SF: Victory in Anti-Recruitment Struggle; Anti-JROTC Activist Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:20:42 -0800 X-Nohoney: yes white-hard - relay H=adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net (borg.energy-net.org) [63.203.231.61] X-Sender-Host-Address: 63.203.231.61 X-Sender-Host-Name: adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY-WHITELIST International Liaison Committee for a Workers International (ILC) P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217. To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact ILC at website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org PLEASE EXCUSE DUPLICATE POSTINGS ------------------------------------------------------------ Victory in San Francisco on November 14: Board of Ed. Votes to Phase Out JROTC! Student Activist Receives Threats For Opposing JROTC By ERIC BLANC On November 14, a major political earthquake shook San Francisco and the entire country. For the first time ever in the United States, a school board -- the Board of Education of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) -- voted to kick the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) off the high school campuses. By a vote of 4-2 (with one board member absent), the school board voted to phase out the JROTC program over the next two years and to set up a task force to establish an alternative program to provide a community structure and leadership skills to the approximately 1,600 high school students -- mainly Asian, Black and Latino -- who enroll in JROTC every year. With this vote, San Francisco will immediately become an important example for other cities to kick out this authoritarian recruitment tool of the U.S. military from our country's public high schools. This victory was not a foregone conclusion. Not by a long shot. Enormous pressures were brought to bear on the school board to maintain JROTC. All-Out Media Drive to Keep JROTC On November 5, the San Francisco Chronicle published a front-page glowing tribute to the JROTC, warning of the proposal to "kill off the long-standing and enormously popular course," which, it stated, is neither discriminatory nor a vehicle for military recruitment, but merely a positive "learning experience." A few days later, the Chronicle editors published an editorial urging its readers to contact all the school board members to demand they keep the JROTC program. They even gave out the board members' email addresses, which they never do. In the week leading up to the vote, S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom, School Superintendent Gwen Chan, and countless other prominent community figures lashed out at the school board members who had moved the anti-JROTC resolution through committee. The board members were accused of racism, elitism, scorn for the city's students, and a blind concern for their own "narrow and leftist" political agendas at the expense of the most needy children in the district. A few voices went so far as to place the blame for any future students killed in gang wars on the board members who would vote to suspend JROTC. They claimed that the only thing that has prevented these most at-risk students from joining these gangs is the JROTC program. Other voices still insisted that JROTC is not a vehicle for the military to recruit in San Francisco, and that JROTC does not discriminate against LGBT students in San Francisco. This might occur in other cities, they insisted, but not in San Francisco. RY Launches Anti-JROTC Campaign At the beginning of the school year, Revolution Youth (RY) members at Lowell High School began to organize support the school board resolution to phase out JROTC. They decided to circulate a student petition in support of this proposal and to build a city-wide campaign on the high school campuses. Within weeks, the Lowell RY students were holding weekly Saturday afternoon meetings at Dolores Park with students from 11 other public and private high schools in the city (and even the greater Bay Area). The campaign was carried out in close collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). A few days before the school board vote, Revolution Youth sent out an email posting to students and antiwar activists throughout the city urging them to attend the board meeting and reminding them of the importance of this campaign. The posting reads, in part: "Is the JROTC really 'enormously popular' throughout the city, as the Chronicle claims? Hardly. In fact, an independent movement of high-school students at more than 12 schools began in August to support the proposal in the Board of Education. A petition circulated by these students has in a few weeks received more than 800 signatures. [See copy of Petition below.] "It also should be noted that at Mission High School, some of the main student-advocates of the petition are Latino youth who are current members of JROTC and who were pushed into the program without knowing what it was -- or because their parents couldn't afford the P.E. uniforms -- and who are unable to leave it now because of scheduling conflicts due to the lack of space in regular P.E. classes. Š "'As students we believe that fighting JROTC is a way to fight the Iraq war by taking away a valuable recruitment tool for the U.S. military,' says J.L., Lowell high-school student and member of Revolution Youth, the principal youth organization mobilizing S.F. students against the military presence on campuses. "And in November 2005, S.F. voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition I, opposing military recruiters on campuses. "What about the claim that JROTC is not a recruitment tool? Rudy de Leon, Under Secretary of Defense, testifying before the Military Personnel Subcommittee House Committee On Armed Services in March 2000 admitted that, 'The proportion of JROTC graduates who enter the military following completion of high school is roughly five times greater than the proportion of non-JROTC students.' "It is true that this percentage is for the time being lower in San Francisco, but this could change in coming period, as the U.S. military seeks to overcome its recruitment woes in order to continue the occupation of Iraq. "And what about the denial that JROTC is discriminatory? It is true that in San Francisco there are openly LGBT students in JROTC, but these students are denied certain privileges of joining JROTC, such as eligibility for special military scholarships or eligibility for entering the military with higher pay. Moreover, JROTC is intrinsically linked to and funded by the military, which overtly bans openly LGTB citizens from joining. "And what about the 'positive impact' of JROTC on students? It is true that some students in San Francisco have learned leadership skills and 'found a family' in JROTC, but there is no reason why students couldn't have a similar experience with the new alternative program that is planned to be set up after phasing out JROTC; the $1 million in S.F. yearly public funding that goes to JROTC could provide the financial base for building this new program. "What is needed now is for all students, community organizations, progressives, and antiwar activists to mobilize in support of the school board proposal to get rid of JROTC." The RY members devoted the final week before the school board vote to line up students to speak at the school board meeting in support of the proposed board resolution. This was not so easy. It was one thing for students to sign a petition addressed to the school board members, but it was quite another for students, particularly at the predominantly Black or Latino high schools, to testify publicly against JROTC. Public Testimonies and the Final Vote The evening of November 14 began as anticipated. The pro-JROTC forces bused in hundreds of their supporters, including war veterans, to pressure the school board to drop the resolution disbanding their program. Pro-JROTC speakers claimed throughout the evening that "at least 1,500" of their supporters had mobilized in front of the school board building. Most observers placed the number at a 200 to 300 -- still not a negligible turnout. After taking up some other minor agenda items, the president of the school board, Norman Yee, called on board member Dan Kelly to read and move the final and amended version of the resolution on JROTC. This was followed by some initial comments by school board members and then the comments from the public. Each side was given half an hour of testimony to support their position. With a one-minute time limit per speaker, this meant roughly 30 speakers per side. The pro-JROTC group went first. The speakers were livid against the board members, accusing them of racism against Asians, wanton disregard for the poor students in the district, and more. All denied there was any link between JROTC and the military; in fact a few teachers who spoke in favor of JROTC said they strongly opposed the war and military recruitment. For them this was simply a case of providing structure and discipline to kids who otherwise would be out in the streets, susceptible to the pressures from the gangs. To the surprise of many, the pro-JROTC grouping included only a few high school students. Most of the speakers were adult leaders of the JROTC program. The anti-JROTC side went next, led off by M.K., a Revolution Youth member and senior at Lowell High School, who opened her comments announcing that students at 12 high schools had gathered more than 800 signatures from students in support of the board resolution. M. then announced that many more students would have been at the meeting in support of the proposal to phase out JROTC but they were scared to speak out. She mentioned that anti-JROTC activists at Lincoln High School were actually threatened physically on account of their support for the school board resolution.. M. was one of six RY students who spoke before the board. Two student members of the Youth Commission from SOTA and Lowell also spoke in favor of the board resolution. [Two of the statements from RY members are included below; the others will be available shortly.] Other speakers in support of the resolution included political and community activists Eric Blanc, Millie Phillips, Tom Lacey, Denise D'Anne, Cristina Gutierrez, Medea Benjamin, Nancy Macias, Bonnie Weinstein and Carole Seligman, among others. All underscored the fact that the people of San Francisco, in two separate ballot votes, have rejected the war in Iraq and recruiters on campuses: Prop N (2004) called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and then Prop I (2005) called for Out Now! and also for an end to JROTC on the high school campuses. All insisted on the horrors of the war and explained that the military, with its task of killing or be killed for the sake of empire and oil profits for the multinational corporations, cannot be viewed as an acceptable alternative to gang-war violence; it only transfers the killing fields to the streets of Kabul or Baghdad. School, many said, also must be a place to develop critical thinking -- something that is contrary to what JROTC and the army is all about. Bonnie Weinstein, for example, noted the following in her comments: "The Army JROTC text from their Leadership, Education and Training manual states on page 87, 'When troops react to command rather than thought, the result is more than just a good-looking ceremony or parade. Drill has been and will continue to be the backbone of military discipline.' And from the Navy JROTC Naval Science text, page 24, the Navy calls for, 'loyalty to those above us in the chain of command whether or not we agree with them.' The anti-JROTC activists were a slight minority in the room but they were as loud, or louder, than the pro-JROTC forces. No one who observed the meeting, or who heard the impassioned pleas of the anti-recruitment student speakers over KALW Radio can claim that the JROTC program has 'overwhelming support' among the students of San Francisco. Then came the vote, with the school board holding its ground and voting to phase out the JROTC program. A major victory was scored for peace, and for public education independent from military recruiters! M.K. Receives Physical Threats As the anti-JROTC activists left the meeting room following the board, many were harassed and subjected to threats from the JROTC cadets. Antiwar activist Bonnie Weinstein wrote a letter to the school board members the day after the vote to congratulate them for their historic stand and to notify them of threats she and others had received on their way out of the board meeting. Weinstein wrote: "Students who were at the meeting last evening and who are disappointed by the vote were extremely hostile -- several of them physically threatened Cristina Gutierrez, myself and others as we left. It was scary to see them filled with so much hate. Of course, that's why we want JROTC out of our schools. (You may not be aware but JROTC students were laughing when Cristina told of being tortured by U.S. military-trained Colombian troops.) I was also very puzzled that their 'teachers' were not there with them to counsel them after the vote was taken and to monitor this threatening and extremely disrespectful behavior. "This is important to bring up because we were not speaking to them on the way out -- just among ourselves, and we were accosted by them screaming at the top of their lungs in our faces with their fists raised and tight! We were standing with an older woman with a cane and the students crowded around us and began shouting and chanting and screaming in our faces as we tried to leave. "Cristina's small stature came to the waist of one of the boys who stood in front of us momentarily barring the exit. There was a big screen in the lobby and the students -- some of whom have seen and talked to us before -- must have recognized us again from the screen and were furious with our statements. Their behavior exposes the very real danger JROTC is to our student's character and well being." The threats did not stop there. RY member M.K. reports that the night after the school board vote she received a dozen threatening myspace messages from students across the city about the petition and her comments to the board. M. also reports she found out there is a bulletin circulating with her information, pictures of her, and a direct link to her myspace site encouraging people to harass and physically threaten her. "So much for the JROTC kids proving how much the program taught them leadership, social skils, and maturity," M. writes. M.'s parents have contacted the police, the board of education, the JROTC instructors, and the principals at various high schools, to notify them of the threats against their daughter. M. has sent a letter to the Chronicle editors informing them of the threats and urging them to stop fanning the flames of intolerance and hatred. Where To Go From Here? This is an important first victory -- but the battle has not been won. The U.S. Army has just announced a $1.53 billion ad campaign contract with McCann/Erickson, a major advertising agency, to launch a new recruitment campaign. Also, so long as Bush's No Child Left Behind Act is the law of the land, school board will be pressured to keep the military recruiters on the campuses. We must organize to repeal No Child Left Behind! For now, Revolution Youth members are calling on all San Francisco students who signed the RY petition and on all anti-recruitment activists in San Francisco to contact the school board members to congratulate and thank them for writing the historic resolution and for making the tough decision to support it. Please write your letters to: - Dr. Dan Kelly (dkelly@sfusd.edu) - Mr. Mark Sanchez (msanche@sfusd.edu) - Mr. Eric Mar, Esq. (emar@sfusd.edu) - Ms. Sarah Lipson (slipson@sfusd.edu) Also, please inform the board members if you are willing to work with the SFUSD to develop an alternative program to JROTC. We now have an obligation to develop such a program for the students who, for various reasons, have found a home in JROTC. Students interested in continuing to organize this anti-recruitment work should contact RY at the following: Tel. 415-641-8616 or . There are a lot of things we can do in the coming months, such as an antiwar battle of the bands or a holiday CD action at the Stonestown Recruiting Center. Please get back to us. We have to continue the struggle to end the war in Iraq and to get the military recruiters off our campuses -- in other Bay Area cities, across California, and all across the country. ---------- (Note: Eric Blanc, a graduate of Lowell High School in 2002, was one of the Revolution Youth anti-JROTC campaign coordinators. All the names of the RY members in this story have been withheld, to avoid further threats and harassment from JROTC cadets and their supporters.) ******************** STATEMENT FROM D.S.: Hello, my name is D.S. and I attend Lowell High School. I support the Board of Education's resolution to replace JROTC with an alternative program that is not directly affiliated with the military. Career opportunities in high schools should be equally represented, and JROTC holds for the military the advantage of receiving physical education credit as well as almost one million dollars in district funding while other clubs do not. (There is also a smaller student to teacher ratio, despite JROTC instructors' $15,000 greater salary.) The military is not the only organization capable of teaching leadership, discipline, first aid, and map reading. I trust that the Board of Education will not abandon their students, and ensure that the talent of the Drum Corps, Drill Team, Colour Guard, and so on are not wasted. If the statistics of the views on war of JROTC and non-JROTC students are equal, let us unite to demilitarize and promote a progressive educational environment in our schools in San Francisco to initiate this movement throughout America. ---------- STATEMENT FROM I.C.: Hello, my name is I.C. and I am a freshman at School of the Arts high school. I support the proposal made by the school board to phase out JROTC from San Francisco public schools. It is not accurate to say that this proposal will deprive students of feeling leadership. If JROTC remains connected to the military it will eventually deprive these same students of their lives. JROTC is used by the military as a recruiting tool and though not all of the students who participate in it end up joining the military a great many of them do. Yes, many people are in JROTC because they feel that it provides great leadership opportunities and they feel like a family among their fellow JROTC peers, and I think that all of this is important. However, all of this is highly achievable with alternative programs not linked so strongly with the military. I have only been at my school for about three months and through my art discipline I have felt family. Perhaps with more creative and artistic opportunities in public schools, these students can feel the same way.