NNOMY News March 29, 2019


 

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

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Video: A Soldier's Life

A military recruiter presents the most attractive version of enlistment possible. They leave out several negative aspects of military life, such as involuntarily having your term of service extended, being sent to battle, and having your job changed without your consent. Although many people have successful careers in the military, many young people have a more negative experience. They trust the recruiter, sign a contract and if they break it they can be court-martialed - tried in a military court where the defendant has fewer rights than in a civilian court. Before you make a life-changing decision, make sure that the information you have is true. Don't commit yourself based on exaggerations and lies.

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Counter Recruiter Access to High Schools

NNOMY - Equal access refers to the lawful activity of countering military recruitment inside high schools. It is not the only way to reach and educate young people who are targeted for military recruitment, but it is an effective way to counter military recruitment where it is having a major impact.

Equal access for non-students is explained in the 1986 ruling in San Diego Committee v. Governing Board of Grossmont Union High School District [790 F.2d 1471 (9th Cir.1986)]. In simple terms, equal access rests on the principle that once a government agency creates a forum for expressive activity on a controversial topic, access to the forum can be limited only so long as it is reasonable and not a façade for viewpoint-based discrimination. If the presentation of one point of view has been allowed, the forum must also be opened to those with an opposing view on the same topic.


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High School Students and Peace Making

David Swanson - Reading the summaries of what these students have done, I see a lot of work opposing bigotry, recognizing humanity in those who are different, and helping others to do the same. I see a lot of opposing cruelty and violence and advocating nonviolent solutions and kindness. I think of all of these steps as part of building a culture of peace. By peace I mean, not exclusively, but first and foremost, the absence of war. Prejudice is a wonderful tool in marketing wars. Human understanding is a wonderful impediment. But we have to avoid allowing our concerns to be used against, avoid accepting that the only way to solve some alleged crime is to commit the larger crime of war. And we have to figure out how to persuade governments to behave as peacefully on a large scale as we try to on a smaller one, so that we aren’t welcoming refugees while our government causes more people to flee their homes, so that we aren’t sending aid to places while our government sends missiles and guns.


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Can Pop Culture Normalize Militarism/Militarization?

NNOMY | Selene Rivas - Can seemingly innocuous activities such as playing video games, watching movies, or binging on TV shows affect your ways to see the world or how you behave? Could it affect social norms? Is one able to “turn one’s brain off”, and not be affected beyond the most superficial level, by what one is consuming? Much has been written about violence in the media and how it might affect people’s behavior, and indeed, positive correlations with violence can be found1. But beyond these oft-discussed subject, the question is: what role does mass media and pop culture play in normalization? And, more related to this series of articles, what is the relationship between pop culture, militarism/militarization, and normalization? This article will attempt to approximate us to an answer..

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   An air force water quality test. (Staff. Sgt. Enjoli Saunders/Air Force)An air force water quality test. (Staff. Sgt. Enjoli Saunders/Air Force)
 

 

Your Military: 16 cancer cases in one family: Base water contamination fight moves to Congress

Military Times/Tara Copp - Former Army reservist Spc. Mark Favors comes from a military family who has lived for generations near Colorado Springs’ Air Force and Army installations.

It’s taken a severe toll, he said.

Favors, 50, can count at least 16 relatives from the area who have been diagnosed with cancer; 10 have died. Six of those relatives have died since 2012, including his father at age 69 and two cousins, ages 38 and 54.

“In my family alone, we have had five kidney cancer deaths,” Favors said. “And those people only lived in the contaminated area.”

Many of Favors’ relatives lived near Peterson Air Force Base, where scores of both on-base and off base water sources have tested significantly above the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended exposure of 70 parts per trillion of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFAS) or perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The compounds were part of the military’s firefighting foam until just last year. The compounds have been linked to cancers and developmental delays for fetuses and infants.

Peterson’s contamination ranges from 79 to 88,400 parts per trillion in its on-base wells and 79 to 7,910 parts per trillion in public and private drinking wells off base.


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ALERT: Your chance to be heard on the future of the military draft

Edward Hasbrouck - Open public hearings in Washington, DC, on April 24-25, 2019, are your chance to be heard on the future of compulsory military conscription.

As a result of a Federal court decision that it is unconstitutional to require men, but not women, to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft, Congress will soon have to decide either to extend draft registration to young women as well as young men, or to end it entirely.

A "National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service" (NCMNPS) had already been appointed to study and make recommendations to Congress and the President on this issue. The NCMNPS is taking written comments from the public through the end of 2019, and is holding two days of public hearings on April 24-25, 2019, in Washington, DC.


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Counter Recruiting at Boscobel, Wisconsin High School

This is the ninth year Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 has visited Boscobel High School and provided a graduating senior with a $500 scholarship for writing the winning essay on the topic: “Why I Believe War Is Not the Answer.”

The scholarship will be awarded during a ceremony in May. Boscobel, in Grant County, is one of six rural high schools in Southwestern Wisconsin receiving regular visits from Veterans For Peace. Other schools include Dodgeville, Baraboo, Richland Center, Riverdale in Muscoda, and River Valley, Spring Green.


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Get the word out at your local high school about alternatives to joining the war machine!

The Back-to-school Kit for Counter-recruitment and School Demilitarization Organizing is a catalog of basic material useful to educating young people and school personnel about the realities of military enistment and war. The catalog also includes some information on alternatives to enlistment, as well as items written for organizers seeking to reach out to local schools. All of the material in this catalog was carefully reviewed for relevancy and accuracy as of the Spring of 2018.   

Read More and Download the Kit

 
   
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Please Donate to fund counter-recruitment nationally


Help Fund NNOMY to De-Militarize SchoolsHelp Fund NNOMY to De-Militarize Schools. Your donation to NNOMY supports the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth's efforts to balance the message of military recruiters in our public schools where minors are routinely primed for recruitment through Department of Defense school programs designed for youth.

 Making a financial contribution supports NNOMY's national demilitarization work with activist organizations inside middle and high schools.

Click to Make Your Donation

(Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.) through our fiscal sponsor Alliance for Global Justice. Make sure you select from the causes list, The National Network Opposing he Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), or make a check out to:"NNOMY/AFGJ" and mail it to: AFGJ, 225 E. 26th St. Suite 1, Tucson, AZ 85713

 
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The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY). 2019
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