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

Oct

Why is the U.S. Military Pushing K-12 Students to Build Drones in Dayton?

Submitted by Gary on Mon, 20/10/2014 - 00:13

By: Seth Kershner

As a journalist and researcher, I’ve spent the last several years investigating the expanding network of links between public education and the U.S. military. With my colleague Scott Harding, I’ve also been researching the grassroots response to this phenomenon: the counter-recruitment movement.

Wed

Sep

Army Makes Case Against Enlisting

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 17/09/2014 - 10:08

Remarkably, the U.S. Army War College has published a report (PDF) that makes an overwhelming case against enlisting in the U.S. Army. The report, called "Civilian Organizational Inhibitors to U.S. Army Recruiting and the Road Ahead," identifies counter-recruitment organizations that effectively discourage young people from joining the military.

Army Makes Case Against Enlisting

Sat

Sep

Immigration Reform and the Military

Submitted by Gary on Sat, 06/09/2014 - 18:55

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy

Jesus D. Mendez Carbajal, Project YANO Intern:

Under the Obama administration there have been more than two million deportations to date, an average of 1,100 people every day, which is a higher rate than that for any other president in the history of the United States. More than 100,000 of those have come from California. Deportations have been facilitated in California via the implementation of the Secure Communities policy in 2009, which established the sharing of the fingerprint database between local law enforcement and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

The proposed immigration reform bill’s halt and continued deportations have sparked community organizers and activists nationwide to mobilize and stage several nonviolent civil disobedience actions calling for the stopping of all deportations and the shutdown of ICE.

Tue

Sep

Subvertisers' gallery

In this gallery we're collecting examples of the military's messages being 'improved' / changed by those who want to undermine their attempts to make war sounds good!

Some people call this billboard improvement, some people call it graffiti, some call it subvertising. Whatever you call it - we think it's a good idea!

Also see this video of an action in Belgium to alter the army's messages on Valentine's day...http://antimili-youth.net/videos/2014/09/make-love-not-war

Mon

Sep

Leave My Child Alone

Leave My Child Alone is a project of Mainstreet Moms Organize or Bust

The coalition campaign against No Child Left Behind’s military recruitment requirement, with an emphasis on family privacy. Working with a network of 400 women legislators, we saw school policy change in at least 100 school districts.

Fri

Aug

Day of Action images

Images from 2013's first ever International Day of Action for Military-Free Education and Research. Join us for 2014's Week of Action for Military-Free Educatiuon and Research in October!

Tue

Mar

Project Great Futures

Project Great Futures works to provide Southern California youth with information about alternatives to military enlistment. We look for and promote programs and services which support, affirm, and encourage young people to fulfill their dreams. Our goal is to support students to think critically, research the options, raise their expectations, and to empower students to make up their own minds about their future.

Tue

Mar

Counter-recruitment and School Demilitarization Activism: From Past Victories to the Challenges Ahead

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 18/03/2014 - 21:01

Education Not Arms Coalition: In the audience are about 70 students, parents and others showing their support for the policy

Rick Jahnkow -

Counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work in the U.S. has gone through several cycles of expansion and contraction during the last few decades. The first expansion was during the early 1980s when it was supported by a small number of national organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), War Resisters League, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) and National Lawyers Guild. Most grassroots activities at the time were carried out by chapters of these organizations and a number of independent community peace groups (including COMD and, eventually, Project YANO).

Tue

Mar

Notes Toward More Powerful Organizing: Pitfalls and Potential in Counter-recruitment Organizing

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 18/03/2014 - 20:20

Amy Hagopian, co-chairwoman of the Garfield High PTSA, lights up Marine Sgt. Christopher Matthews in the school lunchroom. Hagopian is trying to get military recruiters barred from the school. The Marines and the Army have failed to meet recruiting quotas in recent months. Photo: Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Matt Guynn -

It’s not necessary to go to Washington for a protest to significantly engage key issues related to the War on Terrorism. Try going to a local coffee shop or any other public place where you can strike up a conversation with youth or young adults about the choices and paths that the young people in your community see in front of them.

Tue

Mar

Military Recruiters Have Gone Too Far The Pentagon is using video games to infiltrate middle schools.

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 18/03/2014 - 17:25

A team of CyberPatriot Marine Military Academy cadets partake in the Cyber Patriot National High School Defense competition, in Harlingen, Texas, on Jan. 14, 2012 Read more: Military Recruiters Have Gone Too Far | TIME.com http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/17/military-recruiters-have-gone-too-far/#ixzz2wKtBez6w

Corey Mead -

In its rush to find the next generation of cyberwarriors, the military has begun to infiltrate our high schools and even our middle schools, blurring the line between education and recruitment. The Air Force, for example, runs a “CyberPatriot” national high school cyberdefense competition, geared toward influencing students to pursue careers in cybersecurity. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has its own annual “Digital Forensics Challenge,” in which teams of players develop their own investigative tools. But no one is as innovative in his approach as Colonel Casey Wardynski (ret.)—for 16 years the Army’s top economist and now the superintendent of schools in Huntsville, Ala.

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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.