Asheville, NC – Over 40 students confronted North Carolina Army National Guard recruiters on the University of North Carolina at Asheville campus during the university’s Career Fair, Feb. 21. The UNCA Socialist Unity League, a progressive and antiwar student group, led the effort for students to protest the recruiters’ presence.

The League held a rally in front of the library as students were leaving their morning classes, then marched across the university quad to the Career Fair in the Highsmith Student Union. As the protesters flooded into the hall, the Highsmith Union was filled with loud chants demanding that the recruiters leave. Many students passing through Highsmith Union stopped to join the demonstration and voice their support.

Several students then proceeded to block the recruiters’ table with enormous banners that read, “Out of Iraq – Out of our community – Out of UNCA!” and, “Not in Iraq, not in our schools!” Campus police were summoned and the students were threatened with arrest, while leaders of the Socialist Unity League were warned that if protesters continued to block the table, the group would be banned from campus.

Tensions rose as some of the campus police began to push and threaten students while trying to pull down their banners. A compromise was reached, and the protesters agreed to stand on either side of, and directly across from, the recruiters. The protest lasted for three hours – the length of time that the recruiters were allowed to stay on our campus. The recruiters succeeded in speaking to barely a handful of students. As the Career Fair ended, the protesters escorted the recruiters to their vehicles and it was all over.

Eric Gardner, one of the organizers of the protest said, “We want to say that none of us have anything against the people serving in the U.S. military. We are not against those in the United States military. We are against the people who con them into fighting and dying in an unjust war. We are against the corporations who make fabulous profits off the blood of young American men and women whose sufferings, however, don’t even come close to what the Iraqi people have seen at the hands of the U.S. government. We are against students at UNCA dying in an unjust war for the rich.”

Organizers of the protest and many students who came by to participate all promised to redouble their efforts for the fall Career Fair, and for the coming visits of the recruiters to the campus cafeteria. Pieter Wessels of the Socialist Unity League said, “We’re prepared to face these liars every time they try to recruit innocents for their death-machine. We won’t back down until they leave for good. This is just the beginning.”

One of the weak links in the imperialist occupation of Iraq is here at home. Battlefields include the military recruitment tables in communities, high schools and colleges across the United States. The National Guard is currently 25% behind on its recruitment levels. Without more recruits, the occupation will be undermined. The counter-recruitment movement will only grow – and with it, the chance for peace.

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Chapel Hill, NC – Chants of, “Out of Iraq, out of our schools!” rose above the noise of afternoon traffic as protesters marched to Chapel Hill’s new Army Career Center on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Led by UNC-Chapel Hill’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, the group of about 50 marchers was joined by another several dozen protesters at the recruiting station. Demonstrators held a rally and a press conference condemning the war against Iraq and the predatory tactics of military recruiters.

“The military has come to Chapel Hill because they are desperate for more young people to continue occupying Iraq. They will do anything to get the next recruit,” said Ben Carrol, member of UNC-Chapel Hill SDS. “In recent years Pell Grants and other programs that help low-income youth attend college have been drastically slashed while the military budget has gone through the roof. As the federal government cuts off the means for low-income students to attend college, the military's recruiting budget has skyrocketed to over $4 billion. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

Emily McFarlane, a member of SDS and UNC-CH's Feminist Students United, spoke about the special threat that military recruiters presented to women and people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. “The evidence of military and military recruiter violence against women is staggering,” McFarlane said. “Recruiters are assaulting women at an overwhelming rate. Since 1996, 722 army recruiters have been accused of rape or sexual misconduct. Last year alone over 100 women, mostly high school students, reported that they were raped by military recruiters trying to persuade them to enlist. This is not a case of a few bad apples – sexism and sexual violence are an integral part of the U.S. military.”

McFarlane also spoke about the military’s ‘don't-ask-don't-tell’ policy: “Why should we allow military recruiters on our campus in blatant violation of our own university’s non-discrimination policies? We do not want our women subjected to sexual violence. We do not want our young men turned into instruments of sexual violence. We want every person valued and protected from violence and discrimination. So what do we do? Refuse to be a part of the military, a system that normalizes sexism, heterosexism and sexual violence. Refuse the presence of a recruiting station that enlists young men and women to continue these horrific trends. Military recruiters out now.”

The demonstrators were not fazed by the group of about ten war supporters who had gathered at the station, even when the small group began hurling insults and threats. Meanwhile, a team of police officers looked on and grinned, clearly waiting for a fight that would give them a reason to shut down the demonstration. In spite of these attacks, the protesters continued their rally, finishing with a declaration that this action would not be the last, saying that they were committed to opposing the recruiters wherever they went until the station is shut down.

UNC Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society and its allies have joined a growing movement across the country to stop the war in Iraq where it starts, by opposing military recruiters on the ground. By slowing or stopping the flow of new recruits into the U.S. military, anti-war activists in the U.S. can do a great deal to undermine the occupation of Iraq. While the politicians in Washington may not listen to protests or votes, they will have no choice but to withdraw when they run out of soldiers to fight and die in their criminal wars for profit in the Middle East.

#ChapelHillNC #AntiwarMovement #News #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #counterrecruitment #FeministStudentsUnited

Members of UNCA SDS, the new student body president and several from the College Democrats stood outside and showed that they would not leave. Doug Michel, a member of SDS, said, “Recruiters lie while soldiers die. Every year, military recruiters come onto campuses and target young people for ‘career opportunities’ in an institution that is run by murder, racism, homophobia and sexism. Working class and nonwhite youth are targeted the most. By protesting recruitment and telling people the truth, we are jamming a wrench into the war machine.”

News of the UNCA budget being cut by 3-4% and then by 7% by the end of next fiscal year has sparked interest in fighting for education rights. Students argue that typically, LGBTQ, women’s, and diversity studies along with other social services (health and counseling programs) are cut first, while the school administration takes little to no pay cuts. Slogans during the demonstration read, “Fund education, not occupation!” to address the effects of the economic crisis and wars.

In the past, UNCA SDS has vowed to protest any attempts by military recruiters to use the campus to gather cannon fodder. Students and youth know that the U.S. is continuing the occupation of Iraq. Likewise, people are beginning to understand that U.S presence in Afghanistan is only providing more suffering to the millions of impoverished Afghans. The U.S. military is not being used to ‘spread democracy’ or ‘protect our freedoms,’ but to consolidate political and economic control in the Middle East and South Asia. The U.S. wants us to fight for Iraqi oil and Afghan supply routes – but the students and youth say no.

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It was a quiet day in the Highsmith Student Union and handful of SDS members were tabling with anti-war and counter-recruitment literature across from the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting table while students were eating lunch. Suddenly, two members of UNCA SDS and two members of IVAW-Asheville burst into the hall, dressed in desert camouflage and shouted orders to a group of students who were playing the roles of Iraqi civilians.

According to the ‘joint statement’ released by UNCA SDS and IVAW-Asheville, “The ‘soldiers’ shouted commands (with profanity) to the ‘civilians’ to get on the ground, forced them down, interrogated them, zip-tied their hands, placed sacks over their heads, and took them away.” Jason Hurd, the president of IVAW-Asheville said, “Raids like this one occur daily in occupied Iraq.” As this took place more than 75 students looked on, crowding the balconies and halls to see what was happening. After the mock raid was over Hurd told the crowd that if they signed a contract with the Marines they would very likely be doing something just like this.

The statement says that the action was, “a statement against war and militarism as well as an indictment of the criminal regime here at home. Our government exploits U.S. soldiers who come predominantly from working-class and oppressed communities. Only the rich profit from this war. Therefore, we express solidarity with all U.S. service members; we see them as our natural allies in the fight against all oppression.”

“Unfortunately,” the statement continues, “we realize that our government trains military recruiters to use deception as a means to maintain America’s wars. For instance, military recruiters downplay the probability that new recruits will serve in combat. Furthermore, recruiters over-emphasize college money, job training and other veterans benefits to gloss over every service member’s primary function: to fight and win America’s wars. Recruiters conveniently leave out details concerning combat service which may frighten potential recruits; instead, recruiters emphasize fun, travel and adventure.”

“In the real world, veterans age 20-24 are twice as likely as their peers to be unemployed. Only 5.6% of returning veterans use the college money available to them. On average, these funds only cover half the cost of public university tuition or one-fifth the cost at a private college. 75% of African Americans and 67% of Latinos experience racism while serving. 28% of women report being raped while in the service, and many rapes go completely unreported. Only 12% of males and 6% of females make use of skills they learn in the military. Finally, U.S. war veterans are twice as likely to kill themselves as ordinary civilians.”

Angela Denio, a UNCA SDS member and participant in the ‘raid’ was quoted in the statement as saying, “This war is a complete injustice perpetrated against the people of Iraq. The anti-war movement must rise in solidarity with the Iraqi people and their just struggle for national liberation.”

The Iraq Veterans Against the War are hosting their Winter Soldier event March 13-16 in Washington D.C. There, echoing an event held by Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971 during the Vietnam War, veterans will speak out and give testimony of their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. IVAW members and supporters will be hosting house party events to watch it live on satellite television and over the web.

Students for a Democratic Society is calling for national days of action on campuses around the country March 17 – 21 t to mark the fifth anniversary of the war. Last year over 80 schools participated in the SDS call to action. As we go to press, 66 campus groups at high schools and colleges around the country have signed on to this year’s call.

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