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No draft, no way organizing builds
By
Dustin Langley
Published Mar 30, 2005 10:24 AM
As the illegal occupation of Iraq continues
and the Bush administration eyes new targets for its “war on
terror,” it is finding that it doesn’t have enough troops to fulfill
its imperial ambitions. The Army and Marine Corps are overstretched and have
failed to meet their recruiting quotas. The reserve forces have also seen a
decline in enlistments, and are quickly becoming a “broken force,”
according to Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly.
Andy Stapp, (left) founder of the American Serviceman’s Union during the Vietnam war, with Carl Webb, military resister, at March 19 rally in Marcus Garvey Park.
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On March 31, the Selective Service
System will report to President Bush that it has met its performance goals for
2004. This performance plan (available at sss.gov) indicates that the Selective
Service System is gearing up for a draft. It is staffing local draft boards,
training volunteer registrars to work in high schools and colleges, and
streamlining the induction process so that it will be ready to implement the
draft within 75 days of authorization.
Organizers with No Draft, No Way
have called for a nationwide day of actions on March 31 to oppose the draft and
military recruiting. From Santa Rosa, Calif., to New York, youth, parents,
students and anti-draft activists will take to the streets to say “No
draft, no way” Actions include a student walkout in Ames, Iowa; a rally in
Nashville, Tenn.; a protest at a recruiting station in Charlotte, N.C., and
other actions across the country including public meetings, civil disobedience
and training sessions for conscientious objectors.
The next step in the
fight against the draft will be a No Draft, No Way Con ference on Youth and
Resistance, to be held on Sat., April 16 in New York. This conference will be
more than a series of workshops—this is a mobilizing session. Out of this
conference, organizers are expected to set up counter-recruiting teams to target
specific high school and college campuses to expose the lies of military
recruiters and work to remove them from campus; form local groups to fight the
draft and counsel potential draftees about draft resistance; and launch a
campaign of protest and action against the draft and military recruiting.
For more information or to register go to:
http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org.
The writer is a Navy veteran
and organizer of the No Draft, No Way campaign.
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.
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