There are two important meetings coming up:
Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
The Board will entertain
a motion to allow counter-recruitment
at the schools to counteract military presence.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.
There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.
Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.
BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:
Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:
WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and
WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and
WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and
WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to support cutting
all ties with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730
Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.
If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.
Make a tax-deductible donation to:
Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Coming Up:
Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!
San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)
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Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html
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1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
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1) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:
SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART
MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing
memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.
INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007
GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:
BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your relationship
to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced following
a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges: The remainder of your
letter should discuss whatever you believe to weigh in favor of
no jail time. If possible, you should tell of an incident where
she helped you out or engaged in commendable community
service. Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of the government's
actions in bringing the charges; the way in which the
government portrayed her, etc.
* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890
Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you forward
your letter me so that the lawyers can present it to Judge Koeltl
with the other letters being written for this purpose. This is
the manner in which letters will have the greatest impact.
If they are sent directly to the Judge's chambers, they may
have less of an impact and could cause the judge
a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).
Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.
Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488
"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.
"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]
To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/
Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Let the Pentagon Pay Off Those Loans
Lies Military Recruiters Tell
By RON JACOBS
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs03052005.html
Recently, most students at the University of Vermont (UVM) in
Burlington received an email with the heading ARMY PAYS OFF
STUDENT LOANS in their university email box. The general message
of the mass mailing was that if a student was nearing graduation
and wondering how they were going to pay off the massive debt
today's US college students incur, they should join the army. In
essence, this email was a college student's version of the poverty
draft that entraps so many working class and poor young people
into enlisting in the service. The sender was a military recruiter
working out of the US Army recruitment office in the Burlington
suburb of Williston. Given that the university has a very clear
policy forbidding these types of solicitations on their email servers
one wonders how the recruiting office was able to obtain the
address list. The university administration has been reticent
when asked this question by various faculty, students, and parents.
It is fair to assume, however, that the email list was released to
the recruiter under the compliance sections of the so-called
Solomon Amendment. For those unfamiliar with this legislation,
it essentially forbids Department of Defense (DOD) funding of
schools unless those schools provide military representatives
access to their students for recruiting purposes. It is this
same law that enables military recruiters to set up shop in high
schools across the US and to call students at their homes
attempting to entice them into joining the military.
At UVM, this email was met with anger and questions, and
probably even a few inquiries. The anger is now being organized
into a drive to keep military recruiters off the university campus
and out of the students' private communications. There is
a petition campaign underway that demands that no recruiters
for the regular military or the Vermont National Guard be allowed
recruit on campus. Despite this, recruiters do show up
unannounced on campus. One assumes that their strategy is
designed to prevent student organizers from organizing
protests against the recruiters' presence. In addition, there
is organizing underway to organize some kind of response
to the military and Guard's presence at the University's
Spring Career Day on March 8th. (This career day is also
the host to recruiters from various corporations from the
war industry-General Dynamics foremost among them)
Here in Vermont, the Guard recruitment hits close to home,
since the state ranks near the top in the number of deaths
per capita in Iraq. The likelihood of the university denying
these recruiters access is slim, especially in light of the
mass email, yet the students involved continue on
undaunted. If the petition campaign fails to produce
the results they desire, there will likely be some kind
of protest.
Other college campuses have already experienced such
protests. On January 20, 2005, several hundred students
at Seattle Central Community College chased army
recruiters from their spot in the Student center. On
February 23, campus police arrested a woman student
during a picket in front of the military's recruitment table
at a job fair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A couple days before that, several dozen students
chased military recruiters off campus at Southern
Connecticut State University (SCSU). In September 2004,
more than a hundred students protested the presence
of military recruiters at the University of Pennsylvania.
On February 22, 2005 several dozen students picketed
recruiters at the University of Illinois campus in Chicago.
At the USC Law School, recruiters were met with pickets
and leafleters demanding that they leave, and at UC Berkeley,
a couple dozen students protested the presence of
a military recruiter table there. These are but a few of
the dozens of protests that have taken place.
Meanwhile, in high schools across the US, more students
and their parents seem to be opting out of taking the
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB),
a test given to high school juniors as a method of targeting
potential recruits. It is an admissions and placement test
for the US military. All persons enlisting in the US military
are required to take the ASVAB. Although the military does
not usually start turning up the pressure to join the military
until students reach their senior year, about 14,000 high
schools nationwide give this test to juniors. A recent piece
in the Boston Globe detailed the troubles one recruiting
office in New Hampshire is facing this year. According
to ASVAB testing coordinator at the Military Entrance
Processing Station in Boston, which handles enlistment
processing for Rhode Island, much of New Hampshire
and parts of Massachusetts, many parents are writing
notes excusing their kids from taking the test. At one high
school in Nashua, NH, school administrators opted out of
even administering the test this year. This is not an isolated
case either; of the thirty schools in the Boston region that
administered the test in 2004, only nineteen signed up
to do so this year. One wonders how long it will be before
the military makes the test mandatory for graduation.
Campus antiwar groups that formed in the past three years
have called most of the university and college protests.
In addition, lesbian and gay organizations and individuals
have joined in because of their opposition to the military's
"don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuality. Of course,
many of the latter group also opposes the war in Iraq.
According to a federal appeals court ruling made in
November 2004, the essentially anti-gay policies of the
military do allow universities to deny its recruiter's access
to their students and property. On top of that ruling,
another federal judge in Connecticut found that the
government unconstitutionally applied the Solomon
Amendment after Yale Law School faculty sued Donald
Rumsfeld when he attempted to deny federal funds to
Yale because it prevented military recruitment on its
campus. Yale denied the recruiters access because of
their discriminatory policies against gays and lesbians.
While this strategy is not necessarily the best political
strategy possible to chase recruiters off campus, it is
a legal tool counter-recruitment activists should utilize
while it exists. In my mind, the best political strategy
is one that challenges the imperial policies of the US and
calls into question not just the military's discriminatory
recruitment policies, but also the role of the military itself.
A strategy based on this premise would not only diminish
the military's visibility, it would also challenge young people
(and the rest of us) to examine for whom and what the
military really fights. Additionally, it would allow the
organizers of these campaigns to include defense
contractors in their campaign. After all, it is these
corporations that truly need young men and women
to go to war.
A list of links providing information and avenues of action
around this issue can be found here:
www.groups.yahoo.com/groups/militaryrecruitment/links
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Testimonies From Falluja
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
Video From Falluja
I am proud to announce the availability of rare video footage from
inside Falluja. This documentary was created by Dr. Hamodi Jassim, an
Iraqi film-maker who made this film working on his own resources in his
war-torn country.
If you are interested in learning more of the truth behind the siege of
Falluja, I highly encourage you to purchase this video to learn more-as
well as to help support Iraqi independent journalism.
Testimonies From Falluja
Testimonies From Falluja - An Al Qitaf Artistic Production
PepperSpray Productions announces a new 33 min video produced in Iraq by
independent Iraqi videographers. Dahr Jamail does the English voice-over
and is assisting with the video's dissemination in the US. "Testimonies
From Falluja" contains photos and footage from the US assault on
Falluja, as well as interviews with Iraqi survivors and refugees.
The US has obstructed - and continues to obstruct - journalists from
documenting the horror that was and is Falluja. This video is unique in
that it focuses on Falluja, that it was made by a team of independent
Iraqi videographers, and that we are able to see it in the US.
The DVD is available for $10 on the PepperSpray Productions website.
Funds generated by this video will support further independent reporting
from Iraq.
Buy the video
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/
to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
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and write unsubscribe in the subject or the body of the email.
(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and
international copyright law. If you would like to reprint
Dahr's Dispatches on the web, you need to include this
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DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images
and text including, but not limited to, reproduction, use
on another website, copying and printing requires the
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Dahr's dispatches via email.
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http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
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