|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Peace |
|
Not Your Soldier |
Current rating: 0 |
by Lindsey Walker
Email: linzwalker (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!) |
21 Nov 2005
|
|
Area young people organize for peace. |
|
Kansas City, MO – Commuters had a different view on their drive to work on the morning of Friday, November 18 - the lawn of the ROTC building on 53rd and Rockhill Road was covered with crosses, symbolizing the lives lost to recruiting lies.
National Stand Down Day follows the Not Your Soldier Day of Action on November 17, International Students Day, which marks a nationally coordinated day of action for and about young people. Students across the country rallied, held teach-ins, screened films and spoke out about the presence of military recruiters on their campuses. Nationally, over 20 events were organized from New Jersey to Austin, Nevada to Oakland, North Carolina to Kansas City, and many more.
Public schools in the US are ground zero for military recruiters. With military advertising, youth programs and frequent visits by military personnel, students are surrounded by pro-military propaganda. Due the to legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act, recruiters are guaranteed access to all secondary school students, so that students may be contacted at home.
The events on Friday morning were the closing of a week full of pro-peace actions in the Kansas City area. The dedicated students of Tent State created homemade flags early in the week representing over 100,000 lives lost in the war in Iraq. Unfortunately a newly formed hate group took the flags down – a sign that the students at Tent State, UMKC hit a nerve with uninformed fellow students.
Thursday, November 17, Not Your Soldier Day of Action, focused on area high school students. Students from St. Teresa’s Academy, Rockhurst, Notre Dame, and Raytown South High School distributed opt-out forms and participated in a banner drop on Meyer Boulevard over 71 Highway.
As over 63% of Americans disapprove of how President Bush is handling the war in Iraq – the number of recruits will continue to decline. Recruiters will have to try even harder to bribe young people into joining the military. As one sign at a local protest read, “You can’t get a college degree in a body bad.”
Indeed.
For more information about local counter-recruitment activities, please email linzwalker (at) hotmail.com or call Laura Partridge at AFSC, 816-931-5256. |
This work is in the public domain |
|
Re: Not Your Soldier |
by AB
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Nov 2005
|
|
More photos: http://216.69.129.146/nyspc/doa/livereports.asp |
