From Draft NOtices, April-June 2012
— Rodrigo de la Rosa
The Latino/a population enlisted in the United States military is rapidly increasing and is projected to be as much as 22.3% of the armed forces by 2020. Without a doubt as the population of Latinos and Latinas increases in the U.S. the amount of Latino/Latina military personnel will do so as well. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that in 2001 there were 109,487 enlisted soldiers who classified themselves as Hispanics, with 14% of them enlisted in the Marine Corps.
The Pew Hispanic Center published statistics that exposed the risk Hispanics take when enlisting in the military. From 2001 to 2009, during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the death toll of Hispanic military personnel was 450, all of whom had family members, loved ones and people who cared for them. It is very important to remember that when these individuals pass away, it has a significant impact on the people to whom they were connected back home. The majority of our Latino/Latina or Hispanic brothers and sisters have been used as cannon fodder by the U.S. military. Despite the fact that they are aggressively recruited by the military, only a miniscule number of them have high-ranking positions as officers.
It is also important to realize and recognize that the Latino/Latina population has been fighting in U.S. wars for more than 150 years. They have fought in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. They have played a crucial role in the development of what the U.S. is today, whether it be good or bad. Because few people are aware of these facts, a monument memorializing these soldiers will be erected in historic Chicano Park in the Logan Heights community of San Diego.
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, April-June 2012
The top 100 global sellers of arms (including sales of military services) maintained their upward trend in 2010, although the increase of one percent was slower than in 2009. This is according to a February 27, 2012, news release from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which monitors the arms industry and maintains several databases on military spending and related issues.
Total sales of the top 100 companies in 2010 reached $411.1 billion. Sales by the 44 U.S. companies in the top 100 accounted for 60 percent of all arms sales. Thirty companies based in Western Europe accounted for a further 29 percent.
From Draft NOtices, January-March 2012
— Stephanie Jennings
“We are unstoppable — another world is possible!” This and other hopeful chants rise up in the midst of a small Occupy rally in San Diego. Like other cities, San Diego has gone through a great deal of pain, both real and imagined, as the fledgling Occupy movement swells and shrinks with the changing tides. Our local Occupy site has reverted from a thriving community of tents, a full kitchen, a library, medic and comfort tent, and an art center, back to the now power-washed cement corporate center our city so loves. Still, these dogged activists maintain their presence against daunting odds. San Diego activists have braved police crackdowns with pepper spray and batons, 2 a.m. raids, pouring rain and windstorms, and general disillusionment followed by re-energized actions that bring out the crowds. San Diego has the sixth largest number of arrests of Occupy activists in the country — thanks to a mayor determined to eradicate any hint of dissent no matter the cost to taxpayers. Occupy San Diego has produced everything from dedicated hunger strikers to infiltrators. We’ve been arrested for registering voters and for leaving a backpack on the sidewalk.
It was a banner year for political activism — in 2011 we were inspired by the Arab Spring, Europe’s ongoing strikes, South American student protests, the emergence of the Occupy movement, and other political shifts on a global scale. For many of us this is a glorious moment, perhaps the one that we have waited for all our lives. But reality quickly sets in because there is still much work ahead of us. The Occupy movement, like many that have gone before it, has constantly teetered on the edge with struggles of identity, message, strategy, and other huge obstacles. Discussions among activists (some of them heated) are daily and even hourly occurrences. Topics range from logistical complaints about space, property and, of course, the cops to strategy and tactics.
As a long-time counter-militarism activist, I first participated at the Washington DC Occupy, which was built around the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. I wanted to share this with my 13-year-old daughter, and it was a powerful event. We heard speakers like Ted Rall, Margaret Flowers and Chris Hedges, who gave a strong anti-imperialist and anti-war message. For me, this is an essential principle for Occupy. When I returned to San Diego and checked into the local activity, I was dismayed, yet sadly not surprised. In a community that is victim to a heavy military culture, many of our activists repeat military propaganda from time to time. We struggle with being fully supportive of homeless vets who have joined the Occupy San Diego movement while challenging the rhetoric of the “warrior hero.” The evidence of the overwhelming power of militarism in this country is all around us.
Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:
