Back to School and On With The War--Can We Talk?

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

Dear Friends,

As we prepare to head back to school, it's fairly easy to get lost in 
the rush of materials, syllabi, colleagues, kids, etc., and to let 
slide the fact that the wars are still on.

The wars are likely to expand. The US is not going to leave Iraq, 
cannot lose these wars and lose the fear of enemies, and the trust of 
allies, nor can US elites let the oil fields and natural gas slip 
away. Control of the area around Afghanistan and Iraq is vital to 
imperial might as oil moves the military. Neither political party has 
any real desire to get the US out of Iraq or Afghanistan. Surely, 
now, it is easy to make the charge that the government is a mere 
executive committee, and weapon, of the rich. Voting will not end the 
wars. The electoral campaigns are a side-show, a shell game.

The key to ending the wars and the related costs to poor and working 
people, lies in the US. In the US, key choke points to ending the war 
are schools and the military. Schools, especially, do not have to 
serve as missions for imperial war, and school workers do not have to 
be missionaries for capital.

In San Diego, Rouge Forum members have worked with other members of 
the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice to develop a strategic 
plan for the coming months. This has been both rewarding and 
difficult; rewarding in the sense that personal ties and mutual 
respect were deepened, difficult in that any coalition is made up of 
groups with varying views of grand strategy (peace and justice), 
tactics (what shall we do, when, where, how?) and strategy (how do we 
evaluate ourselves, our opposition, and the terrain?).

In our meetings, we saw our task as educational, and practical. What 
do we want people to know, and how do we hope people will come to 
know it, in order to build a mass base of conscious activists willing 
to take the risks necessary to make the transition from what is a 
world of inequality and exploitation today, to a world where people 
can lead reasonably free, creative, connected lives? We asked 
ourselves: Toward what end are we doing this?

The upshot of the summer's work was a three-pronged strategy: we will 
focus on schools, the military, and existing progressive groups with 
a view of combining direct action and long-term base-building. 
Schools means k12, colleges, and universities. Inside schools, we see 
opposition to military recruitment as a key point, mainly recruitment 
in high-schools. SDCPJ member groups have been quite effective in 
cutting San Diego campus recruitment rates. Perhaps a state-wide 
California challenge to see which county has the lowest per-capita 
recruitment rate would work?

The other key choke point in schools is the curricula regimentation 
and high-stakes testing that serves as a practical and ideological 
funnel to the empire's wars, turning youth into soldiers sent off to 
fight the enemies of their real enemies, protecting the lavish 
lifestyles of US elites, Republicans and Democrats alike. We support 
research and direct action, boycotts, of the high-stakes tests. We do 
not think the essence of the NCLB is going to be voted, or lobbied, away.

The military means not only the army, navy, and marines, but also the 
mercenary companies that now provide the majority of personnel in 
Iraq like Titan, Blackwater, and SAIC. We support research and action 
against the use of mercenaries who, on the one hand, sharpen the 
brutalization of warfare, and thus the brutalization of the hiring 
nation, but they also create a veneer of irresponsibility among US 
citizens which can limit calls for citizen support. We are working to 
impede, for example, the establishment of a Blackwater facility in 
San Diego (home of Titan and SAIC);  so far we have been remarkably 
successful.

We will be finalizing plans for a coordinated series of 
demonstrations, social events, leafletting projects, etc., that will 
give our fall plan coherence, and so we will be able to evaluate what 
we have done along the way.

We want to broaden our ties with existing progressive groups, 
especially school workers,  in San Diego and around California.

In that vein, Bob Apter, a long time union organizer, and I will be 
traveling California, starting out from San Diego, beginning on 
September 7th, ending on September 19. We would like to meet with 
educators who are interested in exploring ideas and action about 
schools and the wars, as well as those who are just concerned with 
the way teachers and kids are getting treated in an increasingly 
regimented environment. How are you keeping your ideals, and still teaching?

As much as anything, we want to listen to people, to learn what new 
teachers are hoping for, and what more experienced education workers 
see has changed---and what can be done. We want to meet with school 
retirees who can lend long-term perspectives. We also hope to connect 
with other anti-war coalition members along the way, to see how the 
work is going in other areas of the state, or around the US, so we 
can learn from one another.

We hope to connect with Susan Harman in mid-tour and go on to travel 
Northern California with her in the latter half of the trip.

If anyone on this list would like to see some documents from the 
SDCPJ strategic planning process, please let me know. Here is one 
piece we used as a starting point for the work: 
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rgibson/strategicplanningSD.htm

If you would give us the chance to meet with you along the way, 
please email me so we can set up a schedule of travel.

Rouge Forum members, and most SDCPJ members, were quite disappointed 
with the summer meetings of umbrella activist coalitions, like United 
for Peace and Justice, and the World Social Forum. We felt the groups 
trailed far behind events, on one hand, and left with no plan 
whatsoever, on the other hand. However, we will remain connected out 
of hopefulness and a spirit of friendship. We are interested in 
others' experiences about this process as well.

Last, the Rouge Forum will have a considerable presence at the 
National Council for the Social Studies conference in San Diego, 
November 28 to December 2. If you would like to join us in what may 
be a lot of fun, and work, let me know. (www.rougeforum.org)

If you would like to forward this to others who might be interested, 
please do.

All the best in the new school year,

r