Teachers and Education Workers from Japan visit UTLA to build bridges with American teachers in the fight against privatization, militarism, and the destruction of public education. From left to right: Kojima Eriko - Doro-Chiba; Kitazawa Mizue - Miura Peninsula District Teachers Union; Yoneyama Yoshie - Tokyo Teachers Union; Nihonyanagi Minoru- Miura Peninsula District Teachers Union; Masuda Toshikazu - Nara Teachers Union; Seto Tadashi - Doro-Chiba
Building internationally to defeat militarism and neo-liberalism
These guests, education workers and labor activists from Doro-Chiba (National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba) and the Education Workers Caucus of the Japanese National Coordinating Center of Labor Unions, are part of a bridge-building between union teachers, education workers, and trade-union workers in both Japan and the US. We are united in an anti-militarist stance and a recognition that the neo-liberal policies of our elected leaders are damaging and perverse.
Below is a video of anti-militarist teacher, Nezu Kimiko, a dear friend and colleague who is courageously challenging the growing militarism in Japanese schools.
For more info give us a call at 626-799-9118.
You can help by writing a letter. Go to our International page for more information.
video by Seto Tadashi
BUILDING SOLIDARITY WITH TEACHERS AND WORKERS FROM JAPAN
August 31, 2010
Arlene Inouye
At the UTLA Leadership Conference and scheduled community meetings from Aug. 18-25th, UTLA members and the broader community had the rare and unique opportunity to interact directly with rank and file teachers and labor activists from Japan. The delegation shattered illusions about an idyllic teaching situation where education is valued and teachers are respected. Over and over, we heard UTLA and community members say, "I had no idea that this is happening in Japan."
The teachers and workers in Japan have experienced over 25 years of privatization of public services (such as the national railways and postal system). Since the 1990's, the neoliberal free market agenda coupled with the economic crisis has put Japan on the fast track to sweeping changes in the educational system-especially in the past five years.
Three years ago, at my first National Education Association (NEA) Representative Rally, I had one of those 5 minute chance encounters which has dramatically influenced my life. Behind the Peace and Justice Caucus table outside the meeting hall, I happened to see four persons who to my astonishment had come from Japan. I learned that they were excluded from the meeting because their national union- Nikkyoso or Japan Teacher's Union did not support their resistance to a 2007 Hinomaru and Kimigayo mandate. This mandate required secondary teachers at graduation ceremonies to pay tribute to the Hinomaru (Japanese flag), symbolizing imperial conquest and war, and to sing the Kimigayo, representing blind obedience to the Emperor. There were punishments for teachers who refused to follow these mandates, including forced transfers, teacher education classes, salary reductions, and the threat of firing. Since the JTU had not taken a position on Kimigayo and Hinomaru (even though over a thousand Japanese teachers were resisting these mandates), this delegation from Japan was not able to participate as recognized guests at the NEA. But I took their petitions and garnered support for their cause. I was touched by the determination of these rank and file teachers and felt that their issue was also my issue.
From this encounter and their familiarity with the CAMS website, I was later invited to speak at the International Solidarity Rally in Tokyo, Japan in 2007, and the next year at the rally of the Anniversary of the bombings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It was deeply moving for me, a third generation Japanese American whose family was forced into camps during World War II, to bring a message of solidarity and peace. Every year since then they have come to the US, or we have sent someone from UTLA and CAMS to Japan. We have also met with the Japanese Embassy, mailed hundreds of signatures and sent letters to officials in Japan, informed educators about their issues, and made their struggle visible in the United States.
The week of Aug. 18-25th was significant as they spent an entire week with us at the Leadership Conference and at various community events. They were not outside dissidents, but brothers and sisters who were invited to share their stories of struggle with us for the purpose of building international solidarity. This was an unprecedented visit, and from the feedback we have received, it was a life changing experience for many. The delegation included:
Minoru Nihonyanagi, a clerical job worker in the Miura Peninsula District Teachers Union (clerical workers are members of the Japan Teachers Union).
Yoshie Yoneyama, a teacher fired for opposing the Hinomaru and Kimigayo in the Tokyo Teachers Union (she was one of the resisting teachers who has a pending court case).
Toshikazu Masuda, a middle school teacher in Nara Teachers Union who is chair of a Coordinating Center of Labor Unions (which is organizing teachers and labor unions together to fight the privatization and militarism in the schools).
Mizue Kitazawa, a primary school teacher, Miura Peninsula District Teacher's Union. She is running for office in her local union, which is an important and unprecedented step towards changing the power dynamics in their top down union.
Tadashi Seto and Eriko Kojima were two translators who are from the International Support Committee of the Doro-Chiba Railway Union. This union has been fighting the privatization of the railways for over 25 years with job actions and strikes. During this time, 200,000 workers have been fired, many have been terrorized and bullied, and there have been many reported suicides.
One member of the team could not attend due to mental stress from the harassment he has been experiencing because of his resistance to district mandates.
When asked about their typical day in Japan, the teachers described the deteriorating working conditions there. The unions of the Japanese local government have no rights to negotiate wage agreements, and with the economic crisis since the 1990's there have been wage cuts and the hiring of "irregular" teachers (which means hourly pay with no benefits). Many of us were shocked to hear that these young teachers make so little that they can't afford rent and live in the internet cafes. They also talked about karoshi, or death from overwork, and suicide. Overwork is a big problem for Japanese teachers. They work an average of 80 to 100 hours overtime EVERY MONTH without pay. Their typical day goes from before 8:30 a.m. to as late as 9 or 10 p.m. Plus their work day includes all the classroom duties for a class of 40 (in elementary and secondary schools), with no assistants and support. Their duties include: cleaning toilets, attending official trainings, making various reports, supervising extracurricular activities, etc. Several times throughout the week they were asked, "Does the public know about this? Why aren't they saying anything?" Their reply was that everyone overworks in Japan, and they have media similar to ours.
Most teachers and community members are taken aback when they hear about what teachers in Japan are experiencing. Most think that Japan has a model educational system of collaboration that results in high test scores (math and science), a nonexistent dropout rate, very little violence, a cultural valuing of education, and of course the deep respect for teachers. But as the delegation explained, the shift towards privatizing and militarizing education is evident in multiple ways, with parallel elements to the United States. In order to clarify these issues, I have put them into the chart below:
Neoliberal Educational Reform Japan
Laws 2007 Revision of the Fundamental Law of Education- "Education as a right changed to "Education to make useful persons for the state." This has led to the Kimigayo and Hinomaru mandates.
Privatized Zones Special Zone for Structural Reform- designated area deregulated for "structural reform" (i.e. high profits secured by using contract temporary uncredentialed teachers).
Teacher Evaluation System (TES) and Merit Based Pay Raise System 2000 new public management system that drastically intensifies control of teachers. Education workers' autonomy and professional commission are denied. Punitive measures such as a Teacher Improvement Program for teachers "lacking in teaching ability" is required with transfers or dismissals if judged to be failures.
Testing 2007 National Academic Aptitude Test- to evaluate schools and introduce school choice and preferential budget allotment.
Revisionist history textbook Glorifies Japan's aggressive wars, negates historical facts, i.e. the system of "comfort women."
Teacher license renewal system 2009 requirement of renewal courses, must pass qualification test, discourages union activism.
School Education Act- curriculum guidelines 2008 "moral education" is underscored, with "moral content" infused into every subject
Doshu-sei- "ultimate structural reform" pushed by Japan Business Federation Proposal to occur in 2012- to fire all of 3.4 million public employees at once and rehire around 2.75 million after screening. Those who "lack public conscience" will not be rehired. If introduced, Doshu-sei would result in the rapid charterization of public schools.
The results of the neo liberal agenda of education are similar to what we are experiencing in the U.S. The economic crisis disproportionately has impacted the students from families who are at the low end of the economic scale, especially the "ethnic minorities," and is driving teachers into poverty through less wages and temporary conditions. Teachers have more working duties, more requirements to fulfill, while facing curriculum constraints and suppression of their academic freedom. They know that to be silent is to consent to the privatization of their schools and society.
The Doro Chiba National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba has established the national Coordinating Center of Labor Unions (NCCLU) to drive class struggle in the labor movement with the slogan of "fight on our own with solidarity." They organize industry by industry, region to region, and reach out to young workers. They have formed an Education Workers Caucus that is working hard to revive a union by consolidating unity and solidarity of teachers. The struggle for reinstatement of dismissed irregular workers, the refusal to stand up in front of Hinomaru and to sing Kimgayo, and the struggle for withdrawal of the disciplinary measure on a worker who took a paid holiday on the A-Bomb day in Hiroshima are the priorities among a vast range of activities.
We have been inspired and deeply moved by what they have humbly shared with us from their hearts. But as we said our final good byes after one week of being together (which included a few days of sightseeing since it was the first time in the US for half of the team), we learned how empowering this time was for them. Mizue, who is running for office, was initially timid and doubtful. But she is going back with a spirit of victory. They were amazed by the democratic process we experience in UTLA, and were incredulous about all the support staff at our schools. They saw what could be, and we grappled together with ideas about how to fight the sweeping privatization of our schools.
I thank the people from CAMS, UTLA, the Human Rights Committee and the Trinational Coalition to Defend Public Education, who gave of your food, homes, time, cars, and support. This trip would not have been possible without your help. Our struggles are truly one and the same. It is not just a cliché that together we can change the world!
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Santee High School, in downtown Los Angeles, needs stable funding. However, our government decides to send in the troops, and continue Arne Duncan's plan to privatize public education.
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From DemocracyNow! The War and Peace Report
Yo Soy El Army: US Military Targets Latinos with Extensive Recruitment Campaign
CAMS is featured in this video.
In addition to the racial profiling encouraged by Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law, the Hispanic community in this country is the target of a different kind of profiling, as well: the military’s targeting of Latino recruits. We get a report from independent media activist and community organizer Marco Amador of Producciones Cimarrón and the Center for Community Communications and the Big Noise media collective.
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The War on Earth, brought to you by BP, subsidized by the Pentagon
May 28, 2010
Gregory Sotir
The connections between American militarism and the oil industry have a long and ugly history. In particular Vietnam and Angola are some not-so-distant memories, and then of course there is Iraq. Our present unfolding oil disaster, or rather the latest chapter in the unending disaster, of British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon in the Caribbean may well reshape the whole ecological landscape of the Caribbean and Western Atlantic global region. Will it also have any affect on the worlds worst polluter, the US Military, and the Pentagons relation to BP and other oil cos?
As oil supplies peak and dwindle, the Pentagon still requires steady supplies without interruption. BP is the largest supplier of petroleum products to the US military, holding huge taxpayer funded contracts with the Pentagon. and how does our miltiary use this oil? The M1 Abrams tank, developed in the 80s, is a workhorse for protecting our America from those who hate us. Here are the stats:
An (Abrams) tank will need approximately 300 gallons every eight hours; this will vary depending on mission, terrain, and weather. A single tank takes 10 minutes to refuel. Refueling and rearming of a tank platoon--four tanks--is approximately 30 minutes under ideal conditions.
• 0.6 miles per gallon.
• 60 gallons per hour when traveling cross-country
• 30+ gallons per hour while operating at a tactical ideal
• 10 gallons basic idle
A mine plow will increase the fuel consummation rate of a tank by 25 percent
(source: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m1-specs.htm)
We have about 9000 of these behemoths at about $6.2 million a pop. So saving British Petroleum, and protecting our loyalest corporate oil supplier, will become a chief objective of the Feds now that their repulsive practices are being exposed. As the Pentagon continues in their campaign to distribute toxic waste wherever their bases exist, send out depleted uranium shells to explode and disperse over varied and wide landscapes, and investigate new ways to exempt themselves from EPA regulations and restrictions, it will also continue using our soldiers as guinea pigs and ignoring the repercussions of water, air, and land contamination on civilian populations across the globe. As sure as Caribbean corals reefs are disappearing you can bet your legislators will approve the next round of military funding. Just as they did on May 27, 2010 extending the war supplemental without any real debate of the effects of war on earth by the Pentagon or the connections between the worst polluter on the planet and the worst American environmental disaster since the fencing off of the Hanford nuclear death zone. BP will and must continue to feed our military’s cancerous legacy. It benefits them and it benefits the Pentagon.
You might be upset, angry, sad, and ultimately paralyzed by the devastation happening in the Gulf off New Orleans but the Pentagon will keep the money flowing into BP as sure as the oil flowing into the Caribbean. The protection of BP is after all, an issue of national security. Keep those tanks rolling!
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You Are Invited to
Big Frank’s Musical Birthday Party,
Fundraiser for CAMS
(Coalition for Alternatives to Militarism in Our Schools)
Saturday, July 10th – 6:30 PM
at
Frank, Jane & Emily Dorrel’s
3967 Shedd Terrace, Culver City 90232
A Delicious Dinner Will Be Served from Hu’s Chinese Restaurant
Music by
Andy Manoff & His New Band, including Tupper & Julia Lienke, Cole Miller & Emily Dorrel ~
Plus Dennis Davis, KB Solomon & others!
Special Guests will be:
Arlene Inouye of CAMS
Theresa & Blase Bonpane of the OOA
Sandra & Ulis Williams of CAMS
Jane, Emily, Meta, Jeff & Ozzy Dorrel
$10-$20 Sliding Scale at the Door
Please RSVP so we can know how much food to order:
310-838-8131 or: Fdorrel@addictedtowar.com
If you would like to bring me a birthday present,
I would ask you to write a check to CAMS & give it me on July 10th.
If you can’t make the party but would like to make a donation to CAMS,
please send a check (made out to CAMS) to:
Frank Dorrel, 3967 Shedd Terrace, Culver City, CA 90232
CAMS
Support Military Free Schools & The Alternatives
www.militaryfreeschools.org - 626-799-9118
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Voices on Militarism Video #2 with Arlene Inouye
(for past Voices on Militarism videos go to our Video page.)
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An Early Start
April 25, 2010
Arlene Inouye
Over and over studies have shown the value and importance of early education, and the first five years of life. According to the Institute of Medicine book, From Neurons to Neighborhoods, brain scans and neuroscience have now shown conclusively that the best time to influence a child's trajectory in life is during the child's earliest years when the architecture of the brain is literally under construction. It's also the time when young children learn to share, wait their turn, follow directions and build relationships. The time when they develop a conscience and differentiate right from wrong.
For years, educators have been clamoring for more early education programs, for increased funding and respectable pay for its teachers.
They may finally get their way.
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, and some of America's top retired admirals, generals and other military leaders last November called for immediate action to address startling statistics released by the Pentagon. Their report Mission: Readiness states that 75 percent of the young people ages 17 to 24 are currently unable to enlist in the US military. The problem: our youth fail to graduate high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit.
A new organization called MISSION:READINESS led by nearly 90 retired military leaders supports policies to help young people get the right start so they are prepared to succeed in life. Secretary Duncan said that the support of retired military brass demonstrates how important early childhood development is for the country. The retired military leaders called on Congress to enact a robust child nutrition bill that would:
Get the junk food and remaining high-calorie beverages out of the nation’s
schools
Support the administration’s proposal of an increase of $1 billion per year for ten
years for child nutrition programs that would improve nutrition standards,
upgrade the quality of meals served in schools and enable more children to have
access to these programs, and
Help develop new school-based strategies, based on research, that help parents
and children adopt healthier life-long eating and exercise habits.
The military needs the future youth of America to be healthy, fit and ready to enlist. Rear Admiral Barnett stated, "while we are meeting our recruitment targets today, we are worried about the trends we see. Our national security in the year 2030 is absolutely dependent on reversing the alarming rates of child obesity."
After all, God forbid that we lack enough youth to continue war and our military-industrial-congressional complex. The need for early education now has the backing of education and military leaders elevating it's priority and leading to action. Once again it is not because the health and welfare of the young people themselves are important but what they give back in military service.
It's another case of something so right, becoming something so wrong.
This is a picture from the Hollywood Peace Rally on March 20, 2010. These are students and their teacher from Hollywood High. They are tomorrow's leaders and they are not tomorrows soldiers.
International Women's Day Reflections
for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
March 25, 2010
Arlene Inouye
It is good to have a time to reflect on women- our contributions, struggles and as the Chinese proverb states- women hold up half the sky. One of my female friends replied to me in a text "women hold up more than half the sky and the other half starts to weigh on'em becuz men r too busy wrecking themselves & the women & the children! ha, easy to blame it all on the men". But perhaps there's some truth to what she wrote, because women in most societies throughout history have been oppressed, denied their full humanity and basic human rights by men. And today around the world, gender gaps persist in education, health, work, wages and political participation. And there are further gaps based on access to resources, economic and citizenship status, skin color and ethnicity, how much one deviates from culturally accepted norms. Unfortunately, these distinctions have created divisions among women when we take on the values of a male dominant culture. This leads to a divide and conquer mentality because we do not embrace our common humanity as women, and have not internalized that when one of us suffers- than we all are not free.
International women's day, and women's history month is a wonderful time to remember those who have gone before us and contributed to furthering the experience for women. The founders of WILPF which goes back to 1915 had the foresight to create an organization which worked to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom and justice for all. An organization that builds on the wisdom of our founding foremothers who recognized that peace is not rooted only in treaties between great powers or a turning away of weapons alone, but can only flourish when it is also planted in the soil of justice, freedom, non-violence, opportunity and equality for all.
This month, I hope that each of you will reflect on a woman, someone who has touched you, influenced you and made a difference in your life. I want to tell you about someone in my life, my Step Grandmother, my Grandfather's second wife who became part of our family in her 40's. I had the good fortune of having a first generation or Issei Grandmother who spoke English and told me her life story. But I was able to get the big picture of her life through documentation by a UCLA graduate student a few years before her death at the age of 83 years. You see, my Grandma was a prominent pioneer Issei Japanese American woman born in Tokyo in 1901. Tsuya was given the unusual choice by her Mother to either get married as typically done through a match maker or go to America at the age of 23 to attend college and pursue a career. It is shocking to me that she was given a choice in the male dominant culture of Japan where a woman value is judged by how many sons she produces. Tsuya chose to come to America alone having received a college scholarship, and opening her heart to the opportunities before her. Her journey included being called upon to be the first Japanese speaking social worker in the city of Los Angeles prior to World War II, when the anti Japanese hysteria was at its height. She counseled, and saved many lives, while herself being forced into the Poston concentration camp in Arizona. My Grandma told me that the US government wanted her to be a spy during the war, but she said, " how can I take sides? I am Japanese and I am American". They then asked her to teach Japanese to the US naval officers in Oklahoma, which she agreed to do. She wrote in the interview, "while I was teaching Japanese, I heard some wonderful news. Local people living in Okinawa were threatened and escaped into a cave to hide. These U.S. naval officers told them in Japanese -Hitotsumo shimpai wa iranai anatagata o korosuyona koto wa shinai kara detekinasai. (Translation: Do not worry at all. We will not kill you, so please come out from the cave). She wrote, "I taught that to my students- I was so happy because these people came out of the cave".
My grandmother, compassionate peace maker, a woman born in a culture that devalued a woman's worth but she rose above the obstacles. A woman whose impact will never be known but she made the most of her gifts, talents and her work for a better world. She is my sheroe.
Many times I have thought about how grateful I am to be living in this time in history. But I believe that in whatever time we are chosen to be on this earth, in whatever place, situation or circumstance- the key is to be fully human as the unique persons we were created to be. To exercise our gifts to the greatest extent possible, loving and embracing life in the moment. To take in the beauty and possibilities to create peace, justice and wholeness. What can we contribute to this earth, in the short time we live on this planet?
It's strange, and maybe funny, but two generations later, I who was born in 1950, feel that in many ways I was not as free as my Grandma, and felt controlled by the societal messages to get married and have children. It took me much longer to come to a place of letting go of the societal constraints and to choose to give my life for a greater purpose. I had a very clear turning point when I felt the desperation as one of the millions of ordinary people around the world who protested the invasion of Iraq in2003. I felt the urgency of doing everything I could to stop the insanity of militarism that only led to the conclusion of human suffering and death. I knew in my heart that my passion was for the youth, and I had the experience and knowledge of the school system. As a Speech Therapist in the high schools of Los Angeles I was shocked by the aggressive, and at times abusive military recruitment practices in our public schools. I saw with my own eyes how the how there was no monitoring or supervision when military recruiters promised students everything they wanted to hear- a career, lots of money, adventure and travel, money for college, and more. I learned from those doing the work before me such as Adele Siegel, who many of you worked with. For me, founding CAMS was a moral imperative- our young people, minors under the law who weren't even old enough to vote, were enticed, propagandized and encouraged to enlist for war. A war that kills innocent civilians and dehumanizes us all- destroying our young, their bodies, spirits and minds.
This outraged me, an though at times it is easy to feel very small and powerless, it's amazing what ordinary people can do together. The mission of CAMS is to demilitarize schools and promote nonviolent alternatives. We formed a nonprofit organization with multi generations of students, teachers, parents, community activists and veterans all joining together to develop multi-tiered strategies to effectively empower youth while holding the high schools, administrators, the school district, and legislators accountable. We developed an Adopt a School Project in 50 schools in the broader Los Angeles area which provides us with contact persons at the local schools for a give and take exchange of information, data, resources, and materials. We also developed a sub project so that youth would learn about the various alternatives to military enlistment where we bring social justice career fairs into LA high schools which promote national service, apprenticeships, nontraditional women's careers, Americorps, Job Corps, California Conservation Corps, City Year, green jobs- you name it. We want young people to know that contrary to what the military recruiter may want them to believe- there are options to explore- the choice is not between MacDonalds and the military.
We are appreciative of our organizational partners who allow us to increase capacity and effectives. They include among many others the AFSC, veteran organizations, our books to schools Addicted to War project, partnering with Sally and Peter using Arlingtonwest in the schools, having the legal advice and support of the Lawyers guild, ACLU, media visibility through KPFK, and because of the grants and donations we receive. We also uniquely have strong teachers union support and use that to inform teachers and work for changes in the system.
CAMS is also on the cutting edge of the school reform movement in developing a social justice leadership academy with like minded teachers who have asked CAMS to be a partner organization. We are excited to be designing a model high school that will be as military free as possible, and, institutionalizes a supportive environment that nurtures critical thinkers to be the future community leaders for peace, justice and equality.
Our work in CAMS which is based in LA also extends to the national level as founding members of the National Network Opposing the Militarism of youth or www.nnomy.org This national network builds a movement to counter the militarism in our schools and provide the resources, research, historical trends, strategies and stories of victories across the nation. Last year we had a national conference in Chicago which brought together 300 activists from across the country. CAMS brought a team of 9 youth and 3 adults.
CAMS has also been a founding organization to SWAN, Service women's action network and brought attention to our concern for the young girls who are being enticed into the military for different reasons than the males. In collaboration with women's organizations we put together this brochure which features women's voices and experiences in the military. A recent report "Sexual Assault on Female Soldiers: Don't ask, Don't Tell" published in the Time Magazine on international women's day, March 8th of this year indicates the continued horrors for female soldiers. The Pentagon's latest figures show that nearly 3,000 women were sexually assaulted in fiscal year 2008, up 9% from the year before; among women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan the number rose 25%. Close to a third of female veterans say they were victims of rape or assault while they were service- twice the rate in the civilian population. The pentagon now estimates that 80 to 90% of sexual assaults go unreported and that most women stay silent because of the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment or ridicule, and concern that peers would gossip. Plus when they do speak out 80% of the military personnel convicted are honorable discharged nevertheless. Now females who are 15% of the military, a higher number than ever before find that there are not nearly enough mental health professionals to help them. Female vets are four times more likely to be homeless than male vets , and have a higher incidence of PTSD
We are living in an extremely challenging time of history. The increasing gap between the rich and poor has led to the top one percent in California owning 33% of the wealth. As cuts to human services slash the safety net, families are slipping into desperation and the most basic of needs is being denied. All of this while we spend trillions of dollars for war, for drones that kill, and blow up people. We spend more on prisons and military recruitment than we do on education. And college has become unaffordable with increases as high as 32% as in the UC system. It is insanity that allows the bankers and richest Americans to callously exploit the poorest. It is insanity that we are destroying this planet with our consumption and disregard for the environment. We have not learned from history, we have not heeded the warning of so many before us.
But those of us who believe in a better way, who believe in peace, justice, equality and humanity- must be the movement that swells and grows so that a different world is possible. A dear friends in El Salvador who was an advisor to Oscar Romero, and continues to be a leader there talks about self sufficiency and sustainability on this planet. She says:
We affirm that the problem is not the arms race, or nuclear arms, or the army, but that these forces exist because of the centuries'old exploitation by the colonial and neo-colonial powers of our nations, in order to maintain the CONSUMERIST way and level of life of the global North. This must challenge us and call us to a vision and mission that manifests this understanding.
I embrace this calling, which has led me to possibilities, beyond what I ever imagined. Because of my work in CAMS, I have met and been in contact with teachers, labor and peace activists in Japan. On the 61st anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in August of 2008, I was invited to be a speaker at ground zero in Japan. It filled my heart with great pain and love to stand with sisters and brothers today whose ancestors were at the other end of the world when we dropped the bombs that killed nearly 200,000. When I spoke to educators at Yokosuka, which houses a large military base, a young woman at the meeting approached me. She said that her Grandfather was killed in the battle of Okinawa. It was too painful to face his death, so she chose not to. But my visit and human connection with her opened the door of her heart, and to her healing. She insisted that I take the gift of this kimono which was worn by her Grandmother in Okinawa. The cycle of life continues, and one generation to another brings hope for peace, hope for justice, hope for the well being of all living creatures.
Women who are the givers of this earth are also the lights on this earth. But remember that we don't have to always be shining brightly. At times our own light goes out. yet it is rekindled by a spark from another person. That is the beauty of our human connection and gives us deep gratitude for one another. Peace to you, and may your international women's remembrance bring new possibilities.
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March 4, 2010 was a day for educators and students to express their profound frustration and disillusionment with an educational system in perpetual crisis. Spending more money on prisons and resource wars is not the answer. Here are some pictures of CAMS people at the Los Angeles event downtown in Pershing Square:
Gregory Sotir ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arlene Inouye
Michelle Cohen, Silvia, and David Mesina
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STEM-UP is a program where your tax funds are being used to indoctrinate children that militarism is normal, and that the teaching of militarism and violence are worthwhile areas of educational funding (English/Spanish pdf flyer for distribution is available on the PDF page):
2nd California Regional Conference of Veterans & Military Families
Friday, April 16th, Saturday, April 17th & Sunday, April 18th
At The Pierpont Inn in Ventura
Register Now!
WORKSHOPS & SPEAKERS
Development of Strategies &
Actions Toward Peace
Paul Chappell
IVAW Workshop
Rick Reyes
National Campaign Updates/Resources
Nadya Williams – Agent Orange,
Willie Hager - VetSpeak,
Jan Ruhman - Banished Vets,
Dr. Al Holtz - Depleted Uranium -
Courage to Resist
Jeff Paterson
Informed Enlistment
Pat Alviso, Peter Dudar, Sally Marr, Arlene Inouye
Press & Media
Pat Alviso, Jeff Merrick
Membership Expansion & Fundraising
Doug Zachary,
VFP Executive Director Dennis Lane
Organizational Meetings
VFP, IVAW, MFSO and VVAW
PTSD
Judith Broder
IVAW Workshop
Ryan Endicott
Homeless Veterans
Lane Anderson, Maurice Martin
Archie’s Acres Workshop
Colin & Karen Pley
Sexual Assault
Ann Wright
Keynote Speaker Saturday Evening
Michael Parenti & Q&A
Closing Speaker Saturday Evening
Marjorie Cohn & Q&A
Debrief & California Actions Planning Meeting
Ed Garza
At the Pierpont Inn in Ventura
*Early Bird Hotel Registration $84 double occupancy*
($129 after March 25th)
www.pierpontinn.com (805) 653-6144
550 Sanjon Road Ventura, CA 93001-3754
__________________________________________________________________
CONTACT CAROLYN CRANDALL TO REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE
*Conference Registration: $20 *Tabling Fee $25
e-mail: softails.togo@verizon.net or phone: 805-388-1542
Make Conference Checks Payable to: VVAW
2510-G Las Posas Rd. #202, Camarillo 93010
Scholarships Available
(Chapters/Individuals Please Contribute to this Fund)
Conference is Hosted by
Veterans For Peace Iraq Veterans Against The War
Military Families Speak Out Gold Star Families Speak Out
Vietnam Veterans Against The War
CAMS 2010 update
January 2010
Arlene Inouye
2009 was a difficult year with an economic crisis, job shortage, and a school funding crisis driving more youth into the armed forces. The Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion signed up 2,300 new recruits in 2009, a 34% increase over last year.
Yet students, educators, parents, veterans, military families, community activists and supporters enabled us to keep pushing back on military recruitment in our schools and to move forward with the alternatives.
We of CAMS thank you for your support over the past year. The highlights of our year include:
· Further increasing and establishing alternative career fairs throughout Los Angeles through our Project Great Futures a subproject of CAMS. More than ever, young people need to know about the peaceful options available to them. We organized career fairs that showcased the opportunities in the Los Angeles area including national service opportunities, Calif. Conservation Corps, Habitat for Humanity, Americorps, W.I.N.T.E.R. women's nontraditional careers, the Job Corps, apprenticeship programs, occupational centers and more. We also completed our 5th edition of Great Jobs, Careers and Futures, a booklet of resources and alternatives in the LA area with a focus on green jobs. This booklet was made in collaboration with American Friends Service Center.
· Our Adopt a School Project had a challenging year with teacher's attention being drained by the budget crisis and the LA School Board's "School Choice Initiative" that opened up 36 schools to outside bidders for the 2010 school year. CAMS continued to supply schools with resources and information about the realities of enlistment, student privacy and were able to maintain a 28.7% 2009 Opt Out rate for juniors and seniors in LAUSD. This was a slight decrease from 29.6% in 2008. We also supplied teachers with Addicted to War as an alternative text (Books to Schools Project), worked with Peace Clubs at various high schools and tabled as informal Military Alternative Advocates. One of the highlights of the year was stopping a military van with simulated rifles and military video games from entering a high school in the East San Fernando Valley thanks to the quick action of the students, teachers and our flyering team.
· We continue to push the LAUSD Board of Education and its staff through quarterly meetings to meet federal guidelines of equal access for military recruiters and college/career recruiters, to protect student privacy and free speech rights, and parental rights and protections regarding military recruitment.
· Our flyering team continued to greet students before school with flyers, bumper stickers and informational brochures at schools heavily targeted by military recruiters. They distributed approximately 50,000 flyers at over 20 high schools in the Los Angeles area.
CAMS has been a key organization in the development of the national counter-recruitment movement. In 2009 we planned and participated in the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) national conference held in Chicago. We held fundraising events to send 9 youth and 3 adults to lead workshops and participate in this growing movement. We also led workshops at many conferences throughout the year including the UTLA leadership conference, Calif. Teachers Association conference, Association Raza Educators, Human Rights Conference/UTLA, and more .
· We completed our 5th year of weekly commentaries about militarism in the schools on the Gabriel Gutierrez Morning Review on KPFK 90.7 FM. We also wrote articles for various publications, and participated in various media outlets over the past year.
· Our international solidarity work has developed further in particular through our connections with labor and teacher activists in Japan and through the Tri National Coalition to Defend Public Education with educators in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada.
· We launched an Art Show and have collected beautiful pieces donated by artists to further the work of CAMS (see our web site www.militaryfreeschools.org).
It has taken many dedicated individuals who have worked together collectively to make 2009 a year of impact. Most importantly is to hear time and time again of youth and parents who are grateful to receive the informative, and young people who have changed their minds after learning the truth about the military contract.
As we begin the new year, we continue to struggle up against an American culture that values militarism and prioritizes money for war over human need. Our educational system often promotes militarism in its curriculum (i.e. STEM UP), teaching force (Troops to Teachers), school structure (emphasis on punishment via an authoritarian model) and programs such as JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp), which recently gained Congressional approval to expand to 3,7000 new programs, including younger middle school students.
There is also a connection between the privatization of public schools and increasing militarism. Both have an agenda that does not serve the interests of our youth.
For whatever 2010 holds, we are ready for the new year. We are ready as the Pentagon launches a call to action for children beginning from KINDERGARTEN through high school to be military eligible when they turn 17 years of age. We are ready for a different future for our youth, so that we can have a different future for all of us.
2010 is poised to be a difficult year for education (pre kindergarten to higher education), along with all human services as the budget crisis in California and the privatization of public education continues to impact working people, the poor along with the middle class. This is part of an international struggle that has been played out since NAFTA which made education a commodity in a market economy that created further social inequalities. It continues with the federal Race to the Top program, even though this approach is deeply flawed. Additionally, the cuts to education, lack of sustainable jobs and increasing militarism in our schools- pumps up military enlistment.
We of CAMS will be joining brothers and sisters both in LA, California, and internationally in this inter connected fight. As members of UTLA, we will oppose the cuts to education and work for legislative and long term changes.
Last year we were asked to be a partner organization to the Social Justice Leadership Academy (Garfield HS) which is developing a pilot school at the new Esteban Torres Secondary School that opens in the fall of 2010. Over the past 5 years we have worked closely with the Social Justice Small Learning Academy at Garfield, which is one of our 50 Adopt A Schools. We are excited to be part of the Design Team and to develop a military free school with social justice as its base.
Check out this LA Times article here which features the Social Justice Leadership Academy. Teachers seek control at up-for-bid L.A. Unified schools - latimes.com
May 2010 be a year of greater UNITY and SOLIDARITY for justice, peace and sustainability for all on this planet.
Thank you all for joining us as a broad coalition for alternatives to militarism in our schools.
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Congratulations to the Hosei University students released from prison for their free speech activities! Please see the CAMS International page for more information.
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Letter to the President
December 16, 2009
Fernando Suarez del Solar, Founder & Director
Guerrero Azteca Peace Project
President Barack Obama
Nobel Prize for Peace, 2009
Dear Mr. President: I know you may never read these words and even if you did they would not change your decision to send more young Americans to the war in Afghanistan. But, as the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jesús Alberto Suárez del Solar who died on Marcy 27, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, I consider it my moral duty to share my thoughts with you today.
As you surely know, 929 brave young Americans have died in Afghanistan as well as thousands of innocent Afghan civilians. In Iraq, 4367 of our sons and daughters have died together with thousand and thousands of innocent Iraqis.
When Mr. Bush sat in the office you now occupy, I asked how many of our children would have to die before these barbarous wars ended? What was the magic number? And so I ask you the same question. How many more young people must die before you truly work for peace?
When more than 50% of the American people oppose the sending of more troops, are you not ignoring the majority and listening to the few who are eager to send brave young soldiers and Marines to die or kill innocent people for unclear motives? Don't forget that your predecessor began this war to capture the criminal Osama Bin Laden. In your speech, you did not mention his name but said we have to "complete the mission." Your words remind me of those of Bush the criminal.
President Obama, why do you deceive the people by claiming that you will withdraw the troops in 2011? We know one cannot put a deadline on a war and so your words sound like the lies that presidents have told us in the past. We have the example of Vietnam (another open-ended war); the example of the English and the Russians who were unable to "win" in Afghanistan; the example of your own inability to end the bloodshed there and in Iraq.
You will send 30,000 more troops and we will pay the price--our elected officials or those who sit in the Pentagon will not pay. No, we will pay with our taxes, that is, those of us who still have jobs. Millions are unemployed and our youth have seen their access to higher education reduced. Would it not be advisable, Mr. President, to invest the billions of war dollars in education so that our youth will learn the values of respect and tolerance for others? Would that not make us a stronger nation? Would it not be better to invest those billions of dollars spent on criminal and unjust wars on universal health care for the American people?
President Obama, I regret that you have deceived the majority of citizens who placed our hope for peace in your hands. We gave you our vote for the good of the country and now you deliver the same old thing.
In the coming year, you can expect demonstrations in which veterans from both past and current wars take to the street to shout "Stop the war!" Will you, like Bush, play deaf as more young soldiers and Marines return in body bags or missing a limb or mentally exhausted and lost in a bureaucracy that provides them minimal care?
President Obama, it saddens me that you have been unable to keep your promise to those of us who voted for peace.
Yes, we can? I'm not so sure.
Fernando Suarez del Solar, Founder & Director
Guerrero Azteca Peace Project
(760)233-0630 Direct telephone (858)774-0172 Cell telephone
PO Box 300221,Escondido,CA 92030-0221
www.guerreroazteca.org
POR UNA GENERACION LLENA DE PAZ Y AMOR
FOR A GENERATION FILLED WITH PEACE AND LOVE
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Students ~ Parents ~ Teachers
How well does your High School teach and promote Peace?
from our good friends at ncchoicesforyouth.org
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A big Thank You to EVERYONE who contributed to CAMS at our December 6 fundraiser. And a special thank you goes to Diane Middleton who generously provided her home!
Here is a list of some of the people who made our event possible. Please visit them!
Food:
M Cafe de Chaya www.mcafedechaya.com
9433 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills 310-858-8459
9343 Culver Blvd, Culver City 310-838-4300
7119 Melrose Avenue, Melrose 323-525-0588
Wholesome sustainable ingredients to create a Contemporary Macrobiotic menu.
The Vegan Joint www.theveganjoint.com
10438 National Blvd, Los Angeles 310-559-1357
An impressive variety of vegan dishes.
Tamales Liliana's
4629 East Cesar Chavez Ave., L.A., (323)780-0989
Other locations: 2042 Marengo St., L.A. (323)224-9466
3448 East 1st St., L.A. (323)780-0829
Frances Fused www.francesfused.com 
francesfused@sbcglobal.net 323-810-1400
Frances Fused Online has been serving the art glass collectors’ community since 2002. They specialize in original hand-crafted fused glass jewelry, often accented with dichroic glass and fine and sterling silver.
Tuxedo Cool T shirt
www.tuxedocoolclothing.com
www.myspace.com/tuxedocool
Brian Wells zkce4@yahoo.com 626-807-0176
A wide variety of cool T-shirts, most for $10 each.
Thanks to our Funders:
RESIST
259 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 617-623-5110 www.resistinc.org
RESIST supports a variety of stages and strategies that build community, encourage collaboration with other organizations, increase skills and access to resources, and produces leadership from the constituency being most directly affected. In fiscal year 2008, RESIST gave over $265,000 to 138 organizations across the country.
DIANE MIDDLETON FOUNDATION
390 W. 40th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731 DMFGrants@msn.com 310-560-2271
The Diane Middleton Foundation (DMF) seeks to support individuals and organizations working to: Build strong community and labor organizations; promote and expand civil and human rights with a special emphasis on protecting civil liberties in times of growing repression; strengthen the effort and celebrate the history of labor unions and the role of immigrant workers; train a new generation of leaders; and create economic justice.
THE VICTOR AND LORRAINE HONIG FUND of the Common Counsel Foundation
678 13th Street, Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94612 info@commoncounsel.org www.commoncounsel.org
510- 834-2995 Founded in 1988, Common Counsel Foundation partners with families and individual donors to expand philanthropic resources for progressive social movements
UNITARIAN JUST SOCIETY FUND
P.O. Box 301149, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 uufp@aol.com www.uua.org/uufp 617-971-9600
The Fund for A Just Society believes in supporting organizations that work for systemic change leading to a more just society.
WORKING ASSETS/CREDO Grantmaking fund of TIDES FOUNDATION
P.O. Box 29903, San Francisco, CA 94129-0903 415-561-6400 www.tidesfoundation.org
The Tides Foundation has supported organizations working for positive social change since 1976.
AJ MUSTE Counter-Recruitment Grant
339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 info@ajmuste.org www.ajmuste.org 212-533-4335
Support for projects that have the greatest positive impact, especially those focused on youth organizing, education and outreach.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WAR TAX ALTERNATIVE FUND
2436 Armstrong Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039 scwtr@yahoo.com www.so-cal-war-tax-resist.org
310-660-4992
The Southern California War Tax Alternative Fund is made up of money NOT paid as taxes by people who have not paid part or all of federal income and/or telephone excise taxes as an expression of opposition to payment for war and a desire to redirect spending towards peace and social needs.
In previous years:
Agape Foundation www.agapefdn.org 415-701-8707
Liberty Hill www.LibertyHill.org 310-453-3611
Musicians at our December 5, 2009 Fundraising event
Jeannette Shroyer www.myspace.com/jacarandamuse
Fumilayo and Leah Luna myspace.com/fumilayo
The Better Maker myspace.com/thebettermaker
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How much is a $1,000,000,000.00?
December 1, 2009
Gregory Sotir
Our military budget stands at nearly a trillion dollars annually. In California we are currently facing record deficits in tax revenues and our public education system is collapsing as a result. Meanwhile, California has some of the best funded prisons in the world. It is easy to determine from these stark statistics where the priorities of our elected representatives really are. When Hugo Chavez met President Obama at the Summit of the Americas last April he supposedly asked Obama if he was a ‘prisoner’. He meant a prisoner of the military, in the sense of the military control of elected leaders in Central and South America where presidents were told by Generals “You do what we want or else.” The answer of Obama as ‘prisoner of the Pentagon’ is still unanswered. The Pentagon wields enormous power, having set up a national employment infrastructure where military contract dollars flow into nearly every congressional district in the nation. You cut the military budget and you cut jobs, and those jobs are held by voters. California’s 53rd district, which straddles the San Diego coast, is one of the largest recipients of military dollars nationally, and they voted Obama. If the war budgets are cut...and their companies fire them...well, the art of two-party politics in America is a data-driven system these days.
But if our politicians and our government are so controlled, in fact being held hostage, by the Pentagon what of us? Are we, as well as Obama, prisoners of the militarist machine the Pentagon?
It is considered extremely ungracious, tantamount to being treasonous, to levy any criticism on the US military. From shopping malls to movie theaters, from storefronts on Main St. to staged media happenings at airports during the holiday season, the military is placed front and center as the defining aspect of American accomplishment and benefaction. Our youth are now being FORCED into the military, a notoriously low-paying job, for economic reasons, because the only alternative is prison. The future is clear to our teary-eyed old farts remembering distant battlefields and clutching their ‘freedoms’ as they continue to ignore the obvious. We will repeat what...the triumph of Grenada? But to the rest of us, the huge majority that elected Obama, and of not only Americans but of all members of the human race, that future is clearly not sustainable. Look at our rank:
So much for America being #1.
This is us. We chose this, didn’t we? Well if you did not then who did?
Look at this chart:
(from http://www.humanitycampaign.org/policy-research/global-military-spending-facts/)
Nearly .45 cents of every tax dollar goes to the military. But throwing money at public education is no solution. We cannot afford all these teachers in these tough times and so had to fire 2800 of them in Los Angeles this past year.
These are our priorities?
Life in a militarist democracy can be confusing, and with the arrival of celebrity politicians, without any real accomplishments other then being rich, such as Palin, Schwarzeneggar, and, yes, even Obama, there is no real sense that the confusion will lessen or the rational become less alienated from reality. This is why we have and will maintain sufficient funding for the Pentagon and for prisons. This is why we have no more funding for schools. This is why America is willing to sacrifice her youth to battlefield psychosis or to be caged in prisons. There are few options when we all have to sacrifice a bit while maintaining the present militarist funding structures in America. The cuts have to come from somewhere.
Of course this means that militarism will be our only real national project and our wars our only contribution to global survival.
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WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
December 2009
Arlene Inouye
The holiday season is before us, drawing focus to the family, and the joy of sharing food, gifts, religious services and extra time together It's a time to enjoy the children and younger members of the family, and to remember our blessings.
But this year, as in the years before, families will be torn apart due to military service. Last month Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, a single mom, was threatened with court-martial because her child care plan for her 11 month old baby fell through. She was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan and missed her ship date. Her crime was her deep concern for the welfare of her infant.
According to recent reports and studies, there is cause to be concerned about what is happening to our young when Mom or Dad are deployed. Unlike the Vietnam era when parents were exempt from conscription because of the overwhelming concern about the harmful effects of deployment on children, today it's a different story. Today, roughly half of the troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are parents, HALF, with many who have served multiple tours.
This means that there are thousands of children at risk for emotional and psychological trauma.
What is happening to the children? An associated press reported in "War Stresses Military Kids," July 12, 2009 that since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, inpatient visits among military children have increased 50 percent. These military kids, whose parents have deployed are using mental health services at a rate three and a half times higher than the percentage of civilian children ages 4 to 17, who seek mental health services, according to a study by the US Department of Health and Human Services. And a Boston University School of Medicine study last year of almost 1,800 Army families worldwide found that reports of child abuse and neglect were 42% higher during times when the soldier-parent was deployed.
With very few mental health resources available to these children, and with no political clout, these children will suffer the consequences.
A military spouse reported to Stacy Bannerman as quoted in an article in www.truthout.org on October 17, 2009, that a seven-year old second grader attempted suicide while his father was serving yet another tour in Iraq. Seven, a child of seven, desperately needing his father, attempted suicide!!
President Obama and the White House are deciding whether to deploy tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. What will happen to the children? And what can WE do to heighten awareness of their plight? A society is only as good as it treats its young.
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See: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-11-03-preschool-military_N.htm, Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press, 11-03-2008
http://www.truthout.org/101709C, Stacy Bannerman, Truth Out, 10-17-2009
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Military Academies are coming to a School near YOU
Arlene Inouye
In the coming years, military academies with cadets in uniform will be marching into high schools across the nation IF the Pentagon gets its way. I’m not talking about JROTC which is a military program within high schools, taken as an elective or physical education course. Military academies go beyond JROTC, and promote a military culture in the entire school. The Chicago Public School System, under the former leadership of Arne Duncan and Renaissance 2010, closed public schools and opened up charters and 6 military academies. Chicago now claims the title of having more military academies than anywhere in the nation.
The National Education Association recognizes this trend. The October/November 2009 issue of NEA Today announced the following in Upfront: A Military Uniform: Size Small. "At least six school districts-from Atlanta to Las Vegas- are talking to the US Marines about opening public military academies, adding to a growing number of schools where every student dons a uniform, takes military classes, and joins the JROTC. The districts could get millions of dollars from the military, as well as a new strategy to prevent dropouts. But some parents and educators fear it looks too much like a pipeline to the battlefield. Ten-hut!"
The recent School Board “Public School Choice” resolution and added parent trigger (which allows a majority of parents at a local school campus to initiate major reforms at low-performing individual schools), like never before, opens the possibility for military academies in LAUSD. It is understandable that parents, who are concerned about safety and discipline, may look upon military academies favorably especially since school sites with limited resources currently are held responsible. And educators struggling to balance budgets might find the military dollars i.e. the Marine Corp grants, very attractive.
But before school communities start marching to the beat of the military, it is imperative to look at the larger picture of what is going on and why. The School Recruiting Program Handbook, USAREC Pamphlet 350-13 states that, “school ownership is the goal.” It advises recruiters with the words “you must convince them that you have their best interests in mind.” There are countless examples of military programs infused into our schools often hidden under the cloak of an educational purpose, parental choice, discipline and leadership development. This includes using the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for career purposes, JROTC classes on campuses, March2Success online test preparation, Troops to Teachers, Educators Boot Camp, and Section 9528 on the No Child Left Behind Act. This provision releases the contact information of juniors and seniors to military recruiters; unless an Opt Out form is signed, which has greatly expanded the database for military recruiters.
It is no secret that for the thousands of dollars the military invests into our schools, the Pentagon is looking for a return on their investment. But before we give up our schools to ex military officials, it is wise to remember the purpose of a public education that develops the full potential and critical thinking abilities of our youth.
The Chicago model has taught us that military academies have not improved student achievement, but perpetuates a top down authoritarian structure, and has increased city wide violence. It is revealing that the decision to open up these academies in Chicago took place behind closed doors without parent, community and teacher input. It raises the question about whose choice are they? Military academies are part of the privatization/charterization movement sweeping our nation that is destroying public schools and replacing them with business, corporate and military control.
We of the Coalition for Alternatives to Militarism in our Schools, and UTLA are building for a different future for the students in LAUSD. Over the past years UTLA has supported various resolutions that protect student privacy information on the ASVAB and Opt Out process. We have advocated for parameters on military recruiting so that there is equal access to career and college recruiters. We have also introduced a resolution with the CFT that insists that any new military and military-style academies in public school districts that utilize school district resources conduct community forums where community stakeholders can provide input and vote on the militarization of the local school.
But what I feel is most important is that we are supporting the youth of LAUSD to become community leaders, to be empowered as individuals engaged in the democratic process, and to live as the change we want to see in this world. We celebrate “bottom up” school reforms that promote justice, equity, global and environmental awareness and peace.
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STOP THE CRIMINALIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF YOUTH
Arlene Inouye
October 28, 2009
As our schools face an unprecedented budget crisis and attacks on public education as a human right- students are making the connections. A student at Roosevelt HS in ELA commented in the Rough Rider school newspaper, “School funding is being cut. Programs are being cut such as music and art (but not JROTC). Priority is given to the criminalization of youth.”
One prime example of this is the Los Angeles Municipal Code 45.04 that imposes a daytime curfew on youth under the age of 18. If you haven’t been on a high school campus recently you probably have no idea about what is going on. According to the code, if students are found outside of school from bell to bell without a valid excuse, they can be given a citation of up to $250, plus added court fees. In effect LAMC 45.04 criminalizes both truancy and tardiness and pushes our students into the criminal justice system.
A 12th grade student at Roosevelt wrote, “On March 10, 2009, I committed my first misdemeanor. That morning was the first time I was late to school. I was walking to school when I was stopped by a cop. I couldn’t believe that it was barely 8:30 and I was going to school! At that moment, everything hit me. I cried like a kid. I couldn’t face it all by myself. My mom was in Mexico, due to my grandfather almost dying. I had to be handling so many responsibilities, which included taking care of my 5 year old sister.” She went on to say “I felt that getting a ticket was very unfair, and humiliating.
We of CAMS see this as a broader dimension of the militarization of youth. Instead of supporting our youth to stay in school, we are pushing them out- treating them as criminals to live in fear towards authority who have power over their lives. Author Christopher Robbins has written a book about how poor youth of color are viewed as disposable, assaulted and militarized in their schooling. And as surveys of 1,400 students and parents by the community rights campaign have concluded- this practice violates equal protection, civil rights and positive behavior support and is regressive, ineffective, racially discriminatory and morally wrong. The students are fighting back and Taking Action through a club and campaign sponsored by the Community Rights Campaign. They are calling for a moratorium on the issuing of Truancy tickets towards an ultimate repealing of the daytime curfew law, and the establishment of a multi-agency alternative program to increase attendance and tackle tardiness and truancy from a comprehensive service-oriented approach.
Youth need our support. Let’s stop the criminalization and militarization of our youth. See www.thestrategycenter.org 213-387-2800
WE CELEBRATE and RESIST
Arlene Inouye
October 21, 2009
According to military officials, with the economy down, military recruitment is rising. For the first time in more than 35 years, the U.S. military has met all of its annual recruiting goals, as hundreds of thousands of young people have enlisted despite the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Pentagon, which made the announcement on Oct. 13th, said the economic downturn and rising joblessness, as well as bonuses and other factors, has led more qualified youths to enlist. It is twisted logic- to measure more bodies going to war with increasing deaths, injuries, psychological, sexual and emotional trauma as being a success, not to mention the increasing suicide rate of 18 veterans a day who can’t cope with what they have been through. And how is it that the military can continue to even pass as a career. Youth are deceived and harassed into enlisting and given the ultimate lie- wrapped in patriotism, honor, and duty. This recruitment of our minors who are considered not responsible enough to vote and drive on their own is unethical, immoral and even condemned by the United Nations Optional Protocol on the Rights of Children.
Yet the Pentagon continues to go after younger and younger children in this nation. It was reported by Sam Diener in Peaceworks magazine that Congress passed a little noticed measure in the 2009 National Defense Authorization bill to expand the number of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, JROTC schools to 3700 by 2020. And the US Army has recently begun a middle school JROTC pilot program in the Wichita Kansas School district, with the plans of expansion throughout the U.S.
Though it may seem daunting and impossible to counter and oppose the military establishment, we of CAMS are also happy to report that lives were saved today and everyday. We celebrate each life and the empowerment of students in this intergenerational, multicultural grassroots movement. Join us for an event on Sunday October 25th from 2-4:30 p.m. called Resistance then, Resist Now A generational dialogue on war, recruitment, poverty and opportunities lost with Vietnam veterans, youth and musicians on the Santa Monica Beach just north of the pier. See militaryfreeschools.org for more information or call 626-799-9118. Let’s celebrate and resist!
Operation Student Privacy
Arlene Inouye
September 16, 2009
It’s that time again. It’s the time for high school juniors and seniors (and in some school districts other grades) to return the Opt Out form given at registration, mailed to your home, or in the Parent-Student handbook. By signing and returning the Opt Out form by Oct. 23rd you are exercising your right under No Child Left Behind Act, to say “I do not want military recruiters to be given or sold my personal name, address and phone number.”
But wait a minute, why is it that despite your returned opt out form, and the 99,318 returned in LAUSD last year (or 29.6%), you are still getting those calls, and why do military recruiters know so much about you. There are several reasons but think of it this way- they are spending $24,500 to reach each of you as potential enlistees.
In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. David Goodman writes in Mother Jones, that by using data mining, stealth websites, the ASVAB as a career test and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students’ GPA’s and SAT scores to which video games they play. In fact, military recruiters may know more about teenager’s habits then their own parents.
All Americans should be alarmed by the military intrusion into young lives, and the violation of student privacy by the Pentagon. Even the United Nations in its Optional Protocol on the Rights of Children has condemned the US and it’s recruitment of minors.
We of CAMS encourage students to use this Opt Out campaign as practice to saying No, No and NO to the persuasive, relentless and unacceptable military recruitment tactics in this country. Help CAMS reach thousands of youth with information as we flyer and inform students, parents and teachers of their right to Opt Out. Please see our web site at militaryfreeschools.org for updated information, and join our leafleting team. Opt Out, its your right!
Military Academies are coming to a School near YOU
Arlene Inouye
September 9, 2009
In the coming years, military academies with cadets in uniform will be marching into high schools across the nation IF the Pentagon gets its way. I’m not talking about JROTC which is a military program within high schools, taken as an elective. Military academies goes beyond JROTC, creating the perfect environment, a total school dedicated to shaping the minds of youth to feel favorable to the military. These academies produce obedient and compliant mini soldiers who do not need to express their creativity, discover their potential nor be critical thinkers. Their education is for the purpose of continuing our Military Industrial Congressional Complex, a permanent war society without end.
Since 1999, fifteen military academies and schools have sprung up across the nation, with expansion being planned in Atlanta, Las Vegas and New Orleans. The Chicago Public School system with six military high schools run by a branch of the Armed Services is considered the most militarized in the nation. What began in Chicago, will no doubt be what’s in store for the rest of the nation.
Military academies receive money from the Department of Defense, so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the DoD would like a “return on their investment”
Under the guise of parental choice, leadership and character development the Pentagon hopes to penetrate inner city schools where a history of neglect, racism and violence has created understandable parental concerns and an inferior education. But to hand over these youngsters not to professional educators but ex military officials who don’t even have a teacher certificate is clearly not the answer. Furthermore, the military academies have not increased student achievement, with scores in Chicago below average and average on the nation’s report card. Yet one area they clearly score “above average” is in promoting the military as a career choice.
Military academies are top down institutions which squelch democratic participation and transparency. In fact the decisions to open up these academies were made behind closed doors without parent, community and teacher input. So whose choice are they? The bigger picture is that they are part of the privatization/charterization movement to destroy public schools and replace them with business, corporate and military interests and control. We are alarmed by this trend. CAMS is strategically and proactively educating all members of the school community and public to stop the militarism in our schools and promote real alternatives. Please join us.
In the coming years, military academies with cadets in uniform will be marching into high schools across the nation if the Pentagon gets its way. I’m not talking about JROTC which is a military program within secondary schools, often substituted for Physical Education or an elective. Military academies goes beyond JROTC creating the perfect environment, a total school dedicated to shaping the minds of youth to feel favorable to the military. These academies produce obedient and compliant mini soldiers who do not need to express their creativity, discover their potential nor be critical thinkers. Their education is for the purpose of continuing our military industrial complex, a war like society without end.
Since 1999, 15 military academies and schools have sprung up across the nation, with expansion presently being planned in Atlanta, Las Vegas and New Orleans. The Chicago Public School system with six military high schools run by a branch of the armed services, is considered the most militarized in the nation. What began in Chicago, will no doubt be what’s in store for the rest of the nation.
We Must Remember and Take Action
Arlene Inouye
August 9, 2009
Sixty four years ago this week, America dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This must be remembered. I remember not only because I am Japanese American, a racial group that was at the time despised, dehumanized and hated as the enemy by Americans, nor because I have been to ground zero, seen the pictures and heard the accounts of the Hibakusha or atomic bomb survivors. But I remember because I know it could be you, me, or anyone around the globe who can be the victim of nuclear warfare. In an instant the lives of nearly 200,000 in the cities of Hiroshima on August 6th and Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945 were obliterated, and many others suffered a slow and painful death in the years that followed. And yet the unleashing of the atomic bomb and its devastating effects has not led the United States to take action for a nuclear free world.
Instead over the years we have increased and built up our military force and weaponry always striving to be number one when it comes to military dominance. In fact, the United States has been unwilling to sign international treaties for nuclear disarmament, and is the only country in the world to vote against a resolution calling for banning weapons from space at the 2007 United Nations General Assembly. Now 64 years later, efforts for a world free of nuclear weapons, is nothing less than an issue of human survival. There is only one way to be certain that a nuclear war never starts, and that is to abolish nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control. Steps short of this goal will continue to leave open the door to nuclear catastrophe.
Today President Obama is the first President in US history to made the following declaration in Prague on April 5, 2009: “Today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” See wagingpeace.org for specific actions the American people can mobilize around and support. But we must not stop there, we must also oppose all warfare in every form, and our dependence and addiction to war. This includes ending the lies and false patriotism that sends our young to the military. Let us join teachers in Japan who say, “We will never send our students to the battlefield again.” Not now, not ever.
These Stainless Steel CAMS water bottles are now availble for purchase (also in black.) They are $10 apiece and all the proceeds will go to helping CAMS get their message out to youth, organizing parents and community members on issues of militarism, and working to design non-violence curricula and protect academic freedom.
They can be purchased by calling us at 626-799-9118 or e-mailing Arlene. Postage and handling charges will apply, about three dollars or so.
GI (Government Issued) JOE and the Rise of the Cobra
Arlene Inouye
August 9, 2009
The full page ad exclaims in large print-“ Awesome! Crazy Cool and so much fun.” It features GI Joe swinging a shiny sword while shooting a pistol. It’s the new movie GI Joe and the Rise of the Cobra. It’s the last big budget action movie of the summer – a PG-13 rated film that is already exciting male moviegoers. It is no ordinary movie, sidestepping the traditional Hollywood showcase in favor of a flag-waving marketing campaign directly to America’s heartland and premiered on the base of Air Force One. It is expected to be a box office hit, this movie based on the GI (or Government Issued) doll created in the 1960’s based on the 1945 film “The Story of G.I. Joe”. The current movies such as the Transformers and Iron Man have become more blatant in their connection to the Pentagon and immersing the young in a world of militarized fun; all for recruiting purposes. If you think these are just harmless movies, or a “boy thing”- then take a hard look again at the marketing of our young and for whose interests it serves. Take a look at how our youth are being desensitized and encouraged to enjoy blowing people up
Iraq war veteran Michael Prysner, who was an aerial intelligence specialist in the US Army Reserve says, “my very first recruiting officer was GI Joe”. Nick Turse writes in The Complex: How The Military Invades Our Everyday Lives that “as a product of the 1980’s GI Joe generation, I can attest to the seductive power of those three inch action figures in selling the military to young boys.” He states “only later would I learn just how enmeshed GI Joes’ manufacturer, Hasbro, was with the military.” Today the link has intensified with video game manufacturers who immerse civilian gamers in a virtual world of war while training soldiers using the hottest gaming technology available. Corporate America is making millions while training our young to kill, and view violence as entertainment.
Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler who after 34 years of military service stated, “WAR is a racket. It always has been. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.
War is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
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NNOMY Conference Report
Arlene Inouye
July 2009
Nearly 300 people from across the nation poured into the Friends Center in Chicago and Roosevelt University the weekend of July 17-19, 2009 for the National Network Opposing the Miltarism of Youth Counter-Recruitment and Demilitarization Conference. The faces represented what the counter recruitment movement is all about and how it has grown over the past years from a handful of established organizations to a vibrant grassroots movement with the intermixing of youth and adults. Representing organizations from approximately 35 states they included the very young (from 12 years of age) to the seasoned activists. The people themselves, including veterans, youth, educators, parents and community activists manifested the growing diversity that this movement has embraced.
CAMS was one of the organizations heavily involved in the planning of the NNOMY conference. We invested hours of planning, fundraising and organizing for the conference and also brought along a team of 8 youth and 4 adults from the Los Angeles area. We presented 4 workshops. They were: Demilitarzing Schools the LA Way, which included the Garfield HS SOCIAL JUSTICE ACADEMY and CAMS. Students Sheila Sicairos, Juvenal Mendoza, Rosett Botello, Jazmin Casas, Nellie Cortez-Rodriguez and teacher Claudia Rojas shared about the development of the Academy and I shared about its connection to the CAMS Adopt a School Program. Additionally Michelle Cohen shared about alternatives to militarism and partnered with a team including youth activists from the Carolinas . Suzie Abajian presented the militarization of education with a teacher from Chicago who has experienced the corporate take over of the Chicago Schools. I co-facilitated a discussion about Global Perspectives on Militarism with an organizer from the War Resisters League, and moderated the Friday night panel on “Education, Militarism and C-R- where we have come from and where we are going.” The participants from various sectors of the community shared their points of view as students, a conscientious objector, a long time C-R organizer and an activist/researcher in the Chicago Schools. The Chicago model under Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s leadership was discussed, which has shut down public schools and opened up brand new military academies of “choice.” And an analysis of the history of Counter-Recruitment movement was provided with the need for a long term strategy. Students shared about the activism they have initiated in their schools and the importance of adult mentors and teachers. The event ended with the awarding of a certificate and graduation cap to David Morales a student who was denied graduating on stage because of his activism and opposition to the firing ranges in the San Diego Unified School District.
On Sunday we viewed the synthesis of issues, actions and resources needed as identified in the 33 workshops held on Saturday. Break out groups and a general session was set up to focus our work on specific goals and strategies to collaborate on in the coming year. This included the following: developing resources for youth by youth including a list of music and videos with youth appeal, organizing a national campaign and research around JROTC, centralizing the resources on expanded alternatives for states, understanding and using new data and technology to track the enlistment, military programs and the military van schedule. We discussed various literature and training needs and encouraged everyone to send materials to the www.nnomy.org web site.
I feel that the NNOMY conference embraced the grassroots organizing movement which has emerged over the past 5 years and intentionally created the space for unrepresented groups to be validated. It was important to reach out to communities across the nation and offer scholarships for travel. This was made possible by grants from the Rose and Sherle Wagner Foundation, Resist, Inc, AJ Muste and many national and local organizations and individuals. Additionally CAMS had fundraisers including art shows, events and a letter appeal to meet all our funding needs. Persons left the conference feeling empowered and equipped with some key strategies and tools to take back into their communities. For example, the day following the conference a veteran had already initiated contact with his school district to find out about the Opt Out and ASVAB policies, and other activists came back and have started linking with other organizations.
I saw the youth from Los Angeles personally grow and soak up the experience, applying it to some further steps back home. One is ready to reactive the peace club at Venice HS, several are working on sharing their stories on the radio for KPFK Pacifica, and two community college students are collaborating on developing art projects for CAMS. Brian Wells, a student at Pasadena City College was inspired to organize other students on campus as they face devastating budget cuts. Can a weekend really make that much difference? I believe that the youth will never forget the experience, and I believe that the conference signified the uniting and turning point of the counter recruitment movement in an unprecedented way.
NNOMY is just a network of 188 organizations around the country organizing around demilitarizing our schools and presenting alternatives. Yet it is a significant resource that empowers and enhances bottom up grassroots organizing. It shows us how effective we can be when we unite and share strategies, tactics and approaches from around the nation. And in our analysis of the privatization of education and increasing militarism in the schools (via JROTC, military academies, and infused in the value and structure of the educational system itself) our work will also keep pace in addressing the militarism in our schools and broadcasting the alternatives. We are the new face of the counter recruitment movement.
Check out a slide show of pictures at: www.afsc.org and click on the National Counter Recruitment Conference.
Part of the Los Angeles CAMS Delegation to the NNOMY conference in Chicago July 2009
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The Mountain Bar and Elle Seven, the promoter of the monthly Urban Canvas art show and party have invited us back for another one-night art show and party in Chinatown on the next Downtown LA artwalk night..8/13/09... to raise funds and have fun.
We'll hang a few of the pieces that were donated before and we still have, but are looking for new contributions now.
If you donated to our June fundraiser shows, and your art hasn't sold, how'd you like to trade? If your art did sell, how'd you like to put in something new?
If you meant to put something in before but it didn't work out, here's your chance!!!
Through those June fundraiser shows and other donations, we were able to make our goal of sending eight students (six high school and two college) to Chicago last weekend for the National Counterrecruitment and Demilitarization of Youth Conference.(www.nnomy.org) It was an amazing experience that has given us a lot of inspiration to take our work to a new level, including the increased participation of youth in taking their schools and their future back from the promoters and profiteers of endless war and militarism.
And yes, we are still fundraising for the ongoing work of CAMS, the Coalition for Alternatives to Militarism in our schools.(www.militaryfreeschools.org) Money raised is used for things like the "Youth Know the Truth" and other "truth in recruitment" brochures we print and hand out to students to counter what the recruiters tell them, publishing our newly-updated book of alternatives to joining the military, paying young activist artists to create tshirts, buttons and stickers which we sell to raise funds and support the artists, and much more, all of which costs $$.
I hope to hear from you soon, that you or someone you know wants to be a part of this. We'll be hanging the show at night the week of 8/10... A flier you can send out is almost completed and will be on its way very soon.
You may donate all or part of any sales $... depending on your needs.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Michelle Cohen
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NEA Conference Counter-Military Item adopted!
Arlene Inouye
July 7, 2009
I just returned from the National Education Association NEA, annual Representative Assembly (RA). Below is my report in adopting this New Business Item (NBI) which passed by the majority of the 9,000 members. I am also attaching my NBI on the academic freedom of educators internationally (see attached). Lastly I spoke to the legislative committee about the DREAM Act. NEA has always supported the passage of the DREAM Act. They agreed to my request to recommend the inclusion of community service as another option and to emphasize the need of informing and educating the undocumented regarding all of the educational options. They would not delete the military service provision of the DREAM Act.
I look forward to working together with education and community activists at the NNOMY National Conference July 17-19th in Chicago very soon! CAMS will have a number of workshops (on our Adopt a School Project at Garfield HS with students and a teacher presenting, a workshop on the Alternatives, the History of Militarism and a discussion on Global Perspectives of Militarism). CAMS is sending 8 youth and 4 adults to NNOMY.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
NEA National Education Association 88th Representative Assembly, July 1-6, 2009
New Business Item (NBI) #21
ADOPTED
Using existing communication vehicles the NEA will publish an update on the issue of equal access of college and career recruiters to military recruiters in secondary schools as it applies to Section 9528 of NCLB and encourage school districts to set parameters to comply with the law.
RATIONALE/BACKGROUND
The NCLB Act stipulates that military recruiters are to have the same access as college and career recruiters in US secondary schools. However, students and educators across the nation report aggressive and over access by military recruiters in high schools, which is a violation of the law.
SPOKEN PRESENTATION TO THE NEA REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY DELEGATES ON JULY 4, 2009 BY ARLENE INOUYE
Since the NCLB was passed and became federal law in 2002, most teachers and educators have been made aware of Section 9528 that states that the privacy information of secondary students that includes, name, address and telephone numbers must be given (or sold) to military recruiters by request unless an Opt Out form is signed and returned.
What is less known is that this law also states that military recruiters must be given access to high schools “to the same extent that prospective employers and representatives of higher education may access school campuses.” I repeat, military recruiters must be given access to the SAME extent as other prospective employers and representatives of higher education. This does not mean more access, exclusive or unequal access by military recruiters on our high school campuses. The law clearly states equal access and parity with career and college recruiters.
Did you know this? This New Business Item requests that the NEA will communicate and publish information about the issue of equal access on our high school campuses and encourage school districts and local schools to comply with this law. This is needed because educators across the nation do not realize that it is the responsibility of school districts to set parameters so that there is equity between military recruiters and college and career recruiters on secondary school sites. In many of our high schools that have high numbers of low income and youth of color, there are frequently aggressive military recruitment practices that do not provide informed consent, or quality information about the options. There is inequality in frequency of military recruiter visits, where military recruiters are allowed on campus and the resources that they spend to advertise.
All of our students deserve to have quality information about the alternatives, and this provision of NCLB must be known and enforced. I urge your support for this New Business Item 21.
Personal Comments about the debate on the floor:
The NEA Representative Assembly is the largest union in the country and has one of the largest democratic assemblies in the nation. There are approximately 9,000 delegates representing the 50 states with a membership of 3.2 million educators. I feel privileged and amazed that as an elected delegate from my local union UTLA in California, I have the opportunity to directly bring my issues to the decision making body of NEA on resolutions (belief statements), legislative actions and New Business Items (actions for the next year).
Over the past three years, I have brought issues regarding militarism in the schools to the National Education Association that addressed the NCLB Act, the ASVAB and the assault on the academic freedom of teachers around the globe who are being disciplined for resisting militaristic mandates. I am pleased that everything that I have brought to the floor has passed, even though the group has defeated many issues of less controversy because of how it was presented plus other factors. The NBI above had intense debate with the emotional elements of speakers who supported having the military in the school as an option for “those” children, the concern about continuing a “volunteer” military, and some who shared personal stories of students whose lives were turned around because of the military experience. I did not get into a debate about those issues but clearly and repeatedly stuck with what I believe to be indefensible common ground with educators and NEA. I consciously kept redirecting the issue to “equity, equal access, informed consent, and protecting privacy (in the case of Opt Out).” For example, a delegate on the floor asked me why the issue of aggressive military recruitment wasn’t in the body of the motion since that appeared to be the intent of this New Business item. I repeated that the New Business was about equal access and parity. I knew that if I came out criticizing the military, it would have lost support in the conservative areas of the country.
A second tactic that I feel is critical is having selective speakers from various states for support when the debate is called. California is known as the single state that brings up almost half of the action items. We are considered very liberal because we speak out strongly against charters schools, school reconstitution, are in support of immigrant and undocumented youth and are anti-war. Over the past three years I have developed a network of supporters who sign up to speak and back up my NBI with their own testimony. One of the most persuasive is a former military recruiter from Idaho who strongly speaks out against the abusive military recruiting tactics. Networking is extremely important because we cannot win this struggle alone, and I could not do it with just my local union and state supporting me.
Lastly being proactive and prepared made a big difference. Now that I know exactly what to expect I come to the NEA Assembly fully prepared with the item written out. I am able to submit signatures and obtain the approval early so that I am called before the delegates get too tired and weary of listening. I am also proactive with the follow through, obtaining the email of the staff person who will be following up on this NBI. I will contact him and make sure that I have input into how it is implemented.
It was a learning experience to observe what the delegation responded negatively to. Verbose oral presentations that were not clear were struck down. I saw that delegates were turned off by angry and defiant body language and tone of voice. It didn’t matter if the arguments were solid and strong because of what was conveyed by the speaker was louder than words.
For me, the process is about informing educators around the country and clarifying the issue so that they will support our attempts to demilitarize schools. This is critical as the military is seeping into deeper dimensions of education such as curriculum, academic resources such as testing aids, and attempting to expand JROTC and military academies across the nation. It is important to keep raising the issue of militarism in the schools so that educators will be conscious of it, support us in working for school transformation, and help direct our students to other life alternatives.
We couldn't do this work without you.
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Project Great Futures
By Michelle Cohen
June
23, 2009
I want to tell you about an interesting day this spring, at a high school near downtown L.A., when strikingly different realities were being experienced by students at exactly the same time.
On the football field, a JROTC class was being led through a series of military drills. Students, many who could have been placed in JROTC involuntarily, in place of a real P.E. class, were being trained to obey harshly-shouted orders without question, and move, dress, and respond as "one unit," instead of as their unique and individual selves...
Inside the student cafeteria, however, something much different was happening. Curious, relaxed students moved at their own pace from table to table, taking in the displays and conversing with representatives of the diverse and inspiring programs that came to share information.
Here are some of the opportunities presented at this different kind of information fair:
To clean up the ocean and grow careers as environmentalists; (Heal the Bay)
To plant and care for trees to green their city and clean their air; (TreePeople)
To get paid to tutor and mentor younger kids in public city schools, with almost $5000 for college upon completion (CityYear)
To develop their leadership skills in full-time paid apprenticeships with local nonprofit organizations (Public Allies)
To become well-paid, technically-skilled, unionized craftspeople in the film and TV industry- for free! (Workplace Hollywood)
To gain construction skills in a very low-cost program that consistently places grads in good jobs leading to apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades (WeBuild)
To get out of the city, away from violence and negative influences, to get healthy and strong working in the parks and forests doing natural resource work and responding to emergencies, and getting paid to do it (California Conservation Corps)
To sponsor and build affordable homes with and for local families (Habitat for Humanity)
...and more...
As you can see, these kinds of opportunities are just a few of the ways that youth can learn valuable career skills and further their educations through exciting, hands-on experience, with stipends, college money , and even housing attached to many choices. Youth who choose these develop self-confidence, responsibility, pride, critical thinking, and know they are truly, honorably, serving their communities and their country. None of these paths to greatness routinely involve being screamed at, humiliated, "broken down to be built up as something else," or possibly sent to war...
Project Great Futures invited these presenters to the fair, and has helped develop similar information fairs for other schools and events. Why? Because we know about so many healthy, safe, meaningful, and rewarding alternatives to the military path those JROTC students were being prepared for. But too many students still don’t know about them. They feel hopeless, listen to recruiters' tempting promises, and end up enlisting without ever knowing about all the great alternatives. Project Great Futures is here to help spread the word and undo the hopelessness. Check us out and consider inviting us to help organize your next school or community event.
SPECIAL ONLINE ART FUNDRAISER CLICK HERE.
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Staring Militarism down.
June 4, 2009
Gregory Sotir
What does it take to stare militarism down? To stare it in the face, see it for what it is, and then work to creatively transform it, and the time, and the culture, into something more sustainable and evident of life’s possibilities?
There are the iconic images of the past, of the young man at Kent Stare placing a flower in a gun barrel, or the Chinese citizen in front of the line of tanks on their way to Tiananamen Sq twenty years ago today. We have these glimpses of individuals doing heroic things that are caught in history’s photographic memory like a Pleistocene creature caught in amber. But for the rest of us, these momentary acts of heroic defiance are too unusual and too controversial to approach by ourselves as the actor and instigator. We, who live in this militarized democracy that seeks to make perpetual war normal, that seeks to insure our youth will be taught that war is okay and something that cannot be avoided, that war is America acting to protect it’s own, are confronted daily by those who would seek to demote a sustainable future to an unquestioned obedience to the Pentagon. Wrapping ones ideals and practices, no matter how unattractive, in necessity and ritual (as JROTC does when they teach students that using mock and even real weapons is an honorable and desirable pedagogy), makes the violence of perpetual war normal. They normalize war. These ‘teachers of war’ can thank the television and videogame industry for their support, as well as the educational chain-of-command that insures their place in public education regardless of credentials or classroom experience. Here in LAUSD we are losing 2500 young passionate teachers and yet the programs that teach military acceptance and the normality of war are untouched and sacrosanct.
So what does it take to stare militarism down? Peace and justice educators have constantly paid the price for teaching intelligent life-skills and handing over knowledge bases to youth that are sustainable even as the status quo co-opts the very patterns and claims them as their own. These teachers are attacked and scapegoated. The creative teachers who force the issue of confronting our acceptance of war and violence are not given praise, or support, quite the opposite in many cases. I guess this is what it takes in a society that is so militarized as our own.
The lies beneath the surface stay the same though, and so the Pentagon now claims to be green when they are the worst polluting agency on a planet facing massive atmospheric change, and the ‘green’ Pentagon will then become a source of pride for the nation. Those who promise that our youth deserve and need the forms of warfare to learn to be aware citizens play this same game of semantic reversal, it’s not greenwashing, it’s the same old brainwashing. Well teachers of America, we need to stare these ‘teachers of war’ down. A child forced to accept perpetual war, or the prison cycle, is being taught a form of unsustainabilty, just as when our culture believed that slavery was normal and correct, or that slaughtering all the buffalo was normal and a manly thing to do. We need to stare this down and make it disappear. It is not normal. And our time to build a sustainable future is going quickly.
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Dear CAMS Members and Friends,
We have been working hard on the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) National Counter Recruitment and Demilitarization Conference called- It’s Our World-Change It! It will be held July 17-19, 2009 at Roosevelt University in Chicago and we are excited about building unity, focus and momentum for the national counter-recruitment movement.
CAMS is a sponsoring organization, and we’ve been involved in NNOMY since its inception four years ago. We felt that it is critical and timely to organize a national counter-recruitment conference as the issue of militarism of youth has seeped into every aspect of society. We are in this for the long haul, as our youth continue to be pursued by military recruiters in their schools, homes and even now on their cell phones and on Facebook and Myspace.
The gathering of all ages, brand new as well as seasoned activists, from all over America is critical as we tackle the issue of the militarism of our culture and youth. One goal of the NNOMY conference is to sponsor 100 youth from across the US to attend this conference. However, the scholarships will only cover the partial cost of attending, which is estimated to be approximately $550 for airfare, registration, and the youth hostel for youth coming from the LA area. CAMS is fundraising now so that we send approximately 10 youth from various schools for the nominal cost to them of $10 to $30. To do this we have planned a fundraising event on Saturday June 13th, 2-5 p.m. at the home of Bob McCloskey and Linda Tubach, that will feature music, spoken word, original art pieces, and great food. Won’t you please join us? We are also marketing stainless steel water bottles and are organizing a traveling art show and online silent art auction. Already, eleven generous artists have agreed to donate money from sales of their work, and more offers are coming in steadily. Check our MySpace site for updates and where to see the art.
So far we have our brochure artist David Mesina and five students from Garfield High School who are requesting funds to attend the conference. There are many others who have expressed a strong interest including students from the South Bay, Venice High, Verdugo Hills High, LA High School, and Roosevelt High School.
You are a sustainer and supporter of CAMS, who has made our work possible. We would deeply appreciate any contribution you could make towards sending youth from LA to the NNOMY conference. I assure you, that in doing so, Los Angeles will never be the same. We will continue with fervor to resist the militarism of our youth, and to provide nonviolent and green alternatives. For every contribution of $50. or more we will send you a free stainless steel water bottle specially made for CAMS that says “Peaceful". Click here for the flyer. Arlene Inouye for CAMS
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A Classroom Presentation
Arlene Inouye
May 20, 2009
A teacher from a high risk program in Boyle Heights invited CAMS to make a classroom presentation because she was startled by how many in this community had brothers, sisters, and friends in the military. She also sensed that they were captive to the military advertising and Latino cultural endorsement of the military as “macho”. The 25 students in the classroom were 15 and 16 year old students, from local gangs, and from a local housing project, and all presented academic challenges. So Maricela Guzman, of the American Friends Service Committee, and a navy veteran from 1998-2002 went with me to make a presentation and show the video “Before you Enlist” and engage in a discussion with the youth.
When Maricela introduced herself, the students, gave approval with ”oohs and ahhs” showing their pavlovian response to being in the military. It was an automatic conditioned elevating of a military person, who was seen as “bad.” But the mood in the room rapidly shifted as Maricela got into her story. She told them that she may look like a normal person but she had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and was not well. She would get depressed, and even had tried to commit suicide. Without flinching she told the students about how she lost her marriage and was raped in boot camp. And the students were also shocked to hear that all of the promises of college money, job training, and being taken care of after serving your country were only lies.
I wondered what a 15 year old mind able to process, and of how can they ever begin to understand something like PTSD? How can any of us, who have not been there, know what this really means? In May a 44 year old soldier who was at Camp Liberty, a massive US base in Iraq was arrested after shooting five fellow US soldiers. What is particularly horrific is that he did this on a base that catered to service members suffering from PTSD after serving three tours in Iraq. The man’s father said, “These soldiers didn’t tell him they were there for his benefit, they were there to help him so that he wouldn’t kill his wife or himself when he came back home. He was trained to kill and I guess he couldn’t help himself.”
And tragically many other veterans cannot as well--at least one in five American soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from some degree of PTSD-- it’s the biggest killer in war. All of us must stop this mentality of war, and we must help our youth to understand why.
Oarsman Student Newspaper at Venice High School
Selling the U.S. Army
Commentary for May 6, 2009
Arlene Inouye
The April 2nd edition of the Venice High School newspaper Oarsmen (which should be called Oarspeople) was recently sent to me by a colleague.
The paper included articles about the budget cuts and its impact on Venice High, the new sponsor for the Drill team, the state decathlon and news about the seven Venice high school students leaving for Shanghai China on a foreign exchange. There were interviews from students from the question man: How is the Economy Affecting You? Ninth grade Abraham Solis states “this economy is really bad, sometimes I don’t even have enough money to take the bus”, and 10th grade Nilska Guerrero expressed “because of the economy, my allowance shrank. I’ve also been looking for a job and there are none available. It is very frustrating.” But if you turn to page 9 of the Oarsman, there is a full page ad, in which a student could easily interpret as the answer to their financial worries.
The US Army ad says in huge letters: DID YOU KNOW as a high school senior you could earn $1,000 each month if you are enrolled in the US Army Future Soldier Training Program? Which by the way is an enlistment incentive offered to high school students to commit now, and serve later. The ad also states: You could earn $40,000 for 4 or more year of enlistment, $30,0000 for 3 years of enlistment, etc and up to $81,756 dollars. No where is it mentioned that there are conditions that must be met for this so called sign-up money, that enlistment is 8 years of your life, how high school graduates will actually end up with less than minimum wage and could go to jail for deciding to quit.
I’d like to know why a student newspaper would even allow such an ad, and receive in payment thousands of dollars from the Army, and not even attempt to investigate these claims or provide a balanced viewpoint. In fact, a 9th circuit court of appeals ruled that since the question of military service is a controversial political issue, there must be equal access to the forum.
Eleventh grade student Deborah Membreno states, “I was taken aback to see the false advertisement and encouragement our school is providing for students to join the Army. This is upsetting because they target us because we are innocent and indecisive about our future. Is the payment of the ad so beneficial that it’s worth losing the lives of children?” Another student who has expressed an interest in enlisting states, “The school is so hypocritical, they talk to us about college, but why then do they push the military.” Good question, we of CAMS have contacted the editor, and are still waiting for an answer.
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A Call to Shut Down the Army Experience Center
Arlene Inouye
April 22, 2009
You’ve got to admit it’s an innovative concept- this one of a kind pilot Army Experience Center that opened up at the Franklin Mills Mall in the suburban Philadelphia last summer. It has plunged military recruiting to another subliminal level- visit the shopping mall, and drop off the kids for a free virtual experience of shooting at the enemy with M-16’s and 50 caliber machine guns.
Video games offer the perfect transition between childhood innocence and institutionalized killing, and the Army has no qualms about exploiting this for their purposes. The highlight of this Army Experience Center is the Black Hawk Simulator that takes a virtual tour through an Afghan mountain village while shooting at enemies who are trying to sabotage a U.S. medical convoy headed to a field hospital. A 13 year old who was having fun “blowing people away” said “we’re the good guys trying to bring medicine to people and the bad guys are trying to stop us because they hate our freedoms.” We’ve heard this before.
What comes across as actually funny if it wasn’t so tragic is that the active military recruiters at the Center state that this 14,400 square foot facility costing 12 million of taxpayer dollars is not about military recruiting. They explain it this way, “the Army is giving back to the community by preparing students to pass the exam needed to enlist into the Army.” Their logic escapes me. The fact is that they are testing out this new approach of military recruiting in the hope that it will spread to shopping malls throughout the country.
Does the seduction of our young through virtual war and video games cause you concern and outrage? Many parents, students and community activists representing 22 regional groups in Philadelphia are boldly saying “shut down the Army Experience Center and have planned a boycott on the mall, Saturday May 2nd. The boycott is being accompanied by an email protest to the owners of the mall, The Simon Property Group, the world’s largest retail outlet owner. Go to www.simon.com to send your message of protest.
Let Simon know that it’s not okay to play with the lives of our young, and shut down the Army Experience Center. For more information, contact www. shutdowntheaec.net
Stopping A Military Van
by Arlene Inouye
February 12, 2009
About a week ago we had heard (through our school contacts) that a military van (American Soldier Adventure Van) was scheduled to be at Verdugo Hills High School in LAUSD, Southern California today. Teachers were asked to sign up for their classes . The description from the Army web site says it all:
Train like a Soldier with the interactive Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) and Basic Skill Trainer -- Protected inside a replica HMMWV, you control the weapon and the mission as you navigate through a variety of action-packed scenarios.
Prime for battle with the Marksmanship Training simulator -- Fire a replica M4 Carbine and an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon as you steer through a series of challenges from target practice to intense close combat.
Get your hands on the a test and greatest Soldier equipment from Interceptor Body Armor and helmets to the new Generation III Extended Cold Weather Clothing System -- See for yourself the latest gear that is enhancing Soldier lethality, survivability, and mobility on the battlefield.
See, acquire, and target with the Sensor Technology station -- View a simulated battlefield scene where smoke, haze, and light conditions are no match for the Night Vision Devices and Thermal Weapon Sights. Even in the most extreme environments, you will see how our Soldiers own the night.
The van, a joint venture of the Army's Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier and the Accessions Command, highlights the Army's most technologically advanced equipment with interactive demonstrations, hands-on exhibits and video displays.
WE ARE HAPPY TO SAY THAT BECAUSE OF VARIOUS INTERVENTIONS THIS VAN WILL NOT BE GOING TO VERDUGO HILLS!!! It is canceled, not postponed. but canceled.
As members of the LAUSD Military Advisory Committee we explained to the administration regarding the district policy (and federal mandates) of equal access and why the military van is out of compliance. Military vans are clearly taking military recruiting to another level, with the glorifying of weapons and war. We sent him the district policy (2067.1) plus policies initiated by individual high schools to maintain a balance.
The CAMS and Palisadians for Peace leafleting team was in front of the school covering the entrances handing out flyers to students.
Students were ready with signs and banners of protest in case the van showed up. They recently formed a peace club called Peaceful Vocations which was ready for action.
We were also ready to take photographs to document this event, if it occurred.
NOT ONLY IS THIS A VICTORY IN STOPPING THE VAN BUT ALSO IN WORKING TO CHANGE THE CLIMATE AT VERDUGO HILLS HS.
The Administration (who make the decision at all of our high schools) learned that allowing this military van into school is controversial and risky. Perhaps now there will be an attempt to look at military recruiting from a different lens, and to not be so quick to say "yes" to military recruiters. We will see, and will be watching closely.
All of our victories are possible only because of YOU, and the working together that stops the militarism in our schools. ORGANIZING WORKS!
Thanks to the Verdugo Hills students and teachers and the leafleting team!
Generals Lead our Schools
Arlene Inouye February 1, 2009
I have a question that’s been bothering me. Can you tell me what the difference is between public schools in America and the military? I ask this because it just seems like everyday the institutions appear to be merging more closely together in the most unlikely of ways.
Billionaires Eli Broad and Bill Gates are familiar to many, and have become huge players to influence and buy public education since the 1980’s. According to Susan Ohanian in” Beware of Robber Barons Carrying Sacks of money”, they have embarked on a PR campaign both to ramp up hysteria about the so-called failure of public education and to divert attention from corporate greed.
A further development last month at the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems brings out the Broad agenda. According to Broad this program was established to dramatically improve urban K-12 education. It is the only program in the country that recruits and trains superintendent candidates and educators, and is highly competitive selecting only 2% of its applicants.
The program’s influence reaches widely throughout the U.S. and has filled 53 superintendent positions and 70 senior school district executive positions and this year includes U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan’s former chief of staff. And this year, participants accepted into the program include the highest numbers in the academy’s eight year history of high ranking military generals. You heard me right, military generals.
But I suppose, since our public schools allow military recruiters on campus and military programs and tests such as JROTC and the ASVAB, one could mistake it for a military academy which are also expanding nationwide. A school superintendent in Seattle who was one of the Broad fellows from an earlier class of graduates closed 5 schools last month. They are also considering getting rid of the career/college specialist positions in the schools-which would give the military recruiters pretty unfettered access and create a more direct line from the school to the military.
Sounds like a trend to me. LA Unified had a navy admiral with no educational background run the second largest school district in the nation. He left after two years, but hey, there will be plenty more in the wings ready to take command of our schools. That is unless we the public, educators, parents and students want something different for youth. Stop the militarism in our school and society.A New Day
Arlene Inouye
January 2009
As Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States, the country is filled with anticipation and hope. He promises an economic stimulus package that will help the everyday homeowners and middle American, a responsible ending of the war in Iraq, though the troops in Afghanistan will increase. What will all of this mean in relation to the militarism of youth that has steadily increased under Bush and since the Vietnam War?
There have been several alarming trends as we ponder the future. The most serious is the violence in the Gaza strip and the nearly one thousand innocent Palestinian civilians massacred while US Congress condones and supports Israel’s attack. Though many Americans are demonstrating for peace, why is the murder of innocent civilians acceptable and why isn’t peace demanded by our leaders?
The military recruitment of youth nationally continues unabated and unquestioned with greater intensity. There is the Army’s free computer software, media marketing ads, licensed military clothing, and even a $12 million virtual warfare simulation called the “Army Experience Center” for 13 years and older to enjoy.
In the schools the battle for military ownership of our students continues. The military lays claim to the personal information of our high school students through the No Child Left Behind Act, gives the military ASVAB exam on school premises and military recruiters lure students directly. The expanded JROTC military programs are indoctrinating half a million students while budget cuts slash classes and expand class size. A few districts have even converted their high schools into military academies such as Chicago which leads the nation. And what is probably most insidious of all, is the militarism embedded in the educational system itself with fewer resources and emphasis on critical thinking strategies. Instead students are forced to regurgitate information and taught to obey while our universities and colleges close their doors to youth. The economic crisis hurts youth and their families in many ways.
Up until now, there has been no serious national debate on the issue of the militarism of youth. Even the peace movement has failed to make it a primary focus for protest. Yet, it is the long term strategies and those that cultivate the future that will truly bring about hope for the future. History has shown us that when the American people become complacent and drop out of political activism such as after the Vietnam War we loose ground. Militarism has been rebuilding over the past 28 years along with policies that have shifted from human needs to warfare. We must continue with more fervor than ever during the Obama Presidency to stop the militarism in our schools and in the world. Please join us.
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