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

[Marilyn Langlois <langlois-rine@comcast.net>]

Dear Rich,
Thanks for letting us know about your planned tour of California.  Glad
you're in touch with Susan.  I hope to see you when you're in the Bay Area,
along with others on this list and beyond.  Keep us posted of the dates...

in solidarity,
Marilyn

> From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
> Reply-To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:07:15 -0700
> To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Subject: [ca-resisters] Back to School and On With The War--Can We Talk?
> 
> 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
> 
> 
>