HCC
Last night the CAN chapters from Holyoke Community College and Pioneer
Valley Performing Arts organized a protest at the armed forces
recruiting center in South Hadley Massachusetts. We were joined by
activists from other area groups, including: Arise for Social Justice,
Raging Grannies, International Socialist Organization, Socialist
Party, Umass Anti-War Coalition, Umass Graduate Employee Organization.
At roughly five minutes to five, we began to chant and picket in front
of the recruiting station. We were then told by police who were
present that we could continue to picket as long as we allowed for
pedestrians to pass. He also told us we could go into the actual
recruiting office, which we proceeded to do. We were quickly forced
out by the recruiters present; they then locked the doors and bunkered
down until we left at 7.
We were shortly thereafter confronted by an angry veteran who
denounced us for disloyalty. He was immediately confronted by one of
our members, who is the sole caretaker of her paralyzed Iraq veteran
brother. When he realized that there are these types of people in the
anti-war movement, he became more sympathetic. He then spent the rest
of the protest on our picket line, speaking with our members.
We then confronted the 2 members of the HCC college republicans who
showed up. We chanted at them for about five minutes before the cops
forced us away from them.
We chanted until a little after 6, when we turned the mike over to
speakers for most of the remaning time. The afore mentioned member
described, in a moving display of oratory, how seeing the damage
wrought on her brother fron the Iraq war got her involved in the
anti-war movement. We then challenged the College Republicans to come
to the microphone to peddle their lies; we debated with, and each of
their arguments received a chorus of boos.
All in all, it was a successful protest. We shut down the recruiting
center, we were able to meet a number of activists, and we got contact
information for students at 3 area schools; we are hoping to work with
them to build CAN chapters over the break and into the Spring.
San Francisco
As FAIR v. Rumsfeild was being heard in Washington D.C., anti-war students
across the nation were gathering at counter recruitment actions. In San
Francisco the diverse crowd of local high school and college students,
teachers,
community activists and the raging grannies gathered at the Ferry Plaza to
listen to Aimmee Alison, Todd Criechen, and C.A.N. representatives speak out
about how important counter recruitment is to the anti-war movement.
“2,000 dead for an unjust war, recruiters we won’t let you kill one more!” was
one of many chants that was enthusiastically hollered as the group of about 50
then marched to the nearest military recruitment center. Energy
remained high as
the picketing of the military recruitment centered continued.
People are outraged that the withholding of federal funds is used as retaliation
against schools and students who oppose military recruiters and instead demand
valid career choices and real education opportunities.
As people in San Francisco were rallying, marching and picketing they felt
reassured knowing that these actions were being held at cities all over the
country.
As the national anti-war movement picks up we must continue to fight on many
fronts including counter recruitment actions, confronting government and
military officials about the lies they use to justify the continued occupation
of Iraq, and supporting soldiers who speak out and resist their orders or
service. United in Action like anti-war activists were on December 6th, we C.AN.
End the war!!!
NO TO THE SOLOMON AMENDMENT!
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT!
TROOPS OUT NOW!
Columbia University — Columbia Anti-War Coalition
What did you do (brief description of events)? On December 6th,
students from several different campuses (by our count…CU, NYU,
Rutgers, BMCC, City College, Hunter, Pace, FIT…any others?) convened
at the Chambers Street recruiting station at noon. We then set up a
table with literature, including our new newspaper, College Not
Combat, and had posters with anti-war slogans and information. Once
we had a mass of people and a bull horn, we began our rally with
chants, forming two rows on either side of the sidewalk in front of
the station. After chanting for awhile, about 2/3 of us marched to
Borough of Manhattan Community College, just a few blocks from the
recruiting station. We stood in front of BMCC chanting for awhile,
without too much interference from campus police. At BMCC, we were
able to attract a good deal of attention and support from onlookers.
While some of us were at BMCC, the rest of us stayed at the recruiting
station with the table. We soon met with interference from the police
who insisted that we would be arrested if we did not get rid of our
table (this is despite the fact that we were not selling anything nor
were we breaking any law). Unfortunately, we did end up getting rid
of the table. The rally then reconvened at the recruiting station
where the NYPD was waiting for us. We attempted to continue our
rally, but the cops first told us that we could only be on the far
edge of the sidewalk. In response, we were able to organize a moving
picket and continue our chants. We continued this for a bit, but our
anticipated speakers didn’t show up, so we marched back to BMCC where,
despite people’s mixed feelings about encounters with the cops and the
demonstration, we were able to hold down a high-energy, exciting rally
that attracted students getting out of class. In front of BMCC, we
had a student speak out during which several students spoke and during
which we called the administrators at University of Wisconsin–Madison
to demand that they drop ALL charges against the students currently
under fire for a peaceful anti-recruitment rally. Same struggle, same
fight. After that, we chanted a bit more and had a small debate about
whether to wrap up or not. We decided to wrap up after about a hour
and a half, although some stayed behind to hold up a sign in front of
the recruiting station.
At Columbia, we met up at 11AM in front of the school’s main gates to
head downtown with anybody who wanted to join us.
How many people were there? 5 people from Columbia came, and the total
seemed to be around 50 people.
Did you meet folks from other schools/groups? If so, who? At the
demonstration, we met many students from BMCC and local high schools.
What was the most exciting part of the event? Kristin thinks that the
most exciting parts were the high level of energy early on in the
demonstration, and calling the administrators at UW to demand that
charges be dropped. Blair thinks the most exciting part was the
response of BMCC students coming out of class–students chanted with
us, got copies of College Not Combat, and asked how to get involved!
What was the most frustrating/ what could have gone better? The most
frustrating thing about it was the cops and how we dealt with them.
It didn’t feel like we had a plan of action for how high we wanted to
escalate things, how hard we wanted to fight the cops, or who would be
the point person in dealing with the cops. Also, we had an unclear
relationship with the man who came from the National Lawyers Guild.
Also, Charles Barron, a City Council member and author of the recent
College Not Combat bill, didn’t show up, and that was a bummer. We
think it sort of demoralized us and made us less sure of how to
respond to police repression. The other most frustrating thing came
out of this, which is that it felt like there was a lack of
organization and lack of a plan. Also, the turnout was less than we
had hoped. Although we publicized a lot on Columbia’s campus, we had
expectations that we would get few if any people to come downtown with
us. Still, this event raised the profile of CAN on Columbia’s campus,
which is good.
How can CAN nationally better assist local chapters in planning
events? The things that went wrong were not things that the national
group could have helped much with. Here in NY/NJ, we have a city-wide
coordinating committee that we look to for things that may be
delegated to national CAN otherwise. We haven’t yet been able to
assess the event as a district, although Kristin and Blair are very
much looking forward to being able to do this.
What did you find helpful in planning for Dec 6? The city-wide
coordinating committee was integral in this case, from stuff like
deciding which chapters would be responsible for what to contacting
speakers. Also, our network with each other (outside of
meetings…using e-mail and phones) was important here in stuff from
organizing flyerings to throwing out ideas.
Chicago:
School/Group Name:
Our action was a combiation of several schools and groups. UIC No War,
City College Antiwar, and NEIU antiwar.
What did you do (brief description of events)?
We met in the late afternoon near the Federal Courthouse in Chicago
and had several speakers. They included; Juan Torrres from Gold Star
Families for Peace, Eric Ahlberg who is a veteran from the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, Erin Polley from AFSC and CCOMY (a Chicago
counter-recruitment group), and Ray Parrish from VVAW. There were
plans to march to the database management firm BeNow, which is
contracted by the Pentagon to collect information on students for
recruiment purposes, but the single digit weather prevented that from
taking place.
How many people were there?
Sixty people attended in total, which was respectable considering the weather.
Did you meet folks from other schools/groups? If so, who?
Students who are part of antiwar groups at DePaul, Northwestern
University and Columbia College attended and were interested in
working together on future activities.
What was the most exciting part of the event?
Meeting new people who wanted to work together around future actions.
What was the most frustrating/ what could have gone better?
We were hoping for a better turnout from some of the high schools that
we had done outreach to.
How can CAN nationally better assist local chapters in planning events?
Nothing comes to mind immediately. We felt that we had quite a bit of
support with rescources and ideas from the national level.
What did you find helpful in planning for Dec 6?
Having a poster was very helpful. Forwarding emails from people who
contacted the national group to us is also helpful. Hearing what other
schools were doing also gave us insight on how we planned the Chicago
action.
Cornell University
What did you do (brief description of events)?
Students from three local schools (Cornell University, Ithaca
College, and Wells
College) and a number of Ithaca community members gathered in front of the local
recruiting station, where we had speakers (including a Vietnam Vet and a
Conscientious Objector formally stationed in Afghanistan) and led a
march through
the outdoor shopping area.
How many people were there?
approximately 40
Did you meet folks from other schools/groups? If so, who?
We had organized with students from Ithaca College and Wells College, there were
also many members of the local community.
What was the most exciting part of the event?
Hearing a veteran who had been stationed in Afghanistan until he was
able to receive
CO status, and is now a vocally anti-war student at Cornell.
What was the most frustrating/ what could have gone better?
We would have liked to have appealed to more students at Cornell (and
thus have more
numbers). We also regretted not doing enough outreach to local schools and high
schools.
How can CAN nationally better assist local chapters in planning
events? What did
you find helpful in planning for Dec 6?
The sample posters were very useful, we used them as a template in
making our own
posters. Also, the sharing of action ideas was good.
UNCG CAN (University of North Carolina @ Greensboro)
What did you do (brief description of events)?
Canvassed on campus with our ‘CNC’ petition for less than an hour but
got a good amount of signatures for such as small amount of time.
How many people were there?
Only 2.
Did you meet folks from other schools/groups? If so, who?
No.
What was the most exciting part of the event?
Meeting a black male worker in our caf who signed our petition and
told us he was a vet of the first Gulf war!
What was the most frustrating/ what could have gone better?
Dec. 6th was our ‘reading day’, a prep day for exams so there was
little traffic on campus.
How can CAN nationally better assist local chapters in planning
events? What did you find helpful in planning for Dec 6?
The most inspiring and useful things are reports from other campuses
on tactics, strategy, the string of events, etc…
University of Vermont Students Against War
To preface the appraisal of our day, it must be said that there were a
number of obstacles to actually organizing our chapter’s the event; it
was our first outward action of the year; students have just returned
from thanksgiving break; and the timing of the rally placed us in
competition with the college end-of-semester crunch. Yet despite all
of this we turned out between 20 and 25 active participants, with a
great number more lending passive support as they scuttled past en
route to class. Plus we succeeded in mobilizing a number of campus
allies. To me the fact that we succeeded in surmounting these
impediments at all demonstrates how large the opening for struggle
really is. That anyone would even consider walking out of their class
right before exams is fairly impressive; and it is rendered
extraordinary in light of the fact that many of the particapants had
not even heard of our anti-war group until 48 hours prior to the
scheduled time of the rally. If we had been unfettered by
circumstances the action would undoubtedly have been larger.
After rallying for a time, the group that remained with us marched
into our main academic building, passing through each floor, before
heading down to our President’s office to deliver a statement
regarding the University’s hypocrisy in making exceptions to their
anti-discrimination policy for military recruiters. When this brief
stop was completed the group marched down to the Federal Building in
Burlington, where we concluded our day’s activities.
Probably the most helpful element in planning for Dec. 6th was the
laundry list of endorsements received for the national call to action.
##
This is an intial list of reports from several campuses.