Clear Channel: Mouthpiece of Militarization

Taishi Duchicela, Media Justice Organizer with the Youth Media Council,
Leslie Ruiz: Si Se Puede Fellow with the Youth Media Council

Workshop will map Clear Channel's pro-war and military activities and connect the impacts that their agenda has on communities of color, focusing on content, strategy, community. Presenters will connect how Hip Hop is being used by the right as a tool to bring young people and people of color to the frontlines of the war.

College Not Combat: How to run an electoral campaign to challenge recruiters

Jeremy Tully, College Not Combat

College Not Combat (Proposition I in San Francisco) is a ballot measure that states that military recruiters should not be allowed to recruit in schools, and that the city of San Francisco should find alternate ways of funding college educations for youth. The College Not Combat campaign has served as a pole of attraction in the Bay Area for people who are opposed to the war and looking for a way to bring it to the end, and will provide important political support to counter-recruitment activists when it passes in November. This workshop will cover both the political importance of ballot measures and the steps involved in carrying such a campaign through to completion.

Conscientious Objection and Resistance

Aidan Delgado, Iraq War Vet and CO,
Aimee Allison, Gulf War CO and GI Rights Counselor,
David Waters, Vietnam Veteran and War Tax Resister,
Tahan Jones, Gulf War Resister, and
Samorah Penderhughes, Berkeley High School Student

What is a Conscientious Objector? How can you prepare a CO file in case there's a return to the draft? What happens if you decide you're a CO after joining the military? What if the government rejects your CO application? Do conscientious objectors have to pay taxes for war? We will look at conscientious objection as a way to resist war and to counter military recruitment.

Countering Militarism Inside High Schools:
Equal access strategies and legal issues that affect students and community organizers

Rick Jahnkow, Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft and Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, San Diego COMD and Project YANO have 20+ years of experience supporting student activism and securing equal access to schools in highly militarized San Diego County.

Issues to be covered include legal precedents, effective ways to achieve access without relying on litigation, and the different laws that apply to students and community activists when seeking to present alternative views inside high schools.

Countering Recruitment with AWOL Magazine

Kevin Ramirez, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, AWOL Magazine

AWOL magazine is a powerful tool which uses Hip Hop culture in the struggle against militarism and recruitment. Hands on Art.

Gender and Militarism

Katrina Socco, Gabriella Network

War, militarization and disaster always mean rape. Stripped down to their sexual organs, women have historically and continue to be forced into prostitution and sex slavery to "comfort" male soldiers and relief workers. Internally, over half of women in the US Military surveryed by the Pentagon report sexual harassment and abuse including rape by commanding officers. Women of color comprise 38% of women on active duty, while men of color comprise only 28% of all men on active duty. These are only a few indications of who is truly at the bottom of the US economic ladder. Why is it that women are so rarely part of the discussion then? To find out the 411, and learn ways to get involved come to this workshop.

Lessons from the GI Rights Hotline

Steve Morse, Cathy Orozco and Jackie Thomason, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors/ GI Rights Hotline

An overview of our experience counseling on the GI Rights Hotline, and the difficult circumstances in which GI's who end up getting recruited often find themselves. We will do a brief overview of the reasons people join the military, the different types of discharges, and give specific information on the easy way to get out of the Delayed Entry Program. This workshop will highlight some of the problems that occur for young adults when Counter Recruitment isn't successful.

Linking the Issues- War Profiteering & Counter Recruitment

Maryam Roberts, Art in Action/Global Exchange,
Xiomara Castro, Art in Action

Connecting war-profiteering/corporate accountability/economic reasons driving the war, and debunking the myths around military recruiting & war. In the second half covers counter-recruitment basics.

NOT YOUR SOLDIER! Build power in your High School

The Ruckus Society

Learn how to get your people together, to build power and kick recruiters out! This training will teach how to be organized, keep people interested, and be effective at working against the military in your school.

Rep Ya BLOC!

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Movement Strategy Center

What are we passionate about? What are our goals for the movement? Our communities? Ourselves? Where do they converge? It is about finding a personal political identity that reflects our values, so that who, what, and where we associate reflect our values instead of being trapped in someone else's ideology. Will focus on foundational personal development work to ground their personal counter recruitment arguments. Participants walk away with a better sense of their own values and how they feel change happens, and an idea of OTHER vehicles to drive them towards that change.

Reports from CAN Chapters
Campus Antiwar Network

Spoken Word for Justice

Galen Peterson, Art in Action

Come refine your experience with the word! This workshop will feature very interactive spoken word exercises and writing activities to create space to express your feelings, and add to what you are learning about issues surrounding counter-recruitment. Freewrite, collectively create a group spoken word piece, and share with each other in a fresh supportive environment. Beginners welcome!