The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

March 15, 2005 / Hadas Tjier and Katrina Ywaw / Counterpunch - On Wednesday, March 9, three students from the City College of New York (CCNY), Justino Rodriguez,  Nicholas Bergreen and one of the authors of this piece (Hadas Thier) were brutalized and arrested by campus security guards for peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters at CCNY’s "career fair." We were charged with misdemeanor counts of assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace, among other things. Hospital records from Mt. Sinai confirm that Bergreen and Rodriguez suffered multiple contusions and post-concussion syndrome. A court date is set for April 5.

What was the reaction of CCNY’s administration to these events? Without so much as a phone call to see if we were alright, or to find out our side of the story, Gregory H. Williams, the president of our college, sent an email to the entire faculty and student body repeating the allegations against us as if they were facts. "The confrontation escalated and several of the demonstrators grabbed and hit the officer. At this point, the three students involved in the attack on the officer were arrested," he wrote.

Perhaps his previous job experience as a small-town sheriff filled him with an innate sympathy for security forces. Nevertheless, Williams is now the president of an institution of higher learning. Debate, dissent, and, yes, even protest, must not only be tolerated in education, they should be nurtured and encouraged.

January 10, 2011 / Dave Lindorff / This Can't Be Happening - At the local YMCA today, I ran into a boy who was a childhood friend of my son’s. As my kid goes to a public arts high school in Philadelphia outside of our local school district, I don’t see much of his old grade-school friends any more. This boy, who used to be over at our house years ago at least once a week, recognized me right away though, and said, "Hey Mr. Lindorff, I haven’t seen you in years. How’s Jed!"

I was impressed by how he’d grown up, tall and strong looking. He was headed for the basketball court. I asked him, since both he and my son are seniors this year, where he was applying for college, and he stunned me by saying he had signed up for the Marines. "I’m going to be going in after graduation," he said proudly. "The recruiter came to school, and he convinced me it’s a good move."

I asked him what he planned to do, and he said, "Helicopter gunner! I’m really excited and proud!"

This was really shocking. This kid doesn’t own a gun. I doubt if he’s ever shot at anything except maybe a target with a .22 rifle at Boy Scout Camp, and now he’s all excited about manning a machine gun in a helicopter, where he’ll be shooting down at Afghan fighters–and inevitably at civilians, too–in a matter of months.

I really didn’t know what to say. I awkwardly told him "congratulations," because I could see he was proud of his "accomplishment" and because I didn’t want to have him cut me off as a possible confidante. Then I added, "You know of course that I’m not really in favor of what the Marines are doing?"