As school starts back up, look around at the world your students are going to inherit. Over one million Iraqis dead in an unjust and immoral war, and 5 million displaced from their homes . Economic conditions in this country have led more young people to view joining the military as a viable option, and the election of Barack Obama and his popularity with many young people has made “fighting for Obama” seem appealing to some youth.
Obama plans to expand the military by 92,000 in the next months. An intense debate among U.S. policy makers has begun about further expansion of the war in Afghanistan, and many of these voices are already calling for still more U.S. troops to be sent to carry out their deadly mission in Afghanistan. Where are these troops going to come from? They are going to come from those who are in high school now. Your students.
World Can’t Wait has been on a mission for the past year to inspire students to create a climate of resistance, and to drive recruiters – who literally prey on young people – out of our schools and communities. We have gone into classrooms all over the country with Iraq vets and military family members so that students can learn from them about the true nature of the war, and what they are being recruited to do. Veterans and organizers have told students how recruiters promise things to them and lie just to get them to sign up, and that the military is NOT a legitimate career option.
Imagine if school administrators and teachers didn’t allow recruiters onto campus.
Imagine if students looked at recruiters as the predators they are and no longer considered the Army a legitimate career option, but instead became activated and organized to promote meaningful change that actually benefited people. Imagine how a culture of defiance and resistance to military recruiters in high schools across the country might grow, and what a far better future that would be for students to be involved in.
Join up with We Are Not Your Soldiers this Fall, a project of the World Can’t Wait. This is a national effort to reach high school students with the truth about military recruiters, the wars they are recruiting for, and giving students the tools and arguments to talk with their peers. Oct 6th, is a National Day of Resistance to High School Military Recruiters. Students will find ways to resist recruiters in the schools, at local recruiting centers, and others may organize rallies across the nation.
What we are asking teachers to do:
-Invite the We Are Not Your Soldiers Tour to your school
-Join us on facebook, myspace, twitter and spread the message to youth via internet.
-Show the We Are Not Your Soldiers presentation to your students
-Spread this letter to other teachers you know.
-Donate $25, $50, $100 so that we can make We Are Not Your Soldiers a real force in society, on facebook and myspace.
Contact us 866-973-4463 Youth_students@worldcantwait.org
So take the choice away from some one and you get to tell them what to do…..interesting. The video you showed about the recruiting station for the Army says that recruiting standards have exceeded expectations for a third year straight.
So take the choice away from some one and you get to tell them what to do…..interesting. The video you showed about the recruiting station for the Army says that recruiting standards have exceeded expectations for a third year straight.