North America

Mon

Jan

2015

There Is No Future in War: Youth Rise Up, a Manifesto

New translation available

A peace sign printed on the American Flag is raised during a protest against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Archive / History Channel)

Submitted by Gary

Statement written by Ben Norton, Tyra Walker, Anastasia Taylor, Alli McCracken, Colleen Moore, Jes Grobman, Ashley Lopez / Codepink -

Once again, US politicians and pundits are beating the drums of...

Mon

Mar

Henry A Giroux War on youth

Submitted by Gary on Mon, 16/03/2015 - 20:27

HISTORIES OF VIOLENCE: Henry A. Giroux provides the 2nd Histories of Violence Annual Lecture

Henry A Giroux War on youth

Tue

Feb

Local-born doctor: Military structures young lives

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 24/02/2015 - 16:38

Asia Burns, left, and Arlonzo Chism stand in formation during ROTC at Woodlawn High School. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

A former Shreveporter who left a troubled family here to serve as a combat medic in Iraq, and who later served as a new doctor combating Ebola in west Africa, will speak in his home town later this week and sign copies of his new book.

"My mom was in prison most of my life, and my sister did time," says Antonio Webb, 32, who now is in his residency as an orthopedic surgeon in San Antonio, Texas. He grew up in the Allendale, Queensborough and Meadows neighborhood off Jewella Avenue.

"My dad did the best he could as a single parent to keep us isolated from what was going on. I was lucky in that I left Shreveport at an early age, 17, after I graduated from high school. If I'd have stayed in Shreveport there would have been a different outcome."

Mon

Feb

Youth and Militarism Conference: Canada

Youth in Canada - particularly young people of faith - are increasingly concerned about militarism in our society; and how this affects them.

These concerns include (but are not limited to)
• the causes of war (including inequality),
• the militarization of entertainment,
• the intersection with gender,
• national identity,
• technological influence,
• infiltration into our educational institutions, and
• a lack of effective empowerment for youth who are
called to be peacemakers.

Thu

Feb

Project YANO

Project YANO is a California based nonprofit community organization that provides young people with an alternative point of view about military enlistment. Many of the organisation's members are armed forces veterans who believe that high school students are getting a distorted picture of the military and war from recruiting ads and marketing.

Wed

Feb

America's Child Soldiers: JROTC and the Militarizing of America

Submitted by Gary on Wed, 04/02/2015 - 13:07

By Ann Jones

Congress surely meant to do the right thing when, in the fall of 2008, it passed the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA). The law was designed to protect kids worldwide from being forced to fight the wars of Big Men. From then on, any country that coerced children into becoming soldiers was supposed to lose all U.S. military aid.

It turned out, however, that Congress -- in its rare moment of concern for the next generation -- had it all wrong. In its greater wisdom, the White House found countries like Chad and Yemen so vital to the national interest of the United States that it preferred to overlook what happened to the children in their midst.

Tue

Jan

Don't Go!

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 13/01/2015 - 15:35

Classic antiwar animation that portrays the tragedy and loss of participation in the act of war from the perspective and innocence of a soldier in combat.

Don't Go!

Tue

Jan

Alternatives to the Military – Lincoln

Tue

Jan

Truth and Alternatives to Militarism in Education

Truth and Alternatives to Militarism in Education (TAME) mission is to raise awareness of the ways by which militarism encourages violence, consumes resources, and threatens our well-being.

We present critical perspectives on the role of the military and the idealized portrayal of war to youth in particular, parents, educators, and the public in general.

We work to expose the negative aspects of a military presence and an ongoing recruitment in our educational institutions, including the system of promises and inducements used to entice young people into the military.

Tue

Jan

Before You Enlist! The Real Deal in Joining the Military

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 13/01/2015 - 12:30

Straight talk from soldiers, veterans and their family members tells what is missing from the sales pitches presented by recruiters and the military's marketing efforts. Produced by Telequest, Inc with support from AFSC. See http://youth4peace.org for more info.

Source: http://www.beforeyouenlist.org/

Before You Enlist! The Real Deal in Joining the Military

Thu

Dec

Football, the military and one Florida high school student’s difficult choice

Submitted by Gary on Thu, 11/12/2014 - 15:05

In the Florida Panhandle, football and military seen as ways out. Marine Recruiter Master Sgt. Newton McPherson addresses students during a visit to a JROTC class at Jefferson County Middle/High School. COLIN HACKLEY/For The Washington Post

By Kent Babb -

MONTICELLO, Fla. — The binder sat open on his adoptive mother’s lap, turned to the page where the scholarship papers lay in a transparent sleeve.

Nik Branham said nothing, holding the phone in its camouflage case close enough that his face glowed. The woman supported her 17-year-old’s plan to join the Army, but she didn’t understand it. These papers were a miracle, as she saw it, college at least partially paid for because of the hell he had survived, a chance at an education and maybe a few more years of football, the game he once loved.

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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.