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.
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, January-March 2012
— Rodrigo de la Rosa
Throughout history, human lives have been improved by technology in many ways. Tools facilitated hunting, the wheel increased the speed of travel, and the industrial revolution greatly increased the production of goods. Thanks to globalization, we now have ease of communication throughout the world via cell phones, computers and the Internet. Because of these desirable improvements, we tend to believe that more technology makes a country superior to others — for example, a first-world country has more advanced technology than third-world countries. No matter where we live, people enjoy the benefits that technology has brought us. But while we look at technology in a positive manner, we should also take into consideration some negative ways in which it has been employed.
One of these is the increasingly widespread use of automated machinery. It was first primarily used for manufacturing such products as cloth, automobiles, washing machines and sealing products. It has greatly increased the efficiency of production and has saved money for companies because fewer workers are needed. As our technology expands, automated machinery has spread into other sectors such as educational institutions, hospitals and the military. Automated warfare is now a key component of the U.S. military, with its new line of unmanned war machines like the Predator, armed with hellfire missiles, or the ATVs that are loaded with heavy-duty firearms and missile launchers.
- Rick Jahnkow
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Counter-recruitment and School Demilitarization Activism: From Past Victories to the Challenges Ahead
From Draft NOtices, January-March 2012
— Rick Jahnkow
Counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work in the U.S. has gone through several cycles of expansion and contraction during the last few decades. The first expansion was during the early 1980s when it was supported by a small number of national organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), War Resisters League, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) and National Lawyers Guild. Most grassroots activities at the time were carried out by chapters of these organizations and a number of independent community peace groups (including COMD and, eventually, Project YANO).
Many counter-recruitment organizers in the 1980s came from the Vietnam-era anti-draft movement, so it was common for them to include draft counseling information as they also worked to counter the presence of military recruiters in schools. This dual emphasis was encouraged by the return of Selective Service registration in 1980 and the government’s various efforts to coerce young men into compliance. Frequently, organizers saw no distinction between the issues of recruiting and Selective Service registration, which had both positive and negative consequences. It was positive in the sense that fear of a possible return to the draft fueled more youth-focused organizing and helped increase awareness of recruiting and militarism in schools. But on the negative side, the frequent focus on Selective Service kept many activists from fully comprehending that economics had become the primary factor driving the militarization of young people, and that draft counseling was not an effective approach to the problem. Another negative consequence was that as concern about conscription diminished in the late 1980s, the overall level of counter-recruitment work also fell considerably.
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:
