COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: War Protests: General
Conference Denounces Military
Ada Tso, DailyCal.org
October 24, 2005
More than 600 students, teachers and activists from across the nation poured into UC Berkeley this weekend to speak out against military recruiters on campus and denounce the Iraq occupation.The two-day counter-military recruitment conference was held in the Valley Life Sciences Building, where attendees participated in workshops and heard conscientious objectors share their experiences.
The event was co-sponsored by Military Out of Our Schools and the Campus Antiwar Network, along with dozens of organizations including the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and American Friends Service Committee.
"Innocent people in Iraq are dying, people are needlessly being sent to war. We will put an end to military recruitment and stop the wheels of the military," said Ph.D. candidate Snehal Shingavi, a member of the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and an event organizer.
A packed auditorium pulsated with energy when the first featured speaker, Military Out of Our Schools coordinator Kevin Ramirez, came out on stage.
"We must continue to do counter-recruitment work because it is rapidly growing as a powerful movement. The Army, the National Guard, the Navy Reserve all missed their recruiting goals by thousands," Ramirez said to loud cheers.
The conference focused on an ongoing debate that has gained momentum over the past year. In March, the ASUC passed a resolution prohibiting the use of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union by military recruiters on the grounds that they discriminated against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.
In November 2004, the Solomon Amendment, which dictates that universities give military recruiters equal access or face losing millions of dollars in federal funding, was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. With the U.S. Supreme Court waiting to hear the case later this year, debate has continued at campuses across the nation.
At the conference, those arguing against campus military recruitment called the occupation a rich man's war fought by the poor.
"Military recruitment is done so that poor people are doing the dirty work for those who are rich," Shingavi said.
A standing ovation greeted the next speaker, former Navy petty officer Pablo Paredes, who was convicted and sentenced for missing movement, for refusing to board an Iraq-bound ship.
"My name was Pablo Paredes, I was from the Bronx; this was making the military recruiters tinkle," Paredes said to illustrate the tendency of recruiters to target poor minorities.
While most attendees supported the anti-war cause, some students on campus stressed the importance of allowing military recruiters to come.
"The military has been the single most innovative organization in the world and having military recruiters on campus will make sure that our military remains one of the biggest contributors to the intellectual community," said senior Amaury Gallais, a member of the Berkeley College Republicans, which squared off with the UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition last spring over the same issue.
Still, the sentiment at the event was clearly one of anti-war, which came through in art performances as well.
Ariel Lucky, a performance artist, encapsulated the view with a rap: "When I fill up my tank with Chevron gasoline made from Iraqi crude oil on my way to work in the morning, will I be forgiven by my great-grandchildren? Will history absolve me?"
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