•  HOME 
  •  ARCHIVES 
  •  BOOKS 
  •  PDF ARCHIVE 
  •  WWP 
  •  SUBSCRIBE 
  •  DONATE 
  •  MUNDOOBRERO.ORG
  • Loading


Follow workers.org on
Twitter Facebook iGoogle




Students stand up to military recruiters

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.