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May 1, 2008 / War Resisters' International - With a seemingly endless war on terrorism gnawing away at the possibility for a lasting peace many activists in the United States are finding that they are drawn to a form of activism that deals with the relationship that young people have to militarism. The work is called, counter military recruitment or counter-recruitment for short, and it primary focus is to demilitarise a nation by attempting to first demilitarise the minds of its youth.
Often maligned and misunderstood by those outside of the peace & justice movement counter-recruitment has a roughly thirty year history which began shortly after the end of the US involvement in Vietnam which led to the suspension of the military draft. The ending of the draft meant that the military needed to adapt in order to recruit people into the “all volunteer” service and this heralded in the wide variety of incentives and recruitment tactics used to entice people to enlist. Many of these are still in use to this day and the primary concern with military recruitment is that young people aren’t getting all the information they need from military recruiters to make an informed decision about enlisting. While it may seem difficult to comprehend that young people in the US are able to be deceived by military recruiters, the reality is that militarism is that which can cloud the minds of masses. In this respect, many young people never question the sales pitch the men and women in uniform use to recruit them.
Knowing that militarism is the leverage used to sell the military, counter military recruitment is a direct response which counters the perceptions of the military as a sacred cow, or a pillar of our society, and that which keeps us free. Counter recruitment activists often work behind the scenes to change school policies on military recruiter access to young people rather than holding high profile campaigns and demonstrations. The core message associated with counter-recruitment is that one should be able to make an informed decision especially if it is a life altering decision that they are bound to for eight years of their life. Thousands of people and hundreds of groups are now engaged in this work, but a quick look at the past reveals that this was not the case thirty years ago.
