Students stand up to military recruiters
By
Bryan G. Pfeifer
Boston
Published Oct 6, 2005 2:19 AM
Youth and students
participating in the anti-war movement are responding decisively to unprovoked
police attacks at two campuses Sept. 29, part of an increasingly brutal response
by school administrators and the state to counter-recruitment protest actions.
But students aren’t intimidated.
Pakistani student
brutalized
Tariq Khan, a Pakistani student at George Mason University
in Virginia and former U.S. Air Force member, was assaulted by police and an
ROTC member while protesting Marine recruiters on campus. An ROTC member ripped
off a “Recruiters lie, don’t be deceived” sign Tariq was
wearing, and police were seen choking the peaceful protester and dragging his
handcuffed body to a police car after he refused to move from the
recruiter’s table area (www.campusantiwar.net).
Khan was taken to a
Fairfax County jail, charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing at his own
university and resisting arrest. He said that as he was being assaulted, a cop
said to him, “I didn’t know who you were, and what with the 9/11 and
everything, there’s no telling what you would do.” He then told Khan
to obey his directives or he would “hang you from the ceiling by your
feet.” Another cop said, “You people are the most violent in the
world.”
A protest was held Oct. 3 to denounce this terrorism
against Khan and to demand all charges be dropped. To add your voice, contact
Alan G. Merten, George Mason President, at (703) 993-8700 or mail letters to:
Office of the President, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr. MSN 3A1,
Fairfax, VA 22030.
Holyoke Community College
On the same day
as the attack against Khan, over 30 multinational lesbian, gay, bi and trans
students and allies protested Army National Guard recruiting at Holyoke
Community College (HCC). Another focus was the Pentagon’s bigoted
“don’t ask, don’t tell”policy that essentially bars LGBT
persons from enlisting - in violation of the college’s and the
state’s non-discrimination laws.
According to protest
sponsors—the HCC Anti-War Coalition —during the action a campus cop
ripped a “Cops are hypocrites” placard away from a protester. As the
student attempted to retrieve his sign he was assaulted by four officers. One
made a homophobic comment. When other students attempted to intervene, one was
maced.
At least 20 local and state police in riot gear and gas masks
arrived with boxes labeled “gas masks.” One student claimed a group
of state police pointed guns at him.
After menacing the students, the
police dispersed them. The next day Charles Peterson, a student assaulted by
police at the protest, was visited by two state police who told him he was
banned from campus and would be arrested for trespassing if he entered public
HCC property. Peterson is vice president for academic affairs on the Student
Senate and is employed at HCC.
Holyoke students demand the immediate
lifting of the ban on Peterson, an immediate, unconditional public apology from
the college; a pledge of non-retaliation against activists; a thorough and
impartial investigation; and that military recruiters be banned from campus. The
Anti-War Coalition held a press conference Oct. 3 and will march and rally at
HCC Oct. 6.
Students are asking supporters to call HCC President William
Messner at (413) 552-2222; and/or to send letters by faxing (413) 534-8975 or
emailing [email protected]. Over 1,000 people have already contacted
Messner.
Other actions
For the first time in over 30 years,
military recruiters returned to Harvard for an undergraduate career fair Sept.
30. The Army, Marines, CIA, Department of Homeland Security and the
Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency were present.
In response,
the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice (HIPJ) held an anti-war and
counter-recruitment rally. The Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Sup port
ers Alliance (BGLTSA) distributed dozens of leaflets protesting the
Pentagon’s bigoted policies (hcs.harvard.edu/~queer/).
Over 50
Radical Youth Alliance members and allies protested the “Armed Forces
Career Center” near the Boston Common Oct. 1. Alliance members are mostly
high school youth and students from schools in the Greater Boston area.
A
student from the Cambridge School of Weston concluded, “We have power, we
have a voice and we can make an impact.” The alliance is working with a
broad cross-section of organizations to build “a constant campaign of
counter-recruitment.”
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sept.
28 over 25 students from the campus Stop the War Coalition were verbally
assaulted by campus cops and threatened with arrest if they didn’t stop
their protest at a career fair where the Air Force, CIA and Marines were
recruiting.
Where are the Democrats?
Amid the widespread
resistance to the U.S. war on Iraq, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry Sept. 26
declared, “There is some schedule... to get [the Iraqis that are] standing
up and defending themselves which is now suddenly beginning to happen, so there
are some signs of progress.”
Nor have leading Democrats protested
the Sept. 15 FBI announcement regarding the formation of a National Security
Higher Education Advisory Board.
The board will work with university
presidents to “establish lines of communication on national priorities
pertaining to terrorism, counterintelligence, and homeland security. We also
want to foster exchanges between academia and the FBI in order to develop
curricula which will aid in attracting the best and brightest students to
careers in the law enforcement and intelligence communities”
(www.fbi.gov).
As the bold, courageous actions of students across the
country are showing, an independent multinational class-wide movement to bring
the troops home now is the way forward.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE