Students Denounce Pentagon Surveillance of of Counter-Recruitment Activities

From the Campus Antiwar Network:

SANTA CRUZ, CA – According to a document obtained by
NBC News, the Pentagon has been spying on 1,500
“suspicious incidents,” including anti-war and
counter-recruitment meetings and actions throughout
the nation over the past 10-month period. Among the
first pages of more than 400 released, 10 college
anti-war protests were listed, including UC Santa Cruz
Students Against War (SAW)’s counter-recruitment
protest of April 5, 2005, which was the only one to be
labeled both credible and a “threat.”

Despite having dealt with both undercover police and
university agents involved in the acts of surveillance
and repression, the news came as a little shock to
many SAW members, reaffirming long-held beliefs about
the nature of the U.S. military. 3rd year student Jen
Low noted the hypocrisy of the government’s messaging,
reminding us that, "the notion of the Pentagon spying
on peaceful protesters is a major threat to the
freedoms that they claim to protect."

While the Department of Defense has not commented on
the allegations, student activists assert that the
rising unpopularity of the Iraq War and the inability
of military recruiters to meet their quotas make the
counter-recruitment movement a strong candidate for
repression by a “homeland security” apparatus run
amok.

This repression does not end with the surveillance
from the Federal government. In fact, local officials
and college campuses have also been monitoring and
repressing anti-war and counter-recruitment
activities. In August, community members of the
Pennsylvania Organizing Group (POG) peacefully
protesting at a military recruiting center near the
University of Pittsburg were violently attacked by
police. Most recently, at Hampton University in
Virginia, students disseminating information against
military recruiters on campus were threatened with
expulsion. Other schools that have witnessed incidents
of extreme repression against student activists
include the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Kent
State, Harold Washington College, Holyoke Community
College, George Mason University, San Francisco State
University, City College of New York, and Seattle
Central Community College.

UC Santa Cruz is widely known to have one of the
largest antiwar and counter-recruitment movements in
the country. On April 5, 2005 over 300 students
marched into a campus job fair, occupying the building
and holding a teach-in until all military recruiters
left. On October 18, 2005, over 200 students rallied
outside of another job fair, while two dozen UCSC
students blocked recruiters on the inside by engaging
in a ‘Queer Kiss-In’ to protest discriminatory
military recruitment.

Protests tied to Supreme Court case

December 6 is a national counter-recruitment day of action connected to the Supreme Court’s hearing of FAIR v Rumsfeld. The case will determine the constitutionality of the "Solomon Amendment" that allows the federal government to cut off funds to schools that bar military recruitment on their campuses.

CAN has gathered an impressive list of endorsers for its call to action, inlcuding Cindy Sheehan, Howard Zinn, Dahr Jamail, war resisters Pablo Paredes and Camilo Mejia, and the entire Berkeley, CA, city council. In New York, the plan is to protest at the military recruiting station next to the Borough of Manhattan Community College (199 Chamber St.) at noon.

“Bring in 10 people and you can earn $20,000″

From USA Today:

The Army National Guard, battling a falloff in recruiting, is offering troops a finder’s fee for lining up new soldiers. The Guard Recruiter Assistant Program, launched this week in five states, offers National Guard members $1,000 for enlisting a recruit and another $1,000 when the prospect shows up for basic training. “Bring in 10 people and you can earn $20,000,” says Lt. Col. Mike Jones, deputy division chief for recruiting and retention at the National Guard Bureau.

Reports on the November 16 Protest in Brooklyn

At least in New York City, the November 16 protests against military recruitment seem to have achieved their goal. The shuttered gates at the Flatbush Avenue recruiting stations suggested that the military is willing to cut and run from at least some battles.

Read a report on NYC Indymedia and Sarah Ferguson’s article from the Village Voice. (Photo by Fred Askew.)

Vanity Fair: The Recruiter’s War

I’ve been xeroxing and faxing this article for weeks. Either because I missed it or because they don’t post it until the issue is off the newsstands, I’ve only just found this September 2005 Vanity Fair article, The Recruiters’ War. It doesn’t have much to say about counter-recruiting, but it makes it very clear just how thin the recruiters are stretched and how far they will go to satisfy their superiors’ demands.

Counter-Recruitment CD

Just got this in the inbox…

CALLING ALL REVOLUTIONARY RECORDING ARTISTS

Spoken Word Poets
Rappers/Hip hop artists
Singers
Reggae/Reggaeton artist

Use Your Voice to Say No to the U.S Military and its recruitment of our youth!!!!!

El Puente Center for Peace & Justice in Bushwick is producing a CD compilation of music and spoken word demanding an end to U.S military expansion.

The CD will be used to educate youth about the destructive impact of U.S militarization on our community and abroad.

Submission Details:
All music and spoken word submissions must be good quality on CD. Include you name, contact information, and title of the song.

Deadline is December 9th . A submission does not guarantee spot on the compilation.

For more information contact Piper Anderson at 718-452-0404 or via e-mail piperanderson@gmail.com

Not Your Soldier Day of Action

A press release from the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:            
November 17, 2005   

Contact:
Lovella Calica, 989-621-1934
Emily Pollack, 908-499-1350                        

Not Your Soldier Day of Action erupts on over 40 campuses nationwide Students across the country to protest military recruitment in schools, call for end of war on Iraq

New York, NY – With a growing majority of the American public opposing the war on Iraq and President George Bush’s approval rating hitting an all time low, students and young people are joining forces with veterans, military families, clergy, and others for a national day of protest on International Students Day, November 17.

The Not Your Soldier Day of Action is the first nationally coordinated mobilization by young people against military recruitment in our schools. From New York to Los Angeles, Milwaukee to Austin, students are holding rallies, teach-ins, marches and walk outs with the theme of "Books Not
Bombs" to protest military recruitment practices and the war on Iraq. There will also be events in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Colombia. 

"This war is having a devastating impact on our generation and our education," said Emily Pollack, a student at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "The occupation is costing $7 billion per month while the House of Representatives votes next week on the largest cut to student loans in the history of these federal programs, over $14 billion!" The Not Your Soldier Day of Action will amplify the voices of the millennium generation who are saying no military recruiters in schools. At Hicksville High School in New York students will walkout during lunch.  Washington, DC- area students will reach rush-hour federal employees with the message of "Stop the Assault on Youth."  On Friday, in Colorado Springs, CO, Iraq Veterans Against the War will march to a recruiting center. "This day of action is calling attention to the predatory recruitment of low-income youth and youth of color by the US military," said Camilo Mejia, a conscientious objector and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.  "While it is people like me, who want job training and education, who have risked our lives in Iraq, it is Bush’s
cronies at Bechtel and Halliburton who profit every day from our service in this unfounded war."

A list of Not Your Soldier Day of Action events is online at: http://www.nyspc.net.  The Not Your Soldier Day of Action is organized by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) and the Not Your Soldier Project. NYSPC is organizing around the country to take back our future and build the Books Not Bombs agenda for youth and students.

College Not Combat in SF

The November 8th elections brought another 4 years of Republican Michael Bloomberg to New Yorkers.  Across the country, San Francisco voters struck a blow against military recruiting.  Voters there approved a ballot measure urging the city’s "public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters."  According to the Associated Press:

Measure I, dubbed "College Not Combat," opposes the presence of military recruiters at public high schools and colleges. However, it would not ban the armed forces from seeking enlistees at city campuses, since that would put schools at risk of losing federal funding.

Instead, Proposition I encourages city officials and university administrators to exclude recruiters and create scholarships and training programs that would reduce the military’s appeal to young adults.

"We now have the moral weight of the city behind us, and it’s definitely a valuable asset to have in our corner," said Bob Matthews, a College Not Combat activist, adding that the victory would help put pressure on the government to someday institute an actual ban on campus military recruiting.

USCS Students Confront Recruiters

Students at the University of California Santa Cruz disrupted Marine recruitment at a campus job fair on October 18. The protest was organized by Students Against War. A "queer kiss-in" protesting the military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy effectively blocked the Marines’ access to the students at the fair. It was the first return of recruiters to UCSC since students kicked them off campus in April.

The Indypendent: New Issue Out Now on Counter-Recruitment

Download PDF of new issue.