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September–October 2005 / Elizabeth Wrigley-Field / International Socialist Review - WITH SUPPORT for Bush’s occupation of Iraq at an all-time low, reflected in plummeting rates of military enlistment, the antiwar movement has begun to reemerge. At the head of this revival has been a counter-recruitment movement that rapidly developed nationwide last year, particularly in schools, where young people resent being targeted to carry out an occupation they oppose. College students have kicked military recruiters off campuses around the country, while high school students, parents, and teachers’ unions are leading campaigns against recruiters in their schools.
This fall, the movement that began to take shape over the last year is taking steps to cohere itself into a more effective force to challenge military recruitment and the war. Two grassroots initiatives in particular show the potential for building a powerful movement organized around the theme College Not Combat.
San Francisco takes on recruiters
On November 9, voters in San Francisco will have the opportunity to vote for the following resolution against military recruitment in the city’s schools:
Resolved, that the people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military’s “economic draft” by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military.
The resolution, known as the College Not Combat (CNC) initiative, was placed on the November election ballot in San Francisco after activists collected over 15,000 petition signatures—5,000 more than the legal requirement—in an effort to put the city on record calling for military recruiters out of our schools. Alongside teachers and veterans, parents petitioned with their children. This all-volunteer force was able to exceed its petitioning goals and secure ballot access in part because, according to activists’ estimates, about 80 percent of those approached signed the petition. In the words of CNC organizer Ragina Johnson, “It gives us the power to say the city of San Francisco is in favor of students and teachers and parents kicking recruiters off campus.”
June 3, 2005 / Damien Cave / 
