Rick Jahnkow -

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the US military has been steadily expanding its presence and influence in schools. In light of this, our expectations need to be realistic: reversing the militarization trend and establishing a strong counter-recruitment presence in schools is not something that can be accomplished in a year. It requires a long-term vision and proportionate commitment by groups for the long haul.

Colman McCarthy -

Having begun my thirtieth year of teaching high school, college and law school courses on the philosophy of pacifism and the methods of nonviolent conflict resolution, I was challenged again to decide where to begin this year’s course. Should I use the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to discuss nonviolent alternatives to the Bush/Cheney bents for bombs and bullets? Or pose this: would members of Congress, left or right, have voted to increase military spending so dramatically during the Bush years if they had studied peace and nonviolence in college? Would Barbara Lee of California’s 9th District have been the only member of Congress—one out of 535—to vote against the Bush war plans on September 14, 2001?

Should I discuss the influence of nonviolence on the protests of the Arab Spring, from Egypt to Bahrain? Or explore alternatives to more than a dozen forms of violence that put one or another group of victims at risk every day: military violence, economic violence, environmental violence, corporate violence, racial violence, homophobic violence, verbal violence, emotional violence, sexual violence, structural violence, street violence, religious violence, legal or illegal violence, video game violence, violence toward animals? Or how about a quiz? Identify: (a) Emily Greene Balch; (b) Jeannette Rankin; (c) Dorothy Day.*

AFP Photo / Str © AFP

11 Aug, 2011 / RT USA News / Author Not Disclosed - As the US economy remains on a consistent downward spiral, one thing the government is never shy to invest endless cash in is the Pentagon.

Which – on its end – is pumping millions of dollars into luring in the young population of America into enrolling into the military. RT looks at some of those mesmerizing techniques, and what kind of effect they have had on those fit to serve.A hunt for American youth to hunt down the next American enemy. War incorporated – a robust business machine – is operating at full capacity in the US. From televised ads, to Hollywood blockbusters, to video games, to American presidents dubbing soldiers the real Patriots. The image of the American warrior is portrayed as that of the invincible hero.Times Square in New York is one of the number one entertainment spots in the Big Apple. It lures in millions from around the world and across the US. Apart from flashy lights and billboards there is a recruitment centre – one of hundreds just in New York.The mesmerizing techniques luring young Americans into serving are more sophisticated than ever before.“Sponsoring video games tournaments, paintball tournaments and going up to these young kids and say ‘Hey, the US military needs you, we see your skills at this video game,’ and of course to a 15, or 16 or 17 year old, this is something that’s very enticing,” said Iraq war veteran Michael Prysner.“It’s a cruel and deceptive type of recruitment. They want to use all the hippest tools they have to make being in the military as cool as possible,” said media critic and filmmaker Danny Schechter. Now a cinematographer, Edward Pages dedicated 10 years to being a US soldier. He thought it was the honorable thing to do.“If they presented war for what it was nobody would join,” said Edward. But they do join- having played one computer game, and seen one war movie too many.“There are no second chances in real life. You can re-set a game, you can re-start a movie, there are no second chances when you are actually out there and your life is at risk for something that most of these young men have no idea really the true reasons why they are even out there,” Edward explained. By the time some of these reasons are realized, it is often too late. “To expand the military influence and domination in these regions of the world that are currently off limits to US imperialism.” Michael Prysner named one. “The problem is a lot of these kids don’t know – once they get in, it’s hard to get out,” said Danny Schechter. For some – the way out is suicide. A military report says 80 percent of soldiers in Afghanistan have seen a friend killed or injured, the gore of war quickly replacing its promised glory.However, nothing stops the military propaganda campaign.“They’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year on recruiting groups and recruiting people, glorifying war, glorifying the killing of people whether it’s necessary or not," said war veteran Jake Diliberto from Washington DC. A dire economy at home also comes in handy for the Pentagon.“There is a joke in the military that the best recruiter is an economic downturn,” said economist Richard Wolff. And that recruiter is raging on.“What happened after 2008 that solved their problem was the desperation of millions of Americans. We had an economic crisis, we’ve had unemployment zoom up,” explained Wolff. But no matter the times, the power of the Pentagon seems eternal. “American Presidents do not become leaders by challenging national security, nor the military industrial complex. They just don’t do it,” said poet and philosopher Phil Rockstroh. Meaning luring in more young Americans into more wars, with no happy ending or game over in sight.

Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/war-pentagon-military-us/

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July-August 2011 / Erica R. Meiners and Therese Quinn / Monthly Review - Jesse is a sweet-looking fifteen-year-old whose serious face lights up when he talks about the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) uniforms, which he likes because they are warm.¹ Jesse is a freshman at Chicago’s Roberto Clemente High School, who enrolled in JROTC because “We only have two options, ROTC and gym.” After half a semester, he received his report card, the grade he was receiving in his physical education class was a D: “I got a bad grade. Everybody got the same grade—a ‘D.’”

The teacher told Jesse that he gave these low grades because students were running around and were not wearing their uniforms. “But that’s what he told us to do, play sports, and we didn’t have our uniforms,” Jesse points out. Jesse did not want to fail, he said, so he decided to switch. “I had two or three friends in ROTC and they said they had better grades, and I thought, if they’re doing great, I can do great.”

Matt Guynn -

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

I tried this recently, when I began talking with a camouflage-fatigued young man next to me in the airport.  He was in his third year in the US Army, about to be shipped to Iraq next week.  “Why did you join?”  “My town (in central Oregon) was boring.”  The refrain from young people in many communities across the United States is that there is nothing to do: Nowhere to get a job (or a job that anyone wants).  Little help available for education. Few paths toward a life of meaning and wellbeing. Too little accompaniment, mentorship or assistance.