The
Campus Antiwar Network Conference in Berkeley was awesome...There were more than 600 students, from different states across country....some also from New York and the East coast. There were rumors Cindy Sheehan was going to be there..but forget her.
Today I understood more the connections between how the "war machine" is only as good as the government and military recruiters can persuade individuals to join it. And that we all should be the ones supporting and encouraging students (especially High School students) to go to college and find a career...just NOT a career which involves the military and killing others.
After the workshops there was a Japanese teacher from East L.A. who gave one of the most inspiring talks. She talked about how her district was recently the MOST popular place from military recruiteres to find new recruits. More than 90% of the school population was Latino. Eventually a small group of just five teachers began meeting together and organized a teach-in. They attracted dozens more teachers which also brought in the support of more students who began protesting the military on their high school turf. Awesome =]. Peter Camejo, 2004 green party vice-presidential running mate with Ralph Nader, and green party candidate for governor in California also spoke. He told us his story about he first got arrested and expelled in Berkeley for organizing counter-recruitment against the military during Vietnam. And of course how twisted our country is with a two party system...or "dictatorship" as he likes to say. I wish they would at least be allowed to be a part of the presidential debates...Anyways.
Did you know that military recruiters are not bound to their word, according to the fine print? So basically, yea they can lie. You aren't guaranteed the promised benefits and stable salary after your stay. Did you know that the death toll for U.S. soldiers in Iraq is reaching 2000? Did you know according to Iraq Body Count, at least 26,661 Iraqis have died since the invasion? Do you know more than 90% of women in the military report sexual harassment? Did you know that after Hurricane Katrina victims moved into the Astrodome, military recruiters tried to recruit among the victims? Picture that.
Did you know that every nuclear weapon in the nuclear arsenal was designed by the University of California system? I learned how our schools have been increasingly militarized...so that so many careers ultimately end up contributing somehow to the military industrial complex...because so much work has military applications. People see no alternatives to jobs, or don't wish to be paid less, so they end up working for companies which support the military. Also, half of the money our U.C. universities get from research comes from the military...so professors end up supporting these roles...which convinces students to support them too. In the same sense, as we all know the poor and least priveleged in society are the ones who fight our wars. The role of education, the role of our lives becomes directed towards the military. We are lured in by material benefits and the perception that there are few better options. We are convinced that ethical questions should be set aside and that there are more important things like dedicating your life to the government. This is why "counter-recruitment" to the military is so important. Those who join the military should be doing so for the right reasons...and not to support the War in Iraq.
I remember how in high school...a representative from the navy gave a presentation to one of my classes and passed around a sign up sheet. I naively signed my name up. Afterwards I kept getting freaking mail from the army and navy...and every once in a while I would still get a phone call from a rep from the navy. The tone of his voice would always be really friendly and warm as if we were buddies or something and he would keep inquiring whether I would like to chat with him more. My dad had to keep telling him over and over that I wasn't interested. =I. Annoying! I'm glad that a growing focus from anti-war college students, has been planning on how to teach high-school students to resist the military on their campuses, because that's the most popular place for them to go to.
questions raised by someone there:
"What if they gave a war and nobody came?"
"What if they funded a weapons program but nobody applied for a job?"
Think globally, act locally