Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Dozens of students and community members protested Karl Rove at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) on April 25. Karl Rove was George W. Bush’s Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, and among those responsible for engineering the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan which have cost millions of lives. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led their second protest against Rove, demanding Rove return an estimated $50,000 he has been paid for two visits to the school. SDS demanded that money go to Iraqi and Afghani children who have suffered at the hands of U.S. occupation.

Students formed a picket line in front of the registration table, chanting “No Justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East!” The energy of the protest was compounded by the fact that UWM students were locked out of the event – which was paid for by their own student fees. Seeing hundreds of empty seats inside, dozens of protesters attempted to enter the event. Almost all of them were turned away by the extremely heavy police presence. As the protest moved toward the doors to the event, school officials threatened to have SDS members arrested. Still, several people managed to disrupt the event from inside.

The money awarded to Rove was approved by a student government committee headed by the president of the College Republicans. At the same time, the committee denied funding to oppressed nationality groups such as the Black Student Union, and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA).

As Wisconsin’s governor attempts to slash funding and privatize UWM, his allies in the College Republicans continue to steal student money from this working class university to pay representatives of the extremely wealthy ruling class such as Karl Rove and Ann Coulter. Their willingness to rob working students and oppressed nationality student organizations is in line with the attacks coming from Governor Walker’s office. SDS has joined campus unions in fighting back against the right-wing attacks represented by Rove and Walker.

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #KarlRove #republicanParty

Minneapolis, MN – Morning rush hour drivers into downtown Minneapolis were greeted by several banners across the interstates reading, “Jobs not war” and “Recruiters lie people die.” This was the start of Zero Recruitment Day (ZRD), where more than 150 people protested at six military recruiting sites in Minnesota.

“We are here today to oppose the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by resisting military recruitment across the Twin Cities. We initiated Zero Recruitment Day to expose the lies that recruiters tell about serving and about the war,” said Anti-War Committee member, Misty Rowan. She spoke at a press conference with other ZRD organizers outside Knollwood Mall, which houses military recruiting offices in Saint Louis Park.

Rowan continued, “A surge of combat forces has brought civilian casualties to an all time high [in Afghanistan], just as footage has surfaced of U.S. soldiers firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians – a criminal act that the U.S. military is denying responsibility for. Our government continues to spend billions of our tax dollars on war abroad while at home we’re faced with economic crisis. Military recruiters then use these conditions to prey upon our youth, disproportionately targeting those from low income families and people of color.”

Tracy Molm spoke for the University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “Don't enlist, resist! It's time that we start exposing these lies because no longer can we have students and youth come back broken because of the lies that they have been sent to perpetrate in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.” She added, “It's really important that it's Earth Day. One of the things that is most devastating to the earth is war and occupations. Iraq and Afghanistan are devastated lands and today we remember that this is part of why we resist war.”

SDS protested outside the campus ROTC center and then marched across campus to interrupt a speech by Karl Rove. Mia Overly explained, “Today at the U of M we have a war criminal on campus. Karl Rove, of the Bush administration, is coming to campus speaking at noon. As part of Zero Recruitment Day, we're protesting having our money go to war criminals.” Karl Rove was senior advisor to the Bush administration and heavily involved in the decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Grandma’s Peace Brigade marked Zero Recruitment Day at Knollwood Mall, first by filling purses and pockets at department stores with information about depleted uranium, and its devastating effects. Later, they unfurled a banner in front of the recruiting office doors, reading, “Grandma says don’t enlist, resist.”

Lucia Wilkes Smith said, “We believe there are elder women in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere and that we could come to an understanding to end these wars, to end these military occupations that bring only death pain sadness and destruction to young people and the older ones too.”

On the other side of the metro area, members of Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq and Alliant Action successfully shut down a military recruitment center in West St. Paul, which locked its doors rather than confront protesters.

New recruits are often promised money for education, or better job opportunities when they return civilian life. ZRD actions exposed the lies told by military recruiters. Less than a third of recruits ever get any money for college, and veterans can expect civilian incomes 10% below their peers who never joined the military. They also highlighted the human impact of military deployment: Soldiers killed or wounded, and traumatized by their own involvement in wars that have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Mankato Area Activist Collective set up a counter-recruitment table at the mall outside of the recruitment station in Mankato. This was followed by a rally at Minnesota State University. A group called SERF (Semiotic Existentialists Reinventing Fun) rallied in uptown Minneapolis, where protesters hung a banner and stickers at the recruitment center. Police arrested two protesters.

The Anti-War Committee, which initiated Zero Recruitment Day for the second year in a row, held a picket at the National Guard Center in Saint Paul.

“It’s important to recognize the role of recruiters. They use false promises to fill the ranks of a military that carries out unjust wars and illegal occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Zero Recruitment Day, we come together to challenge the lies of recruiters and to say no to war and occupation,” explained Anti-War Committee member Meredith Aby.

#Minnesota #MN #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #AntiWarCommittee #KarlRove #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #ZeroRecruitmentDay

Milwaukee, WI – Lining the entryway with banners and loud chants Dec. 3, 100 angry people arrived at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) to demand Karl Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to the Bush administration, return the $25,000 speaker honorarium allocated to him by the university to speak.

Protesters accused Karl Rove, also known as ‘Bush’s Brain,’ of being a war criminal for his involvement in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. They also made clear Rove was an enemy of working class youth, who now struggle more than ever to achieve a higher education due to his policies over the last eight years.

“An institution with a chancellor that sets goals to provide ‘higher education access to the broadest possible audience’ should not allow tens of thousands of dollars to host a war criminal who resided over eight miserable years for Iraqi people and poor people all over this world,” said Natasha Morgan, a member of Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society.

Protest participants included Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the UWM Education Rights Campaign, a coalition of 16 student and labor organizations fighting against budget cuts at UWM. About 25 people inside the event were forcibly removed for speaking out against Rove during his talk.

Author and historian Michael Parenti weighed in about Rove’s visit to UWM. “Karl Rove should be standing trial for his various crimes while serving in the White House rather than being received at a reputable U.S. university,” he wrote.

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #KarlRove #WarCriminal #GeorgeWBush

Milwaukee, WI – Angry labor unionists and their supporters protested here, May 19, against Republican hit man Karl Rove. The conservative lobbying group, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) invited former Bush aide Karl Rove to speak against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA promises to make it easier for workers to form unions with less interference and dirty tricks from bosses. Unions and workers are demanding this new amendment to the National Labor Relations Act that will make forming a union a simple democratic choice.

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce conference was closed to the public and the press, but 150 workers showed up at 8:00 a.m. outside to make their voices heard. Workers held signs in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act and chanted, “What do we want? Free Choice! When do we want it? Now!” The bosses at the WMC would not speak to the media, but passed out literature that opposed the EFCA.

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce is also opposing a measure that would make Milwaukee the third U.S. city to win paid sick days. The paid sick days ballot initiative passed in November with an astounding 69% mandate and would give all workers in Milwaukee nine paid sick days each year, a huge victory for all workers.

#MilwaukeeWI #Milwaukee #News #SDS #EFCA #KarlRove #EmployeeFreeChoiceAct