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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
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: ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 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. 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 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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