The article, “El ojo que todo lo ve” or “The All-seeing Eye” by Burgos Online paints a picture, but not for the purpose of artistic beauty, but rather...
At half past 11 in the morning of Wednesday 12 May, a dozen people gained access to the place hosting the Youth Employment Fair “Educ@emplea”, that as with every year has a place in the enclosure of the Alicantan Exhibition Institution (IFA) of Torrellano.
Facing the astonished looks of the thousands of young people and teachers present, and dressed in white coats and masks, they proceeded to encircle the stand at which the Spanish army propagandizes and offers a sinister working exit for young people who finish their studies.
The stand remained surrounded like that and “the disinfection of the military virus” began, at the same time distributing leaflets to those present about the great risks they were running in moving toward the said source of “contamination”.
Videoblog about research links between the Atomic Weapons Establishment, where the UK's nuclear weapons are designed and made, and universities. Features Jonathon Porritt (Forum for the Future), Andrew Blowers (Open University), Christopher Watson (British Pugwash Group), and David McCoy (Medact).
Atoms for Peace? The Atomic Weapons Establishment and UK universities
The Universities Network is an informal collective of groups and individuals at universities across the UK - students and staff in higher education who are campaigning to break ties between their institution and arms companies. By linking campaigns across the country we can be inspired by each other, share successes and plan more effectively by pooling resources.
Counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work in the U.S. has gone through several cycles of expansion and contraction during the last few decades. The first expansion was during the early 1980s when it was supported by a small number of national organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), War Resisters League, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) and National Lawyers Guild. Most grassroots activities at the time were carried out by chapters of these organizations and a number of independent community peace groups (including COMD and, eventually, Project YANO).
It’s not necessary to go to Washington for a protest to significantly engage key issues related to the War on Terrorism. Try going to a local coffee shop or any other public place where you can strike up a conversation with youth or young adults about the choices and paths that the young people in your community see in front of them.
In its rush to find the next generation of cyberwarriors, the military has begun to infiltrate our high schools and even our middle schools, blurring the line between education and recruitment. The Air Force, for example, runs a “CyberPatriot” national high school cyberdefense competition, geared toward influencing students to pursue careers in cybersecurity. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has its own annual “Digital Forensics Challenge,” in which teams of players develop their own investigative tools. But no one is as innovative in his approach as Colonel Casey Wardynski (ret.)—for 16 years the Army’s top economist and now the superintendent of schools in Huntsville, Ala.
Military out of schools — not a common theme for War Resisters' International, although obviously an important issue. As this issue of The Broken Rifle shows, the militarisation of our education system — be it for the purpose of indoctrination of youth, or for the purpose of military recruitment — is an extremely important issue.
They are constantly selling the idea that Venezuela is going to be invaded by the United States and in the face of this external threat...there is a permanent feeling of being on the verge of war or armed conflict...They always say that the United State wants Venezuela’s oil, however our president Chávez negotiated with transnational energy companies for 30 to 40 years. This means that that argument is invalid... - Rafael Uzcategui, Venezuela
In many countries (twenty of the thirty-two), celebrities are used to promote the military. By contrast in Kenya, the military is almost secretive (although the Maroon Commandos, a band, are very popular). The military in half of the countries have a website aimed specifically at young people. Although Switzerland doesn't, its military does sponsor youth websites.
WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.