research

Tue
28
Apr
2015
New translation available
Yuya Shino / Reuters
Submitted by antimili-youth

Government wants to tap best scientists to bolster defenses

By Eric Pfanner and Chieko Tsuneoka / The Wall Street...

Sun
13
Nov

World Beyond War, Pat Elder

Good coverage of what can be done by activists wanting to intervene in the increasing presence of military recruiters and Pentagon recruitment efforts in our public schools.

World Beyond War, Pat Elder
Tue
18
Oct

UK: Under-18s in army 'face greater injury, death and mental health risks'

, The Guardian

Public health charity uses damning report to call for minimum recruitment age to be raised to 18.

Recruiting children aged 16 and 17 into the British army places them at greater risk of death, injury and long-term mental health problems than those recruited as adults, according to a new report.

Thu
03
Dec

Everyday violence on Facebook: the Israeli Example

By Robin Jones

Digital Militarism: Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age by Adi Kuntsman and Rebecca L. Stein (Stanford University Press)

Any social media user following Israel’s assault on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer may have encountered the slew of cartoons published on the Israeli army spokesperson’s Twitter account.

Intended to justify indiscriminate bombing by portraying Palestinian civilian buildings as legitimate targets, these slickly designed pictures were just one iteration of Israel’s online efforts to stem the PR backlash against its attack on Gaza.

Mon
14
Sep

America’s Tween Soldiers

August Say, 12, holds out his arm to determine where he should stand in class in the new Dragon Leadership Corps at his middle school in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Seth Kershner, In These Times

Last year, Henry F. Moss Middle School in Bowling Green, Ohio, offered students a brand new course. And, as a headline in the local newspaper proclaimed, this was “not your traditional class.” For starters, the teacher—an army sergeant—had told the Bowling Green Daily News that one of his goals was to expose these seventh- and eighth-graders to “military values” that they could use as “building blocks” in life. To that end, students in the class earn military style ranks, engage in army-style “PT” (physical training) and each Wednesday, wear camouflage pants and boots.

This is the Moss Middle School Leadership Corps, part of the growing trend of military-style education for pre-adolescents.

Mon
14
Sep

New Publication: Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools

Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools

Scott Harding, Seth Kershner -

Fri
31
Oct

Competing Messages: Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

Competing Messages: Mass Media Effects on Recruiting

This study examines how the mass media’s portrayal of the military, including the war in Iraq, affects U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps recruiting. A telephone survey of households in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas was conducted to measure parents and young adults’ exposure to information about the military in various media sources and how much attention they paid to those sources of information for information about the military.  This study was hampered by a small sample size (N=119) that limits the ability to claim significant findings for several hypotheses. However, the study did uncover a pattern that indicated that greater use of newspapers and entertainment television reduced chances of young adults joining the military, whereas use of movies depicting the military enhanced the likelihood of joining. Also, media use predicted people’s attitudes about the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Mon
20
Oct

Why is the U.S. Military Pushing K-12 Students to Build Drones in Dayton?

By:  Seth Kershner

As a journalist and researcher, I’ve spent the last several years investigating the expanding network of links between public education and the U.S. military. With my colleague Scott Harding, I’ve also been researching the grassroots response to this phenomenon: the counter-recruitment movement.

Fri
14
Feb

Military activity in UK schools: report

Military activity in UK schools

Forces Watch -  Updated May 2013

This briefing outlines the methods and rationale of the military's engagement with young people within the education system and highlights potential developments in this area, including projects under consideration or development by the Armed Forces and the Department of Education.

Armed forces activities in schools and colleges

Each of the three services that make up the Armed Forces, as well as the Ministry of Defence, have their own education and outreach programmes to engage with young people. Of the three, the Army has the most extensive programme of activities, reflecting their need to recruit more young soldiers.

Wed
12
Feb

The Last Ambush?: reports

Forces Watch -

This report investigates some of the main mental health effects of a career in the British armed forces during the last decade. It explores how widespread these effect are, whom they affect most, and why. It finds that harmful levels of drinking, as well as violent behaviour after deployment, are serious problems in the armed forces. Compared with the general population and with current personnel, former personnel are markedly more affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, harmful drinking, common mental disorders (types of anxiety and depression), and self-harming behaviour. Pre-enlistment adversity, exposure to warfare at close quarters, and loss of social support after leaving the forces are among the most potent risk factors. While many people in the armed forces have good mental health, some face substantially greater risks than others. The youngest recruits from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are the group most at risk.

Wed
12
Feb

War-Toys: Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip

War-Toys : War-Toys: Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip

Brian McCarty -

WAR-TOYS: ISRAEL, WEST BANK, GAZA STRIP – Using principles of play and art therapy, children who have been affected by conflict become art directors for Brian McCarty’s photographs of toys found within warzones, placed and posed to recreate shared fears and witnessed events. The resulting images offer rare and fascinating insights into the contemporary experiences of girls and boys living on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

“My goal for WAR-TOYS is to change lives,” says artist Brian McCarty. The showing of work at Peanut Underground Art Projects and upcoming book release are the first volume in what will be a long-running project.

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