By working together, our CODEPINK team in Detroit brought a lot of smiles, creativity, and solidarity to the USSF. We made it happen, from carrying banners to speaking at workshops to circulating petitions and flyers and tabling to shuttling folks to jail solidarity to pitching in for whatever was needed at the moment, together. And there was a magical element working with us too, which was especially present when the skies were clear on the day it was supposed to rain during our Hummer Burial, and when the full moon arose over the river as we did a spiral dance, and when we secured an indoor table to share with National Assembly, and so many other little bright moments throughout.
On Memorial Day 2010, I remember Abeer Hamza, the 14-year-old stalked, raped and murdered by predatory US soldiers who also murdered her family. I remember Nadja Al-Ali, Iraqi-German author of What Kind of Liberation?, talking about Iraqi women dying from cancer after exposure to Depleted Uranium. I remember being spell-bound by charismatic Afghan parliamentarian in exile, Malalai Joya, as she told a crowd in Berkeley about “democracy-loving leaders” in her country: “We have a LOT!” she declared with eyes blazing.
By Cindy Thomas In 2005 my husband was severely wounded in Iraq and the Army labeled him “undeployable.” But, in 2007, they deployed him again. That is when I began to realize that I could no longer support the war and and started looking for the comfort and support of others who felt as I [...]
A now infamous provision of the education bill No Child Left Behind required schools to provide private information like student addresses and phone numbers to military recruiters, or lose federal funding. Families could opt out of this provision -- but only if they knew about it. Now comes to light even more ominous and intrusive collection of student data by the Pentagon and its private contractors. Masquerading as test prep web sites or scholarship opportunities, sophisticated marketers stealthily collect data on teens and provide it to recruiters to help them target their recruiting messages.
Is the real purpose of public schools in America education, or is it warehousing same-age potential recruits to deliver them as a conveniently assembled audience for recruiting messages?
An amazing victory for a community in Atlanta that didn't want the military helping to create a public high school for their children. Activists waged a two-month campaign to oppose the establishment of a military-themed high school which the U.S. Marine Corps and the DeKalb County Board of Education had hoped to open on Aug. 10. Relentless watchdogs of their school board, this team of parents, students and community members used media coverage and direct actions to successfully oppose the plan. That's the good news. The bad news is that Obama's new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is known in Chicago for having fostered many such schools during his tenure as superintendent of schools. And plans continue for military-themed high schools in other low-income areas around the country. Who's watching your school board?
Monday, June 28, 2010
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