04 February 2015 / Kate Connell / Truth in Recruitment - 

In the spring of 2014, I went to observe a career day at Santa Barbara High School, where my son is enrolled. There were a variety of organizations with representatives and literature tables. The Marines and the Navy recruiters were also there. They were soliciting student contact information. The Marine’s “survey” form included questions such as, “Did you know that the Marine Corps has a $150,000 scholarship?” and “Did you know that the qualifications for the Marine Corps are higher than the standards of UC Santa Barbara?” I told them that under the school’s existing recruiting protocol they were not allowed to get student information directly from students, and that they had to go through the Santa Barbara Unified School District office.

I turned around and saw the school's career counselor and approached him, reminding him about the school's recruiter protocol. He didn’t recall that part of the protocol and said he would talk to the military recruiters about it. I asked, “What about the information they have already gathered from students?” I went back to the Marine recruiters and repeated that they were not allowed to solicit student information. I picked up the surveys they had collected and said that I was going to tear them up and throw them out. They consented, so I ripped them up.

I went to the Navy recruiters’ table and told them the same thing. They had a binder with the protocol in it and looked it up. The Navy recruiter said, "That's correct, here it is, in 'G.'" (G. Recruiters visiting schools shall not at any time solicit contact information directly from students or require it as a condition to participate in an activity or receive an award or gift.) I said, "I am going to take this sign-up sheet and tear it up," holding it up for them to see, and they also said ok.

I discussed the situation more with the career counselor and his staff person. I told them that parents have complained that even though they had signed the district opt-out form (to bar release of student directory information to college and/or military recruiters), their children still received mailers and/or calls from the military. Solicitation of information from students at events like this and at other military recruiter visits was probably why.

I am a mother of two children: my son is a senior at Santa Barbara High School and my daughter an 8th grader at Santa Barbara Junior High School. I am also a member of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers. I have long been concerned about the frequent presence of military recruiters on high school campuses.

For many years I have worked for what I call Truth in Recruitment, along with students, schools and community groups, including War Resisters League, Veterans for Peace, Project on Youth and Non-military Opportunities (Project YANO), Sustainable Options for Youth and Friends Meetings

My work with the Santa Barbara Unified School District in California began when a friend of my son contacted the local chapter of Veterans for Peace. He was concerned about the frequent visits by military recruiters on campus and requested that Veterans for Peace provide an alternative presence. Around the same time, my son told me that he had challenged a Marine who was a speaker in his Freshman Seminar class (meant to help students plan their futures and possible careers).

At first I congratulated him for confronting this person of authority, but then I did a double take at the fact that a military recruiter had been invited to his class to talk about career opportunities. I contacted his teacher, who replied that the sergeant was not there as a recruiter and that she had not selected him as a speaker. I widened the circle of correspondence to include the principal, assistant principals and counselors. The assistant principal also said that she did not select the class speakers. After another parent and I met with her, she agreed to have the military removed from the speaker list for Freshman Seminar classes.

Still frustrated by the lack of action on the school’s part to provide alternative viewpoints, a small group and I met with the administration to discuss both the recruiter on-campus visitation policy and the necessity to provide alternative viewpoints. The principal eventually agreed to expedite our request to have a display of tombstones representing the 398 18- and 19-year-olds killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. Students, veterans, Friends and community members set up the display and read the names of the dead at Santa Barbara High School during Memorial Day week of 2012. The local TV station interviewed both students and members of Veterans for Peace. A similar display was assembled at the high school during the week of Veterans Day and on the next Memorial Day.

Over the following summer, another group of students and community members met with the assistant superintendent of secondary schools (the district has three traditional high schools) to discuss the district recruiter policy, as well as the text for the opt-out form, which enables students and families to block the release of information to recruiters. At the suggestion of the Santa Barbara High School principal, a group of us began drafting a districtwide, detailed policy regarding recruiter access to our youth, which would provide guidelines to navigate the various issues set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Under this law, federal funding for K-12 schools is only available to those institutions that give military recruiters the same school access that is given to recruiters for colleges and civilian employers. Most schools have interpreted this to mean that the military must be given unlimited access to high school campuses. In actuality, they can enact policies that regulate and limit the amount and kind of access that recruiters can have, as long as the same policies apply to all of the recruiter categories.

As we worked on the Santa Barbara policy, we felt that it was important to reach out to the wider community and bring more people into the discussion. We decided to organize an educational forum – “Military Recruiters on our High School Campuses – Why?” — which took place on March 15, 2014, with a panel of counter-recruitment advocates, veterans, and military families. We reached out to the press and invited school board members, administrators, teachers, students, families, and veterans. Two weeks later, there was a follow-up meeting with attendees of the forum to discuss how it went and to draft a policy based on San Diego Unified School District’s recruiting policy.

In April we met with two school board members and presented a draft policy. The board members were enthusiastic, suggesting that it could come before the board as early as the summer and be passed before the 2014 school year started!

In July the board president forgot to notify me that the policy would be on that month’s agenda. I discovered it the day before the meeting, giving me little time to encourage people to attend. Also, I learned that the proposed ‘policy’ was just a one-page summary and lacked critical details.

But sometimes all that is needed is a little preparation and a few willing people to show up. The Santa Barbara Friends Meeting Peace committee was able to review the policy and discuss what position to take. I decided to ask the board to keep working on the policy since it was a “conference agenda item,” not an “action item” — meaning it would not come up for a vote that night.

At the school board meeting, the board president noted our public comments about the incompleteness of the proposed policy. She projected the original draft policy we had sent her so that all in the room could review it. Each board member and the superintendent offered concerns about various details in our policy. The board asked the superintendent to bring it back to the principals for their edits and additions before holding a vote at a later date. The next day I sent an email to the board members and superintendent addressing what I saw as their primary concerns.

After the school year began, I sent an email to the board asking for an update on the policy’s status. The board president notified me that it would be an action item on the October agenda. This time we had a couple weeks’ notice and so were able to get more people to come and give public comments. Usually there is a 2- to 3-minute time limit for each person to make public comments on agenda items. We needed enough speakers to address multiple parts of the policy.

Although much closer to the original draft, the revised policy was still flawed, with vague definitions, redundant additions, and vagueness on enforcement of the regulations. Ten people gave public comment — educators, veterans, students, parents — and as many more came in support of the policy. The policy passed unanimously with one change, which clarified the definition of a recruiter, as well as a plan by the board to create a Memo of Understanding regarding campus access for Santa Barbara City College and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Needless to say, we were all relieved that the policy had passed, despite shortcomings, so that we could move on to make sure the policy was enforced and to provide alternative points of view about the military in our schools.

Some have questioned why we organized to craft a district policy regulating recruiter access to our campuses. Part of education is to think critically and pose questions. The military presence on school campuses is a complex and controversial issue, and students and parents must be involved to make long-lasting changes. So to pose another question: who are our schools in service of — students or recruiters? A goal of recruitment, like advertising, is to make a sale. Sometimes selling involves leaving out information or exaggerating the facts. It is the responsibility of our schools to make sure that students have accurate information to make informed choices and to shield them from overexposure to recruiters.

What has been important for me in working for the demilitarization of schools is the building of relationships with administrators, school board members, students, veterans, teachers, families and community members. If anyone feels that they have been dismissed as part of the process, they are not going to feel engaged in enforcing a policy that treats students and families fairly. The point for me in pushing for alternatives to a military dominant culture is not to win an argument, defend my position, or to make a point. My intent has been to be of service to the community that educates our youth. Having positive exchanges and nurturing long-term relationships is integral to bringing forth the truth about recruitment in schools. We accomplished a great deal with establishing protocols at the local high schools and then passing the districtwide school policy. We now have a grassroots base for further work in providing alternative views to youth and families. It is possible that we can broaden our base to include more youth and a diverse spectrum of voices in this struggle.

This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/).

24 April 2013 / Matt Guynn / On Earth Peace

These reflections were created and shared in the context of counter-recruitment networking calls organized by On Earth Peace, 2003-2007.  On Earth Peace is an agency rooted in the Church of the Brethren, committed to confronting violence with God's love.

The Paths that Lead to Life

"You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence."
Acts 2:28

My friend Bob gave me this metaphor: In the woods, in fields, in cities, there are often beaten paths that go to the usual places - which keep getting deeper and stronger with use.

Right now, the paths that are more well-beaten in our society often lead toward separation from each other, toward isolation, toward self-satisfaction, toward "bigger-than" and "me" mentalities. They often lead at the social level toward resource to violence, an overweening obsession with national security as opposed to human security, toward dehumanizing each other and writing off segments of the society.

There aren't many who will be the first to try a new path -- willing to be the first to make that path.   But there are many more who will at least try a path that at least has been tried before.  We may also find that there are old paths that lead to life and we have to uncover.

What if counter-recruitment organizing were seen as a way to invite people off the beaten path, to incite people to another path - not just countering military recruiters and their work, but inviting people to another way of living?  Counter-recruitment at its best may responding to the deep yearnings in people's soul, for lives with meaning, that contribute to the betterment of society.

Affirmations and reflections:

God's presence is a creative force the flutters over the waters, who cries out that we are beloved, who is within each of our bodies, minds, and spirits.  This force, this God, this Divine is at the center of all that exists.   God had a dream of all creation - that kind of shalom community - where all life was valued and known intimately -- that kind of relationship between humans and creation, and humans and God - Eden is still God's dream.

God's intention for human life, according to Walter Wink, is to humanize us more, make us fully human.  But institutions have realities that often fall away from God's intentions - the whole set of practices, assumptions, missions, and the culture of an institution.  One name that scripture gives is to call them the "powers and principalities" - those institutions that have supreme importance in our lives and how they unfold - which often become an end in themselves, or fail to help us all thrive.  "Failure to thrive": This description given to some infants is applicable to many communities as well!

The military industrial complex is a power and a principality.  Security itself is a good thing - we need safety, we need to be secure - all of humanity needs to be secure - but this basic need twists and goes awry in the service of the nation. We're in thrall to militarism, to the system, to the nation.  Our relationship to the military industrial complex becomes idolatry - being committed to, dependent upon, looking to for security, and worshipping that which is not God.

We can all draw on God's presence (ultimate creativity, lovingkindness, generativity, deep Spirit and possibility) to become equipped to contend with the powers and principalities.

God's dream for us includes human wholeness, worth, dignity.  But this dream is at odds with the stated goals of the government or the military-industrial complex, which always fall short of God's dream of shalom.  The church also falls short.  Church's role, and the role of the faithful - is prophetic witness as well as peacebuilding - a gradual nurturing of slow growth, a weaving and a knitting together.

Counter-recruitment is getting in the way of military recruitment - but it's also recruiting for something else.   It's about recruiting for another way of living. 

Recruiting for the paths that lead to life - creating communities with deep soul and connection, places where you just want to rest and enjoy life.  For communities that engage in mutual uplift instead of a common downshift.

Source: http://www.onearthpeace.org/faith-legacy/practical-ideas-living-peace-church/theological-reflection-counter-recruitment

Sunday, 23 December 2012 11:59 Andreas Speck

Andreas Speck -

“On 1 August 1914, it was too late for pacifist propaganda, it was too late for militarist propaganda – in fact the militarists then only harvested what they have sown 200 years before. We have to sow."1

This is what German pacifist Kurt Tucholsky wrote in an article titled “On effective pacifism”, published in 1927. More than 80 years later, the militarists are still sowing. The presence of the military in schools is only the most outrageous example of the sowing and planting of militarist values into the minds of children and soon-to-be soldiers, or supporters of militarism and war. It is the most outrageous, because on the one hand schools should be about learning positive values and knowledge, and not about propaganda, and on the other hand children are most vulnerable to propaganda and indoctrination.

Militarist propaganda

A key function of military presence at schools is propaganda. This can be very obvious – as we can see in Serdar M. Degirmencioglu's article on militarism in schools in Turkey (see page 4 in the article in The Broken Rifle, March 2011, No. 88) – or more subtle, as the German military's use of the simulation game “Politics & International Security” in schools and universities (see Michael Schulze von Glaßer's article on page 9 - ibid). This military propaganda is aimed at ingraining militarist values into the minds of children, so that they do not question the existence and use of the military in later life.

Read more... 

Wednesday, 12 December 2012 15:09 Seth Kershner

Seth Kershner -

Although women make up about half of the United States workforce, they represent just 24 percent of careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In order to correct this, major nonprofit groups have been organizing STEM enrichment camps for middle- and high-school girls, driven by the philosophy that more women will pursue STEM careers if their interest is piqued at an early age.

But recently, some girls-only STEM programs have gone beyond fostering interest in science and math among the next generation of women. Branches of the U.S. military—in particular, the Navy—have increasingly been using these programs to market the military to girls as young as 11 and 12.

Founded in 1974, Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) organizes dozens of STEM conferences for middle- and high-school girls each year. According to its website, the EYH “recently had the opportunity to partner with the Navy and learn about careers where young women are underrepresented.” They give girls the following pitch: “You probably never gave much thought to having a career with the United States Navy. Many girls don’t.… We want to introduce you to several inspiring professional women who are currently active in the Navy and serve on aircraft carriers, who serve as Navy divers, or who serve in other interesting Navy careers.” Accompanying the text is a handy-dandy link to the Navy’s recruiting website.

Read More ...

Source

Monday, 05 November 2012 16:55 Aaron B. O’Connell

Aaron B. O’Connell -

NOTE: NNOMY does not endorse the assumptions about the impact of militarization on the U.S. economy outlined in this article but chooses to repost it to highlight concerns for the desensitization of his students towards war expressed by a professor of history in a military university.

IN 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office warning of the growing power of the military-industrial complex in American life. Most people know the term the president popularized, but few remember his argument.

In his farewell address, Eisenhower called for a better equilibrium between military and domestic affairs in our economy, politics and culture. He worried that the defense industry’s search for profits would warp foreign policy and, conversely, that too much state control of the private sector would cause economic stagnation. He warned that unending preparations for war were incongruous with the nation’s history. He cautioned that war and warmaking took up too large a proportion of national life, with grave ramifications for our spiritual health.

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Monday, 05 November 2012 15:32 Genevieve Weber - Corvallis Advocate

Genevieve Weber/Corvallis Advocate -

War is a touchy subject, especially given the near-palpable tension of the upcoming presidential election. If you’re against war, you’re a hippy at best, anti-military and unpatriotic at worst. If you’re for it, you’re pro-violence, anti-peace, an extreme conservative… Basically, you’re either too fat or too skinny, and the middle ground is essentially a wasteland. I’m not anti-military as we now know it, although there are certainly myriad issues. I do think increasing military spending when the military isn’t even asking for it, while cutting all sorts of important and necessary social programs, is absolutely ridiculous. But that’s neither here nor there.

There are some aspects of our military that are more controversial than others, and some issues really hit home—mainly because they’re happening here. When your teenaged son or daughter reports they conversed with a US military recruiter in the hall of their high school, you may experience mixed emotions. Maybe you feel socially obligated to support the military (or maybe you’re all for or against it), but you don’t want your child exposed to this particular career path. School administrators experience this same juxtaposition of thought—the men and women who recruit high school students may be exemplary human beings, and they’re simply doing their jobs. But recruiters are also asking young people to make decisions that studies suggest they aren’t ready to make, and, since it is their job to recruit people into the military, recruiters may not provide all necessary risk information to students.

Read more... 

Thursday, 25 October 2012 17:38 David Swanson

David Swanson -

To: Sandy Husk
Salem-Keizer Superintendent of Schools

I would like to file a complaint about the manner in which my classmate and I were removed from what we were told was a mandatory test known as the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). The staff member known as 1st Sergeant in our school is the one whom removed us from the test. During our removal we caused no disruption.  The only disruption was caused by the manner in which 1st Sergeant removed us.   When we explained we chose to opt out by voiding the test due to its military connection 1st Sergeant informed us as did an administration member Vice Principle Rolland Hayden, that the ASVAB is in no way related to the military. This by itself is a lie.

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Monday, 08 October 2012 18:45 Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges -

Many of us who are here carry within us death. The smell of decayed and bloated corpses. The cries of the wounded. The shrieks of children. The sound of gunfire. The deafening blasts. The fear. The stench of cordite. The humiliation that comes when you surrender to terror and beg for life. The loss of comrades and friends. And then the aftermath. The long alienation. The numbness. The nightmares. The lack of sleep. The inability to connect to all living things, even to those we love the most. The regret. The repugnant lies mouthed around us about honor and heroism and glory. The absurdity. The waste. The futility.

It is only the maimed that finally know war. And we are the maimed. We are the broken and the lame. We ask for forgiveness. We seek redemption. We carry on our backs this awful cross of death, for the essence of war is death, and the weight of it digs into our shoulders and eats away at our souls. We drag it through life, up hills and down hills, along the roads, into the most intimate recesses of our lives. It never leaves us. Those who know us best know that there is something unspeakable and evil many of us harbor within us. This evil is intimate. It is personal. We do not speak its name. It is the evil of things done and things left undone. It is the evil of war.

Read more... 

Friday, 14 September 2012 22:46 Charles Tilly

Charles Tilly -

If protection rackets represent organised crime at its smoothest, then war risking and state making – quintessential protection rackets with the advantage of legitimacy – qualify as our largest examples of organised crime. Without branding all generals and statesmen as murderers or thieves, I want to urge the value of that analogy. At least for the European experience of the past few centuries, a portrait of war makers and state makers as coercive and self-seeking entrepreneurs bears a far greater resemblance to the facts than do its chief alternatives: the idea of a social contract, the idea of an open market in which operators of armies and states offer services to willing consumers, the idea of a society whose shared norms and expectations call forth a certain kind of government.

The reflections that follow merely illustrate the analogy of war making and state making with organized crime from a few hundred years of European experience and offer tentative arguments concerning principles of change and variation underlying the experience. My reflections grow from contemporary concerns: worries about the increasing destructiveness of war, the expanding role of great powers as suppliers of arms and military organization to poor countries, and the growing importance of military control in those same countries. They spring from the hope that the European experience, properly understood, will help us to grasp what is happening today, perhaps even to do something about it.

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Wednesday, 05 September 2012 13:01 Patricia Hernandez

Patricia Hernandez -

As of this year, the war on Afghanistan has been going on for over a decade--making it the longest standing war that the United States has been involved with. The average person living in the United States wouldn’t really know it, doesn’t really care, or can’t do anything about it.

The indifferent or helpless response makes sense. The “war on terror” makes it clear that the purpose of modern war is control--not conflict resolution. Peace isn’t on the drone’s radar. More war is. For in the “war on terror,” enemies could be anyone, anything; it has no particular enemy.

War becomes borderless. War cannot be ‘won’ in the traditional sense, it is ongoing, permanent. Security, and not defense, become the hallmark of ‘the war on terror,’ and this security redefines and violates civil rights in the name of the preservation of democracy. You’d think that the erosion of civil rights would create action, but this is where media such as games come into play.

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Monday, 03 September 2012 01:27 John Stanton

Why the Civilian Leadership Fears the Military

“Only 17 percent of the all-volunteer force serves for more than 20 years, and they are endowed with a lifetime benefit. The current US military retirement system does not compensate for those in high risk situations or extenuating circumstances (e.g., combat duty, hardship tour, and separation from family).. The current military retirement system is unfair.  For example, 83 percent of those serving in the US military will receive no retirement benefit.  US military personnel serving 5, 10, or 15 years will depart from service with no benefit or pension.  This cohort includes the majority of troops who have engaged and will engage in combat.  Retiree healthcare (TRICARE) is significantly more generous than civilian programs. For those serving more than 20 years, the retirement contribution is 10 times greater than the private sector: average private sector pension contributions range from 4-12% per year; military retirement benefit equates to 75% of annual pay per year for those who retire; and immediate payout after 20 years has no comparison in the private sector. In light of the budget challenges DOD is currently facing, the military retirement system appears increasingly unaffordable.” Defense Business Board

How times have changed since General George C. Marshall (1880-1959) walked the Earth. Chances are he would be appalled by the current-day US military leadership that has allowed (and taken advantage of) a national security/militaristic thinking to penetrate deep into the American political and social arenas. Marshall, no doubt, would be taken aback by the revolving door between the Pentagon and the private sector, and the hyper-privatization of the US national security machinery.

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27 October 2011 - War Is a Crime - David Swanson's blog

David Swanson -

One of the most valuable benefits of putting political action into the form of nonviolent encampments is that we learn each other's stories as we occupy our public parks and squares. Here's a story from the October 2011 occupation in Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C. There are many more, and we'd like to hear yours when you join us.

Aristine Maharry is 29 years old and now lives in Freedom Plaza. She grew up in a very military family, with members of her family having participated in every major U.S. war going back to the war for independence, and with members of every generation having joined the military.

Maharry's family did not encourage her to aspire to a military career, but -- as in many such stories I've heard -- actions spoke more loudly than words. Maharry was proud of her father's military experience. She hoped from a very young age to join the U.S. Army. She grew up playing at army with her half-brothers. They would flip the couch on its side and toss pretend grenades. She loved the board game Risk. The biggest holiday in Aristine's family was the Fourth of July. She doesn't say she bled red white and blue. She says she bled green, Army green. She wanted to serve her country and other people. She was willing to die for her country. She was proud of her country.

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23 October 2011- Oregonian

Betsy Hammond -

The Portland school board is set to adopt a rule Monday to give "counter-recruiters" skeptical about the value of joining the military the same access to high school students that military recruiters enjoy under federal law.

Instead of standing out on the school sidewalk waving signs and offering fliers, as they have done regularly outside Portland high schools, anti-war activists will be able to staff recruiting tables and hand out pamphlets in the school career center or cafeteria, just like military recruiters in uniform.

"What we want is a balanced account of military service," said school board member Matt Morton, one of at least four board members lined up behind the new rule. "What's key is giving them all the information they need to make good decisions."

Read more... 

Today's notes from Lanier High School

Tami and I each wrote up some impressions from our SOY table today at Lanier HS, Austin, so here they are from both of us!:

From Tami:

My time with students at Lanier was around the Peace Wheel, and it continues to be surprising that most recognize the names of Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, and Gandhi but are not so aware of specifically what issues they addressed.  One student did connect Rosa Parks with Dr. King, and knew that her activity involved a protest on a bus.  Perhaps this could be a woman to add to the wheel.  The person students knew most about was Helen Keller and how she had overcome being deaf and blind.

After the students shared what they knew about the person who came up on their turn of the wheel, I described what the person changed and emphasized how they did this in non violent ways.  Several took the informational page that accompanies the wheel and seemed genuinely motivated to learn more about even the people they had not heard of.   Many also seemed to like talking with an adult who was interested in their thoughts and goals.  Most of the students I spoke with were juniors and seniors, so we talked about their post high school plans.

Read more: The latest news from Sustainable Options for Youth in Austin

Keep NNOMY aware of the latest news from your organization at admin@nnomy.org so we can share it with the national network.

NNOMY on Facebook / Online

Online: Visit NNOMY Peace on Facebook to see all our Friends

Online: Visit The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth on Facebook to see who likes us

New Groups added to the NNOMY Network

• NJ Youth United Against War and Imperialism

• Veterans for Truth in Military Recruiting / Safe Passage Network

• Madres contra la Guerra

• Yap High School

Repeal of DADT: How It Helps and How It Doesn’t

Dear LGB Youth… Now that you can enlist, please don’t.

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26 September 2011 - War Is a Crime - David Swanson's blog

David Swanson -

Remarks at Lynchburg College on September 26, 2011

I'd like to thank Dave Freier for inviting me, and all of you for being here.  I think I was invited to speak about my most recent book, War Is A Lie, but I asked Professor Freier if it would be all right to speak about my next book, not yet finished, and he agreed.  So, the following is a relatively very short summary of a forthcoming book that is not yet finished, and which I need your help with.  It would be very helpful to me if you let me know when I've finished these opening remarks what was unclear, what didn't make sense, or what didn't persuade you, as well as what -- if anything -- seemed useful or inspiring.

It would also help me a lot if you would raise your hands to show your views on a few questions.  First, raise your hand if you believe that war is illegal.  I don't mean particular atrocities or particular types of wars, but war.  And I don't mean bad or regrettable, but illegal.  If you're not sure or think it's not a good question don't raise your hand.  OK, thank you.  Now, raise your hand if you think war should be illegal.  OK, thank you.  And now raise your hand if you know what the Kellogg-Briand Pact is.  All right, that was very helpful.  Now, let me tell you a little story, or at least a few pieces of it.

Read more: When the World Outlawed War

Originally published in the Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Scott Harding - School of Social Work University of Connecticut / Seth Kershner - Simmons College -

In an effort to counteract the growing militarization of schools, military counter-recruitment (CR) has emerged as an effective grassroots movement across the United States. Led by a small number of local activists, CR utilizes community organizing methods to confront the structures supporting military enlistment as a viable career option. Despite operating with limited resources, counter-recruitment has secured key legal and policy victories that challenge the dominant social narrative about military service. Three examples of counter- recruitment are profiled to illustrate the different tactics and strategies used for successful organizing within a culture of militarism.

Read more: Just say No: Organizing Against Militarism in Public Schools

Keep NNOMY aware of the latest news from your organization at admin@nnomy.org so we can share it with the national network.

NNOMY on Facebook / Online

NNOMY Peace on Facebook Made new Friends including....

Al Kovnat,Angel Wings , Barbara Ehrenreich ,  Brad Laird,  Brenda Bailey Traylor,  Danielle Radicanin,  Deanna Lee McGowan,  G. Simon Harak,  Heather Bricklin,  Ken Shipp, Kevin Cummings , Lee Conklin, Mona Shaw , Roland Jesperson ,  Veterans For-Peace Long-Island and others......

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New People who like The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth Facebook Page including....

Peace and Social Justice Ministry - Catholic Diocese of Joliet,  Northwest Suburban Peace & Education Project, Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Tampa Bay - Chapter,  Tampa Bay Counter Recruitment Coalition, Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas , Granny Peace Brigade , The Whatcom Peace and Justice Center , Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice , Massachusetts Peace Action, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice, AZ Counter-Recruitment Coalition, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section, Institute for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, South Lake Democratic Club, San Diego Friends Center,  and others .......

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Pablo Paredes / A Dream Deferred , San Francisco

Pintando Verdad contra el Poder

Es un terreno baldío abandonado a tres cuadras de la alcaldía de San Francisco y al lado del edificio de los Amigos (cuáqueros) de San Francisco. Los cuáqueros han tratado de trabajar con la ciudad para crear un jardín comunitario, pero hasta ahora sin resultado. Las agujas usadas, basura, cristales rotos y las viviendas improvisadas de las personas sin hogar, lleno de sueños en la última década.

Esta semana un grupo de jóvenes migrantes con status mixto del proyecto 67 sueños de AFSC, sus amigos, familiares y aliados han estado trabajando duro para transformar este espacio. Desde la limpieza de la basura para la colocar un hermoso mural de unos 100 por 30 pies, cada parte de este mural refleja la experiencia del migrante.

San Francisco, California: Lea más en "A Dream Deferred" Sitio Web

Leah Bolger /Veterans For Peace, National

Why You Won’t See Veterans For Peace on the Cover of TIME Magazine

The cover of the August 29, 2011 issue of TIME magazine features five members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), with the caption “The New Greatest Generation.” The point of author Joe Klein’s article is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a new kind of veteran who is “bringing skills that seem to be on the wane in American society, qualities we really need now:  crisp decision making, rigor, optimism, entrepreneurial creativity, a larger sense of purpose and real patriotism.” Klein profiles a small number of veterans (including a Harvard valedictorian, a Rhodes scholar, and a Dartmouth grad) who have done well since returning to civilian life and credits their military service as the reason, then goes on to make a sweeping generalization that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have created a whole new generation of hard-working, disciplined young citizens who have something “more” to offer than their civilian counterparts.


National / Common Dreams:  Read more on the Common Dreams Web site

Stanley Kirshner Breen / Southwest High School, Minneapolis, MN

War and Art: Creativity and Youth In Action

$1,216,539,560,417 or — for those of you who are like me and can’t process numbers instantly in their head —   one trillion, two hundred and sixteen billion, five hundred and thirty nine million, five hundred and sixty thousand, four hundred and seventeen dollars. This is the total cost, and rising, of what America has spent on war in the past decade. I think that when people   see such a large number as this, they have a hard time connecting it to their lives. So I considered the most  important things in my life.

As hard as it is to admit in the middle of summer, school is one of the most influential things in my life. I go to a Minneapolis public school, and the lack of money has been noticeable, mainly in class sizes. While my school has been lucky with funding, I know schools that are not. Schools in the poorer area of the city have had their arts funding cut to where its basically nonexistent. This is terrible!  Our taxes are being used to support violence and terror in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet America’s youth don’t have creative outlets in school.

Minneapolis, MN: Read more on the Michael Moore Website

Ernie McCray/ COMD/ San Diego, California

Rekindling the Fire — Now That Would Be Great!

I was asked to see if I could rekindle (though I can barely keep a campfire going) energy for leafleting our high schools with information to help students understand and respond to attempts to militarize them. They encounter this not only in their schools but also in their communities and beyond, as anyone can see in commercials, video games, and every form of media.

Well, it should be obvious that there's a tremendous need for us, especially those of us who dare to refer to ourselves as "community activists." We look out for our children when Uncle Sam comes after them with his zest for war, even though some of the organizations and activities that counter the militarization of young people are shrinking nationwide.

For instance: the American Friends Service Committee no longer has staff in its national office working full time on youth and military recruitment. The work of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) ceased in 2008 when the venerable, decades-old organization folded. And, for a brief while, Project YANO (Youth and Non-Military Opportunities) recently had to cut its sole paid organizer's position to half-time.

San Diego, California: Read more on the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft Website

Peace Action / Kansas City, Missouri

KC peace activists stand up for democracy in (nonviolent) fight to stop new Bomb factory

Peace Action’s affiliate in the Kansas City area, PeaceWorks Kansas City, is one of the leaders of the struggle to prevent a new factory to build the non-nuclear components for U.S. nuclear weapons. I plan to visit Kansas City in mid-October and hope to be able to learn more and support the cause.

National Peace Action board member Larry Wittner has an article on this struggle on History News Network, and Mother Jones also had a piece on this by Adam Weinstein as well. More soon about how we can all support the KC Peace Planters!

Kansas City, Missouri: Go to the Peace Action Website and give your support , Reported in Mother Jones, In The National Catholic Reporter

The Wilmington Peace Center/ Charlottesville, Virginia

The Military Industrial Complex at 50

A Conference on Moving Money from the Military to Human Needs
http://micat50cville.org

WHEN:
September 16-18, 2011

WHERE:
Friday, September 16, 2011, at  the Haven, 112 W Market Street, Charlottesville, Va.  Map.
Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, 2011, at The Dickinson Fine and Performing Arts Center at  Piedmont Virginia Community College, 501 County Road 338, Charlottesville, Va. 22902-7589.  Map.

Charlottesville, Virginia: Read more at the The Wilmington Peace Group Website

http://www.nnomy.org

Keep NNOMY aware of the latest news from your organization at admin@nnomy.org so we can share it with the national network.

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NNOMY on Facebook / Online

NNOMY Peace on Facebook Made new Friends including....

Eli PaintedCrow , Jim Nicholson , Janice Elaine Hammett , Faten Faye Salameh , Heather Lang , Jenell Holden , Zoe DoubleRainbow Johnson , Andres Nieves ,Deanna Lee McGowan. Madelyn Hoffman , Barbara Millar , Dede Miller , EarthFirst Journal, and others......

Online: Visit NNOMY Peace on Facebook to see all our Friends

New People who like The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth Facebook Page including....

Lilian Ix'Chel Molina , Freedom Voices , Pedro Montenegro , Irma Cabrera Romero , James Fox , Jenell Holden , Edric Figueroa , Teachers ForJustice ,  and others .......

Online: Visit The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth on Facebook to see who likes us

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Pacem in Terris / Peace on Earth , Delaware

Creating the Peaceable Classroom

The program brings the teaching of Conflict Resolution INTO the classroom with the regular teacher or assistant. It integrates Conflict Resolution into everything that goes on in the entire school and further, in the home and eventually, the community. All of the adults in a school are trained in Conflict Resolution methods and goals. Every incident of conflict is noticed and addressed. Nothing is so small or insignificant that CPC ignores it. What we offer is also a community resource to help any organization or group that deals with children, not just schools.

Wilmington, Delaware: Read more about this program at the Pacem in Terris / Peace on Earth Website

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Medea Benjamin / Charles Davis / Code Pink, San Francisco, California

Enormous Cuts In Military Spending? Read The Fine Print

In this age of austerity, all the politicians are talking about the need for spending cuts. But when it comes to shared burdens and slashed budgets, don't expect the Pentagon to start holding bake sales, despite what you may have heard about reductions to its obscenely bloated funding.


San Francisco, California:  Read more on the Huff Post Politics Page

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Resource Center for Non-violence, Watsonville, California

RCNVs ReGeneration Project

In an effort to reinvigorate the Resource Center with youth involvement   the ReGeneration Project seeks to provide a space for Santa Cruz youth and students of all ages to engage in critical and creative thinking about our society, and the resources to address those issues through creative and nonvi0lent means. We believe that the arts are the vehicle through which social change and creative cultural resistance can occur!

Watsonville, California: Read more on the RCNV Website
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American Friends Service Committee/ Chicago, Illinois

Military Recruiter Abuse Hotline

The National Youth and Militarism Recruiter Abuse Hotline is now open at 1- 877-688-6881. After hearing many reports from young people and their families about abuses by military recruiters, we at AFSC are beginning to track these abuses as reported to our national hotline. Examples of recruiter abuse include making misleading or false statements; repeated contact after a request to refrain from contact; physical coercion; sexual solicitation; encouraging recruits to lie or falsify information; offering drugs or alcohol; attempting to intimidate or scare recruits or their parents; and refusal to accurately document recruits’ medical or legal situations.

Chicago, Illinois: Read more on the AFSC Chicago Website

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Veterans for Peace Chapter 54 / Santa Barbara, California

Mark Twain on the Philippines

The story is in response to a particular war, namely the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902, which Twain opposed.

The War Prayer
by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety’s sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Santa Barbara, California: Read more on the VFP 54 Website
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Center on Conscience & War / Washington, D.C.

District of Columbia Residents: Automatic or Manual? Tell D.C. Council Not to Link Registration With Driver's Licenses

A majority of states in the U.S. now link registration with Selective Service and obtaining a driver’s license. What this means is that if a man has failed to register, he cannot receive his license.

Now the District of Columbia, the nation’s capital, is working to do the same thing to its young male residents.

Legislation B19-0330, titled “Access to Selective Service Registration Amendment Act of 2011,” was introduced on June 7, 2011 to the D.C. Council.

The current law says: “Men between 18 and 25 years* of age, may register with the Selective Service when they obtain or renew their driver's license.” (emphasis added)

The new bill would change this provision to: “Men between 18 and 25 years of age, shall register with the Selective Service when they obtain or renew their driver's license.” (emphasis added)


Washington, D.C.: Read more at the CCW Website

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http://www.nnomy.org

Stop Military Recruiters from having easy access to our children!!!

Inform students about their right to "opt out" of their school giving their private information to MILITARY RECRUITERS!
Join Palisadians for Peace and CAMS as they distribute Student Privacy (Opt Out) forms to high school juniors and seniors.

Read more: October Student Privacy (Opt Out) Actions:

Nearly 300 people from across the nation poured into the Friends Center in Chicago and Roosevelt University the weekend of July 17-19, 2009 for the National Network Opposing the Miltarism of Youth Counter-Recruitment and Demilitarization Conference. The faces represented what the counter recruitment movement is all about and how it has grown over the past years from a handful of established organizations to a vibrant grassroots movement with the intermixing of youth and adults. Representing organizations from approximately 35 states they included the very young (from 12 years of age) to the seasoned activists. The people themselves, including veterans, youth, educators, parents and community activists manifested the growing diversity that this movement has embraced. Read more about the conference from this article.

   Click to view and download documents from the conference.