"You are part of the national network of peace groups working to stop the militarization of schools and young people! "

NNOMYnews December 2021 - January 2022
Youth demilitarization looking forward

Hello ,

As we begin a new year, still in Pandemic Mode, we add another year to the pandemic of continous militarism in our schools, schools at every level of education, with Pentagon programs like expanding Department of Defense STEM/STEAM, JROTC, and military recruiters playing video games online with minors to sell them on endless war.

All this supports aggressive military recruiting. We are also seeing the beginnings of another round of youth activists connecting the dots and pushing back and saying enough to militarized policing, environmental destruction, and an expanding presence of Department of Defense investments and research funding in their schools. 

As we enter 2022, it has never been as important as now to activate to expose the scope of militarism in our society; in entertainment offerings, corporate news propaganda, in sports representations, and in our schools.

Let's get back into our high schools with concerned teachers, parents, and students, with counter-recruitment strategies to promote alternatives to militarism for building our futures. It will be more difficult during and after the pandemic to get our messages out but it must be done to promote a sustainable world for our futures. It is yes or yes.

And help the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth this year with a donation to support our national organizing effort to demilitarize our schools. Make a tax deductable donation at The Alliance For Global Justice.
 
#counter-recruitment | #nnomypeace | #peacefulcareers | #revisitingouroutrage |  www.nnomy.org

Dissenters Principles: These are the values and practices that guide all our work.

12/24/2021 / We Are Dissenters - We are working to end war and militarism.

We are forcing institutions and elected officials to divest from war and militarism, reinvest in life, and repair relationships. We come together for this shared goal and strategy, and we are clear that war-mongering elites are our opponents. We focus our energy to win the world we deserve.

Here’s a quick playback of all the work Dissenters has accomplished this year! We trained over 500 young people, launched various programs, carried out over 20 actions, mobilized 16 college campuses, and much more! What more would you like to see Dissenters do for 2022??? We’ll take notes…

Military Recruiters Don’t Belong in High Schools: Schools have become contested territory.

12/19/2021 / Sidney Miralao / Institute for Policy Studies - For years, getting police officers out of schools has been a central goal of racial justice campaigns. Recently, they’ve won victories in Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, Charlottesville, and even on many university campuses.

However, there’s another group of outsiders in schools we should be wary of: the U.S. military.

Commentary: Abolish draft registration – don’t expand it to include women

12/22/2021 / Arnie Alpert / New Hampshire Bulletin - Plans to mandate Selective Service registration for women were dropped in last-minute negotiations over the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed Congress on Dec. 15. But they will no doubt return. So will proposals to end mandatory registration for men. The latter is a better step toward gender equality. “Selective Service registration for males is a pillar of the U.S war culture and economy,” adds Bow resident Mary Lee Sargent, a longtime feminist peace activist and teacher of American history. “Expanding this system to include women is the opposite of what feminists should support; it strengthens a system and values that must be abolished, not expanded.”

Students Are Pushing US Colleges to Sever Ties With Military-Industrial Complex

11/07/021 / Ngakiya Camara & Kya Chen / Truthout - The violence wreaked by U.S. wars since 9/11 has been immense — more than 929,000 total deaths, including an estimated 380,000 civilian deaths. And the U.S. has spent a staggering $14 trillion in Pentagon expenditures since the Afghanistan War in 2001, up to one-half of which went directly to defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon.

While these facts are outrageous, they aren’t surprising in a country built on colonial violence — a country whose power and expansion are derived from war-making, with such militarism being grounded in every institution arising from the state, including education.

Divest your School

2021 / Divest Your School / Codepink - Students, alumni, and employees of schools, universities and colleges are in a unique position to urge their school to divest its endowment from the war machine. Places of learning should not be supporting the companies that supply tools of warfare. Instead, schools should be supporting and nurturing a healthy and just society where community members are free from want and suffering, and are not financially supporting the suffering of others in the world.

Georgia: Peace Action Team, new faith-based counter-recruitment group

20/08/2007 / anscr / Americus Times-Recorder - PAT is a group of concerned Christians who have come together in Americus to explore and implement ways of equality, peace and justice for all.

The forum will be facilitated by Christina Repoley, peace education coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). The local PAT is collaborating with AFSC to develop ways to inform high school students and parents about the degree of access military recruiters have in the public schools and the methods often employed to entice students to enlist. The forum will also help equip those interested in working with the public schools and young people to counter military recruitment and find viable alternatives to military service.

A 20-minute video — “Before You Enlist!” — will be screened at the forum that documents the risks and misconceptions of military life, explores conscientious objection, selective service registration and U.S. militarism around the world.

NNOMY Conducts National Steering Committtee retreat online to explore strategies for network's future

12/28/2021 / NNOMY Steering Committee - On December 11th 2021 The Steering Committee of the National Network Opposing the Militarization conducted an online national retreat on Zoom to discuss the existential challenges that the network is encountering moving into a post pandemic future, Groups represented in the meeting were Pat Alviso, the National Coordinator representing Military Families Speak Out from Orange County, California, Rachel Bruhnke representing Codepink from San Pedro, California, Kate Connell representing Truth in Recruitment from Santa Barbara, California, Rick Jahnkow representing the Committee Opposed to Militarism & the Draft from San Diego, California, Monique Sandoval representing Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities from San Diego, California, Siri Margerin representing Before Enlisting from San Francisco, California, Sebastian Munoz-McDonald representing Feminists Against the Draft from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Jesus Palafox representing American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Midwest Region from Chicago, Illinois and Louis Raprager representing Veterans for Peace and Digital Counter-recruiter for Gamers for Peace.

Each Steering Committee member was also permitted to invite up to three representatives from their groups. In total the retreat had twenty people in attendance. From the NNOMY office staff, Libby Frank, Gary Ghirardi and Selene Rivas were in attendance as well.

Moderating the meeting was Monisha Rios.

Unable to attend were steering committee members Barbara Harris of the Granny Peace Brigade from  New York City, New York, and Kharis Murphy from Stop Recruiting Kids an On Earth Peace Communications Fellow.

Goals discussed in the retreat encompassed Prioritizing the Next Generation of Activists; Determining short and long-term goals; Developing a concrete and actionable strategic plan; Aiming for what is practical & possible; and Thinking out of the box from past approaches to counter military recruitment activism.Joy said. "It's an affront to the city and the people of Berkeley, who have always supported peace."

Tell Congress: Abolish the Draft!