ultimately acquiesced to our demands to be
allowed the same rights as other student organizations and the
military recruiters because they were flooded by phone calls from
people involved in the anti-war movement from around the country,
and because they saw that our student group was organized and
not about the back down.
We were informed Tuesday afternoon that despite prior approval
and precedent, we would not be allowed to have a table at lunch
when the military recruiters were present. The local American
Legion had contacted the school Superintendent and threatened
to withdraw their significant funding from the school if we were
permitted to table.
We organized an emergency meeting that evening on hearing
the news, and plotted our next moves. Fourteen active members
showed up and decided that we would table in violation of the
administration's decry. If they demanded we take down our table
we would refuse, regardless of the consequences. This would
show them that we wouldn't back down easily, and would
create a scene that would reflect badly on the administration.
We drafted a flier and petition to hand out to students asking
them to support our free speech rights. We sent an appeal to
anti-war groups across America asking them to call the
Superintendent and Principal to demand they allow us our free
speech rights. Finally, we sent a press release announcing
a press conference at 2:30 on Wednesday. We intended to
show the administration that if they were going to violate the
constitution so flagrantly, they would do it over our resistance,
and they would do it publicly.
Several students met with the Principal of Kennedy the next
day. The Principal informed us that the decision to bar us
from tabling was that of the Superintendent and that any
student attempting to set up a table would be summarily
suspended for three days. We would be allowed to speak
with the Superintendent, but not until 11 A.M., conveniently
timed to coincide with the lunch periods we planned to table at.
When the first lunch period began, three students began to
assemble the tables we had brought from home, hang sings
from the tables, sell buttons, hand-out informational leaflets,
and play guitar. Even in the short time before the administrators
arrived to shutdown the table, we elicited a very positive
response from students.
The Principal and vice-Principal demanded that we remove our
table, which we refused to do. Once the administrators
themselves began taking our materials, we decided that they
would not allow us to table successfully, and accepted their
offer of meeting with the Superintendent. They informed
us that the assistant Superintendent had canceled our
teach-in that was planned for that afternoon.
This meeting produced the startling revelation that the only
reason we were unable to table, was that the fliers we
planned to distribute did not have contact information
on them. This seems incongruous with the Principal's
insistence that we could not table under any circumstances.
This miraculous change of heart could be due only to the fact
that both the Principal and Superintendent had been swamped
with phone calls and a press conference was scheduled for
2:30 that afternoon at the school. The resolutions reached
at this meeting were that Youth Against War and Racism would
be allowed to table in the future provided the fliers contained
contact information, and the teach-in scheduled for later in
the day would be allowed to happen (the assistant
Superintendent denied ever making any statement to
the contrary.)
Unfortunately, by the time we returned to school, the lunch
periods were almost over. Several months previously we
had also erected a table during lunch periods when recruiters
were present, and been immensely successful. We had
received 120 signatures to our petition to ban recruiters
from Kennedy, and distributed hundreds of leaflets.
The recruiters, on the other hand, were largely ignored
by the students and spent the day looking lonely and bored.
This had obviously left an impression on them, because
Wednesday, in stark contrast to the six to ten recruiters
usually present from sundry branches of the military,
only one recruiter from the Navy even showed up.
We were disappointed to miss such an opportunity,
but we had scored a decisive victory over the recruiters
and the administration, and won assurances that we
would be allowed to table when the military recruiters return.
The teach-in was highly successful. Youth Against War
and Racism organizer, Brandon Madsen, described the
events of the day and triumphantly declared the restoration
of our civil liberties. Speakers from Veterans For Peace,
Sabry Wazwaz of the Anti-War Committee, and Ty Moore
of Socialist Alternative performed admirably and gave
impassioned arguments against the war in Iraq.
Between 30 and 40 students attended, as did several
parents and approximately five members of the local
press (we got a story about us in the main Minneapolis
newspaper, the Star Tribune).
It remains to be seen if the administration will honor
it's promised, but for now we have come out on top.
This successful resolution could only have been possible
with the support of others in the anti-war movement who
called to protest the administration's disregard for our
First Amendment rights. With the press, all the solidarity
phone calls, and the anti-war groups showing up at our
school door, our Principal inadvertently revealed:
"Its been overwhelming."
Even Michael Moore put an article about us on his website:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1536
Within 24 hours we went from the brink of the elimination
of our group, to assurances that we would receive equal
access to all facilities in the future. To all those who
supported us and made our successes possible, thank you.
Matt Johnson, Senior at Kennedy
Organizer for Youth Against War and Racism
www.yawr.org - against.war@gmail.com
Also, here is an article written just a week ago about the
ongoing campaign the Kennedy students have been doing
around military recruiters in their school, written by
Kennedy activist Brandon Madsen. It was written for
upcoming issue of "Justice," the publication of Socialist
Alternative, which can be read online at
www.socialistalternative.org
"WE NEED TO MAKE OUR SCHOOLS OFF LIMITS
TO MILITARY RECRUITERS"
By Brandon Madsen
Kennedy High School, Youth Against War and Racism
On December 8, military recruiters showed up as usual
during lunch at Kennedy High School in Bloomington,
Minnesota. Unlike before, however, they did not go
unopposed. About 15 other students and I set up
a table near the recruiters with a counter-recruitment
display, informational leaflets, opt-out forms, and
petitions demanding that military recruiters cease
their activity at our school.
The recruiters' table was abandoned by all but a few
students who wanted to grab some free pencils and
water bottles. Meanwhile, our table was mobbed by
hundreds of interested students who asked questions,
signed petitions, took flyers and pamphlets, and
discussed politics. By the end of the day, we had
handed out hundreds of flyers, talked with all kinds
of students, and collected 120 signatures for the petition.
Teachers and students alike expressed excitement
that there was finally a voice at the school against
the war and against military recruitment. The students
involved with the tabling were thrilled by their
newfound ability to be heard. Some students even
skipped class so they could continue to table during
all of the lunch periods.
This huge success was only possible because of hard
work and planning. Two friends and I, all members of
Socialist Alternative at Kennedy, began planning before
the school year started how to launch an anti-war
campaign at our school. We found a supportive teacher,
a place to meet, and obtained official group status
through the administration. We held preliminary
teach-ins to try to draw people who would be interested
in joining an anti-war group.
Out of these efforts, Students Against War was formed
and began meeting weekly to discuss political issues and
to plan actions. We decided that a counter-recruitment
drive would be our first campaign. We drew up
a counter-recruitment flyer and began planning
to table the next time military recruiters showed up.
For two months, we battled with the administration
to get our flyer and table approved. The first time the
recruiters came, we were denied. Finally, our efforts
were successful when a school district lawyer affirmed
our right to table against the recruiters and provide our
own information. While this was lucky for us, we had
no intention of backing down a second time, regardless
of the administration's verdict, and had resolved to
table anyway once we had exhausted the official channels.
Spread the Campaign!
Out of our success, Kennedy students and the Socialist
Alternative Twin Cities branch are working to launch Youth
Against War and Racism, a metro-wide network for
students to come together and fight to end the occupation
of Iraq, to cut the bloated military budget and fund
education, to end military recruitment in schools, and
to oppose the government's racist attacks on civil liberties.
It is essential that we stand up and take action against
military recruiters. The entire U.S. war machine relies on
the willingness of young people to join the military and
carry out the imperialist policies ordered by corrupt
politicians. If we build a mass movement of young people
against the war that exposes the lies of Bush and the military
recruiters, the military will be unable to guarantee a stable
supply of youth to use as cannon fodder.
And just like in the Vietnam War, the spread of mass dissent
within the U.S. armed forces will be the key to bringing
down U.S. imperialism in Iraq and ending this brutal occupation.
We can't count on the government or our school
administrators to stop military recruiters from spreading
their lies. We need to take it upon ourselves to educate
and organize our fellow students, and to make our
schools off-limits to recruiters. If every time they show
up we provide an overwhelmingly unwelcome
environment, they will simply stop coming.
This is what we hope to accomplish at Kennedy and every
school across the Twin Cities, and this is what students
need to do at every school across the country.
REMINDER - if you want your message to go the entire
email list, be sure to hit "Reply to All" in your email
program, and make sure "StoppingWar@yahoogroups"
is listed in the "To/Recipient" field!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian
Racism is a uniquely reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest
crimes in history - the slave trade, the extermination of all original
inhabitants of the Caribbean, the elimination of every native inhabitant
of Tasmania, apartheid. The Holocaust was the ultimate, "industrialised"
expression of racist barbarity.
Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An
ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is
the slope whose end is at Auschwitz. That is why I detest racism.
No serious commentator has argued that my comments to an Evening Standard
reporter outside City Hall last month were anti-semitic. So I am glad
that Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews,
accepted on these pages that "Ken is sincere when he states that he
regards the Holocaust as the worst crime of the last century".
The contribution of Jewish people to human civilisation and culture is
unexcelled and extraordinary. You only have to think of giants such as
Einstein, Freud and Marx to realise that human civilisation would be
unrecognisably diminished without the achievements of the Jewish people.
The same goes for the Jewish contribution to London today.
As mayor, I have pressed for police action over anti-semitic attacks at
the highest level, and my administration has backed a series of
initiatives of importance to the Jewish community, including hosting the
Anne Frank exhibition at City Hall and measures to ensure the go-ahead
for the north London eruv.
Throughout the 1970s, I worked happily with the Board of Deputies in
campaigns against the National Front. Problems began when, as leader of
the Greater London Council, I rejected the board's request that I should
fund only Jewish organisations that it approved of. The Board of Deputies
was unhappy that I funded Jewish organisations campaigning for gay rights
and others that disagreed with policies of the Israeli governmen.
Relations with the board took a dramatic turn for the worse when I
opposed Israel's illegal invasion of Lebanon, culminating in the
massacres at the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila. The board also
opposed my involvement in the successful campaign in 1982 to convince the
Labour party to recognise the PLO as the legitimate voice of the
Palestinian people.
The fundamental issue on which we differ, as Henry Grunwald knows, is not
anti-semitism - which my administration has fought tooth and nail - but
the policies of successive Israeli governments.
To avoid manufactured misunderstandings, the policies of Israeli
governments are not analogous to Nazism. They do not aim at the
systematic extermination of the Palestinian people, in the way Nazism
sought the annihilation of the Jews.
Israel's expansion has included ethnic cleansing. Palestinians who had
lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence
and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the
Israeli state. The methods of groups like the Irgun and the Stern gang
were the same as those of the Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic: to drive out
people by terror.
Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for
settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of
the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return. Ariel Sharon,
Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not
in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared
responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
Sharon continues to organise terror. More than three times as many
Palestinians as Israelis have been killed in the present conflict. There
are more than 7,000 Palestinians in Israel's jails.
To obscure these truths, those around Israel's present government have
resorted to demonisation. Initial targets were Palestinians, and have now
become Muslims. Take the Middle East Media Research Institute, run by a
former colonel in Israeli military intelligence, which poses as a source
of objective information but in reality selectively translates material
from Arabic and presents Muslims and Arabs in the worst possible light.
Today the Israeli government is helping to promote a wholly distorted
picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe, implying that
the most serious upsurge of hatred and discrimination is against Jews.
All racist and anti-semitic attacks must be stamped out. However, the
reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on
black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of
the extreme right. For 20 years Israeli governments have attempted to
portray anyone who forcefully criticises the policies of Israel as
anti-semitic. The truth is the opposite: the same universal human values
that recognise the Holocaust as the greatest racist crime of the 20th
century require condemnation of the policies of successive Israeli
governments - not on the absurd grounds that they are Nazi or equivalent
to the Holocaust, but because ethnic cleansing, discrimination and terror
are immoral.
They are also fuelling anger and violence across the world. For a mayor
of London not to speak out against such injustice would not only be wrong
- but would also ignore the threat it poses to the security of all Londoners.
· Ken Livingstone is the London mayor
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...
where we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART
We hope that one or two representatives of your group will attend to
help shape this exciting event from the ground up!
For more information, please feel free to email awe@o...
or call (510) 456-1617 x 4
Looking forward to working with you!
Susan Quinlan, Alternatives to War Through Education/CCCO
Sandra Schwartz, American Friends Service Committee
Jim Haber, War Resisters League West
--- End forwarded message ---
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.
Please feel free to invite others and to forward this email.
___ I plan on attending the March 12 meeting.
___ I can arrive early to help set up.
___ I can bring a snack (encouraged but not necessary)
___ I have forwarded this email
___ Please send me the leaflet to distribute.
___ Please email the new bill.
___ Please remove me from this list.
Thank you.
Don Bechler
Chair
Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
Chair
California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
415-695-7891
The CALIFORNIA
HEALTH INSURANCE RELIABILITY Act
SB 840
A Health Care Plan for Californians that:
Insures Everyone
Saves Californians Money
Is Comprehensive
Is Publicly Accountable
On February 23, 2005, State Senator Sheila Kuehl introduced
Senate Bill 840. SB 840, by consolidating all health insurance
spending will insure everyone. It will save both businesses
and the people of California billions of dollars. Assemblyman
Mark Leno and State Senators Carole Migden and Don Perata
are co-authors of SB 840. Come to a presentation and
discussion of SB 840.
SATURDAY 3PM
MARCH 12
626 PACHECO, SAN FRANCISCO
(corner of 10 th Avenue, #6 Bus)
Sparkers to be announced. Sponsored by the San Francisco
chapter of Health Care for All, the California Universal Health
Care Organizing Project, and the California Physicians Alliance.
For more information call 415-695-7891 or email
dbechler@value.net
labor donated posted 2-22-05
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Our high schools are obsolete.
By obsolete, I don't just mean that they are broken, flawed and
underfunded - although I can't argue with any of those
descriptions.
What I mean is that they were designed 50 years ago to meet
the needs of another age. Today, even when they work exactly
as designed, our high schools cannot teach our kids what they
need to know.
Until we design high schools to meet the needs of the 21st
century, we will keep limiting - even ruining - the lives of millions
of Americans every year. Frankly, I am terrified for our workforce
of tomorrow.
The idea behind the old high school system was that you could
train an adequate workforce by sending only a small fraction
of students to college, and that the other kids either couldn't
do college work or didn't need to.
Sure enough, today only one-third of our students graduate
from high school ready for college, work and citizenship.
The others, most of whom are low-income and minority students,
are tracked into courses that won't ever get them ready for any
of those things - no matter how well the students learn or how
hard the teachers work.
In district after district across the country, wealthy white kids
are taught Algebra II, while low-income minority kids are
taught how to balance a checkbook.
This is an economic disaster. In the international competition
to have the best supply of workers who can communicate
clearly, analyze information and solve complex problems,
the United States is falling behind. We have one of the highest
high school dropout rates in the industrialized world.
In math and science, our fourth-graders rank among the top
students in the world, but our 12th-graders are near the
bottom. China has six times as many college graduates
in engineering.
As bad as it is for our economy, it's even worse for our
students. Today, most jobs that pay enough to support
a family require some post-secondary education. Yet only
half of all students who enter high school enroll in
a post-secondary institution.
High school dropouts have it worst of all. Only 40% have
jobs. They are nearly four times more likely to be arrested
than their friends who stayed in high school. And they
die young because of years of poor healthcare, unsafe
living conditions and violence.
We can put a stop to this. We designed these high
schools; we can redesign them.
We have to do away with the outdated idea that only some
students need to be ready for college and that the others
can walk away from higher education and still thrive in
our 21st century society. We need a new design that
realizes that all students can do rigorous work.
There is mounting evidence in favor of this approach. Take
the Kansas City, Kan., public school district, where 79% of
students are minorities and 74% live below the poverty line.
For years, the district struggled with high dropout rates and
low test scores. In 1996, it adopted a school-reform model
that, among many other steps, requires all students to take
college-prep courses. Since then, the district's graduation
rate has climbed more than 30 percentage points.
Kansas City is not an isolated example. Exciting work is
underway to improve high schools in such cities as
Oakland, Chicago and New York.
All of these schools are organized around three powerful
principles: Ensure that all students are given a challenging
curriculum that prepares them for college or work; that their
courses clearly relate to their lives and goals; and that they
are surrounded by adults who push them to achieve.
This kind of change is never easy. But I believe there are
three ways that political and business leaders at every level
can help build momentum for change in our schools.
First, declare that all students must graduate from high
school ready for college, work and citizenship. Every politician
and chief executive in the country should speak up for the
belief that children need to take courses that prepare them
for college.
Second, publish the data that measure our progress toward
that goal. We already have some data that show us the extent
of the problem. But we need to know more: What percentage
of students are dropping out? What percentage are
graduating? And this data must be broken down by
race and income.
Finally, every state should commit to turning around failing
schools and opening new ones. When the students don't
learn, the school must change. Every state needs a strong
intervention strategy to improve struggling schools.
If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never
get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their ZIP
Code, their skin color or their parents' income.
That is offensive to our values.
Every kid can graduate ready for college. Every kid should
have the chance.
Let's redesign our schools to make it happen.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives
at latimes.com/archives .
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005
Translated by Eva Milan, ZabrinskyPoint
I am still in the darkness. Last Friday was the most
dramatic day of my life since I was abducted.
I had just spoken with my abductors, who for days kept
telling me I would be released. So I was living in
wait. They said things that I would understand only
later. They talked of transfer related problems. I had
learned to understand which way the wind blew from the
attitude of my two "sentinels," the two fellows who
watched over me every day-especially one of them, who
attended to my requests, was incredibly bold. In the
attempt to understand what was going on, I
provocatively asked him if he was happy because I would
go away or because I would stay. I was surprised and
happy when, for the first time, he told me, "I only
know you will go, but I don't know when."
To confirm that something new was happening, at one
point they both came in the room to reassure me and
joke: "Congratulations," they said, "you are leaving
for Rome." To Rome, that's what they were saying.
I had a weird feeling, because that word immediately
evoked liberation but also projected a void inside
myself. I realized it was the most difficult moment of
my abduction and that if all I had lived yet was
certain, now an abyss of heavy uncertainties was
widening. I changed my clothes.
They came back: "We'll escort you, but don't give
signals of your presence, otherwise the Americans might
intervene." That was not what wanted to hear. It was
the happiest and also the most dangerous moment. If we
ran into someone, meaning American troops, there would
be an exchange of fire, and my captors were ready and
they would have responded. I had to have my eyes
covered. I was already getting used to a temporary
blindness.
About what happened outside, I only knew that in
Baghdad it had rained. The car ran safely in a muddy
area. There was the driver and the same old abductors.
I soon heard something I didn't want to hear. A
helicopter flying low over the area we had stopped in.
"Don't worry, now they will come look for you . . .
within ten minutes they will come." They had spoken
Arabic all the time, some French and much broken
English. Now they spoke in this way, too.
Then they got out of the car. I stayed in that
condition of immobility and blindness. My eyes were
stuffed with cotton, and covered by sunglasses. I was
motionless. I thought . . . what do I do? Should I
start counting the passing seconds to another
condition, the one of freedom? I had just started
counting when I heard a friendly voice: "Giuliana,
Giuliana, this is Nicola, don't worry, I've talked to
Gabriele Polo, don't worry, you're free."
He took my cotton blindfold and sunglasses off. I felt
relieved, not for what was going on, which I didn't
understand, but for Nicola's words. He kept talking
nonstop, he was uncontainable, a flood of friendly
words and jokes. I finally found comfort, almost
physically, a warm comfort I had long since forgotten.
The car proceeded on its way, through an underpass full
of puddles, almost skidding to avoid them. We engaged
in incredible laughter. It was relieving. Skidding
along a road full of water in Baghdad and maybe have a
bad car crash after all I had experienced would not be
really explainable. Nicola Calipari sat by my side. The
driver had notified the embassy and Italy twice that we
were heading to the airport, which I knew was
controlled by the American troops. It was less than one
kilometre, they told me . . . when. . . . I remember
only fire. At that point a rain of fire and bullets
came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a
few minutes earlier.
The driver started shouting we were Italians, "We are
Italians! We are Italians . . ." Nicola Calipari dove
on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean
immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me. I
must have felt physical pain, I didn't know why. But I
had a sudden thought: I recalled my abductors' words.
They said they were deeply committed to releasing me,
but that I had to be careful because "the Americans
don't want you to return." Back then, as soon as they
had said that, I had judged their words to be
meaningless and ideological. In that moment such words
risked to take the taste of the most bitter truth away.
I can't tell the rest yet.
This was the most dramatic moment. But the month I
spent as a kidnap victim has probably changed my life
forever. One month alone with myself, prisoner of my
deepest belief. Each hour was a pitiless test of my
work. Sometimes they kidded me. They even asked me why
I would leave and asked me to stay. I pointed out that
I had personal relationships. They led me to think to
such priorities that too often we put aside.
"Ask for your husband's help," they told me. And I did
so in the first video, the one I think you all have
watched. My life has changed. Same as Ra'ad Ali
Abdulaziz's, the Iraqi engineer from "Un Ponte per" who
was abducted with Simona & Simona. "My life is no
longer the same," he told me. I didn't understand. Now
I know what he meant. Because I have experienced the
hardness of the truth, I realize the difficulty of
communicating it, and the weakness of trying to.
In the first days of my abduction I didn't shed a
single tear. I was simply mad. I told them directly:
"How can you abduct me, if I am against the war?" And
they started a fierce debate. "Yes, because you want to
speak to the people, we would never abduct a reporter
who stays shut in the hotel. And then the fact you say
you're against the war could be a cover up." I would
reply, almost provoking them: "It's easy to abduct a
weak woman like me, why don't you do it to the American
officers?" I insisted that they couldn't ask the
Italian government to withdraw its troops; that they
had to address the Italian people who were and are
against the war, not Italian government.
It was a month of ups and downs, moments of hope and
moments of deep depression. Like when the first Sunday
after my abduction, in the Baghdad house where I was
prisoner and where there was a satellite television
dish, they let me see the EuroNews. I saw my poster on
the Rome city hall building. I was relieved. Soon
after, however, a claim from the Jihad announced I
would be executed if Italy didn't withdraw its troops.
I was frightened. But they reassured me that it wasn't
them, that people should have mistrusted those
proclamations, that they were a "provocation." I often
asked the one who seemed more approachable and who
looked more like a soldier: "Tell me the truth, you
will kill me". Nonetheless, many times, we talked.
"Come see a movie on TV," they told me, while a Wahhabi
woman, covered from head to foot, hung around the house
taking care of me.
The abductors seemed a very religious group, constantly
praying the Koran verses. But on Friday, at the time of
my release, the one who seemed the most religious and
who used to wake up at 5 o'clock every morning to pray,
"congratulated" me and incredibly shook my hand-it is
not a usual behaviour for an Islamic
fundamentalist-adding "If you behave, you'll leave
soon." That was followed by a rather humorous episode.
One of my two guards came to me astonished because the
TV showed my photographs displayed in European towns
and also on Totti. Yes, Totti (the Rome football team
player, T.N.). The guard said he said he was a Rome
team fan and he was amazed that his favourite player
had taken to field with "Free Giuliana" on his T-shirt.
I now live with no more certainties. I find myself
deeply weak. I failed in my belief. I had always
claimed there was need to go tell about that dirty war.
And I had to decide whether to stay in the hotel or
going out and chance being abducted because of my work.
"We don't want anyone any more," the abductors told me.
But I wanted to tell about the bloodbath in Falluja
through the refugees' tales. And that morning the
refugees and some of their "leaders" didn't listen to
me. I had in front of me the evidence of what the Iraqi
society has become with the war and they threw their
truth in my face: "We don't want anyone. Why don't you
stay home? What such interview can be useful for?". The
worst collateral damage, the war killing communication,
was falling on me. On me, who had risked it all,
challenging the Italian government that didn't want
reporters gong to Iraq, and the Americans who don't
want our work that gives witness to what that country
has really turned into with the war, despite what they
call elections.
Now I wonder. Is their refusal a failure?
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/030605Sgrena/030605sgrena.html
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!
The House and Senate Budget Committees are meeting
next week to come up with a budget resolution! We need
to tell our Senators and Representatives that we are
counting on them to produce a responsible resolution
that makes children's services a priority for our nation.
We must stop attempts to sacrifice health care for millions
of children, end legal guarantees of protection for abused
and neglected children, cut child care programs, deny
children Head Start services and more. We need them to
vote to make sure that our most vulnerable children and
families do not bear more budget cuts, caps, freezes or
eliminations in order to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy.
Call Tuesday, March 8th at toll-free 1-800-247-2971
You'll be connected to your Senators and Representative
or directly call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American
Friends Service Committee. Don't be discouraged if the
lines are busy -- we want calls to pour into the offices!
Please ask your members of Congress to:
* Protect programs like Medicaid and assistance for
abused and neglected children. Do not cut or cap the federal
funding of, or destroy the guarantees and legal framework
of, these critical child health and child protection services.
* Protect successful domestic programs that invest in
children including child care and Head Start. Do not adopt
President Bush's proposals to cut or eliminate programs that
will result in fewer children receiving child care, access to
Head Start, and other children's health, child welfare, and
education services.
* Stop considering shredding federal guarantees that
reduce child suffering while stacking the deck in favor of
the wealthy. Do not adopt budget rules that cap programs
for children while continuing to give massive tax cuts to
the wealthiest Americans and adding their cost to the
national debt our children will inherit.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM
The US Military is getting hard hit
in Iraq with the death toll. They Know
that starting an unpopular draft
for an unpopular war is suicide; they've
upped recruitment bonuses and
promises of college money as tuition is going
up nationwide. The reality of $80
billion more for the occupation is only
possible due to the massive cuts
in health care, education and the soon
be "social-security reform."
The Army Corps of Engineers and the
US Navy are coming to San Francisco
State University in the hopes of recruiting
students to become cannon fodder for
the US occupation effort. We have
a different plan: we are organizing a protest
to block the recruiters and kick them off our campus.
Hundreds of students at low-income
colleges and high schools nationwide have
participated in protests like this one,
and have successfully forced
military recruiters to pack up and
leave their campuses. Now is is SF State's turn.
Join us to demand:
End the Occupation! Troops Out Now!
No Recruiters on Our Campus!
For more information contact:
Katrina Yeaw
916.716.9817
kyeaw@sfsu.edu
You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay
This calendar will be updated weekly. Please submit your entries
each week by Wednesday noon. Also, please notify us at
awe@objector.org if you do not want to receive this calendar.
Our apologies, due to a series of technological problems, this
calendar is not as complete as we would like it to be. Please let
us know if there are important facts to be added for next week
or if there is inaccuracy in your listing.
March 15, Tuesday, 5 pm - Press Conference
Picket and Press conference in front of 670 Davis St. San
Francisco recruitment office to publicize the March 19 protest
and the anti-recruitment contingent. ChretienTodd@aol.com
for more information
March 15, Tuesday, 7 pm - First meeting to organize for the
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference, at the
American Friends Service Committee, 65 9th Street, San
Francisco, between Market and Mission, near Civic Center
BART. For more Information, awe@objector.org or
(510) 456-1617, x4
March 16, Wednesday, 7 pm - < FONT>When Soldiers
Say "No to War"
International Socialist Organization. Public meeting
and discussion on resistance in the military.
110 Capp St. (between 16th and 17th -buzz 202), San Francisco.
ChretienTodd@aol.com for more information
March 17, Thursday, 7 pm (revised date) - San Francisco
Board of Education "meeting of the whole", To address
military recruitment at our schools and Jr. ROTC, 555 Franklin St.
Thursday, March 17th(revised date): The meeting will be
devoted solely to the issue of military recruitment at our
schools. This meeting is designed to be a very large meeting
that will address the war and this issue only.
caroseligman@aol.com has more information if needed.
March 18, Friday - Albany High School Students for Peace Rally
Against military recruitment and Against the War in Iraq.
Students, parents, and teachers will march in a contingent at
the March 19th SF March Against the War.
Dr. Carlos Munoz, Jr., 510-642-9134
http://socrates.berkeley,edu/~ethnicst/cs/munoz.html
March 19, Saturday, 10:30 am - Campus Antiwar Network -
Military Out of Our Schools!
The San Francisco group College Not Combat Committe
will join with students at 16th and Mission BART Station
at 10 am. There will be a banner "Military Out of Our Schools".
Then the contingent will march up to Dolores Park to meet
up with the rest of the demonstration at 11:00.
SAWSFSU@yahoo.com
March 26 and 27 San Francisco Civic Center and Union
Square (27th) EYES WIDE SHUT outdoore exhibition presented
by AFSC. The exhibit highlights the human cost of war.
More information about the exhibit
http://www.afsc.org/eyes/default.htm.
Volunteers to publicize the event and to set it up are needed: S
teve Leeds, Volunteer Coordinator at
415 565-0201 ext 15 or sleeds@afsc.org.
March 27, Sunday (Easter) - Berkeley Unitarian
Fellowship CR Event
Workshop on Conscientious Objection and
Counter-Recruitment (2-5 pm). Press conf.
at 1 pm with Military Families. Morning service at
10:30 am is "Evolution of a Decision".
APRIL 2, Saturday, 11:30 am - Bay Area United
Against War (BAUAW)
Military out of our schools. 474 Valencia St., SF
(First floor, to the left and all the way back to the
Companeros del Barrio Children's Center).
Caroseligman@aol.com may have more information.
April 9, Saturday - West Coast Campus Anti-War
Network Conference
For student activists and anti-war groups.
General theme - CR and campus demilitarization.
Location tentatively set for City College.
Contact: Ellie Houston (Students Against Was - SFSU)
Campus Anti-War Network. elliehou@hotmail.com
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.
California has the highest rate of Death row inmates in the country
(649), followed by Texas. Most death row inmates are poor People
of Color, mostly African Americans and Latinos.
We oppose the death penalty for 5 main reasons:
* It is racist
* It is not a deterrent to violent crime
* It targets the poor
* It is the ultimate part of the growing prison industry (Toyota,
Kmart, Microchips are employing inmates at 11 ct/hr)
* Most executions are modern lynching of innocents (given
inexperienced public defenders).
The current Death Row execution in California is STILL cruel and
unusual punishment: Nothing humane about lethal injection; too
often times the tranquilizer administered before the drug
stopping the heart is ineffective, and the inmate goes through
the long agony of a heart attack.
We have supported our District Attorney Kamala Harris, in spite
of the pressure of the POA, for not pursuing the death penalty
against David Hill for allegedly killing Officer Isaac Espinoza.
In spite of the ongoing refusal from our governor to spare the
lives of Kevin Cooper (with whom ISF has been actively
corresponding), Stan Tookie Williams (5 times nominee for
the Nobel prize for his anti violence children books) , together
we can abolish the atrocity of the death penalty in California,
following the path of Illinois !
Would you kindly forward this message to your lists ? This month,
we are launching a vast outreach effort to our community
churches in BVHP, and would be more than happy to facilitate
forum discussions in your organizations as well.
Blessings,
mesha Monge-Irizarry
(415) 595-8251 (24-HR Crisis Line)
Idriss Stelley Foundation
Next meeting:
Monday, March 21, 7 p.m. at ISF 4921 3rd St.,
Women on Death Row, Chowchilla, CA
Refreshment and snacks, hope yall can come !
We are also planning a big event
on April 30, 4 to 6 P.M.,
hopefully at the at the Bayview Opera House
(pending approval from their management) about Tookie.
Barbara Baker, author of "Redemption" about his life
and incarceration, will be the keynote speaker
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.
The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America's San Francisco
Bay Area chapter will again be participating in the San Francisco St.
Patrick's Day Parade and is once again organising an Anti-Imperialist
Contingent as part of its participation.
The parade is taking place this year on Sunday, March 13th. While we never
have many details this much before the actual parade date, the contingent
will undoubtedly assemble between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m., somewhere south of
Market and, of course, details will be forthcoming once we know them.
The focus of the Anti-Imperialist Contingent this year will again
be on ending the occupation of Iraq and of Ireland, and the slogans
we are putting forward are:
British and American Imperialism, Out of Iraq! Out of Ireland!
No War but the Class War!
These are both slogans of the IRSP, raised during demonstrations against
the war and occupation during the past year. As always, the
Anti-Imperialist Contingent welcome participants to have their own
identifying banners as well, and accepts any banners or signs addressing
the theme of this years contingent or in support of the Irish struggle for
national liberation and socialism.
We will extend a special invitation to ANSWER to participate,
because the date demonstration against the war and occupation they are
building for is a week after the St. Patrick's Day parade, making it the
last major opportunity to building for the demonstration. If any of you
receiving this message who are participants in the coalitions
engaged in building for that demonstration in the Bay Area, we
would welcome you giving voice to this offer in coalition meetings. In
addition to marchers, we would welcome members of the coalition to
circulate along side our contingent hand-billing for the demonstration.
Those who have participated with us in the past know that we generally
also have a van converted into a mobile bulletin board of sorts, which will
be the case again this year. The van will be used to also draw attention to
the 30th anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish
National Liberation Army, which just took place in December and the 21st
anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America,
which were founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in March 1984
We need to know which organisations we can anticipate joining our
contingent this year, so please let us know by the 1st of March, if at all
possible. And, individuals planning on coming for the weekend from out of
town to participate need to let us know right away, if they want us to
try to supply lodging for them.
Following the parade, we welcome all those marching with the contingent to
join us at 2057 15th Street, Suite B (between Church and Market Streets)
for margaritas and a light buffet of Mexican food--because it is the firm
belief of the IRSCNA (Bay Area chapter, anyway) that it just isn't St.
Patrick's Day, if you haven't had a margarita!
As veterans of the parade know, we will march come rain or shine, and that
time of the March in San Francisco, rain is the more likely forecast--so
dress for what may come, as we don't want spirits dampened.
This year is again important for us to have other socialists and anti-
imperialists with us in a display of solidarity, as we expect to be
the sole unit in the parade challenging the American occupation of Iraq.
Is mise le meas,
IRSCNA, Bay Area Chapter
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE
RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Monday, March 07, 2005
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005
GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program"
This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION
Thanks!
Mark Sanchez
(Note:It is not clear whether comments from
the public will be under this point or under
general comments from the public.
Just call and get your name of the list to speak...bw)
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent
7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!
8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different
kind of war story. Her battlefields were in the barracks
and the mess hall. The weapons were innuendoes and
threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html
9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com
10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm
The military spends about $3 billion each year to convince young
people that enlistment will give them college money, job training
and an alternative to working at McDonald's. In the wake of the
growing conflict in Iraq, which has resulted in over a thousand
U.S. casualties, the military has become more aggressive in
scouting out high school students willing and able to serve.
In many New York City public schools that are predominantly
Black and Latino, military recruiters are a heavy presence,
promising young people financial security and a fulfilling career.
Recruiters roam the halls, set up tables and even pull students
out of class. But in recent months, a group of teenagers and
anti-war veterans have been canvassing the neighborhoods
where the recruiters frequent, hoping to convince students
to consider other options.
''We've heard everything up to and including having a desk
in the guidance counselor's office,'' said Amy Wagner of Youth
Activists-Youth Allies (YaYas), a group that focuses on
counter-recruitment. ''When the kid comes in to talk to the
counselor about college, before the kid can get there,
they've got somebody in their face saying, 'You want to
go to college? How are you going to pay for college?'''
New York City organizers are educating people about
alternatives to enlisting and the realities of military life.
Vietnam veterans and anti-war activists Jim Murphy and
Dayl Wise visit high schools, where they recount for the
students stories about their time in the service. In one
class of juniors at West Side High School, Murphy told
them that before the service he spent time making money
playing seven-card stud.
Once he left community college, he was drafted. ''I wasn't
smart enough to have fear about it,'' Murphy told the class.
''I didn't have a clue.'' Wise, who was in the infantry, didn't
want to go to war when he was drafted. His father offered
to help send him to Canada. ''I took the easy way out by
reporting for duty,'' he said. ''It takes a braver person.
I let it happen to me? I didn't have a plan. I gave up control.''
He warned the students: ''Please have a plan. Don't let others
make plans for you.'' The YaYas, staffed almost entirely by
high school students of color, work to make sure young
people avoid falling into military service because it seems
like the only option for advancement.
''It's either jail or the military,'' said Jeannel Bishop, a senior
at Brooklyn's South Shore High School and a YaYa staffer.
Many students at her school think enlistment is the best
they can accomplish. When Navy recruiters visited her school
recently, students were allowed to leave class to visit with them.
Bishop brought pamphlets and confronted the recruiters about
their assurances of tuition and training. She pointed out to them
and other students nearby that getting college money was
a much more complicated and uncertain process.
''I was taking over their whole show,'' Bishop said.
''[The recruiters] were amazed.'' Three students who had been
''pumped up about the military'' had second thoughts after
Bishop spoke. It took just a little information for them to have
doubts, she said. Besides speaking out in their own schools,
the YaYas hold workshops for teenagers and make presentations
to PTAs. They encourage students to post literature in the
guidance office and set up counter-recruitment tables next
to military recruiters. Most importantly, they want young people
to make an informed choice, Wagner said.
For instance, most students don't know that:
Two-thirds of recruits don't get any college money,
according to the Central Committee for Conscientious
Objectors. Most people in the military do not have time to attend
college while in the service.
To qualify for college money recruits have to pay
$100 per month for a year.
The unemployment rate for veterans is three times
higher than the national average.
People who sign up with the Delayed Entry Program
are told they can't change their minds, but getting
out is as simple as writing a letter.
The enlistment contract is for eight years.
There are other ways to finance college, like federal
financial aid, private scholarships, going to
community college or joining AmeriCorps.
But educating youth is not just about these facts and figures,
Wagner said. The war in Iraq makes their work much more urgent,
she said. ''They're still telling people you can go to Germany, Japan,
but the reality is the vast majority are going to Iraq,'' Wagner
said. ''You risk losing life and limb; you risk being a murderer.''
Giving young people a complete picture of enlisting rests on
the courage and initiative of activists, guidance
counselors and principals.
Often, the recruiters' sales pitches, brochures and posters
go unchallenged. Many educators fear principals will
retaliate if they speak out, Wagner said. Some schools are
reticent to limit the military's presence because they think
they will lose federal funding, she said. No Child Left Behind,
the educational policy touted by the Bush administration,
requires that recruiters and college representatives have
equal access to students. This is often misinterpreted as
unlimited access. Policy on recruiter access in New York
City public schools is determined school by school and
varies widely.
But some school districts have taken a more active role
and regulate recruiters' visits. In Madison, Wisconsin,
recruiters are only permitted to be in each high school
three days during the school year. Their policy states that
guidance counselors can distribute both military and
counter-recruitment information. There is also no uniform,
enforced policy in New York City governing opt-out forms,
which let students choose whether to release their personal
information to recruiters. Many principals, Wagner said,
are not even aware of the opt-out form. Some schools
give out the form, without any explanation and make
no effort to collect it from students, she said.
Wagner said some students think that signing the forms
will mean their information is not released to any institutions,
including colleges. Other students, often immigrants, fear
they will get in trouble for signing, she said. Currently, New
York City students are often only given the opt-out form
in the ninth grade, Wagner said. Because recruiters ask
for eleventh- and twelfth-grade lists, schools should send
out the forms each year, she said.
In Montclair, New Jersey, the high school sends a fact sheet
with the opt-out form. Tenth-graders who have not returned
the forms are called. If the form is still not turned in, it will
be passed out the following year. Activists have discussed
working on a New York City Council resolution to require
schools to collect the forms from every student. Members
of the YaYas and the New York Civil Liberties Union have
met with the Department of Education (DOE) to discuss
putting together an information packet for principals
about opt-out.
Wagner said the DOE was receptive. Calls to the DOE were
not returned. Local counter-recruiters also plan to make use
of the recent Third Circuit Court's ruling that Yale Law School,
which has a non-discrimination policy, can ban recruiters from
its campus without risk of losing federal funding, because the
military discriminates against gays.
However, without the help of the Department of Education
or the City Council, counter-recruiters' efforts can only go
so far. This frustration is evident in veteran Dayl Wise when
he said that giving presentations, classroom by classroom,
is like ''throwing grains of sand on the beach.''
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg may be reached at
elizabethwg@gmail.com .
(c) 2005 New York Amsterdam News
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin
to allow us to bind the letter into the appendix to the
sentencing memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth
your relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be
sentenced following a jury verdict of guilty on
serious charges: The remainder of your letter
should discuss whatever you believe to weigh
in favor of no jail time. If possible, you should
tell of an incident where she helped you out or
engaged in commendable community service.
Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of
the government's actions in bringing the charges;
the way in which the government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final
product to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present
it to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for
this purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have
the greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could cause
the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE
SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
Washington -- San Jose Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, citing privacy
concerns, has proposed a law that would make it easier for parents to
block military recruiters from gaining easy access to high school
students on or off campus.
School officials in cities such as San Francisco, which had banned
military recruiters from campuses for a decade, say the recruiting issue
has become heated as U.S. military casualties mount in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recent Defense Department reports say the military is having a tougher time
meeting recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, increasing the pressure
on recruiters -- armed with a $4 billion budget -- to sign up more high
school juniors and seniors.
The No Child Left Behind Act approved by Congress in 2001 requires school
districts to provide military recruiters with the same access to high schools
given to college or job recruiters.
Under the current law, parents must tell school officials they don't want
their child contacted by the military, at school or home. Otherwise, schools
are required to turn over students' names, addresses and phone numbers to
Pentagon recruiters. Honda wants to turn that around, and allow the military
to talk only to those students whose parents approve such contact.
"The authority for such contacts should be with the parents, not the schools,
the military or the federal government,'' said Honda, a former high
school teacher and administrator in Sunnyvale. "I'm not against them
recruiting on campus, but they should follow the protocol, and that protocol
was changed by Congress.''
Honda's proposal, like almost all bills introduced by members of the
House Democratic minority, faces a stiff challenge to even receive a hearing.
But he has some support.
In San Francisco, school board President Eric Mar strongly endorsed
Honda's proposal and said the district allowed military recruiters into high
schools only after the state Department of Education threatened to cut off its
federal money if it didn't comply with the new law. School districts in Santa
Cruz and Santa Monica received similar warnings.
"It's not like the military heavily targets San Francisco,'' Mar said.
"They know we are wary of military recruiters,'' because of widespread anti- war
sentiment in the city and because of the military's "don't ask, don't
tell'' policy that has led to the dismissal of gays and lesbians from the
military.
"We as a school district should have the say not to allow them in at all, '' he
contended. "There would be tremendous support in our district for what
Mr. Honda is doing.''
But Thomas Donnelly, military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute,
said Honda's proposal is "really stupid. It's going nowhere, and even if it did,
it would face a tough constitutional challenge.''
"Face it, war is a young person's game,'' said Donnelly, and the Congress
has a constitutional responsibility to raise a military and needs access to
young people. What's more, he said, federal aid to education gives Washington
the power to tell local school districts what they can do, if they want to
keep their federal money.
"Given that military service is still something of a civic responsibility,
it seems quite reasonable to me that public schools should give the military
access,'' he said.
Mar, however, said the school board is under pressure from parents to
allow groups to come on campus to counter the message of military recruiters.
"There are a lot of concerns about the privacy of children and their
families,'' said Julia Harumi Mass, a staff attorney at the Northern
California American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU has received complaints from parents, students, teachers and
principals about the current policy. It says the law provides that schools
have to give the military the same access it provides to other recruiters,
such as those from businesses or colleges. But reports from around the country
say that at some schools, military recruiters are a fixture, making regular
appearances.
"They target low-performing schools. At some schools like that, the
military recruiters have more of a relationship with students than the school
staff,'' said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil
Liberties Union.
She also said that for districts such as San Francisco, which bans other
groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the federal law
forces them to violate their own rules. "Many schools have anti-discrimination
policies that would otherwise prohibit the military, and the military is
perhaps the single largest violator of such policies,'' she said.
The issue is part of a larger debate over military recruiting that also
involves colleges that have denied access to recruiters because of the
Pentagon rules about gays and lesbians serving openly. The matter
ended up in court, where a federal appeals court overturned a rule
co-authored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, requiring colleges to
allow military recruiters on campus.
That ruling, in turn, led Congress to pass a nonbinding resolution by a
327-84 vote last month calling on the Justice Department to pursue
an appeal.
"It's not a violation of their free speech,'' Pombo said of the colleges
that don't want the military on campus. "You can't on the one hand,
say we are so upset about these policies we are not going to allow
military recruiters on our campus, but then we give them the use of
the money anyway."
In the floor debate on the resolution, House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay, R- Texas, said college policies blocking the military "are
obnoxious in times of peace, but they are simply intolerable in times
of war, and the equal access of our military recruiters to federally
funded colleges and universities must be protected.''
E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com .
Page A - 7
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
(c)2005 San Francisco Chronicle
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering nine
western states including California) just ruled to
uphold the death sentence of Stan "Tookie" Williams --
former "Crips" youth gang leader, and Nobel Peace &
Literature Prize nominee. This ruling means Tookie may
be executed this summer -- despite the racist sham of
his trial and the work he has done from jail to keep
kids off drugs and out of gangs.
Please join us to discuss the significance of the
Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit rulings -- and help us
launch the crucial and urgent effort to stop the
execution of Tookie Williams.
Wednesday March 16, 2005, 7:00 pm
Cesar Chavez Student Center, Room C-116
San Francisco State University
19th Avenue and Holloway
Sponsored by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Phone: (650)771-3537
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/
For more on Tookie's life and his case, see:
http://www.tookie.com/
You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different kind of war story.
Her battlefields were in the barracks and the mess hall.
The weapons were innuendoes and threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com
In society today nothing has been more widely accepted, used, and
promoted that the art of 'Doublespeak'. The damage from the practice
of this dark art has impacted America's standing in the world, caused
countless deaths abroad, including more than thirteen hundred American
troops and thousands of maimed, disfigured, and disabled. One prime
example of doublespeak was the justification for war in Iraq, based on
myths, lies, and deceit. Creative intelligence analysis used to bring an
unquestioning media and both sides of the aisle on board to support
the outrageous lies of the Bush Whitehouse. Cowardly journalists who
refused to speak up out of fear of being labeled 'unpatriotic', if you
don't support the war, 'you are aiding our enemies'. American media
owned by the very corporations who benefit from endless wars always,
always, in the name of profit. Lies are now considered 'misstatements'
and facts are akin to beauty, 'in the eyes of the beholder'.
A second group guilty of doublespeak and double standards is
organized religion. While claiming Separation of Church and State
many church leaders are walking the line in becoming the great
deceivers spoken about in the Bible, the inspired, written word of God.
While blindly heaping praise on a President who most certainly would be
prosecuted in a world court, many church leaders are turning a blind
eye to the lies and deceits this administration has used to justify their
assault on sovereign nations and the United States Constitution.
Criticizing the church is not pleasurable, but relevant to the puzzle
unfolding in America. Church organizations are using donated funds
for political purposes to support the agenda of the extreme right
based on social issues such as abortion, gay rights and prayer in schools.
While important issues, it is hypocritical to rail against abortion deaths
and turn a blind eye to a hundred thousand dead in Iraq, the needless
deaths of more than thirteen hundred American soldiers, and scores of
thousands of innocent Afghanistan civilians. Church leaders can picket
an abortion clinic but look the other way when missiles were used against
an Afghani wedding party. While America's economy is being literally
blown away in Iraq, homelessness, poverty, and child hunger are rampantly
rising here at home. By choosing their words carefully, ignoring the reality
of the corporate assault on other nations, and our own, the church has
engaged in doublespeak to justify its agenda. The church is promoting
a President and his party in acts of destruction and corruption of
unparalleled evil.
In the House of Labor, doublespeak has become the main speak and
nowhere else in society is deception used with such finesse. A current
example is the New Unity Partnership {NUP}, the gang of five International
Union Presidents involved in a coup to take control of the AFL-CIO.
If you listen to the rhetoric, the doublespeak, they will bring new direction
to an ailing movement; till you sift through bull. They will increase 'market
share' by 'downsizing' the number of affiliates from 66 to twenty. Sounds
kind of corporate doesn't it? It is! Business Unionism run from the top
by corrupt and greedy leadership is nothing new.
While this gang of five, Doug 'Cash' McCarron, Carpenters union,
Andy Stern, Service Employees, Wilhelm, Hotel Employees Union, Bruce
Raynor, UNITE, and Sullivan from the Laborers Union with the feeble
assistance of labor's notorious flip-flopper, James Hoffa, Teamsters, are
promising a resurrection for labor; read between the lines! As they embrace
the 'corporate mantra' it is unbelievable how closely they are aligned with
the employers to the detriment of ordinary workers. Nowhere in their spiel
is there any mention of democracy, member's rights, or involvement in
decision-making. They propose 'downsizing' the current federation from
66 unions to 20 or less. What say would members of the 66 unions have?
Absolutely none! There is nothing in their program committed to defending
current manufacturing jobs that have decent pay and benefits, after many
has been destroyed by NAFTA. Realistically, there is no fight coming from
any union in the AFL-CIO to defend current jobs, current benefits and
pay scales. Not one union today is fighting for its members and many
are aligning with employers to roll back the clock to 1950. Two tiered
wages, few benefits, and employee paid health-care are common in every
contract signed in the last decade. The United Auto Workers, Steelworkers,
Paperworkers, Grocery workers; you name it. While selling out rank and
file workers and pissing on the sacrifice of those who fought and died for
the union, 'mis-leadership' in every union is refusing to fight while
wallowing in absolute comfort corruption at the top. Bigger salaries
for the bureaucrats, the best health-care, multiple retirements and
lavish expense accounts are common.
Many in the house of labor today are Ivy Leaguers like Stern and Raynor,
who have never worked a day in their lives. Most labor leaders today are
scrambling to organize service industry jobs, low pay, no benefits, and
no hope of improving their lot in life. Organizing campaigns full of
doublespeak make promises that are never delivered, poverty level
jobs with just enough left to pay dues to support those at the top.
While promising to revitalize labor, not one of these self-embodied
saviors mentions the rampant corruption in their existing organizations.
Almost weekly, indictments are handed down against leaders of these
unions, but that will never be mentioned in Carpenter magazine or the
AFL-CIO news. If they have something new to offer, why can't they rid
themselves of the massive corruption in their own organizations?
In the unions wanting to downsize, leaders have stripped locals of
power, formed District councils, and moved decision-making further
from rank and file members. One ringleader has a patent on doublespeak.
McCarron of the Carpenters has systematically stripped the members
of involvement. Combining locals, forming District and Regional
Councils, looting local union treasuries to foot the bill, no one has
done more to mirror the Bastards of the Boardroom. Members have
been stripped of the right to elect who represents them, to vote on
contracts, and have no rights on the job. Contractors have the right
to hire and fire at will and it has become the job of Business Agents
to back the contractor. Contractors can change work hours on
a minutes notice, work conditions and operate as unsafe as he sees fit.
Any protest or resistance on work conditions or safety will be met with
termination. No grievance, no representation, no hope. Anyone who
dares challenge a contractor or the Business Agent will be dealt with.
Blackballing is alive and well in the UBC. Members are often starved
out or brought up on phony charges and sometimes removed from
membership.
While McCarron uses The Carpenter magazine to pump up the
rhetoric for his 're-organization' of the UBC, his forked tongue often
spits out terms like 'competitiveness', 'market share', and 'cooperation'
with 'our friends', union contractors. At the National Erectors
Association meeting in Hawaii he told his 'Friends', 'It is our job
to know what the contractors need and to give it to them'. Clearly,
UBC members no longer matter. McCarron has allied himself with
George Bush, labor's number one enemy, flying around on Air
Force One and inviting Bush to the UBC training Center in Las Vegas.
In a carefully worded article in The Carpenter, McCarron told members
the UBC would not endorse either party in the national elections in
spite of the fact that an overwhelming number of locals and councils
supported the Democrats. In doublespeak he told the members that
he favored their right to choose whom they voted for. Amazingly
enough, McCarron's sudden penchant for democracy does not
extend inside the UBC. Bush's friendship and that of Elaine Chao,
Secretary of labor, does have its advantages as he continues to
illegally rob his members of democracy.
George Dubbya said the Carpenters Union is my kind of union.
Did he mean the fact it is a dictatorship, or just corrupt enough
he can control it?
In spite of McCarron's speeches on union values, and his laughable
articles in Carpenter magazine, he has created the best example
of a company union in modern times. Many see his efforts, me
included, as building a huge Rat Contractor organization willing
to raid the work of other unions. A rat Manpower with a union
logo, UBC Inc.
McCarron and his sheep took the UBC out of the AFL-CIO over
two years ago without a vote of the membership and in fact, without
the members even knowing it. In perfect doublespeak, McCarron
and his henchmen laid claim to the excuse that organizing was the
key issue. Copies of letters between John Sweeney and McCarron
tell a different story. McCarron's main request was for the
AFL-CIO to suspend the articles of the AFL-CIO Constitution
governing jurisdiction. Those rules prevent one union from
raiding another. In Hawaii McCarron told his corporate playmates
that when it comes to deciding work, it is the contractor's jobs,
let them decide.
McCarron continues to boast of UBC organizing efforts but once
again, double speak, smoke and mirrors. The UBC has managed
to drag into the UBC, employees from rat contractors but without
organizing the contractors and the work. Thousands of Millwrights
and Carpenters are literally being starved out and many of those
newly organized return to the rat contractors where there is work.
What little work is left is controlled by appointed Business Agents
who make sure nepotism and cronyism rules the out of work lists.
In the union movement, doublespeak is the ultimate betrayal.
Unions are supposed to be about worker solidarity, a brotherhood;
the social diocese of the working class. When leaders betray their
own class, lie for personal power and gain, they become lower than
the employing class we have every right to despise. If business
unions are brotherhoods, they are incestuous relationships. Lies,
deceit, and doublespeak are all anti-union traits. They represent
an evil far more damaging than anything an employer can conjure up.
There was another time in history when the same organizations
were co-opted. When the media refused to ask the hard questions;
when both sides of the aisle fell into servitude, when the unions
became servants of the corporate masters and the church fell into
line behind a leader controlled by powerful industrialists, just prior
to World War Two. Fascism took control and Hitler rose to power
forming 'Homeland Security' to subvert the rights of German citizens.
Deceit and carefully crafted doublespeak masked the horror that
lay ahead. Are we headed down that road again?
Mike Griffin
Decatur IL
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
There are two important meetings coming up:
Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program"
This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION
Thanks!
Mark Sanchez
(Note:It is not clear whether comments from
the public will be under this point or under
general comments from the public.
Just call and get your name of the list to speak...bw)
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent
7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!
8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different
kind of war story. Her battlefields were in the barracks
and the mess hall. The weapons were innuendoes and
threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html
9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com
10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm
The military spends about $3 billion each year to convince young
people that enlistment will give them college money, job training
and an alternative to working at McDonald's. In the wake of the
growing conflict in Iraq, which has resulted in over a thousand
U.S. casualties, the military has become more aggressive in
scouting out high school students willing and able to serve.
In many New York City public schools that are predominantly
Black and Latino, military recruiters are a heavy presence,
promising young people financial security and a fulfilling career.
Recruiters roam the halls, set up tables and even pull students
out of class. But in recent months, a group of teenagers and
anti-war veterans have been canvassing the neighborhoods
where the recruiters frequent, hoping to convince students
to consider other options.
''We've heard everything up to and including having a desk
in the guidance counselor's office,'' said Amy Wagner of Youth
Activists-Youth Allies (YaYas), a group that focuses on
counter-recruitment. ''When the kid comes in to talk to the
counselor about college, before the kid can get there,
they've got somebody in their face saying, 'You want to
go to college? How are you going to pay for college?'''
New York City organizers are educating people about
alternatives to enlisting and the realities of military life.
Vietnam veterans and anti-war activists Jim Murphy and
Dayl Wise visit high schools, where they recount for the
students stories about their time in the service. In one
class of juniors at West Side High School, Murphy told
them that before the service he spent time making money
playing seven-card stud.
Once he left community college, he was drafted. ''I wasn't
smart enough to have fear about it,'' Murphy told the class.
''I didn't have a clue.'' Wise, who was in the infantry, didn't
want to go to war when he was drafted. His father offered
to help send him to Canada. ''I took the easy way out by
reporting for duty,'' he said. ''It takes a braver person.
I let it happen to me? I didn't have a plan. I gave up control.''
He warned the students: ''Please have a plan. Don't let others
make plans for you.'' The YaYas, staffed almost entirely by
high school students of color, work to make sure young
people avoid falling into military service because it seems
like the only option for advancement.
''It's either jail or the military,'' said Jeannel Bishop, a senior
at Brooklyn's South Shore High School and a YaYa staffer.
Many students at her school think enlistment is the best
they can accomplish. When Navy recruiters visited her school
recently, students were allowed to leave class to visit with them.
Bishop brought pamphlets and confronted the recruiters about
their assurances of tuition and training. She pointed out to them
and other students nearby that getting college money was
a much more complicated and uncertain process.
''I was taking over their whole show,'' Bishop said.
''[The recruiters] were amazed.'' Three students who had been
''pumped up about the military'' had second thoughts after
Bishop spoke. It took just a little information for them to have
doubts, she said. Besides speaking out in their own schools,
the YaYas hold workshops for teenagers and make presentations
to PTAs. They encourage students to post literature in the
guidance office and set up counter-recruitment tables next
to military recruiters. Most importantly, they want young people
to make an informed choice, Wagner said.
For instance, most students don't know that:
Two-thirds of recruits don't get any college money,
according to the Central Committee for Conscientious
Objectors. Most people in the military do not have time to attend
college while in the service.
To qualify for college money recruits have to pay
$100 per month for a year.
The unemployment rate for veterans is three times
higher than the national average.
People who sign up with the Delayed Entry Program
are told they can't change their minds, but getting
out is as simple as writing a letter.
The enlistment contract is for eight years.
There are other ways to finance college, like federal
financial aid, private scholarships, going to
community college or joining AmeriCorps.
But educating youth is not just about these facts and figures,
Wagner said. The war in Iraq makes their work much more urgent,
she said. ''They're still telling people you can go to Germany, Japan,
but the reality is the vast majority are going to Iraq,'' Wagner
said. ''You risk losing life and limb; you risk being a murderer.''
Giving young people a complete picture of enlisting rests on
the courage and initiative of activists, guidance
counselors and principals.
Often, the recruiters' sales pitches, brochures and posters
go unchallenged. Many educators fear principals will
retaliate if they speak out, Wagner said. Some schools are
reticent to limit the military's presence because they think
they will lose federal funding, she said. No Child Left Behind,
the educational policy touted by the Bush administration,
requires that recruiters and college representatives have
equal access to students. This is often misinterpreted as
unlimited access. Policy on recruiter access in New York
City public schools is determined school by school and
varies widely.
But some school districts have taken a more active role
and regulate recruiters' visits. In Madison, Wisconsin,
recruiters are only permitted to be in each high school
three days during the school year. Their policy states that
guidance counselors can distribute both military and
counter-recruitment information. There is also no uniform,
enforced policy in New York City governing opt-out forms,
which let students choose whether to release their personal
information to recruiters. Many principals, Wagner said,
are not even aware of the opt-out form. Some schools
give out the form, without any explanation and make
no effort to collect it from students, she said.
Wagner said some students think that signing the forms
will mean their information is not released to any institutions,
including colleges. Other students, often immigrants, fear
they will get in trouble for signing, she said. Currently, New
York City students are often only given the opt-out form
in the ninth grade, Wagner said. Because recruiters ask
for eleventh- and twelfth-grade lists, schools should send
out the forms each year, she said.
In Montclair, New Jersey, the high school sends a fact sheet
with the opt-out form. Tenth-graders who have not returned
the forms are called. If the form is still not turned in, it will
be passed out the following year. Activists have discussed
working on a New York City Council resolution to require
schools to collect the forms from every student. Members
of the YaYas and the New York Civil Liberties Union have
met with the Department of Education (DOE) to discuss
putting together an information packet for principals
about opt-out.
Wagner said the DOE was receptive. Calls to the DOE were
not returned. Local counter-recruiters also plan to make use
of the recent Third Circuit Court's ruling that Yale Law School,
which has a non-discrimination policy, can ban recruiters from
its campus without risk of losing federal funding, because the
military discriminates against gays.
However, without the help of the Department of Education
or the City Council, counter-recruiters' efforts can only go
so far. This frustration is evident in veteran Dayl Wise when
he said that giving presentations, classroom by classroom,
is like ''throwing grains of sand on the beach.''
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg may be reached at
elizabethwg@gmail.com .
(c) 2005 New York Amsterdam News
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin
to allow us to bind the letter into the appendix to the
sentencing memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth
your relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be
sentenced following a jury verdict of guilty on
serious charges: The remainder of your letter
should discuss whatever you believe to weigh
in favor of no jail time. If possible, you should
tell of an incident where she helped you out or
engaged in commendable community service.
Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of
the government's actions in bringing the charges;
the way in which the government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final
product to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present
it to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for
this purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have
the greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could cause
the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE
SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
Washington -- San Jose Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, citing privacy
concerns, has proposed a law that would make it easier for parents to
block military recruiters from gaining easy access to high school
students on or off campus.
School officials in cities such as San Francisco, which had banned
military recruiters from campuses for a decade, say the recruiting issue
has become heated as U.S. military casualties mount in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recent Defense Department reports say the military is having a tougher time
meeting recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, increasing the pressure
on recruiters -- armed with a $4 billion budget -- to sign up more high
school juniors and seniors.
The No Child Left Behind Act approved by Congress in 2001 requires school
districts to provide military recruiters with the same access to high schools
given to college or job recruiters.
Under the current law, parents must tell school officials they don't want
their child contacted by the military, at school or home. Otherwise, schools
are required to turn over students' names, addresses and phone numbers to
Pentagon recruiters. Honda wants to turn that around, and allow the military
to talk only to those students whose parents approve such contact.
"The authority for such contacts should be with the parents, not the schools,
the military or the federal government,'' said Honda, a former high
school teacher and administrator in Sunnyvale. "I'm not against them
recruiting on campus, but they should follow the protocol, and that protocol
was changed by Congress.''
Honda's proposal, like almost all bills introduced by members of the
House Democratic minority, faces a stiff challenge to even receive a hearing.
But he has some support.
In San Francisco, school board President Eric Mar strongly endorsed
Honda's proposal and said the district allowed military recruiters into high
schools only after the state Department of Education threatened to cut off its
federal money if it didn't comply with the new law. School districts in Santa
Cruz and Santa Monica received similar warnings.
"It's not like the military heavily targets San Francisco,'' Mar said.
"They know we are wary of military recruiters,'' because of widespread anti- war
sentiment in the city and because of the military's "don't ask, don't
tell'' policy that has led to the dismissal of gays and lesbians from the
military.
"We as a school district should have the say not to allow them in at all, '' he
contended. "There would be tremendous support in our district for what
Mr. Honda is doing.''
But Thomas Donnelly, military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute,
said Honda's proposal is "really stupid. It's going nowhere, and even if it did,
it would face a tough constitutional challenge.''
"Face it, war is a young person's game,'' said Donnelly, and the Congress
has a constitutional responsibility to raise a military and needs access to
young people. What's more, he said, federal aid to education gives Washington
the power to tell local school districts what they can do, if they want to
keep their federal money.
"Given that military service is still something of a civic responsibility,
it seems quite reasonable to me that public schools should give the military
access,'' he said.
Mar, however, said the school board is under pressure from parents to
allow groups to come on campus to counter the message of military recruiters.
"There are a lot of concerns about the privacy of children and their
families,'' said Julia Harumi Mass, a staff attorney at the Northern
California American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU has received complaints from parents, students, teachers and
principals about the current policy. It says the law provides that schools
have to give the military the same access it provides to other recruiters,
such as those from businesses or colleges. But reports from around the country
say that at some schools, military recruiters are a fixture, making regular
appearances.
"They target low-performing schools. At some schools like that, the
military recruiters have more of a relationship with students than the school
staff,'' said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil
Liberties Union.
She also said that for districts such as San Francisco, which bans other
groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the federal law
forces them to violate their own rules. "Many schools have anti-discrimination
policies that would otherwise prohibit the military, and the military is
perhaps the single largest violator of such policies,'' she said.
The issue is part of a larger debate over military recruiting that also
involves colleges that have denied access to recruiters because of the
Pentagon rules about gays and lesbians serving openly. The matter
ended up in court, where a federal appeals court overturned a rule
co-authored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, requiring colleges to
allow military recruiters on campus.
That ruling, in turn, led Congress to pass a nonbinding resolution by a
327-84 vote last month calling on the Justice Department to pursue
an appeal.
"It's not a violation of their free speech,'' Pombo said of the colleges
that don't want the military on campus. "You can't on the one hand,
say we are so upset about these policies we are not going to allow
military recruiters on our campus, but then we give them the use of
the money anyway."
In the floor debate on the resolution, House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay, R- Texas, said college policies blocking the military "are
obnoxious in times of peace, but they are simply intolerable in times
of war, and the equal access of our military recruiters to federally
funded colleges and universities must be protected.''
E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com .
Page A - 7
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
(c)2005 San Francisco Chronicle
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering nine
western states including California) just ruled to
uphold the death sentence of Stan "Tookie" Williams --
former "Crips" youth gang leader, and Nobel Peace &
Literature Prize nominee. This ruling means Tookie may
be executed this summer -- despite the racist sham of
his trial and the work he has done from jail to keep
kids off drugs and out of gangs.
Please join us to discuss the significance of the
Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit rulings -- and help us
launch the crucial and urgent effort to stop the
execution of Tookie Williams.
Wednesday March 16, 2005, 7:00 pm
Cesar Chavez Student Center, Room C-116
San Francisco State University
19th Avenue and Holloway
Sponsored by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Phone: (650)771-3537
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/
For more on Tookie's life and his case, see:
http://www.tookie.com/
You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different kind of war story.
Her battlefields were in the barracks and the mess hall.
The weapons were innuendoes and threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com
In society today nothing has been more widely accepted, used, and
promoted that the art of 'Doublespeak'. The damage from the practice
of this dark art has impacted America's standing in the world, caused
countless deaths abroad, including more than thirteen hundred American
troops and thousands of maimed, disfigured, and disabled. One prime
example of doublespeak was the justification for war in Iraq, based on
myths, lies, and deceit. Creative intelligence analysis used to bring an
unquestioning media and both sides of the aisle on board to support
the outrageous lies of the Bush Whitehouse. Cowardly journalists who
refused to speak up out of fear of being labeled 'unpatriotic', if you
don't support the war, 'you are aiding our enemies'. American media
owned by the very corporations who benefit from endless wars always,
always, in the name of profit. Lies are now considered 'misstatements'
and facts are akin to beauty, 'in the eyes of the beholder'.
A second group guilty of doublespeak and double standards is
organized religion. While claiming Separation of Church and State
many church leaders are walking the line in becoming the great
deceivers spoken about in the Bible, the inspired, written word of God.
While blindly heaping praise on a President who most certainly would be
prosecuted in a world court, many church leaders are turning a blind
eye to the lies and deceits this administration has used to justify their
assault on sovereign nations and the United States Constitution.
Criticizing the church is not pleasurable, but relevant to the puzzle
unfolding in America. Church organizations are using donated funds
for political purposes to support the agenda of the extreme right
based on social issues such as abortion, gay rights and prayer in schools.
While important issues, it is hypocritical to rail against abortion deaths
and turn a blind eye to a hundred thousand dead in Iraq, the needless
deaths of more than thirteen hundred American soldiers, and scores of
thousands of innocent Afghanistan civilians. Church leaders can picket
an abortion clinic but look the other way when missiles were used against
an Afghani wedding party. While America's economy is being literally
blown away in Iraq, homelessness, poverty, and child hunger are rampantly
rising here at home. By choosing their words carefully, ignoring the reality
of the corporate assault on other nations, and our own, the church has
engaged in doublespeak to justify its agenda. The church is promoting
a President and his party in acts of destruction and corruption of
unparalleled evil.
In the House of Labor, doublespeak has become the main speak and
nowhere else in society is deception used with such finesse. A current
example is the New Unity Partnership {NUP}, the gang of five International
Union Presidents involved in a coup to take control of the AFL-CIO.
If you listen to the rhetoric, the doublespeak, they will bring new direction
to an ailing movement; till you sift through bull. They will increase 'market
share' by 'downsizing' the number of affiliates from 66 to twenty. Sounds
kind of corporate doesn't it? It is! Business Unionism run from the top
by corrupt and greedy leadership is nothing new.
While this gang of five, Doug 'Cash' McCarron, Carpenters union,
Andy Stern, Service Employees, Wilhelm, Hotel Employees Union, Bruce
Raynor, UNITE, and Sullivan from the Laborers Union with the feeble
assistance of labor's notorious flip-flopper, James Hoffa, Teamsters, are
promising a resurrection for labor; read between the lines! As they embrace
the 'corporate mantra' it is unbelievable how closely they are aligned with
the employers to the detriment of ordinary workers. Nowhere in their spiel
is there any mention of democracy, member's rights, or involvement in
decision-making. They propose 'downsizing' the current federation from
66 unions to 20 or less. What say would members of the 66 unions have?
Absolutely none! There is nothing in their program committed to defending
current manufacturing jobs that have decent pay and benefits, after many
has been destroyed by NAFTA. Realistically, there is no fight coming from
any union in the AFL-CIO to defend current jobs, current benefits and
pay scales. Not one union today is fighting for its members and many
are aligning with employers to roll back the clock to 1950. Two tiered
wages, few benefits, and employee paid health-care are common in every
contract signed in the last decade. The United Auto Workers, Steelworkers,
Paperworkers, Grocery workers; you name it. While selling out rank and
file workers and pissing on the sacrifice of those who fought and died for
the union, 'mis-leadership' in every union is refusing to fight while
wallowing in absolute comfort corruption at the top. Bigger salaries
for the bureaucrats, the best health-care, multiple retirements and
lavish expense accounts are common.
Many in the house of labor today are Ivy Leaguers like Stern and Raynor,
who have never worked a day in their lives. Most labor leaders today are
scrambling to organize service industry jobs, low pay, no benefits, and
no hope of improving their lot in life. Organizing campaigns full of
doublespeak make promises that are never delivered, poverty level
jobs with just enough left to pay dues to support those at the top.
While promising to revitalize labor, not one of these self-embodied
saviors mentions the rampant corruption in their existing organizations.
Almost weekly, indictments are handed down against leaders of these
unions, but that will never be mentioned in Carpenter magazine or the
AFL-CIO news. If they have something new to offer, why can't they rid
themselves of the massive corruption in their own organizations?
In the unions wanting to downsize, leaders have stripped locals of
power, formed District councils, and moved decision-making further
from rank and file members. One ringleader has a patent on doublespeak.
McCarron of the Carpenters has systematically stripped the members
of involvement. Combining locals, forming District and Regional
Councils, looting local union treasuries to foot the bill, no one has
done more to mirror the Bastards of the Boardroom. Members have
been stripped of the right to elect who represents them, to vote on
contracts, and have no rights on the job. Contractors have the right
to hire and fire at will and it has become the job of Business Agents
to back the contractor. Contractors can change work hours on
a minutes notice, work conditions and operate as unsafe as he sees fit.
Any protest or resistance on work conditions or safety will be met with
termination. No grievance, no representation, no hope. Anyone who
dares challenge a contractor or the Business Agent will be dealt with.
Blackballing is alive and well in the UBC. Members are often starved
out or brought up on phony charges and sometimes removed from
membership.
While McCarron uses The Carpenter magazine to pump up the
rhetoric for his 're-organization' of the UBC, his forked tongue often
spits out terms like 'competitiveness', 'market share', and 'cooperation'
with 'our friends', union contractors. At the National Erectors
Association meeting in Hawaii he told his 'Friends', 'It is our job
to know what the contractors need and to give it to them'. Clearly,
UBC members no longer matter. McCarron has allied himself with
George Bush, labor's number one enemy, flying around on Air
Force One and inviting Bush to the UBC training Center in Las Vegas.
In a carefully worded article in The Carpenter, McCarron told members
the UBC would not endorse either party in the national elections in
spite of the fact that an overwhelming number of locals and councils
supported the Democrats. In doublespeak he told the members that
he favored their right to choose whom they voted for. Amazingly
enough, McCarron's sudden penchant for democracy does not
extend inside the UBC. Bush's friendship and that of Elaine Chao,
Secretary of labor, does have its advantages as he continues to
illegally rob his members of democracy.
George Dubbya said the Carpenters Union is my kind of union.
Did he mean the fact it is a dictatorship, or just corrupt enough
he can control it?
In spite of McCarron's speeches on union values, and his laughable
articles in Carpenter magazine, he has created the best example
of a company union in modern times. Many see his efforts, me
included, as building a huge Rat Contractor organization willing
to raid the work of other unions. A rat Manpower with a union
logo, UBC Inc.
McCarron and his sheep took the UBC out of the AFL-CIO over
two years ago without a vote of the membership and in fact, without
the members even knowing it. In perfect doublespeak, McCarron
and his henchmen laid claim to the excuse that organizing was the
key issue. Copies of letters between John Sweeney and McCarron
tell a different story. McCarron's main request was for the
AFL-CIO to suspend the articles of the AFL-CIO Constitution
governing jurisdiction. Those rules prevent one union from
raiding another. In Hawaii McCarron told his corporate playmates
that when it comes to deciding work, it is the contractor's jobs,
let them decide.
McCarron continues to boast of UBC organizing efforts but once
again, double speak, smoke and mirrors. The UBC has managed
to drag into the UBC, employees from rat contractors but without
organizing the contractors and the work. Thousands of Millwrights
and Carpenters are literally being starved out and many of those
newly organized return to the rat contractors where there is work.
What little work is left is controlled by appointed Business Agents
who make sure nepotism and cronyism rules the out of work lists.
In the union movement, doublespeak is the ultimate betrayal.
Unions are supposed to be about worker solidarity, a brotherhood;
the social diocese of the working class. When leaders betray their
own class, lie for personal power and gain, they become lower than
the employing class we have every right to despise. If business
unions are brotherhoods, they are incestuous relationships. Lies,
deceit, and doublespeak are all anti-union traits. They represent
an evil far more damaging than anything an employer can conjure up.
There was another time in history when the same organizations
were co-opted. When the media refused to ask the hard questions;
when both sides of the aisle fell into servitude, when the unions
became servants of the corporate masters and the church fell into
line behind a leader controlled by powerful industrialists, just prior
to World War Two. Fascism took control and Hitler rose to power
forming 'Homeland Security' to subvert the rights of German citizens.
Deceit and carefully crafted doublespeak masked the horror that
lay ahead. Are we headed down that road again?
Mike Griffin
Decatur IL
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Sunday, March 06, 2005
NO MILITARY IN OUR SCHOOLS AND OTHER NEWS
GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
The Board will entertain
a motion to allow counter-recruitment
at the schools to counteract military presence.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to support cutting
all ties with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing
memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your relationship
to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced following
a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges: The remainder of your
letter should discuss whatever you believe to weigh in favor of
no jail time. If possible, you should tell of an incident where
she helped you out or engaged in commendable community
service. Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of the government's
actions in bringing the charges; the way in which the
government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you forward
your letter me so that the lawyers can present it to Judge Koeltl
with the other letters being written for this purpose. This is
the manner in which letters will have the greatest impact.
If they are sent directly to the Judge's chambers, they may
have less of an impact and could cause the judge
a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
Recently, most students at the University of Vermont (UVM) in
Burlington received an email with the heading ARMY PAYS OFF
STUDENT LOANS in their university email box. The general message
of the mass mailing was that if a student was nearing graduation
and wondering how they were going to pay off the massive debt
today's US college students incur, they should join the army. In
essence, this email was a college student's version of the poverty
draft that entraps so many working class and poor young people
into enlisting in the service. The sender was a military recruiter
working out of the US Army recruitment office in the Burlington
suburb of Williston. Given that the university has a very clear
policy forbidding these types of solicitations on their email servers
one wonders how the recruiting office was able to obtain the
address list. The university administration has been reticent
when asked this question by various faculty, students, and parents.
It is fair to assume, however, that the email list was released to
the recruiter under the compliance sections of the so-called
Solomon Amendment. For those unfamiliar with this legislation,
it essentially forbids Department of Defense (DOD) funding of
schools unless those schools provide military representatives
access to their students for recruiting purposes. It is this
same law that enables military recruiters to set up shop in high
schools across the US and to call students at their homes
attempting to entice them into joining the military.
At UVM, this email was met with anger and questions, and
probably even a few inquiries. The anger is now being organized
into a drive to keep military recruiters off the university campus
and out of the students' private communications. There is
a petition campaign underway that demands that no recruiters
for the regular military or the Vermont National Guard be allowed
recruit on campus. Despite this, recruiters do show up
unannounced on campus. One assumes that their strategy is
designed to prevent student organizers from organizing
protests against the recruiters' presence. In addition, there
is organizing underway to organize some kind of response
to the military and Guard's presence at the University's
Spring Career Day on March 8th. (This career day is also
the host to recruiters from various corporations from the
war industry-General Dynamics foremost among them)
Here in Vermont, the Guard recruitment hits close to home,
since the state ranks near the top in the number of deaths
per capita in Iraq. The likelihood of the university denying
these recruiters access is slim, especially in light of the
mass email, yet the students involved continue on
undaunted. If the petition campaign fails to produce
the results they desire, there will likely be some kind
of protest.
Other college campuses have already experienced such
protests. On January 20, 2005, several hundred students
at Seattle Central Community College chased army
recruiters from their spot in the Student center. On
February 23, campus police arrested a woman student
during a picket in front of the military's recruitment table
at a job fair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A couple days before that, several dozen students
chased military recruiters off campus at Southern
Connecticut State University (SCSU). In September 2004,
more than a hundred students protested the presence
of military recruiters at the University of Pennsylvania.
On February 22, 2005 several dozen students picketed
recruiters at the University of Illinois campus in Chicago.
At the USC Law School, recruiters were met with pickets
and leafleters demanding that they leave, and at UC Berkeley,
a couple dozen students protested the presence of
a military recruiter table there. These are but a few of
the dozens of protests that have taken place.
Meanwhile, in high schools across the US, more students
and their parents seem to be opting out of taking the
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB),
a test given to high school juniors as a method of targeting
potential recruits. It is an admissions and placement test
for the US military. All persons enlisting in the US military
are required to take the ASVAB. Although the military does
not usually start turning up the pressure to join the military
until students reach their senior year, about 14,000 high
schools nationwide give this test to juniors. A recent piece
in the Boston Globe detailed the troubles one recruiting
office in New Hampshire is facing this year. According
to ASVAB testing coordinator at the Military Entrance
Processing Station in Boston, which handles enlistment
processing for Rhode Island, much of New Hampshire
and parts of Massachusetts, many parents are writing
notes excusing their kids from taking the test. At one high
school in Nashua, NH, school administrators opted out of
even administering the test this year. This is not an isolated
case either; of the thirty schools in the Boston region that
administered the test in 2004, only nineteen signed up
to do so this year. One wonders how long it will be before
the military makes the test mandatory for graduation.
Campus antiwar groups that formed in the past three years
have called most of the university and college protests.
In addition, lesbian and gay organizations and individuals
have joined in because of their opposition to the military's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality. Of course,
many of the latter group also opposes the war in Iraq.
According to a federal appeals court ruling made in
November 2004, the essentially anti-gay policies of the
military do allow universities to deny its recruiter's access
to their students and property. On top of that ruling,
another federal judge in Connecticut found that the
government unconstitutionally applied the Solomon
Amendment after Yale Law School faculty sued Donald
Rumsfeld when he attempted to deny federal funds to
Yale because it prevented military recruitment on its
campus. Yale denied the recruiters access because of
their discriminatory policies against gays and lesbians.
While this strategy is not necessarily the best political
strategy possible to chase recruiters off campus, it is
a legal tool counter-recruitment activists should utilize
while it exists. In my mind, the best political strategy
is one that challenges the imperial policies of the US and
calls into question not just the military's discriminatory
recruitment policies, but also the role of the military itself.
A strategy based on this premise would not only diminish
the military's visibility, it would also challenge young people
(and the rest of us) to examine for whom and what the
military really fights. Additionally, it would allow the
organizers of these campaigns to include defense
contractors in their campaign. After all, it is these
corporations that truly need young men and women
to go to war.
A list of links providing information and avenues of action
around this issue can be found here:
www.groups.yahoo.com/groups/militaryrecruitment/links
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
Video From Falluja
I am proud to announce the availability of rare video footage from
inside Falluja. This documentary was created by Dr. Hamodi Jassim, an
Iraqi film-maker who made this film working on his own resources in his
war-torn country.
If you are interested in learning more of the truth behind the siege of
Falluja, I highly encourage you to purchase this video to learn more-as
well as to help support Iraqi independent journalism.
Testimonies From Falluja
Testimonies From Falluja - An Al Qitaf Artistic Production
PepperSpray Productions announces a new 33 min video produced in Iraq by
independent Iraqi videographers. Dahr Jamail does the English voice-over
and is assisting with the video's dissemination in the US. "Testimonies
From Falluja" contains photos and footage from the US assault on
Falluja, as well as interviews with Iraqi survivors and refugees.
The US has obstructed - and continues to obstruct - journalists from
documenting the horror that was and is Falluja. This video is unique in
that it focuses on Falluja, that it was made by a team of independent
Iraqi videographers, and that we are able to see it in the US.
The DVD is available for $10 on the PepperSpray Productions website.
Funds generated by this video will support further independent reporting
from Iraq.
Buy the video
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/
to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com
and write unsubscribe in the subject or the body of the email.
(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and
international copyright law. If you would like to reprint
Dahr's Dispatches on the web, you need to include this
copyright notice and a prominent link to the
DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images
and text including, but not limited to, reproduction, use
on another website, copying and printing requires the
permission of Dahr Jamail. Of course, feel free to forward
Dahr's dispatches via email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
There are two important meetings coming up:
Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
The Board will entertain
a motion to allow counter-recruitment
at the schools to counteract military presence.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to support cutting
all ties with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing
memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your relationship
to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced following
a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges: The remainder of your
letter should discuss whatever you believe to weigh in favor of
no jail time. If possible, you should tell of an incident where
she helped you out or engaged in commendable community
service. Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of the government's
actions in bringing the charges; the way in which the
government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you forward
your letter me so that the lawyers can present it to Judge Koeltl
with the other letters being written for this purpose. This is
the manner in which letters will have the greatest impact.
If they are sent directly to the Judge's chambers, they may
have less of an impact and could cause the judge
a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
Recently, most students at the University of Vermont (UVM) in
Burlington received an email with the heading ARMY PAYS OFF
STUDENT LOANS in their university email box. The general message
of the mass mailing was that if a student was nearing graduation
and wondering how they were going to pay off the massive debt
today's US college students incur, they should join the army. In
essence, this email was a college student's version of the poverty
draft that entraps so many working class and poor young people
into enlisting in the service. The sender was a military recruiter
working out of the US Army recruitment office in the Burlington
suburb of Williston. Given that the university has a very clear
policy forbidding these types of solicitations on their email servers
one wonders how the recruiting office was able to obtain the
address list. The university administration has been reticent
when asked this question by various faculty, students, and parents.
It is fair to assume, however, that the email list was released to
the recruiter under the compliance sections of the so-called
Solomon Amendment. For those unfamiliar with this legislation,
it essentially forbids Department of Defense (DOD) funding of
schools unless those schools provide military representatives
access to their students for recruiting purposes. It is this
same law that enables military recruiters to set up shop in high
schools across the US and to call students at their homes
attempting to entice them into joining the military.
At UVM, this email was met with anger and questions, and
probably even a few inquiries. The anger is now being organized
into a drive to keep military recruiters off the university campus
and out of the students' private communications. There is
a petition campaign underway that demands that no recruiters
for the regular military or the Vermont National Guard be allowed
recruit on campus. Despite this, recruiters do show up
unannounced on campus. One assumes that their strategy is
designed to prevent student organizers from organizing
protests against the recruiters' presence. In addition, there
is organizing underway to organize some kind of response
to the military and Guard's presence at the University's
Spring Career Day on March 8th. (This career day is also
the host to recruiters from various corporations from the
war industry-General Dynamics foremost among them)
Here in Vermont, the Guard recruitment hits close to home,
since the state ranks near the top in the number of deaths
per capita in Iraq. The likelihood of the university denying
these recruiters access is slim, especially in light of the
mass email, yet the students involved continue on
undaunted. If the petition campaign fails to produce
the results they desire, there will likely be some kind
of protest.
Other college campuses have already experienced such
protests. On January 20, 2005, several hundred students
at Seattle Central Community College chased army
recruiters from their spot in the Student center. On
February 23, campus police arrested a woman student
during a picket in front of the military's recruitment table
at a job fair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A couple days before that, several dozen students
chased military recruiters off campus at Southern
Connecticut State University (SCSU). In September 2004,
more than a hundred students protested the presence
of military recruiters at the University of Pennsylvania.
On February 22, 2005 several dozen students picketed
recruiters at the University of Illinois campus in Chicago.
At the USC Law School, recruiters were met with pickets
and leafleters demanding that they leave, and at UC Berkeley,
a couple dozen students protested the presence of
a military recruiter table there. These are but a few of
the dozens of protests that have taken place.
Meanwhile, in high schools across the US, more students
and their parents seem to be opting out of taking the
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB),
a test given to high school juniors as a method of targeting
potential recruits. It is an admissions and placement test
for the US military. All persons enlisting in the US military
are required to take the ASVAB. Although the military does
not usually start turning up the pressure to join the military
until students reach their senior year, about 14,000 high
schools nationwide give this test to juniors. A recent piece
in the Boston Globe detailed the troubles one recruiting
office in New Hampshire is facing this year. According
to ASVAB testing coordinator at the Military Entrance
Processing Station in Boston, which handles enlistment
processing for Rhode Island, much of New Hampshire
and parts of Massachusetts, many parents are writing
notes excusing their kids from taking the test. At one high
school in Nashua, NH, school administrators opted out of
even administering the test this year. This is not an isolated
case either; of the thirty schools in the Boston region that
administered the test in 2004, only nineteen signed up
to do so this year. One wonders how long it will be before
the military makes the test mandatory for graduation.
Campus antiwar groups that formed in the past three years
have called most of the university and college protests.
In addition, lesbian and gay organizations and individuals
have joined in because of their opposition to the military's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality. Of course,
many of the latter group also opposes the war in Iraq.
According to a federal appeals court ruling made in
November 2004, the essentially anti-gay policies of the
military do allow universities to deny its recruiter's access
to their students and property. On top of that ruling,
another federal judge in Connecticut found that the
government unconstitutionally applied the Solomon
Amendment after Yale Law School faculty sued Donald
Rumsfeld when he attempted to deny federal funds to
Yale because it prevented military recruitment on its
campus. Yale denied the recruiters access because of
their discriminatory policies against gays and lesbians.
While this strategy is not necessarily the best political
strategy possible to chase recruiters off campus, it is
a legal tool counter-recruitment activists should utilize
while it exists. In my mind, the best political strategy
is one that challenges the imperial policies of the US and
calls into question not just the military's discriminatory
recruitment policies, but also the role of the military itself.
A strategy based on this premise would not only diminish
the military's visibility, it would also challenge young people
(and the rest of us) to examine for whom and what the
military really fights. Additionally, it would allow the
organizers of these campaigns to include defense
contractors in their campaign. After all, it is these
corporations that truly need young men and women
to go to war.
A list of links providing information and avenues of action
around this issue can be found here:
www.groups.yahoo.com/groups/militaryrecruitment/links
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5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
Video From Falluja
I am proud to announce the availability of rare video footage from
inside Falluja. This documentary was created by Dr. Hamodi Jassim, an
Iraqi film-maker who made this film working on his own resources in his
war-torn country.
If you are interested in learning more of the truth behind the siege of
Falluja, I highly encourage you to purchase this video to learn more-as
well as to help support Iraqi independent journalism.
Testimonies From Falluja
Testimonies From Falluja - An Al Qitaf Artistic Production
PepperSpray Productions announces a new 33 min video produced in Iraq by
independent Iraqi videographers. Dahr Jamail does the English voice-over
and is assisting with the video's dissemination in the US. "Testimonies
From Falluja" contains photos and footage from the US assault on
Falluja, as well as interviews with Iraqi survivors and refugees.
The US has obstructed - and continues to obstruct - journalists from
documenting the horror that was and is Falluja. This video is unique in
that it focuses on Falluja, that it was made by a team of independent
Iraqi videographers, and that we are able to see it in the US.
The DVD is available for $10 on the PepperSpray Productions website.
Funds generated by this video will support further independent reporting
from Iraq.
Buy the video
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