M18: Actions at three recruitment offices in WMass (3/18/05)

Lots of folks are coming forward. More are needed. Bring signs: Bring the Troops Home, College Not Combat, Books Not Bombs, Tell the Truth to Our Children…

RECENT ACTIONS:

Update: City College Hits Back With Suspension and Another Arrest (3/13/05)
(See: Three City College Students Charged With Felonies For Counter-Military Recruitment Protest)

Hadas Thier, one of three City College students arrested on Wednesday, March 9 for peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters at a City College career fair, was informed on Friday, March 11 that she was suspended from the university for posing a continuing danger and banned from setting foot on campus. Hospital records from Mt. Sinai show that Nick Bergreen and Justino Rodriguez, the other students arrested on Wednesday, suffered multiple contusions and postconcussion syndrome. Among the charges they are faced with is assaulting an officer.

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New Weblog Highlights Counter-Recruitment Activity (3/13/05)

A new project of the NYC Indypendent, CounterRecruiter.net, aims to chronicle the growing counter military recruiting movement across the country.

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Three City College Students Charged With Felonies For Counter-Military Recruitment Protest (3/10/05)

CounterRecruiter.net has learned that the New York police have arrested three counter-military recruiters in New York and filed felony charges against two of the students.

Nick Bergreen, Justino Rodriguez and Hadas Thier, all undergraduate students at the City College of New York, were arrested Wednesday [3/9/05] during a protest at the school. Bergreen and Rodriguez have been charged with felony assault; Thier was charged with obstruction of a government administrator.

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Protesting Military Recruiters On Campuses (3/9/05)

On March 9th, students at San Francisco State assembled a unified front in an effort to kick military recruiters off-campus. This 3 minute video captures the first portion of the protest.

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Black Army Recruits Down 41% since 2000 (3/8/05)

Black volunteers for the Army have fallen 41 percent -- from 22.7 percent in 2001 to 13.9 percent as of February 9, 2005. The "U.S. Military Image Study" prepared for the Army, in the inimitable language of marketing experts, offers an unintentionally funny recommendation to the Army in its conclusion: "For the Army to achieve its mission goals with Future Force Soldiers, it must overhaul its image as well as its product offering" . . . because, "[i]n today's reality, the risk/reward ratio is even more out of balance" than usual.

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What Military Recruiters Say (3/1/05)

Let the whole world know what military recruiters have to say.
http://news.infoshop.org

This is the site I usually visit to read news. It is a site built by anarchists and in one article a number of military recruiters decided to come in and show us their precious belongings:

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20050210121337669#comments

Here you find a recruiter who e-mailed one of the adminstrators of the site

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Blackwater is coming to town....Blackwater is coming to Recruit... (2/19/05)

I would like to have the largest, most professional private army in the world." - Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater USA "We have established a global presence and provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century. Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multinational corporations and friendly nations from all over the globe." - Blackwater corporate website

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Queer Law Students Want to Kick the Military Off Campus (2/5/05)

Queer law student groups from UC Berkeley, Golden Gate University, UC Hastings, New College, Santa Clara and the University of San Francisco, terming themselves the Coalition of Queer Law Student Associations (CQLSA), are protesting the military recruitment at the 21st Annual Northern California Public Interest/Public Sector (PI/PS) Legal Careers Day.

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Counter-Recruitment Training Seminar Held in Hayward on February 5th (2/5/05)

A Counter-Recruitment Training Seminar was held on Saturday, February 5th, at Chabot College in Hayward. The seminar was sponsored by the Military Out of Our Schools project, Code Pink Hayward, and Students for Social Justice at Chabot College.

Part of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation makes it necessary for school administrators to turn over the names of high school students to the US Military. Students are being recruited through Army interactive vans which visit campuses and introduce students to simulated war games. Many recruiting techniques disproportionately target low-income and minority communities. The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and its student group Military Out of Our Schools will present alternative possibilities to joining the military in a seminar that is geared towards parents, grandparents, and interested students.

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Blockbuster Inc. Pushes Army National Guard Recruitment (1/27/05)

On a recent trip to blockbuster, I discovered that they are purposefully putting Army recruitment flyers inside video boxes to tell you how great joining the military is. What they don't tell you, is that you will be on the first plane to Iraq if you sign up. They only show you pictures of military personnel with all their limbs still attached. I wonder if they used pictures like this (above) if they would have the same effect?

Looks like Bush's private army is getting pretty desperate. When the US military has to partner with Blockbuster, Inc. to get support, it reminds me of how Coke will sponsor the boys club...except at the boys club, you play basketball. The only thing you learn in the Army is how to be subservient and kill. Discipline starts at home. If your one of the lucky ones that survives (without mental trauma, DU poisoning, or lost limbs), you might pick up a trade. The only bad part is, if you decide to leave the military, you will find out that the job you are qualified for...doesn't exist (and you'll wind up working at Blockbuster). But, on the plus side, people will wave yellow ribbons "made in China" at you...that's gotta count for something.

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Quincy MA Recruiters Forge H.S. Diploma - they're running out of meat for the grinder (1/24/05)

A 22 year old man from Weymouth MA recently enlisted in the army despite never graduating from high school and never obtaining a GED. The army requires a high school diploma and officially prefers no more than 8% of their recruits to have GEDs.

But the recruiters at the Armed Forces Career Center must really want to keep their cushy stateside jobs because their solution is to forge a fake diploma stating that the above mentioned recruit graduated from Weymouth high school in the year 2000.

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Counter Recruitment in the Valley (12/28/04)

An Arizona Counter-Recruitment Coalition (AZCRC) member was detained and charged with trespassing as AZCRC members were distributing counter-recruitment literature at the Fiesta Mall in Mesa.

A Phoenix area organization, the AZCRC has been active in building resistance to recruitment, especially amongst students and young adults, by opposing military recruitment on high school and college campuses.

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Homeless Families Occupy Army Recruiters Office (11/30/04)

In the early afternoon of November 30, 2004, homeless families from across Philadelphia took over two federal government offices. KWRU Reports:
"Members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union attempted to meet with the Office of Housing and Urban Developement in Philadelphia. Soon after the families entered the building the elevators were turned off and we were denied our right to speak with government officials. The growing protest then moved to the Army Recruiting Office at Broad and Arch, where the families then took over the Army Recruiting Office. The families are demanding to meet with Alphonso Jackson, the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development." Protesters demand that Jackson "fly to Philadelphia to witness firsthand the impact the recent budget cuts made by the Bush Administration have had on the families in this city."

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Photos from sit-in at Army Recruitment Office (11/18/04)

The war machine's most visible manifestation on campus--the U.S. Army Recruitment Office at University Square--was shut down for much of the afternoon on Thursday [November 18, 2004] as four students demanded the space be turned into a Financial Aid office. Here are some pictures from the sit-in and subsequent arrests by Madison's finest.

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Anti-War Protesters Shutdown Recruitment Center in Hollywood (11/7/04)

Saturday, November 7, 2004, About 1,500 people met at Hollywood and Highland and marched to the recruiting station at Sunset and LaBrea to protest the occupation of Iraq and the stolen election. About 500 people entered the parking lot of the Army recruiting center in a mini-mall at LaBrea and Sunset. Police seemed somewhat unprepared but recovered after about 15 minutes and inserted themselves between the protestors and the recruiting center. After reinforcements arrived, they then proceeded to sweep across the lot, driving everyone out the LaBrea exit and into the main mass of demonstrators. Reportedly four arrests were made by the LAPD

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The War Machine Recruits with Laser Shows: Spirit of America at Pepsi Sept 24-25 (10/24/04)

The "Spirit of America" is coming to the Pepsi Arena, Friday 24 and Saturday 25 of September. School children are actively recruited and they are taken out of school to attend. War is not entertainment. Propaganda is not education. Their promo reads: "Spirit of America is a free, patriotic, live-action show presented by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. Performed by more than 400 soldiers of the U.S. Army's elite ceremonial units, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," this free show features traditional and modern music, disciplined drill and historical narrative as Soldiers recap the heritage of our country in an inspiring and entertaining performance."

LOCAL RESOURCES:

San Diego:
Resistencia Estudiantil
The Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities
San Diego Military Counseling Project
GI FightBack (cached page)

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