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NNOMY News 1069: Fourth Quarter 2023
Counter-recruitment after October 7th

@seculartalk | @resistersinfo | @veteransforpeace |
@wearenotyoursoldiers | @comdsd | @nnomypeace |

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Hello Admin,

 For counter-recruitment, looking worn from years of groups aging out and COVID eliminating access to students, the year finished out with a devastating war in Israel revealing military service in the worse of lights and associable to American Militarism by recruitment aged youth that view the support of the United States contributing to the devastation of the Palestinian people in Gaza on their social media

GenZ is not qualifying for or buying the pitch of military recruitment like previous generations did and where GenAlpha factors in is the next question for the future of counter-recruitment activists. Alpha's are claimed to,

  "above all, believe helping people is the number one priority for 12-15s (61% say this according to GWI). Plus, over half want to protect people from bullying and for everyone to be treated the same, fueling long-lasting attitudes that create a safer world for all." 

One thing that seems more clear for young enlistment aged youth inside the United States is that they have seen through US foreign Policy propaganda, how contradicted it is and how much it  remains apart from the truth on the ground from the war justifying rhetoric of the US State Department.

Joe Biden has cinched those doubts with a two faced policy of funding a 21st century ethnic cleansing of Palestine for its security partner Israel and at the same time dissimulating for the American People that Israel has gone to far.

As can be expected, Israeli resistance is growing in the ranks of its military as witnessing of atrocities finds public voice and world visibility and the  left/right divide grows  in  the country while the settler population is allowed unrestrained violence and occupation on Palestinian lands at the same time in the West Bank of Israel.

Compounding this moment is the war producing nature of nationalism, revealing the cost  exerted upon dwindling public resources for health, education, and housing.  Billions go to support a war largely benefitting American immigration into illegal housing settlements on Palestinian lands while American citizens at home struggle with rapidly escalating homelessness.

Can we say that militarism is the necessary method to maintain the nation-state, especially that type which is now openly identified as settler colonialist? Post October 7th may well be a turning point for the world in how we understand state violence and see our youth retreating from participating in it. This should also open an opportunity for the counter-recruitment community to examine their methodologies of speaking to youth during and after a cataclysmic event ushering in a paradigm shift in public sensibilities towards war making.

In the fourth quarter, NNOMY News presents articles that signify the changes now influencing values being challenged going forward. The importance of deconstructing historically held perceptions about securitization and militarization confronts the reality of state violence.

For the US recruitment aged youth of GenZ and soon GenAlpha questioning misplaced nationalisms, and choosing non-violent courses for their lives, guides them away from contributing to damaging their own and others and negatively impacting environmental sustainability for the  planet.

#counter-recruitment | #nnomypeace | #peacefulcareers | #demilitarize |  www.nnomy.org

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Why Recruitment in the Military is Down | Nikki Haley Humiliates Herself Again | The Kyle Kulinski Show

Jan 2, 2024 / The Kyle Kulinski Show / Secular Talk / 1.1M subscribers - With over 800,000 subscribers and nearly 670 million total views on YouTube, selling a progressive agenda is clearly something Kulinski knows how to do — even Democracy Now, the long-standing flagship of progressive media, cannot match his reach on the platform. Chapo Trap House can certainly boast a wildly devoted fan base (and a not insignificant degree of media influence), but their audience is roughly half the size of Kulinski’s.

While Secular Talk might be more likely to be looped in with the progressive networks around Air America and Pacifica alums like Sam Seder than the more resolutely socialist world, Kulinski’s fiery rhetoric, razor-sharp class instincts, and knack for withering takedowns sets him apart from his peers. Judging by his rhetoric alone, he’s closer to a Eugene Debs than a Chris Hayes.

But unlike Hayes, Amy Goodman, or his friend Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks — who began airing Secular Talk on his web network seven years ago — the thirty-two-year-old Kulinski is virtually invisible in the mainstream media. Despite his enormous fan base, his show has never once been mentioned in the obligatory trend pieces on “the Millennial Left” pumped out by the prestige media. Nor has Kulinski’s name ever popped up at all in the New York Times, Vox, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, or the Washington Post, despite his leading role in cofounding Justice Democrats, the organization widely credited with sweeping Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of “the Squad” to power.

Would a draft make war less likely? No.

12/20/2023 / Edward Hasbrouck / Resisters.info - Some people argue that a draft, especially a draft of the children of those in power, would help prevent war. Some of these poeple sincerely want to prevent (larger, longer) wars. But we think that they are mistaken about the implications of a draft.

Arguing that policy makers (including voters) are more likely to oppose a war if their children might be forced to participate amounts to arguing that we should kidnap children, hold them hostage, and threaten to kill them, as a way to influence their parents to act.

Whether or not death threats against children are an “effective” means to exert influence on their parents, such extortion is profoundly unethical, and should be rejected categorically. It also replicates and reinforces the ageism of the (age-based) draft, which imposes the burden and risk of war on young people.

Aside from the ageism and immorality of that argument, it’s contradicted by common sense and by history.

One could argue, of course, that any sort of military mobilization, production of more and more deadly weapons, forward deployment of weapons and soldiers, or even military brinkmanship and threats of war make the risk of war more apparent and might thereby catalyze anti-war activism. That might be true, but the fact is that all of these steps toward war, including planning and preparation for conscription, make wars more likely, not less.

Veterans for Peace with Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug on Moral Injury and US War Culture

11/27/2022 / jim wohlgemuth / Veterans for Peace Hector Black Chapter -  Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug comes on the show to discuss Moral Injury and the US War Culture and her powerful and important book "And Then Your Soul is Gone, Moral Injury and the US War Culture.." She discusses and defines moral injury and the impact of US War Culture not only on the military and veterans but more importantly on the US Citizen. She describes how that war culture is hidden in plain sight. She shows how this war culture takes more American lives than the battlefield, through military and veteran suicide. If you are a veteran this interview will help you understand and if you are a citizen this show will help you realize and make change imperative.

Scheduling Fall Class Visits by Anti-War Veteran

9/24/2023 / We Are Not Your Soldiers - As the autumn semester begins, We Are Not Your Soldiers is ready to set up a time with teachers and professors to visit classes and engage in dialog with students during this 2023-24 school year. Our speakers, all veterans of the U.S. armed forces are prepared to share their experiences and knowledge and answer questions from the students. The need to stop U.S. aggressive militarism and wars against peoples around the world remains urgent.

While openly sharing experiences of time in the military is very difficult, the presenters feel an urgency to do so as that is not what is done by recruiters. It’s important as well for young people who are not considering enlisting but who are unaware of U.S. military history or entanglements as is the case in most of society in this country. Students need to know realistically what they may face if they join up, not a glossed-over picture that ignores the traumatization which often starts right in boot camp and, if the recruit goes on to active duty, can lead to facing a life-time dealing with guilt. Issues of morality are raised when considering what it means to live in a country with 800 bases located around the world. What does that mean for the interests of humanity and our planet?

 
Drop in Public Trust in Military Officers Portends Danger

January 24, 2022 / Thomas Spoehr / The Daily Signal - Gallup recently released a poll describing how American’s confidence in military officers had declined to its lowest level since it began measuring in 2001. The big news was that between 2017 and 2022, Americans who believe military officers possess “high ethics” declined by a full 10 points, down to 61%.

An optimist could see this as unfortunate but tolerable, since military officers remain one of the most respected professions, falling only behind medical professionals and grade-school teachers. A more candid appraisal, however, would see this for what it is: a vote of declining confidence by America in its oldest and heretofore most trusted institution. The military needs to make the necessary course corrections to address this situation or be prepared to endure the consequences.

We should not be terribly surprised by these results. The public disaster that unfolded in Afghanistan in August shook Americans to their core. Many to this day cannot understand how the military was so unprepared for the sweep of the Taliban across Afghanistan. They do not understand how U.S. forces were forced to conduct an evacuation out of a civilian airport unsuited for that purpose and why America relied on terrorists to provide airport security.

Marine Corps eyes national rebranding of
recruiting centers

Oct 26, 2023 / Hope Hodge Seck / MarineTimes - Marine Corps recruiting offices across the country may soon be getting a major face-lift for the first time in more than 17 years as the service continues to make attracting young Americans a top priority. In late September, the service published a sources-sought solicitation for a “branding refresh” that would apply to the more than 700 Marine Corps recruiting stations, officer selection stations and recruiting sub-stations. The document states that the Marine Corps is “anticipating a requirement” to incorporate relatively recent brand updates into office interior design and external window dressing and display. The last such effort to standardize the look of recruiting offices began in 2006, it adds.

Military Running Remedial Programs to Snare Unqualified Applicants

From Draft NOtices, October-December 2023 / Seth Kershner / Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)  - The U.S. military, spurred by a worsening recruiting crisis, is testing new programs that present unique challenges to counter-recruiters.

Recruiters haven’t had it this bad since 1973, when the all-volunteer force made its shaky transition away from the draft. In fiscal year 23, the Army is on track to come up 10,000 short of its goal of 65,000 new recruits. A defense official told the Wall Street Journal over the summer that in fifteen years of tracking the recruiting market they had never seen a situation quite so serious.

Experts cite a variety of reasons for the recruiting shortfalls. First, there appears to be declining support for the military as a career path. In recent years, the media has spotlighted stories about women military members facing sexual harassment and the difficulty veterans face in accessing health services. When asked to explain the recruiting crisis, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth recently cited parental worries about whether their children are “going to be sexually harassed or are they going to be more prone to suicidal ideations” by serving in the military.

 
Why Is Gen Z Rejecting the U.S. Military?

**Why is Gen Z rejecting the U.S. military?
More than 20% of people between the ages of 18 - 25 failed to meet eligibility requirements, and only 9% of people in this age group even report interest in joining the military. Most experts agree that the crisis is caused by competition from other jobs that offer good pay and benefits, and Gen Z’s lack of trust in the military as an institution. Much of that lack of trust is caused by greater access to information about sexual assault, racism, homophobia, and a growing lack of interest in the military lifestyle.

Military Recruiters Have No Place in Our Schools

June 2022 / Alex Skopic / Current Affairs - Today’s conservatives, to hear them tell it, are deeply concerned with the safety of children in schools. After all, anything from a gender-neutral toilet, which could invite sexual predators, to a Toni Morrison novel, which might cause a reader “discomfort” about their race, could be lurking. One has to be vigilant. So you might assume that if a group of specially-trained adults started hanging around schools, trying to lure minors into dangerous situations under false pretenses, the political Right would be up in arms about it, demanding an influx of police and private security guards to deal with the menace. Unless, of course, these duplicitous strangers are with the military—and then, somehow, the impulse to ‘think of the children’ disappears.

B‍ACK to school one way or another

Post Covid, getting back into schools to table counter-recruitment materials has become more difficult while neo-conservative school boards actively restrict previously permitted access for  CR activists.

But there are other ways to reach students in GenZ who are feeling the p‍ressure of automatic placement into military corps programs without consent in American high schools.

Get the Latest NNOMY BTS Kit for more ideas and resources to tell young people the whole story on serving in the military post 9/11and maybe 10/7 also.

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