On the Frontlines Conference Report Back: Press

More than 600 students, teachers and activists from across the nation poured into UC Berkeley this weekend to speak out against military recruiters on campus and denounce the Iraq occupation.

The two-day counter-military recruitment conference was held in the Valley Life Sciences Building, where attendees participated in workshops and heard conscientious objectors share their experiences.

The event was co-sponsored by Military Out of Our Schools and the Campus Antiwar Network, along with dozens of organizations including the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and American Friends Service Committee.

"Innocent people in Iraq are dying, people are needlessly being sent to war. We will put an end to military recruitment and stop the wheels of the military," said Ph.D. candidate Snehal Shingavi, a member of the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and an event organizer.

A packed auditorium pulsated with energy when the first featured speaker, Military Out of Our Schools coordinator Kevin Ramirez, came out on stage.

"We must continue to do counter-recruitment work because it is rapidly growing as a powerful movement. The Army, the National Guard, the Navy Reserve all missed their recruiting goals by thousands," Ramirez said to loud cheers.

The conference focused on an ongoing debate that has gained momentum over the past year. In March, the ASUC passed a resolution prohibiting the use of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union by military recruiters on the grounds that they discriminated against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

In November 2004, the Solomon Amendment, which dictates that universities give military recruiters equal access or face losing millions of dollars in federal funding, was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. With the U.S. Supreme Court waiting to hear the case later this year, debate has continued at campuses across the nation.

At the conference, those arguing against campus military recruitment called the occupation a rich man's war fought by the poor.

"Military recruitment is done so that poor people are doing the dirty work for those who are rich," Shingavi said.

A standing ovation greeted the next speaker, former Navy petty officer Pablo Paredes, who was convicted and sentenced for missing movement, for refusing to board an Iraq-bound ship.

"My name was Pablo Paredes, I was from the Bronx; this was making the military recruiters tinkle," Paredes said to illustrate the tendency of recruiters to target poor minorities.

While most attendees supported the anti-war cause, some students on campus stressed the importance of allowing military recruiters to come.

"The military has been the single most innovative organization in the world and having military recruiters on campus will make sure that our military remains one of the biggest contributors to the intellectual community," said senior Amaury Gallais, a member of the Berkeley College Republicans, which squared off with the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition last spring over the same issue.

Still, the sentiment at the event was clearly one of anti-war, which came through in art performances as well.

Ariel Lucky, a performance artist, encapsulated the view with a rap: "When I fill up my tank with Chevron gasoline made from Iraqi crude oil on my way to work in the morning, will I be forgiven by my great-grandchildren? Will history absolve me?"

Campus Antiwar Network UC-Berkeley 2-Day Conference

by Quincey Jonez Monday, Oct. 31, 2005 at 11:24 AM

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/1721412.php

From the October 22nd seminar co-sponsored by Campus Antiwar Network and Military Out of Our Schools – Bay Area

On Saturday and Sunday (October 22 – 23) The University of California Berkeley hosted a two-day conference titled “On the Frontlines: Opinions for Youth in Times of War”, which was co-sponsored by the Campus Antiwar Network and Military Out of Our Schools – Bay Area. The scheduled activities for Saturday included workshop sessions, morning and afternoon plenary meetings as well as a Youth Concert. After arriving on campus, persons registered with the Conference and were given a schedule of events to attend during the course of the day’s events.

One session titled “How to Counter Military Recruitment in High Schools” focused on a basic introduction about how the military recruits in public high schools, as well as strategies for counter recruitment given by several high school student activists. They described their attempts, successes and failures in mobilizing / educating their communities to resist temptations that the military promises new recruits. Kevin Ramirez of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) outlined the 5 methods used by the military to recruit high school students on campus and how to combat them:

• The ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), a.k.a Military Eligibility Test, measures military occupation specialty or, which branch of the armed services the student is most applicable in. For the most part, this test is not explained to students before they take it, but is generally defined as a “career exploration program”. Ramirez explained that a student can check Option 8 on the test, which will not send the student’s results to recruiters. He also said that students can refuse to take the test outright; but overall, more education about this test needs to get out to teachers, parents and students.

• JRTOC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Core) programs are nationwide, numbering over 3500 units. These programs bring students into the daily life of officers; learning tactics and military protocol. Local communities need to be opposed to these programs and learn as much about them as possible.

• The No Child Left Behind Act, specifically Section 9528 rule which forces schools to give student contact information to military recruiters or risk losing federal funding.. Since school funding is directly effected in regard to their compliance with the NCLB program, checking the “Opt Out” option can restrict a student’s results from going to recruiters.

• Armed Services Recruiting Tables (Tabling) takes place in high schools and colleges nationwide. These Tabling groups are frequent and cover most campuses; the primary way to counter Tabling is to find out when they are coming to school. Setting up a counter-protest on those specific dates is the most potent way to combat Tabling. Equal Action Laws are required by law to provide students with facts on both sides of the issues.

http://www.objector.org/moos/equal-access.html

• Recruit Support Battalions (RSBs) are new-wave techniques used by recruiters to provide hands-on activities to high school students. Some examples are portable rock-climbing walls and adventure vans, a.k.a. War Simulators that demonstrate how to use a M1 assault rifle. Again, the main way to counter these activities is to find out when and where these RSBs will be con campus.

After the CCCO presentation, high school students told their own stories about combating recruiters at their respective schools. One student from Rochester NY, Jerry, described how he and a group of students handed out flyers on campus and asked other kids how they felt about recruiter efforts at their school. They efforts were fairly successful because by teaching students about the “Opt-In / Opt-Out” policy in the No Child Left Behind Act, many students decided to “Opt-Out” of the program once they heard the truths behind the lies.

Another student, junior Rico Chenyek from Berkeley High School, described his own efforts. He organized a Social Action Committee which focused on social justice by having teach-ins on campus, educating the student body about the lies and truths of army recruiters. Once word-of-mouth spread, the turn outs became so large that his school scheduled a daylong event which included a graphic slideshow of the horrors of War.

Ruby Butler from the Youth Empowerment School described efforts to educate young people about military recruitment by creating a Jeopardy style game that included categories: Drafting & Conscientious Objectors, Recruitment Ploys, and Money for Soldiers. By dividing the group into two teams, the children were able to interact with each other when answering questions posed to them. This type of game was played at YMCAs and schools in Oakland.

Another workshop session showed the graphic pictures of Aidan Delgado. Titled “Slideshow: A Conscientious Objector’s View of Iraq from Within the U.S. Army”, the screening room packed in people that wanted to hear a story about the War from someone with first-hand accounts of it. From April 2003 – April 2004, Delgado served as an Army Reserve Specialist in Nasiriyah and Abu Grave, a.k.a. Baghdad Correctional Facility.

Growing up the son of a diplomat, Delgado, 23, spent most of his life in the Arab World. He went to high school in Cario, Egypt where he lived for seven years, growing up in-and-around Muslim society; this would help shape his understanding of the world he would enter as a soldier. As fate would have it, Delgado signed his contract with the Army on the morning of September 11th 2001. After completing basic and specialty training as a mechanic, Delgado shipped out to Iraq and arrived during the third week of the War. Soon after arriving, he sought conscientious objector status after witnessing soldiers abuse and kill Iraqi detainees. He was later given CO status, only after turning in his flack jacket and assault rifle; a decision made by his superior officers because as a CO, he would not need that specific equipment for combat duty.

When going though slide-after-slide, Delgado echoed the emotion and opinions of other soldiers, as well as Iraqi citizens. During the 1st month of the occupation, citizens were happy with U.S. forces bringing democracy to their country. But as time went on by, 6 months to 12 months, tension mounted and tempers flared; coalition troops began to hate being in Iraq (lack of proper supply lines with Kuwait only added to the distaste) while at the same time, locals were anxious to get the democracy the Bush Administration promised them after the removal of Saddam Hussain. Troops began to acknowledge Iraqis as “Hagi” which carries the same connotations as “nigger and chink” in the United States.

Delgado gave a disclaimer to the audience, warning us about the “graphic, uncensored images” that were included in the sideshow. He said that he was not showing the “pornography of war” but the truth that he witnessed while in Iraq. Some of the more graphic images included the collateral damage suffered in the sortie missions, which showed Iraqi children with severe burns to their faces and bodies and pictures of dead Abu Grave detainees, which were shot at point-blank range with automatic weapons during the a prisoner demonstration on November 24th 2003. While chanting for better living conditions, food and the right to smoke tobacco, the 4 demonstrators were killed for throwing stones at troops.