Police Attack Peaceful Student Protesters
There was a protest at Holyoke Community College, MA against military recruiters. The police arrived and started knocking people to the ground and macing them.
http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
From Information Clearing House
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FORWARD WIDELY...
To Friends and Supporters,
We have just learned that Charles Peterson, the student who was maced and assaulted by police at yesterday's counter recruitment protest at Holyoke Community College, has received a letter from the HCC campus police, informing him that due to "his conduct" he is indefinitely banned from campus. If he steps foot on the property he will be arrested for trespassing.
In other words, without any due process, or the opportunity to even speak to administrators, Charles has been banned from campus for the "crime" of being maced in the face by police officers.
It is important to say that Charles Peterson, who witnesses described as playing a moderating role at yesterday's protest, is an upstanding member of the HCC community. He is the recipient of the David James Taylor Excellence in Philosophy Award. He is Vice President for Academic Affairs on the Student Senate. He is a member of the College’s Learning Communities Committee, and is a frequent contributor to the student newspaper.
Furthermore, Officer Scott Landry, the officer who sprayed mace in Charles's face yesterday, is also an advisor to the College Republican Club. The College Republicans were present during the protest yesterday, cheering on the police as they attacked students.
Where is due process for Charles Peterson?
PLEASE CALL (AGAIN IF YOU"VE CALLED ALREADY CALLED) AND REGISTER YOUR PROTEST AT THIS OUTRAGEOUS TREATMENT!
HCC Main Number 1-413-552-2600
President Messner 1-413-552-2222
Informant: Ashley Smith
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URGENT UPDATE—PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Student who was Maced By Police is Now Banned from Campus! http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
At approximately 1pm on Sept 30, Sgt. Richard H. Wheeler and State Trooper Vasquez delivered a notice to Charles T. Peterson at the doorstep of his home in Springfield, MA.
Charles was the student who was sprayed in the face with mace by Officer Scott Landry at the protest against military recruiters at Holyoke Community College on September 29.
(Go to campusantiwar.net to see photos and read our previous statement about the police brutality )
The notice read: “Because of your conduct on the property of Holyoke Community College, your presence is no longer desired at Holyoke Community College, its property or buildings. Your failure to abide by said trespass notice will result in your arrest and court prosecution for trespassing. This notice will remain in effect untill [sic] revoked in writing by the Holyoke Community College Police Department.”
This is in clear violation of the College’s own stated policy that students, "have the right to procedural due process in grievance and disciplinary hearings." [Right #6, p22, HCC Policy Guide 05/06]
As Charles is employed on campus, this restraining order will keep him not only from getting an education, but also from working.
Thus far, Charles has not been contacted by any member of the Administration, besides the campus police. So he has had his education and his job taken away from him with no explanation and no opportunity to appeal.
It’s worth repeating here that Officer Scott Landry, the officer who put Charles in a headlock and sprayed mace in his face, is also the Advisor to the College Republicans at HCC. The College Republicans were also present at the protest, chanting behind the police line to incite the police to attack students.
On campus, the student body has become frighteningly polarized, and many students who were at the protest opted out of attending classes today for fear of harassment.
Professor Mark Clinton, the faculty advisor to the Anti War Coalition has been summoned to see the Vice President of Academic Affairs on Monday afternoon. The Office of the Vice President would not inform Clinton’s dean of the agenda for the meeting.
Yesterday, Professor Mark Clinton’s daughter was called an “ugly communist bitch” by a fellow student.
Cindy Sheehan is scheduled to visit HCC in November. We will be trying to contact her to notify her of the recent police brutality and to ask her to make a statement in support of students. If anyone reading this can help us get in touch with her, please let us know (our email is at the bottom of this statement).
Amazingly enough, a George Mason University student was assaulted by police on the same day as the HCC protest. Tariq Khan, a Pakistani-American and Air Force Veteran, wore a sign reading, “Recruiters tell lies” while standing in front of a US Marine recruiting table. After being harassed by ROTC members, the JC Operations Representative told Tariq that he had no right to voice his opinion without a permit and to leave. When Tariq peaceably refused, campus police violently assaulted him—choking him, pushing him, and slamming him against a stage.
In Wisconsin, students at UW Madison were threatened with arrest and forced to dismantle their protest against the presence of the Air Force, CIA, and Marines at the College’s career fair. They were told that they were violating the Administration’s codes for protesting when in fact they were in no way breaching any part of it.
We are sticking with our former demands (see statement of September 29 on campusantiwar.net) but we would like to add the following:
---That the restraining order against Charles T. Peterson be lifted immediately so he can continue his education and return to his job.
---That an impartial investigation be conducted into Officer Scott Landry’s role in the battery at the September 29 protest-- given Officer Landry’s dual role as armed police officer AND student advisor to the College Republicans.
For the over 700 of you who have already called the school THANK YOU! Please keep the pressure on. Please keep calling. We are hoping to flood the school with calls on Monday.
Sincerely,
Members of the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College
Please call Holyoke Community College to register you concerns.
President Messner 1-413-552-2222
Officer Scott Landry, Campus Police/ Advisor to the College Republicans 1-413-552-2048
Vivian Ostrowsky, Student Activities Coordinator 1-413-552-2418
Additional Statements from members of the Anti War Coalition at HCC
One leading member of the AWC, whose brother was permanently injured in Iraq last year, stated:
“I was there to speak for my brother. He was wounded in Iraq. He’s a different person since he came back, it’s a different person looking at me, more like my little brother than my big brother. He may never be the same, and he may never open up and tell me what happened in Iraq. But I believe he fought for lies, and I believe he was lied to when he joined the military. He was promised money for college and a chance to see the world. But he went to Iraq, and he wasn’t the same when he came back.”
Shinah Santiago, an AWC Steering Committee member stated, “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s totally unjust to ban him from campus without any kind of hearing or anything. And to have one of the officers who assaulted us serve the papers was part of their effort to intimidate us. They think he’s our leader, but everyone in the AWC is a leader, and none of us is going to be intimidated.”
Emails of support and solidarity can be sent to: info.hcc-awc@hotmail.com
Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
From ufpj-news
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Statements of Support For Student Protesters at Holyoke Community College-- Please forward widely!
CINDY SHEEHAN
Peace Mom and Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace
I am appalled that students exercising their (fully sanctioned) rights to free speech and to peaceably assemble were abused by law enforcement officials. The right to patriotically dissent from our government is a sacred right and these students should be given commendations, not black eyes. They were claiming their places in our democracy. The people who mistreated them should be the ones who are being investigated for their brutality and heavy-handed over-reaction, not the students.
DAVD SWANSON
Progressive Democrats of America
Freedom of speech and assembly are under attack around the country, and college campuses are some of the most valuable places where we must not let those freedoms be taken away. Your courage in standing up to this assault on your rights is admirable and should be promoted as an example to others. And, while your rights should be defended even if — and especially if — your views are controversial and shared only by a minority, you should remain aware that in this case your views are shared by a majority, and an active majority, and a movement that has begun to show its muscle. As one member in one small corner of that movement, I think it is safe to say, we’ve got your back. Let the country know what happens, and the antiwar movement will respond.
David Swanson is creator of MeetWithCindy.org, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997. His website is http://www.davidswanson.org
HADAS THEIR, NICK BERGREEN, JUSTINO RODRIGUEZ
The “City College 4”
We were outraged to hear of the repression against our brothers and sisters at Holyoke Community College, who committed no crime but to peacefully protest militarism at their school. Last spring, when the campus police and administration at the City College of New York tried to silence us with brutality, arrests and suspension, antiwar activists on and off our campus rallied to our side, helping to win our reinstatement. We’re certain that just as our voices could not be silenced, neither will your’s. We stand with you in your struggle to return Charles Peterson to his rightful place in the college community, and to return freedom of speech to its rightful place in an instution that is supposed to be dedicated to higher learning. Your dedication to the ongoing and growing movement against the military’s discriminatory and predatory policies is an inspiration.
Yours in struggle.
S. BRIAN WILLSON, J.D, LL.D
Member, coordinating Committee, Humboldt Bay Veterans For Peace, Arcata, CA Commissioner, Arcata City Nuclear Free Zone and Peace Commission
Police Should Be Prosecuted For Assaulting Students; Military Recruiters Should Be Banned From Campuses, October 2, 2005
The recent police assault on students protesting military recruiters at Holyoke Community College continues patterns of police repression at campuses such as George Mason University, University of Wisconsin, and the University of California. These unprovoked police assaults are criminal in nature and directly squash expression of constitutionally protected free speech.
Therefore, the police should be prosecuted for violating the law against assault and battery, and sued for violating citizen’s Constitutional rights
Furthermore, students are rightfully protesting military recruiters on campus. U.S. military recruiters should now be prohibited because they are participating in acts (recruitment) that discriminate against persons on the basis of sexual preference, violating protected civil rights, and are inducing with numerous misrepresentations the signing of contracts with young people who, it can be reasonably predicted, have a great probability of being ordered to participate in acts prohibited under international law and the U.S. Constitution, i.e., crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Recruiters directly accrue personal gain from this prohibited behavior. Matching or not superior-mandated recruiting quotas relate directly to increased/decreased pay grades. Thus, recruiters are accessories to commission of crimes and participate in a conspiracy with superiors to meet quotas (1) without regard to telling the truth, (2) through uttering various misrepresentations, and (3) perpetrating unwanted harassment.
CHARLES JENKS
Traprock Peace Center Deerfield, MA Traprockpeace.org
It is outrageous - and certainly illegal - that this student activist is, in effect, suspended if not expelled from his academic program, and potentially fired from his job, by the college’s simple action of issuing a ‘do not trespass’ notice to him. If this is an attempt by the college to evade due process requirements, it will not stand. If this was an act by the campus police acting without authority of the college, it will not stand. The law demands due process. This student may not be barred from campus, and prevented from attending classes and going to work, without a full and fair investigation and an impartial hearing of the facts. Justice demands no less.
DAVE ZIRIN
Air America Radio Author of What’s My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States
It is an absolute outrage that Holyoke Community College, located in the supposed liberal confines of Western Mass., would support the police battery and banning of a student aiming to express his right to free speech. HCC is proudly standing with forces of reaction aiming to silence people with very just grievances about the direction of US foreign policy, and the mercenary way the armed forces are attempting to make up for historic shortfalls in troop recruitment. Rest assured I will use every means at my disposal to shine light upon the craven actions of this administration. Injustice always festers in darkness,
NEW YORK CITY LABOR AGAINST WAR
New York City Labor Against the War condemns the attack on Charles T. Peterson and other protesters against military recruitment. This is part of an ongoing attempt since 9/11 to silence those who speak out against unjust U.S. wars, both at home and abroad. We applaud your courage, and fully support demands made by the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College.
Michael Letwin NYCLAW Co-Convener Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
PROFESSOR PHIL GASPER
Chair, Department of Philosophy & Religion Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California Member, Professors for Peace
The attack by Holyoke Community College security officers on students peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters on campus, has outraged members of the academic community around the country. Just as shocking is the College’s decision to ban one of the students from campus without even the pretense of impartiality or due process.
HCC’s actions are violations of the basic principles of academic freedom. They are even more reprehensible given that the victimized students have justice on their side. We are currently in the third year of an illegal and immoral war of aggression, which has killed over 100,000 people, including nearly 2,000 members of the US armed forces. Shame on HCC for assaulting and harassing students with the integrity and courage to protest the continued occupation of Iraq, the war criminals responsible for it, and the homophobic polices of the US military.
BONNIE WEINSTEIN
San Francisco Bay Area United Against War
Dear Dr. William Messner,
I called your office yesterday morning (San Francisco time) to strongly object to the treatment of counter-recruitment protesters by your college as they exercised their right to protest the attempt by the military to grab young people to fight an illegal, immoral and inhuman war.
This government has attacked a country without any provocation so it is not surprising that these kinds of attacks are happening on college campuses here in this country. It is not surprising, but it is still horrifying and will not be tolerated!
When I called your office, Dr. Messner, your secretary answered. I felt sorry for her because she was noticeably disturbed by the reports she was hearing from those of us who called about how students were being attacked at her school. But she had no way of even knowing what was actually happening. I quickly informed her that the whole country is being informed about what was taking place that day at Holyoke Community College.
To read the report this morning of what happened in detail brings shame to you, Dr. Messner and to the College. You should be fired for your handling of this incident.
The military has billions of dollars to spend hunting down its prey of human cannon fodder. You can be sure, even though we may not have the billions to spend, the recruiters will not visit campuses without there being counter-protest opposition from us! We will not go away! And, we will not let the military loose on our schools without consequences. This is a life or death situation!
Every time the military comes to Holyoke or any campus they will not be left to carry out their crimes (lying to students about the supposed advantages of military service–lies which could cost students their life) without vigorous objection being voiced by those of us opposed to military recruitment in our schools and to this government’s war objectives!
Further, there is every reason to ban the military from the campuses since they openly practice discrimination against gay people. Our campuses are supposed to be free of discriminatory practices!
The counter-recruitment movement is growing as quickly as opposition to the war is growing. Military recruiters will face opposition every where they go! And we have every right to organize these protests on school campuses, in front of recruitment offices–anywhere the military has a presence!
After all, they are carrying out an illegal war based upon lies. They demand that gay people keep silent about their own identity. They lie about every aspect of military life to dupe young people into joining. They even lie about how long new recruits will have to stay in the Armed Services.
There is nothing in campus rules that says you have to allow such lying, corrupt, homophobic organizations to contact students. In fact, schools are supposed to be places where students are protected from such organizations!
It is clear that his bi-partisan government has every intention of continuing their path of war, death and destruction to protect American big business interests. We have every intention to put a stop to their plunder!
The military has become entrenched in our schools from kindergarten to graduate school. They focus their attentions on the most disadvantaged students. This is an economic draft of the poorest of the poor and is unconscionable! We want them out of our schools and away from our children! We want money for schools not for war! If our kids want to go to college let them go! Why should they have to fight and take a chance of being killed in a war because they are too poor to go to school?
If the military wants to hunt for cannon fodder let them go to the children of the Congress and the Senate to get their bootie of recruits! Make the Bush twins sign up! Schools are no place for the military! We will continue our protests against military recruiting, you can count on it!
Which side are you on Dr. Messner? You are supposed to be on the side of students!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein,
http://www.bauaw.org
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
October 03, 2005
University of Massachusetts Amherst
By Jeff Napolitano, Collegian columnist
This past Thursday, Sept. 29, students opposed to the illegal wars of the United States staged a demonstration against military recruiters at Holyoke Community College. These students are part of the anti-war coalition at HCC and decided that one of the key components to stopping such wars is to oppose the attempt to suck young people into it. So when the Army came to campus to recruit, these students set out with signs and flyers to do some (nonviolent) counter-recruiting. On Saturday, I talked to Charles Peterson, a member of the anti-war coalition, who confirmed the reports of the demonstration. He explained some of the context of what went on.
Last year, according to campusantiwar.net, the HCC student government passed a resolution banning military recruitment on campus. They did this in part because their school has a policy of non-discrimination, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The military's ban on citizens who are openly gay/lesbian clearly violates that policy. Harvard Law School banned military recruitment from its campus based upon the same principle, although when threatened with loss of federal funding, recently reversed their decision, citing a potential loss of $400 million in subsidies.
So when the military set up a table last week at HCC, the students were there with signs and chants, such as, "Relief Not War," "College Not Combat" and "Bring the Troops Home." Several involved students went to the recruitment table and were ignored by the recruiters as they offered flowers, asked to sign up (while professing homosexuality), and chanted. At that point, members of the College Republicans at HCC, who were standing by and taunting the protestors, moved to the table and began pushing them.
Here's where the situation really became Orwellian: although it was the College Republicans who initiated the violence, the police who were standing by rushed in and began ordering and pushing around the protestors. A "Cops are Hypocrites" sign being held by a protestor was grabbed by the police from behind the line; when he tried to get it back, a group of officers grabbed him and began pulling him over the line. At this point, Peterson said he stepped in and wrapped his arms around the kid to prevent him from being pulled over the line. Three security guards then grabbed Peterson, and while two held his arms, a third officer, Scott Landry, held a bottle to Peterson's face and maced him.
A suspicious twist to the situation is that Landry is also an advisor to the College Republican Club. He is the third advisor in the past year, after another advisor left the school due to his involvement in an "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" (a demonstration by the College Republicans meant to criticize Affirmative Action policies). That Landry was involved in a dispute between two groups (one of which he was advising) implies a direct conflict of interest; that he was guilty of macing a student, and the only officer who used such force, should bring about immediate censure and an investigation into his actions.
If we lived in a rational, intelligent world, in which violence and blind authority were looked down upon, we would expect a strong condemnation of police action and immediate remediation by the HCC administration. If we lived in a sane, compassionate world, in which those who peacefully and loudly oppose wholesale death and destruction were applauded, then those anti-war protestors would receive an apology and the military would receive a swift kick in the ass off campus.
But we don't live in that world. We live in a world in which Peterson, the maced student, received a restraining order from campus police. We live in a world in which the administration allows its police to attack members of the student body with impunity. We live in a world in which President Messner of HCC, a moral coward, gets on TV and talks about the possibility of losing federal aid if the recruiters are not allowed to prey upon the student body.
In a press release from HCC, Messner neglected to mention that due to a 1999 amendment to the Solomon Amendment, financial aid cannot be revoked from a school, regardless of whether recruiters are allowed on campus or not. The Pentagon could presumably withhold research funding, but given that HCC is not a research university, one would think that Messner would put the school's own nondiscrimination policy, the will of the student body and basic morality above such a threat.
The situation of students in Holyoke should strike a chord with students at UMass Amherst. "The military is coming to HCC because of the vulnerable members of society that go here," Peterson said. The working-class, underprivileged nature of many in the student body is an opportunity of which the military takes advantage.
Peterson surmised, "You wouldn't see this same reaction at Smith, or Mount Holyoke." Although the student population at UMass is from a more privileged background, the military certainly has targeted the school for recruitment. On any given warm day, you'll find the black and red (camouflaged?) Hummer on HCC's campus, with its built-in PS/2 video games and expensive LCD screens. Does anyone really believe the military is doing the student body any good by pretending that playing "Halo 2" out the back of a pimped out Hummer is what you'll expect as you get your limbs blown off in Iraq?
While our government is engaged in illegal actions around the globe, we have to make a decision: which world do we want to live in? Do we want to be those who sanction violence and death, or do we want to be with those that oppose it? With the majority of the people in the U.S. currently opposed to the Iraqi war, there's plenty of opportunity to be on the side of the rational and compassionate.
You can start by attending the UMass Anti-war Coalition meeting today, at 3 p.m. in the Graduate Lounge in the Campus Center. Members from the HCC branch will be there, and will tell you about the kind of world we should live in. I suggest those concerned with determining what kind of world we should live in attend, for there are few opportunities in which the choice between "civilization" and "barbarism" is so clear.
Melee of the Young Republican Berserkers
Desperation at Holyoke
By VIJAY PRASHAD
The scene has thoroughly changed. The late September anti-war demonstration comes at a time when nation-wide support for the War on Iraq plummets. Calls for a troop withdrawal escalate among the political elite, as the warmongers shift their rationale for the war shamelessly. We went there to prevent a 9/11; if we leave it might provoke a 9/11. The shadow of 9/11 is itself being overrun by the floodwaters of Louisiana. General George Casey, son of another General George Casey of Cambodia, announced in late September that the troop cutbacks hinted at in the Spring would not happen, as the "situation has changed a little bit." The "little" here refers to the massive upsurge of resistance attacks: the US strategy appears to be to isolate the mainly Sunni resistance, and thereby create the basis for a general religio-ethnic civil war. Let the natives fight among themselves, and soon the only justification needed for the imperial forces to remain is that they must play umpire. Such is the unique logic of colonial rule: divide et impera, divide and conquer.
No longer the confidence of popularity. Now the Boy-Emperor's swagger seems tired. But there is no slackness in the will of the warmongers. Recruitment is done for the planetary bloodletting. Among the working-class there is now little care for the shibboleths of patriotism, when the only thing that seems to matter to the political and economic elite is the patriotism of the bottom line. The Generals are nervous, and the ante is up.
At Holyoke Community College (HCC), in Holyoke, Massachusetts, one of the many educational institutions that cater mainly to the working-class, the iron fist flew through the velvet glove. On Thursday, September 29, 2005, the Army National Guard sent its recruiters to the campus, where the student Anti-War Coalition met them. According to a statement by the college authorities, the altercation between the recruiters and the anti-war protestors created a disruption in the cafeteria and led to "an escalating display of emotions." Campus security intervened, and, again according to the college authorities, "the anti-war group chose to ignore [a student code of conduct] we had established to ensure the safety of all, and endangered the safety of the recruiters, students and others present." The campus cops hit a student with pepper spray, and the state police showed up. Arrests followed, as did the subsequent retaliatory punishment against one student, sophomore Charles Peterson.
The college conveniently avoided any mention of the Campus Republicans, who came in force to back the recruiters, and according to Peterson, who was sprayed by the cops, the Republican Youth went berserk and started to assault the anti-war protestors. The authorities also did not mention that one of the campus cops (Officer Scott Landry) is an advisor to the Young Republicans. When the state cops appeared, they came in full battle gear, ready to create Falluja in Holyoke. Some students report that the state police pointed guns at them.
Keep in mind that in June 2003, an HCC student, James Lacey committed suicide after he returned from his "tour of duty" in Iraq. At the memorial service for Lacey, his friend from HCC and fellow veteran, Sean Lamory pointed out that the reservists and National Guard are bearing the burden of the Iraq War. They "join the military for free college and benefits," he said, not because they are especially patriotic. (In September 2005, the Educational Policy Institute released a report on student debt that showed how much of a burden it is for US college students - who pay market rates on their student loans. ROTC makes financial, if immoral, sense in this vise). Lamory went on, "I see it right here at HCC, a school where a lot of students struggle financially and come out of class to see a fancy Hummer, surrounded by Marines in full-dress uniforms making all sorts of promises." This is the context for the animosity among many students at places like HCC against the military recruiters.
The violence is a sign of desperation: a similar incident occurred the same day at George Washington University, when the police went after Tariq Khan, an air force veteran, who stood before the army recruiting station with a sign, "Recruiters tell Lies." He was violently removed from the scene. This violence is also visible in the way the recruiters went among the refugees of Hurricane Katrina, before FEMA officials. They are vultures who feast on tragedy. The recruiters in the Astrodome are matched only by the fetid provision in the No Child Left Behind Act that automatically collects the names and addresses of under-age children for military recruiters.
As consent slips away, we learnt from Gramsci, coercion begins its ugly march into the light. We might be at this stage.
But there are still some tasks before us. The Anti-War Coalition, at HCC, has produced four unimpeachable demands:
(1) An immediate, unconditional public apology from the college.
(2) A pledge of non-retaliation against the activists involved.
(3) A thorough and impartial investigation into these incidents.
(4) That the military recruiters not be allowed back to our college, as their actions and those of the military discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, in violation of Massachusetts law and college policy. Furthermore, the military is engaging in an economic draft against working class and poor people in an attempt to buttress this nation's illegal war against Iraq.
Call Dr. William Messner, President of HCC at 413-552-2222. Show him that we can put as much pressure on him as the establishment has already done.
Vijay Prashad teaches at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. His latest book is Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses: Debt, Prison, Workfare (Boston: South End Press). His essay, "Capitalism's Warehouses", appears in CounterPunch's new book, Dime's Worth of Difference. He can be reached at: vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu
Informant: Ashley Smith
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Opposing Campus Repression: Cindy Sheehan and activists lift up students http://tinyurl.com/9eust
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Solidarity March With Anti-War Students
The UMass-Amherst Anti-War coalition, has called for a peaceful mass march at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, on Thursday, October 6 at 11am, to demonstrate our determination to preserve freedom of speech on our university and college campuses and resist police repression of anti-war students.
http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
From Information Clearing House
http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
From Information Clearing House
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FORWARD WIDELY...
To Friends and Supporters,
We have just learned that Charles Peterson, the student who was maced and assaulted by police at yesterday's counter recruitment protest at Holyoke Community College, has received a letter from the HCC campus police, informing him that due to "his conduct" he is indefinitely banned from campus. If he steps foot on the property he will be arrested for trespassing.
In other words, without any due process, or the opportunity to even speak to administrators, Charles has been banned from campus for the "crime" of being maced in the face by police officers.
It is important to say that Charles Peterson, who witnesses described as playing a moderating role at yesterday's protest, is an upstanding member of the HCC community. He is the recipient of the David James Taylor Excellence in Philosophy Award. He is Vice President for Academic Affairs on the Student Senate. He is a member of the College’s Learning Communities Committee, and is a frequent contributor to the student newspaper.
Furthermore, Officer Scott Landry, the officer who sprayed mace in Charles's face yesterday, is also an advisor to the College Republican Club. The College Republicans were present during the protest yesterday, cheering on the police as they attacked students.
Where is due process for Charles Peterson?
PLEASE CALL (AGAIN IF YOU"VE CALLED ALREADY CALLED) AND REGISTER YOUR PROTEST AT THIS OUTRAGEOUS TREATMENT!
HCC Main Number 1-413-552-2600
President Messner 1-413-552-2222
Informant: Ashley Smith
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URGENT UPDATE—PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!
Student who was Maced By Police is Now Banned from Campus! http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
At approximately 1pm on Sept 30, Sgt. Richard H. Wheeler and State Trooper Vasquez delivered a notice to Charles T. Peterson at the doorstep of his home in Springfield, MA.
Charles was the student who was sprayed in the face with mace by Officer Scott Landry at the protest against military recruiters at Holyoke Community College on September 29.
(Go to campusantiwar.net to see photos and read our previous statement about the police brutality )
The notice read: “Because of your conduct on the property of Holyoke Community College, your presence is no longer desired at Holyoke Community College, its property or buildings. Your failure to abide by said trespass notice will result in your arrest and court prosecution for trespassing. This notice will remain in effect untill [sic] revoked in writing by the Holyoke Community College Police Department.”
This is in clear violation of the College’s own stated policy that students, "have the right to procedural due process in grievance and disciplinary hearings." [Right #6, p22, HCC Policy Guide 05/06]
As Charles is employed on campus, this restraining order will keep him not only from getting an education, but also from working.
Thus far, Charles has not been contacted by any member of the Administration, besides the campus police. So he has had his education and his job taken away from him with no explanation and no opportunity to appeal.
It’s worth repeating here that Officer Scott Landry, the officer who put Charles in a headlock and sprayed mace in his face, is also the Advisor to the College Republicans at HCC. The College Republicans were also present at the protest, chanting behind the police line to incite the police to attack students.
On campus, the student body has become frighteningly polarized, and many students who were at the protest opted out of attending classes today for fear of harassment.
Professor Mark Clinton, the faculty advisor to the Anti War Coalition has been summoned to see the Vice President of Academic Affairs on Monday afternoon. The Office of the Vice President would not inform Clinton’s dean of the agenda for the meeting.
Yesterday, Professor Mark Clinton’s daughter was called an “ugly communist bitch” by a fellow student.
Cindy Sheehan is scheduled to visit HCC in November. We will be trying to contact her to notify her of the recent police brutality and to ask her to make a statement in support of students. If anyone reading this can help us get in touch with her, please let us know (our email is at the bottom of this statement).
Amazingly enough, a George Mason University student was assaulted by police on the same day as the HCC protest. Tariq Khan, a Pakistani-American and Air Force Veteran, wore a sign reading, “Recruiters tell lies” while standing in front of a US Marine recruiting table. After being harassed by ROTC members, the JC Operations Representative told Tariq that he had no right to voice his opinion without a permit and to leave. When Tariq peaceably refused, campus police violently assaulted him—choking him, pushing him, and slamming him against a stage.
In Wisconsin, students at UW Madison were threatened with arrest and forced to dismantle their protest against the presence of the Air Force, CIA, and Marines at the College’s career fair. They were told that they were violating the Administration’s codes for protesting when in fact they were in no way breaching any part of it.
We are sticking with our former demands (see statement of September 29 on campusantiwar.net) but we would like to add the following:
---That the restraining order against Charles T. Peterson be lifted immediately so he can continue his education and return to his job.
---That an impartial investigation be conducted into Officer Scott Landry’s role in the battery at the September 29 protest-- given Officer Landry’s dual role as armed police officer AND student advisor to the College Republicans.
For the over 700 of you who have already called the school THANK YOU! Please keep the pressure on. Please keep calling. We are hoping to flood the school with calls on Monday.
Sincerely,
Members of the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College
Please call Holyoke Community College to register you concerns.
President Messner 1-413-552-2222
Officer Scott Landry, Campus Police/ Advisor to the College Republicans 1-413-552-2048
Vivian Ostrowsky, Student Activities Coordinator 1-413-552-2418
Additional Statements from members of the Anti War Coalition at HCC
One leading member of the AWC, whose brother was permanently injured in Iraq last year, stated:
“I was there to speak for my brother. He was wounded in Iraq. He’s a different person since he came back, it’s a different person looking at me, more like my little brother than my big brother. He may never be the same, and he may never open up and tell me what happened in Iraq. But I believe he fought for lies, and I believe he was lied to when he joined the military. He was promised money for college and a chance to see the world. But he went to Iraq, and he wasn’t the same when he came back.”
Shinah Santiago, an AWC Steering Committee member stated, “I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s totally unjust to ban him from campus without any kind of hearing or anything. And to have one of the officers who assaulted us serve the papers was part of their effort to intimidate us. They think he’s our leader, but everyone in the AWC is a leader, and none of us is going to be intimidated.”
Emails of support and solidarity can be sent to: info.hcc-awc@hotmail.com
Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
From ufpj-news
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Statements of Support For Student Protesters at Holyoke Community College-- Please forward widely!
CINDY SHEEHAN
Peace Mom and Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace
I am appalled that students exercising their (fully sanctioned) rights to free speech and to peaceably assemble were abused by law enforcement officials. The right to patriotically dissent from our government is a sacred right and these students should be given commendations, not black eyes. They were claiming their places in our democracy. The people who mistreated them should be the ones who are being investigated for their brutality and heavy-handed over-reaction, not the students.
DAVD SWANSON
Progressive Democrats of America
Freedom of speech and assembly are under attack around the country, and college campuses are some of the most valuable places where we must not let those freedoms be taken away. Your courage in standing up to this assault on your rights is admirable and should be promoted as an example to others. And, while your rights should be defended even if — and especially if — your views are controversial and shared only by a minority, you should remain aware that in this case your views are shared by a majority, and an active majority, and a movement that has begun to show its muscle. As one member in one small corner of that movement, I think it is safe to say, we’ve got your back. Let the country know what happens, and the antiwar movement will respond.
David Swanson is creator of MeetWithCindy.org, co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997. His website is http://www.davidswanson.org
HADAS THEIR, NICK BERGREEN, JUSTINO RODRIGUEZ
The “City College 4”
We were outraged to hear of the repression against our brothers and sisters at Holyoke Community College, who committed no crime but to peacefully protest militarism at their school. Last spring, when the campus police and administration at the City College of New York tried to silence us with brutality, arrests and suspension, antiwar activists on and off our campus rallied to our side, helping to win our reinstatement. We’re certain that just as our voices could not be silenced, neither will your’s. We stand with you in your struggle to return Charles Peterson to his rightful place in the college community, and to return freedom of speech to its rightful place in an instution that is supposed to be dedicated to higher learning. Your dedication to the ongoing and growing movement against the military’s discriminatory and predatory policies is an inspiration.
Yours in struggle.
S. BRIAN WILLSON, J.D, LL.D
Member, coordinating Committee, Humboldt Bay Veterans For Peace, Arcata, CA Commissioner, Arcata City Nuclear Free Zone and Peace Commission
Police Should Be Prosecuted For Assaulting Students; Military Recruiters Should Be Banned From Campuses, October 2, 2005
The recent police assault on students protesting military recruiters at Holyoke Community College continues patterns of police repression at campuses such as George Mason University, University of Wisconsin, and the University of California. These unprovoked police assaults are criminal in nature and directly squash expression of constitutionally protected free speech.
Therefore, the police should be prosecuted for violating the law against assault and battery, and sued for violating citizen’s Constitutional rights
Furthermore, students are rightfully protesting military recruiters on campus. U.S. military recruiters should now be prohibited because they are participating in acts (recruitment) that discriminate against persons on the basis of sexual preference, violating protected civil rights, and are inducing with numerous misrepresentations the signing of contracts with young people who, it can be reasonably predicted, have a great probability of being ordered to participate in acts prohibited under international law and the U.S. Constitution, i.e., crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Recruiters directly accrue personal gain from this prohibited behavior. Matching or not superior-mandated recruiting quotas relate directly to increased/decreased pay grades. Thus, recruiters are accessories to commission of crimes and participate in a conspiracy with superiors to meet quotas (1) without regard to telling the truth, (2) through uttering various misrepresentations, and (3) perpetrating unwanted harassment.
CHARLES JENKS
Traprock Peace Center Deerfield, MA Traprockpeace.org
It is outrageous - and certainly illegal - that this student activist is, in effect, suspended if not expelled from his academic program, and potentially fired from his job, by the college’s simple action of issuing a ‘do not trespass’ notice to him. If this is an attempt by the college to evade due process requirements, it will not stand. If this was an act by the campus police acting without authority of the college, it will not stand. The law demands due process. This student may not be barred from campus, and prevented from attending classes and going to work, without a full and fair investigation and an impartial hearing of the facts. Justice demands no less.
DAVE ZIRIN
Air America Radio Author of What’s My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States
It is an absolute outrage that Holyoke Community College, located in the supposed liberal confines of Western Mass., would support the police battery and banning of a student aiming to express his right to free speech. HCC is proudly standing with forces of reaction aiming to silence people with very just grievances about the direction of US foreign policy, and the mercenary way the armed forces are attempting to make up for historic shortfalls in troop recruitment. Rest assured I will use every means at my disposal to shine light upon the craven actions of this administration. Injustice always festers in darkness,
NEW YORK CITY LABOR AGAINST WAR
New York City Labor Against the War condemns the attack on Charles T. Peterson and other protesters against military recruitment. This is part of an ongoing attempt since 9/11 to silence those who speak out against unjust U.S. wars, both at home and abroad. We applaud your courage, and fully support demands made by the Anti War Coalition at Holyoke Community College.
Michael Letwin NYCLAW Co-Convener Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
PROFESSOR PHIL GASPER
Chair, Department of Philosophy & Religion Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California Member, Professors for Peace
The attack by Holyoke Community College security officers on students peacefully protesting the presence of military recruiters on campus, has outraged members of the academic community around the country. Just as shocking is the College’s decision to ban one of the students from campus without even the pretense of impartiality or due process.
HCC’s actions are violations of the basic principles of academic freedom. They are even more reprehensible given that the victimized students have justice on their side. We are currently in the third year of an illegal and immoral war of aggression, which has killed over 100,000 people, including nearly 2,000 members of the US armed forces. Shame on HCC for assaulting and harassing students with the integrity and courage to protest the continued occupation of Iraq, the war criminals responsible for it, and the homophobic polices of the US military.
BONNIE WEINSTEIN
San Francisco Bay Area United Against War
Dear Dr. William Messner,
I called your office yesterday morning (San Francisco time) to strongly object to the treatment of counter-recruitment protesters by your college as they exercised their right to protest the attempt by the military to grab young people to fight an illegal, immoral and inhuman war.
This government has attacked a country without any provocation so it is not surprising that these kinds of attacks are happening on college campuses here in this country. It is not surprising, but it is still horrifying and will not be tolerated!
When I called your office, Dr. Messner, your secretary answered. I felt sorry for her because she was noticeably disturbed by the reports she was hearing from those of us who called about how students were being attacked at her school. But she had no way of even knowing what was actually happening. I quickly informed her that the whole country is being informed about what was taking place that day at Holyoke Community College.
To read the report this morning of what happened in detail brings shame to you, Dr. Messner and to the College. You should be fired for your handling of this incident.
The military has billions of dollars to spend hunting down its prey of human cannon fodder. You can be sure, even though we may not have the billions to spend, the recruiters will not visit campuses without there being counter-protest opposition from us! We will not go away! And, we will not let the military loose on our schools without consequences. This is a life or death situation!
Every time the military comes to Holyoke or any campus they will not be left to carry out their crimes (lying to students about the supposed advantages of military service–lies which could cost students their life) without vigorous objection being voiced by those of us opposed to military recruitment in our schools and to this government’s war objectives!
Further, there is every reason to ban the military from the campuses since they openly practice discrimination against gay people. Our campuses are supposed to be free of discriminatory practices!
The counter-recruitment movement is growing as quickly as opposition to the war is growing. Military recruiters will face opposition every where they go! And we have every right to organize these protests on school campuses, in front of recruitment offices–anywhere the military has a presence!
After all, they are carrying out an illegal war based upon lies. They demand that gay people keep silent about their own identity. They lie about every aspect of military life to dupe young people into joining. They even lie about how long new recruits will have to stay in the Armed Services.
There is nothing in campus rules that says you have to allow such lying, corrupt, homophobic organizations to contact students. In fact, schools are supposed to be places where students are protected from such organizations!
It is clear that his bi-partisan government has every intention of continuing their path of war, death and destruction to protect American big business interests. We have every intention to put a stop to their plunder!
The military has become entrenched in our schools from kindergarten to graduate school. They focus their attentions on the most disadvantaged students. This is an economic draft of the poorest of the poor and is unconscionable! We want them out of our schools and away from our children! We want money for schools not for war! If our kids want to go to college let them go! Why should they have to fight and take a chance of being killed in a war because they are too poor to go to school?
If the military wants to hunt for cannon fodder let them go to the children of the Congress and the Senate to get their bootie of recruits! Make the Bush twins sign up! Schools are no place for the military! We will continue our protests against military recruiting, you can count on it!
Which side are you on Dr. Messner? You are supposed to be on the side of students!
Sincerely,
Bonnie Weinstein,
http://www.bauaw.org
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
October 03, 2005
University of Massachusetts Amherst
By Jeff Napolitano, Collegian columnist
This past Thursday, Sept. 29, students opposed to the illegal wars of the United States staged a demonstration against military recruiters at Holyoke Community College. These students are part of the anti-war coalition at HCC and decided that one of the key components to stopping such wars is to oppose the attempt to suck young people into it. So when the Army came to campus to recruit, these students set out with signs and flyers to do some (nonviolent) counter-recruiting. On Saturday, I talked to Charles Peterson, a member of the anti-war coalition, who confirmed the reports of the demonstration. He explained some of the context of what went on.
Last year, according to campusantiwar.net, the HCC student government passed a resolution banning military recruitment on campus. They did this in part because their school has a policy of non-discrimination, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The military's ban on citizens who are openly gay/lesbian clearly violates that policy. Harvard Law School banned military recruitment from its campus based upon the same principle, although when threatened with loss of federal funding, recently reversed their decision, citing a potential loss of $400 million in subsidies.
So when the military set up a table last week at HCC, the students were there with signs and chants, such as, "Relief Not War," "College Not Combat" and "Bring the Troops Home." Several involved students went to the recruitment table and were ignored by the recruiters as they offered flowers, asked to sign up (while professing homosexuality), and chanted. At that point, members of the College Republicans at HCC, who were standing by and taunting the protestors, moved to the table and began pushing them.
Here's where the situation really became Orwellian: although it was the College Republicans who initiated the violence, the police who were standing by rushed in and began ordering and pushing around the protestors. A "Cops are Hypocrites" sign being held by a protestor was grabbed by the police from behind the line; when he tried to get it back, a group of officers grabbed him and began pulling him over the line. At this point, Peterson said he stepped in and wrapped his arms around the kid to prevent him from being pulled over the line. Three security guards then grabbed Peterson, and while two held his arms, a third officer, Scott Landry, held a bottle to Peterson's face and maced him.
A suspicious twist to the situation is that Landry is also an advisor to the College Republican Club. He is the third advisor in the past year, after another advisor left the school due to his involvement in an "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" (a demonstration by the College Republicans meant to criticize Affirmative Action policies). That Landry was involved in a dispute between two groups (one of which he was advising) implies a direct conflict of interest; that he was guilty of macing a student, and the only officer who used such force, should bring about immediate censure and an investigation into his actions.
If we lived in a rational, intelligent world, in which violence and blind authority were looked down upon, we would expect a strong condemnation of police action and immediate remediation by the HCC administration. If we lived in a sane, compassionate world, in which those who peacefully and loudly oppose wholesale death and destruction were applauded, then those anti-war protestors would receive an apology and the military would receive a swift kick in the ass off campus.
But we don't live in that world. We live in a world in which Peterson, the maced student, received a restraining order from campus police. We live in a world in which the administration allows its police to attack members of the student body with impunity. We live in a world in which President Messner of HCC, a moral coward, gets on TV and talks about the possibility of losing federal aid if the recruiters are not allowed to prey upon the student body.
In a press release from HCC, Messner neglected to mention that due to a 1999 amendment to the Solomon Amendment, financial aid cannot be revoked from a school, regardless of whether recruiters are allowed on campus or not. The Pentagon could presumably withhold research funding, but given that HCC is not a research university, one would think that Messner would put the school's own nondiscrimination policy, the will of the student body and basic morality above such a threat.
The situation of students in Holyoke should strike a chord with students at UMass Amherst. "The military is coming to HCC because of the vulnerable members of society that go here," Peterson said. The working-class, underprivileged nature of many in the student body is an opportunity of which the military takes advantage.
Peterson surmised, "You wouldn't see this same reaction at Smith, or Mount Holyoke." Although the student population at UMass is from a more privileged background, the military certainly has targeted the school for recruitment. On any given warm day, you'll find the black and red (camouflaged?) Hummer on HCC's campus, with its built-in PS/2 video games and expensive LCD screens. Does anyone really believe the military is doing the student body any good by pretending that playing "Halo 2" out the back of a pimped out Hummer is what you'll expect as you get your limbs blown off in Iraq?
While our government is engaged in illegal actions around the globe, we have to make a decision: which world do we want to live in? Do we want to be those who sanction violence and death, or do we want to be with those that oppose it? With the majority of the people in the U.S. currently opposed to the Iraqi war, there's plenty of opportunity to be on the side of the rational and compassionate.
You can start by attending the UMass Anti-war Coalition meeting today, at 3 p.m. in the Graduate Lounge in the Campus Center. Members from the HCC branch will be there, and will tell you about the kind of world we should live in. I suggest those concerned with determining what kind of world we should live in attend, for there are few opportunities in which the choice between "civilization" and "barbarism" is so clear.
Melee of the Young Republican Berserkers
Desperation at Holyoke
By VIJAY PRASHAD
The scene has thoroughly changed. The late September anti-war demonstration comes at a time when nation-wide support for the War on Iraq plummets. Calls for a troop withdrawal escalate among the political elite, as the warmongers shift their rationale for the war shamelessly. We went there to prevent a 9/11; if we leave it might provoke a 9/11. The shadow of 9/11 is itself being overrun by the floodwaters of Louisiana. General George Casey, son of another General George Casey of Cambodia, announced in late September that the troop cutbacks hinted at in the Spring would not happen, as the "situation has changed a little bit." The "little" here refers to the massive upsurge of resistance attacks: the US strategy appears to be to isolate the mainly Sunni resistance, and thereby create the basis for a general religio-ethnic civil war. Let the natives fight among themselves, and soon the only justification needed for the imperial forces to remain is that they must play umpire. Such is the unique logic of colonial rule: divide et impera, divide and conquer.
No longer the confidence of popularity. Now the Boy-Emperor's swagger seems tired. But there is no slackness in the will of the warmongers. Recruitment is done for the planetary bloodletting. Among the working-class there is now little care for the shibboleths of patriotism, when the only thing that seems to matter to the political and economic elite is the patriotism of the bottom line. The Generals are nervous, and the ante is up.
At Holyoke Community College (HCC), in Holyoke, Massachusetts, one of the many educational institutions that cater mainly to the working-class, the iron fist flew through the velvet glove. On Thursday, September 29, 2005, the Army National Guard sent its recruiters to the campus, where the student Anti-War Coalition met them. According to a statement by the college authorities, the altercation between the recruiters and the anti-war protestors created a disruption in the cafeteria and led to "an escalating display of emotions." Campus security intervened, and, again according to the college authorities, "the anti-war group chose to ignore [a student code of conduct] we had established to ensure the safety of all, and endangered the safety of the recruiters, students and others present." The campus cops hit a student with pepper spray, and the state police showed up. Arrests followed, as did the subsequent retaliatory punishment against one student, sophomore Charles Peterson.
The college conveniently avoided any mention of the Campus Republicans, who came in force to back the recruiters, and according to Peterson, who was sprayed by the cops, the Republican Youth went berserk and started to assault the anti-war protestors. The authorities also did not mention that one of the campus cops (Officer Scott Landry) is an advisor to the Young Republicans. When the state cops appeared, they came in full battle gear, ready to create Falluja in Holyoke. Some students report that the state police pointed guns at them.
Keep in mind that in June 2003, an HCC student, James Lacey committed suicide after he returned from his "tour of duty" in Iraq. At the memorial service for Lacey, his friend from HCC and fellow veteran, Sean Lamory pointed out that the reservists and National Guard are bearing the burden of the Iraq War. They "join the military for free college and benefits," he said, not because they are especially patriotic. (In September 2005, the Educational Policy Institute released a report on student debt that showed how much of a burden it is for US college students - who pay market rates on their student loans. ROTC makes financial, if immoral, sense in this vise). Lamory went on, "I see it right here at HCC, a school where a lot of students struggle financially and come out of class to see a fancy Hummer, surrounded by Marines in full-dress uniforms making all sorts of promises." This is the context for the animosity among many students at places like HCC against the military recruiters.
The violence is a sign of desperation: a similar incident occurred the same day at George Washington University, when the police went after Tariq Khan, an air force veteran, who stood before the army recruiting station with a sign, "Recruiters tell Lies." He was violently removed from the scene. This violence is also visible in the way the recruiters went among the refugees of Hurricane Katrina, before FEMA officials. They are vultures who feast on tragedy. The recruiters in the Astrodome are matched only by the fetid provision in the No Child Left Behind Act that automatically collects the names and addresses of under-age children for military recruiters.
As consent slips away, we learnt from Gramsci, coercion begins its ugly march into the light. We might be at this stage.
But there are still some tasks before us. The Anti-War Coalition, at HCC, has produced four unimpeachable demands:
(1) An immediate, unconditional public apology from the college.
(2) A pledge of non-retaliation against the activists involved.
(3) A thorough and impartial investigation into these incidents.
(4) That the military recruiters not be allowed back to our college, as their actions and those of the military discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, in violation of Massachusetts law and college policy. Furthermore, the military is engaging in an economic draft against working class and poor people in an attempt to buttress this nation's illegal war against Iraq.
Call Dr. William Messner, President of HCC at 413-552-2222. Show him that we can put as much pressure on him as the establishment has already done.
Vijay Prashad teaches at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. His latest book is Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses: Debt, Prison, Workfare (Boston: South End Press). His essay, "Capitalism's Warehouses", appears in CounterPunch's new book, Dime's Worth of Difference. He can be reached at: vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu
Informant: Ashley Smith
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Opposing Campus Repression: Cindy Sheehan and activists lift up students http://tinyurl.com/9eust
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Solidarity March With Anti-War Students
The UMass-Amherst Anti-War coalition, has called for a peaceful mass march at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, on Thursday, October 6 at 11am, to demonstrate our determination to preserve freedom of speech on our university and college campuses and resist police repression of anti-war students.
http://www.traprockpeace.org/counter_recruitment/
From Information Clearing House
Starmail - 1. Okt, 13:37
