reports

Tue
21
Apr
2015
New translation available
Submitted by antimili-youth

Boko Haram militants have abducted upwards of 2,000 girls in the past two years, some of whom have been forced to become child soldiers alongside abducted boys, reports the human...

Wed
30
Dec

The Situation of Children Affected by Armed Conflicts in Turkey

Report prepared by Humanist Bureau*

Introduction

We have been for years witnessing children losing their lives or getting injured during demonstrations or interventions by security forces. This report focuses on the time period after July 2015. Its objective is to make visible both the children who lost their lives or got injured and the leading factors since 26.07.2015, when Beytullah Aydın fell off the 7th floor of the building he was hiding in to escape from the police forces intervening with a demonstration in Diyarbakır and died. We also aim to make visible the victimization of children due to violation of their basic rights, including right to education, and losing their parents. It is expected that those who work in this area and those who live in this country become aware of their responsibilities regarding this end result and fulfill their obligations to protect children.

Thu
26
Nov

DoD Starbase Militarizes Education for Disadvantaged Children in the USA

2014 DoD Starbase Annual Report

The U.S. Department of Defense recently released their 2014 DoD Starbase Annual Report covering this program's impact on 10 to 14 year old children in U.S. public schools. One of the Starbase organizers is Major General  Lee Tafanelli, of the Kansas National Guard, and his comments reveal how normalized and commonplace has become the language of militarization inside U.S. Schools. As part of the "community covenant " strategy of the Pentagon to "own" townships and school districts to support and participate in military focused science and math programs, children are now openly given science education directly related to defense issues. Starbase proponents focus their outreach in poorer districts , where children are at greater risk to conditions of poverty or lack opportunities afforded to youth living in more affluent areas and attending better funded schools.

Mon
02
Nov

Education as Enforcement:Militarization and Corporatization of Schools

The Chicago Memorial Day parade is Saturday, May 23, 2015, had  80 percent of the parade was hundreds and hundreds of children, in military uniforms, proudly marching behind military banners.

Kenneth J. Saltman - Public schools in the United States have increasingly come to resemble the military and prison systems with their hiring of military generals as school administrators and heavy investment in security apparatus—metal detectors, high-tech dog tag IDs, chainlink fences, and real-time Internet-based or hidden mobile surveillance cameras—plus, their school uniforms, security consultants, surprise searches, and the presence of police on campuses.1 But it would be a mistake to understand the preoccupation with security as merely a mass media-driven hysteria in the wake of Virginia Tech and other high-profile shootings, and myopic to ignore the history of public school militarization prior to September 11.

Sun
18
Oct

SATSA & The Professionalization of War on Campus

Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis (SATSA)

by Vani Kannan -

On February 27-28, 2015, the Syracuse University (SU) Student Association on Terrorism and Security Analysis (SATSA) held its yearly conference on campus,  entitled “The New Global Threat: Emerging Issues in National Security.” SATSA publishes The Journal of Terrorism and Security Analysis, and is oriented towards the policy and legal implications of military action. Students contribute to the journal to increase their marketability for jobs such as National Security Attorney. Broadly, this conference is geared towards training students so that they have the tools to advise military personnel and military contractors on what authority they have, and how to use the law to justify military operations.

Mon
14
Sep

America’s Tween Soldiers

August Say, 12, holds out his arm to determine where he should stand in class in the new Dragon Leadership Corps at his middle school in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Seth Kershner, In These Times

Last year, Henry F. Moss Middle School in Bowling Green, Ohio, offered students a brand new course. And, as a headline in the local newspaper proclaimed, this was “not your traditional class.” For starters, the teacher—an army sergeant—had told the Bowling Green Daily News that one of his goals was to expose these seventh- and eighth-graders to “military values” that they could use as “building blocks” in life. To that end, students in the class earn military style ranks, engage in army-style “PT” (physical training) and each Wednesday, wear camouflage pants and boots.

This is the Moss Middle School Leadership Corps, part of the growing trend of military-style education for pre-adolescents.

Mon
14
Sep

New Publication: Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools

Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools

Scott Harding, Seth Kershner -

Mon
22
Jun

"War Is Not Family Entertainment"

"The Armed Forces Day 'family fun' extravaganza in Colwyn Bay's Parc Eirias went ahead on Saturday in intermittent drizzle and behind a prominent banner near the main gate stating what you'd have thought would be bleedin' obvious, but apparently to many punters wasn't: 'WAR IS NOT FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT'. "

It was Armed Forces Day in Wales last Saturday and a group of peace activists had some brilliant ideas to turn it into a day of peace and resistance! Here is their report from their direct action last weekend, which also includes their call out for actions as such in other cities of the UK on the official Armed Forces Day this Saturday:  

Background

Wed
15
Apr

Yazidi sex slaves reveal Isis militants picked who to rape in twisted 'lottery' in distressing accounts

By Heather Saul, The Independent

Isis fighters are committing widespread, organised and systematic rape and sexual assault on Yazidi women and girls in what may amount to a crime against humanity, a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

Fri
27
Mar

More than 15 million children directly affected by violence in 2014

Photo: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

During a Security Council meeting on children in armed conflicts, UN officials urged today protection for the war's youngest victims.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN 15-member body that "increasingly, children are snatched from a normal life of school and family, abducted by armed groups and thrown into a life of violence and horror."

He added "from north-eastern Nigeria, to Iraq, from South Sudan to Syria, we have witnessed a wave of such abductions used to terrorize and humiliate entire communities."

He also noted that last year was considered one of the worst ever for children in areas affected by conflict, with up to 15 million children directly affected by the violence.

Fri
31
Oct

Competing Messages: Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

Competing Messages: Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

This study examines how the mass media’s portrayal of the military, including the war in Iraq, affects U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps recruiting. A telephone survey of households in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas was conducted to measure parents and young adults’ exposure to information about the military in various media sources and how much attention they paid to those sources of information for information about the military.  This study was hampered by a small sample size (N=119) that limits the ability to claim significant findings for several hypotheses. However, the study did uncover a pattern that indicated that greater use of newspapers and entertainment television reduced chances of young adults joining the military, whereas use of movies depicting the military enhanced the likelihood of joining. Also, media use predicted people’s attitudes about the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq.

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