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Sat

Jan

2024

Elective Military Corps Programs in Schools Should Not Be Forced Upon Minority and Low-income Students

Submitted by nnomy

Wed

Jun

Thou Shalt Not Kill

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 10/06/2015 - 17:14

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig

The military in the United States portrays itself as endowed with the highest virtues—honor, duty, self-sacrifice, courage and patriotism. Politicians, entertainers, sports stars, the media, clerics and academics slavishly bow before the military machine, ignoring its colossal pillaging of state resources, the egregious war crimes it has normalized across the globe, its abject service not to democracy or freedom but corporate profit, and the blind, mind-numbing obedience it inculcates among its members. A lone soldier or Marine who rises up inside the system to denounce the hypermasculinity that glorifies violence and war, who exposes the false morality of the military, who refuses to kill in the service of imperial power, unmasks the military for what it is. And he or she, as Chelsea Manning has learned, swiftly pays a very, very heavy price.

Tue

Jun

14 Powerful Portraits Of Men Reacting To New Mandatory Army Draft In Lithuania

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 09/06/2015 - 16:22

By Neringa Rekasiute

Two women in Lithuania are using photography to approach a very controversial topic – military conscription, which was suddenly reinstated by the Lithuanian government just a few months ago. The series is a collaboration between Lithuanian actress and TV host Beata Tiskevic-Hasanova and Lithuanian photographer and political science student Neringa Rekasiute.

Tue

Jun

US Military involvement with Colleges - bigger than it seems

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 09/06/2015 - 10:48

The US Military influences higher education through a variety of mechanisms

The US military regards colleges as a crucial component of their defence strategy, and has developed a well-resourced and sophisticated position of influence within the US higher education system. Campuses have become an extension of the US military complex and key sties for recruitment, training, and military research.

Student Militias - The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)

Founded in 1916, the ROTC exists in over 1,000 US colleges, and provides military training to students, with the aim of producing the next generation of armed forces officers. ROTC Students are provided with a scholarship to college, on the condition that they complete four years of active military service once they graduate. ROTC graduates also serve an additional four years in the reserves after their active service.

Thu

Jun

Arms companies are making money by taking over UK schools

Submitted by hannah on Thu, 04/06/2015 - 14:33

By Andrew Smith

Corporations have already established a growing foothold in many UK schools, but the idea of Europe's biggest arms company running a school still seems like something out of an Orwellian nightmare.

Tue

May

Factors in Jihadist Radicalism and Extremist Violence

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 19/05/2015 - 12:35

By Paul Adhoch - Trace Kenya and Dola Nicholas Oluoch – Chemchemi Ya Ukweli - written for http://antimili-youth.net/

Security observers, experts in war on terrorism and practitioners in countering human trafficking have noted three very important ingredients in the recruitment or volunteerism of young male into jihadist wars. This has been a universal observation, be it the war in Syria, the ISIS situation, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan or the Al-Shabaab war in Somalia.

Mon

May

UN response to sex abuse whistleblower is 'deeply unsatisfactory' - open letter

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 18/05/2015 - 16:05

Statement by civil society organisations calling on the UN Secretary General to clarify measures taken in response to reports of sexual abuse of children by foreign troops in the Central African Republic

Dear Mr Ban Ki Moon,

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, call for immediate action to address revelations about the sexual abuse of children by French, Chadian and Equatorial Guinean troops in the Central African Republic, and the United Nations’ handling of the situation.

Fri

May

WRI Statement for International Conscientious Objection Day

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 15/05/2015 - 17:36

15th May is International Conscientious Objection Day - a joint day of action used by peace activists around the world to support those who refuse to be part of the militarist system, as well as to remember and learn from conscientious objectors of past generations.

Those who resist war and preparations for war expose the military for what it is. As Yeook Yang, from World Without War, a WRI affiliate in South Korea, tells us: "In a highly militarised society where any discussion of the military is taboo, conscientious objectors are making it clear that the military exists only to kill."

For us, conscientious objection is part of a wider nonviolent struggle to transform oppressive and violent systems, and show an alternative way.

Take action

Here are some ways you can support conscientious objectors around the world today:

Mon

May

Why so many children are fighting in Yemen’s civil war

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 11/05/2015 - 17:06

By Ali al-Mujahed and Hugh Naylor, The Washington Post

SANAA, Yemen — Abdullah Ali’s 15-year-old son disappeared from home one morning three months ago. A week later, the boy called his horrified family to say he had joined the Shiite insurgents known as Houthis — becoming one of a growing number of underage soldiers fighting in Yemen’s civil war.

“He’s just a child. He’s only in the ninth grade,” Ali, 49, a civil servant who lives in the city of Taiz, said recently. “He should be at school learning, not fighting.”

Thu

May

UN says CAR armed groups agree to free child soldiers

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 07/05/2015 - 12:33

Pact signed by eight main militias covers thousands of children, including those used as sex slaves or menial workers.

The United Nations has announced that armed factions in Central African Republic (CAR) have agreed to free all child soldiers and other children used as sex slaves or menial workers, boosting UN-driven efforts at national reconciliation after two years of turmoil.

The pact signed by the eight main militia groups in the country covers an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 children, the United Nations child agency UNICEF said on Tuesday.

Armed groups also pledged to end the recruitment of children.

The accord emerged from a week-long national reconciliation forum which began on Monday with the goal of ending conflict that has killed thousands, and driven more than a million people from their homes.

Tue

May

Counter Recruitment in Belfast

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 05/05/2015 - 10:33

Having been profoundly disturbed by recent figures suggesting that 1 in 10 prisoners in the UK prison system is an ex-soldier, disturbed by the amount of homeless people that come from an ex-service background and disturbed by how many of our ex-service men and women are cast adrift suffering post-traumatic stress after they leave the military, I was keen to see what mechanisms the Armed Forces had in place to remedy these issues. So, on Saturday 25th April I took myself off to the Armed Forces trades fair (Recruitment Day) in Belfast, to engage with serving personnel and the families of potential recruits. I decided that as well as quizzing the camouflaged salesmen, I would also approach the Mums and Dads with a view to informing them of the less appealing side of life as an Army recruit.

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Countering Military Recruitment

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.