Student strike, September 26

[paineinthearse]

Previously posted August 29 at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4499819 - Nationwide Student Strike, September 26

Received in an email dated August 28. I've been away but did a search and did not get a "hit". Pardon if a repeat.

This action makes complete sense to me. Many students, potentially cannon fodder, will not be able to attend the DC protest the prior weekend. This is a vehicle for them to express their solidarity and strength.

NATIONWIDE STUDENT STRIKE Sept. 26th -- START SPREADING THE WORD !

(US) NATIONWIDE STUDENT STRIKE Sept. 26th

Backed by Noam Chomsky and more than 100 other professors so far...a call has been put out for a student strike on Sept. 26, coordinated with the D.C. action on the September 24-25 weekend.

This effort is in line with Cindy's efforts, but seeks to begin to transfer the focus from Texas to the nation's 300-plus Pentagon-dependent universities.



September 26, 2005

President George W. Bush, The White House
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Department of Defense, The Pentagon
President Nils Hasselmo, Association of American Universities
Governor Ted Kulongoski, State of Oregon
President Dave Frohnmayer, University of Oregon

Dear Public Servants,

As University of Oregon's first graduate student in the field of Peace Studies, it is my responsibility to explore the role of the military in society and those conditions that most promote peace and human welfare. In so doing, I have come to understand the nature of America's war industry, and how that industry has flourished in the wake of the Cold War. I have come to find that more than 300 of our universities are developing weapons for the Department of Defense, and that these schools are increasingly reliant on the industry of war to sustain their education programs. Indeed, the Association of American Universities appears to be little more than a lobby for such funding.

As a person of good conscience, I have learned too much about the business of war to remain silent about its overwhelming encroachment in our schools, communities, and global life systems. In promoting this encroachment, I do not believe that you serve in the interest of
prosperity and security for the common people. By your consistent actions, in fact, it is abundantly clear that you believe America's top priority is profit from the business of war, not the general welfare of its people.

When America was born a people-first country, the concept of freedom spread rapidly throughout the world without military force. The vision of our Founders was to advance the notion of people living in peace using the freedom that nature provides upon birth. You may feel at peace with yourselves, but I believe you are acting as businessmen instead of servants. And in honoring our Founding principles, I must proclaim that to exploit the fears and prejudices of the common people to maintain the flow of profits from conflict--to perpetuate a state of war for personal gain--is treasonous to our creed.

You say this is a peace-loving nation when you know it is not; America is by far history's greatest peddler of arms, and your business is making war everyone else's business. The people, under this set of priorities, are an expendable resource, and on behalf of those who founded this country and those whose lives stand in peril today--thus, on behalf of all Americans--I reject the notion of our servants serving only themselves and war profiteers.

Therefore, I feel compelled to strike in peaceful but vociferous opposition to your priorities until our national policies reflect our priorities and serve the rights and needs of the common people.

I am a dedicated scholar and University of Oregon alumnus. But I refuse to study inside the classroom of any school that sells itself to the war industry, and I will stand outside and speak my heart as strongly as possible to highlight the obvious hypocrisy that you promote. For I fear that if I do not, America and other countries are very likely to suffer and fall as a result of your cold determination to saturate with weapons a world that stands on the verge of resource depletion.

Developing weapons at our institutions of enlightenment contradicts the inherent purpose of learning. How will we ever learn peace while making war in our schools?

I hereby submit to you this petition for peaceful priorities.

Dutifully, Brian D. Bogart [e-mail]
Multicultural Studies Certificate,
US-Japan Relations,
Lewis and Clark College,
Portland 1995
International Studies Certificate, Waseda University,
Tokyo 1996
B.A. Japanese History, University of Oregon 1997
M.A. Candidate, Peace Studies, University of Oregon

Sponsors of this action include:

Noam Chomsky
Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Franklin W. Stahl
Professor Emeritus of Biology
University of Oregon

Peter Phillips Ph.D.
Sociology Department/Project Censored
Sonoma State University

(names removed for space)

--
"The country we carry in our hearts is waiting."
-- Bruce Springsteen (Wage Peace)

Grant E. Remington
2503 NE Dunckley
Portland, Oregon 97212
503-282-5015
[e-mail]

U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW)
www.uslaboragainstwar.org <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/ >
PMB 153
1718 "M" Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Co-convenors: Gene Bruskin, Maria Guillen, Fred Mason, Bob Muehlenkamp, and Nancy Wohlforth

National Organizer &
Website Coordinator: Michael Eisenscher

Administrative Staff: Adrienne Nicosia

[goclark]

1. Students Should Express Their Feelings!

[leveymg]

2. Wow, does this take me back.

The web sure makes it easier to get out the message. The song remains the same, nevertheless.

This is great news!

[paineinthearse]

3. The web sure makes it easier to get out the message.

This is the GEN forum and posts sink fast.

Keep this kicked and spread the word.

[lvx35]

4. That's the first day of class here.

Not a good day for this.

[paineinthearse]

5. For anyone is "too busy".....WWPOS?

http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html

Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends
By Phil Ochs

C D C D
Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
C Em F G
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
E Am
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
F Am Dm G
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
C Am Eb
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Cm F
Outside of a small circle of friends.

Riding down the highway, yes, my back is getting stiff
Thirteen cars are piled up, they're hanging on a cliff.
Maybe we should pull them back with our towing chain
But we gotta move and we might get sued and it looks like it's gonna rain
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.

Sweating in the ghetto with the (colored/Panthers) and the poor
The rats have joined the babies who are sleeping on the floor
Now wouldn't it be a riot if they really blew their tops?
But they got too much already and besides we got the cops
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends.

Oh there's a dirty paper using sex to make a sale
The Supreme Court was so upset, they sent him off to jail.
Maybe we should help the fiend and take away his fine. (*)
But we're busy reading Playboy and the Sunday New York Times
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends

Smoking marihuana is more fun than drinking beer,
But a friend of ours was captured and they gave him thirty years
Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why
But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends

Oh look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends

< Additional verse, 1974 >
Down in Santiago where they took away our mines
We cut off all their money so they robbed the storehouse blind
Now maybe we should ask some questions, maybe shed a tear
But I bet you a copper penny, it cannot happen here
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends


=========

* What would Phil Ochs say?

[lvx35]

6. hehe. Phil Ochs is my moral compass.

I always ask myself: What would Phil Ochs say? ;)

Maybe I'll grab my syllabus and see if there's a gathering in red square.

edit: red square = center of campus where protests would occur, no Soviet reference.

[paineinthearse]

7. see if there's a gathering in red square

If there isn't one, do as Chevy Chase used to say on SNL:

"If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."

[radio4progressives]

8. Good for the Students! But really there should be a GENERAL STRIKE!

Everyone should strike on the same day across the country - that's just about the only non-violent thing that would get Washington's attention that the citizenry mean business.

[paineinthearse]

9. Logical idea, has anyone heard of such a plan?

Moveon can mobilize people for candle vigils, why not a general strike? Imagine O'Liely choking on covering that!

[paineinthearse]

10. Support the CampU.S. Strike for Peace Campaign

In the works for several weeks, www.strikeforpeace.org is up and running!



CampU.S.

Nationwide Strike for Peace Campaign
National Community Strategy of America

The CampU.S. Strike for Peace Campaign is an information-outreach campaign for everyone. You can help in several ways, by organizing a group to join the campaign, by supporting with funds, and by assisting with research.

Why schools and community groups should unite. The resistance of the 1960s movements came about because of the advent of color TV during war, a military draft, and the explosion of the number of college-age Americans. These elements are missing today. Media corporations are beholden to a war-for-profit economy, so they block coverage of war and distract us with 500 channels of soap and celebrities. The Pentagon has a solution to avoid instituting a military draft, and we’re working on it here on our campus.

(The Future Combat Systems program will integrate robotic systems into human soldiers beginning in 2008, to enhance their capabilities until real robots can replace them—20 to 30 years away, as if we can last that long on this path. We’ve successfully remote controlled rats and monkeys against their will, and now we are integrating that technology into the human brain—and that’s just one of hundreds of horrific weapons in development at our schools.)

Youth activists and others need a point of unity to be a single force like Noam Chomsky’s second superpower of public opinion. The CampU.S. campaign seeks to trigger a unification process by spreading statistics of an intimate nature. Gathering signatures for the entire year is a way to approach individuals in our schools and communities with numbers that relate to their towns and personal lives. In Eugene, home to University of Oregon, we have 56 companies on the Pentagon’s payroll. There’s no way all 310,000 such companies are going to part with their income. However, if enough young consumers call for a reasonable American defense posture—to continue these contracts while suspending the Pentagon’s insane bid for global resource dominance by military force—and demand the adoption of a reasonable vision for resource sharing and an end to the age of war for profit, we may save our planet and increase all of life’s prosperity in the process.

If we fail to steer toward survival and a just world for all in the next five to ten years, what’s the point of studying for a degree? If we do not prevail by advancing our vision for peace, we will perish by advancing our technology for war.

Simply changing administrations will not kill the war industry, because it never has. We need to change minds and build unity for a peaceful revolutionary solution offered by an informed popular demand, to shut down the war-profit priority and establish a people’s priority—as so many Americans believe was the purpose of America’s founding vision.

The goal is to mobilize community members everywhere newspapers are read, everywhere websites are browsed, and everywhere hope still resides.

INFORMATION OUTREACH while gathering signatures for our Petition for Peaceful Priorities. 310,000 companies supply the US military. 51% of our taxes support the war industry, more if we count the many programs tailored to suit our military-based economy. More than one trillion dollars a year is spent by this nation on its military (not counting Homeland Security, the Army Corp of Engineers, NASA, and education programs geared toward defense, foreign policy, and national security). That’s $1000 billion for "spreading freedom" overseas compared to $59 billion for education in the US. America has 6000 military bases domestically, some 1000 US bases overseas, and more than 350 US schools serving as weapons laboratories.

(For more background history on weapons and wars, America’s top industry since 1950, see Essays.)

The Pentagon’s plan for the next 20 years is to outpace all other nations; an arms race when we’re already at the top. We’re telling the rest of the world to build up for war because we’re the world’s WalMart of weapons.

Campaign strategy. This is not a consensus-based campaign; the strategy is simple, focused, and prepared. It is not limited to schools. It is an info-outreach campaign to unify the American people through common knowledge, common goals, and a simple strategy.

PURPOSE:

Inform and empower the people to challenge the encroachment of the industry of war in our schools, communities, and lives by collecting signatures and interacting with others in our daily outreach. Five simple principles: Interact—Inform—Empower—Challenge—and Change by popular demand.

TALKS:

Information will focus on surprising and locally-relevant war-industry facts and figures that the public needs to know, with no overload to hinder our normal career and school work.

When we gather to share information, we will minimize distractions to provide information access without interruption. We may discuss things at length individually, but the point of gathering is to share information with people on tight schedules. (Keep the rap short and sweet.)

University of Oregon and Eugene are CampU.S. Central. Strikeforpeace.org reaches nationwide to teach day and night, so the campaign is accessible to anyone with a computer. Information will remain simple and easy to convey, but there are in-depth essays at hand for those who want more. Again, this campaign is not just for schools. As all resources should be, this is for everyone who cares about life.

COLLECTING SIGNATURES / INFORMING THE PUBLIC:

Signatures will be collected from September 26, 2005 to June 10, 2006. Anyone can sign. The purpose of gathering signatures on campus and out in the streets is to dispense easily digestible information to the public, to surprise people with the depth of the war-industry reach in our local lives. (Lengthier discussions are fine if the listener initiates a topic.) Signatures will be delivered to the White House by students and others in June, but the campaign will not stop until peaceful priorities prevail and are reflected in American government documents.

"STRIKE": AN INFORMATION-OUTREACH CAMPAIGN FOR EVERYONE

The CampU.S. Campaign network spreads a focused message as one team nationwide. Everything is about the message—no need for mission statements or consensus discussions on organizing. We’re ready to go.

The Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) never stops dreaming up new ways to kill, and the best tool to network for peace is its greatest creation, the Internet (formerly ARPANET). Strikeforpeace.org will be the hub for this network, and crucial for establishing a personal relationship with communities and for staying on the same page.

EACH CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN GROUP WILL NEED:

Signatures Manager to download and control a signature list, retain backup copies, and send signatures to the main database or CampU.S. Central at University of Oregon

Communications Manager to build and maintain a sustained network effort between CampU.S. Central and individual communities, and guide supporters to strikeforpeace.org

Operations Manager to lead local operations and maintain a direct connection to CampU.S. Central

(One person can assume all three duties, but dividing them is recommended.)

BEHAVIOR:

All actions will be peaceful. Contact with the public will occur in a mature, kind, and unified fashion. Uniformity of the message is important, and that the message is well received. Violence is treason. Whoever goes that way is not with us; that’s how we recognize them—we don’t do that. We don’t dominate discussions, we don’t argue. We convey surprising facts about the clash between killing and learning, battlefields and schools, guns and books, and the choice between embracing bad history or a pristine future. If someone wants to argue, walk away politely and, if necessary, apologize for disturbing them.

IDEAS: Three examples of ideas that will help us part ways with war:

1) We are making a list of schools not working for the Pentagon to present to every senate member of every school that is working for the Pentagon.

2) Hold conferences featuring members of schools that have refused funds from the Pentagon. Compile their reasons and methods for refusal and deliver them to those who have not refused.

3) Hold a year-long weekly series of public events on the effects of the war industry in our schools and communities around the world.

SENATES have the ultimate authority over campus policies, but UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS have bypassed campus senates by creating their own club, called the Association of American Universities. The AAU is not a public association of universities; it’s a private group of university presidents designed to lobby the Pentagon for funds. WE CAN REVERSE THIS TREND.

Summary: Outsourcing by the Pentagon has pulled our schools, companies, and communities into a for-profit mindset that keeps them from speaking against war—America’s top industry since 1950. I’m striking to put attention on the personal nature of the war industry, how it hurts all of us, not just those nations we invade, but those we ignore, including America.

I’m not asking, and I do not advise, that anyone else strike. However, nationwide simultaneous actions are extremely effective, so brief, unified, and well-timed striking—or repeatedly holding events at hundreds of locations across the country at the same time—will become a major tool for this campaign as it progresses.

My effort is what I can do in my final year as the only graduate student in Peace Studies here, but together we can influence a nation and answer the wishes of the thousands of people worldwide who are writing to ask U.S. Americans for help in changing our priority from military-dominant business profit to human prosperity.

Research: I am conducting research to gather more facts surrounding the Pentagon’s outsourcing program, and I am determined to get these numbers out. IntelligentFuture would greatly appreciate any financial and organizational assistance that can help this effort move forward with clarity and strength. This is a monumental undertaking that will require generous funding and teamwork from people like you. (Some of the search engines involved require subscriptions exceeding $600 a year.)

Please go to the "Help Us" page and select a way to assist. You can organize a group to join the campaign, support CampU.S. with funds, or offer assistance with our research projects.

(This campaign and site will begin slow and build, so please be patient during the first few weeks.)

For a world of promise,

CampU.S. Central Strike for Peace Campaign Team

IntelligentFuture

PO Box 3150

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

[readmoreoften]

11. I support this

But how about a little more advance notice? I teach class on Tues/Thursdays and live on a college campus of one of the largest universities in the country. Haven't seen a flyer.

If my students stayed home I wouldn't penalize them (hell, if I didn't have to be 'fair & balanced' I'd give 'em extra credit.)

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Kick

Good luck to them all who are protesting today. Sadly I'm not school on Monday's. :(

[paineinthearse]

13. STRIKE!

:kick: