Escalations in protest against military recruitment locally and nationally have shown results. Recuiters have been harassed, confronted, sued, kicked out, and engaged in dialogue. And they are worried.

May 20th, 2005, all US Army recruiting offices will be CLOSED in order to "reaffirm" their "oaths." This should be seen as a victory to those who have engaged in dialogue with recruiters--who have fallen short of their "goals" for enlistment consistently the past few years.

Free Radio call-in (.mp3) and info from the Capitola Recuiting office and the Watsonville "job" faire.

See also: Mumia Abu Jamal: Harder and Harder to Recruit || UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus || www.Indymedia.us || Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors || RCNV's Draft & Military Alternatives Program || CodePink's Counter-Recruitment Campaign

Actions calling for an end to the Iraq war were held across the US on Sunday, May 15. Protestors wore numbers to dramatize the more than 100,000 Iraqis and 1,600 US soldiers who have died in the war. In Philadelphia, anti-war activists staged a die-in at the Liberty Bell, while in Seattle, Boston, and elsewhere, peace advocates held candlelight vigils, and other actions. FSRN's Vinny Lombardo reports from Santa Cruz, CA where about 40 people handed out leaflets to educate tourists about the costs of war. (call to action)

Audio: Download the mp3 (2:47 minutes)

Photos from Santa Cruz: The Cost of War: Iraq as of May 15th, 2005

[ CountingTheCost.org ]

5/6/05: Complete with costumes and characters such as UC President Dynes and "Hans" of SNL fame, the march through Science Hill, organized by Students Against War (SAW)'s Demilitarization working group, highlighted UC's management of Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Labs, as well as the large amount of weapons research currently underway on UCSC's campus. Student 'weapons inspectors' stopped outside the new Baskin Engineering building before a die-in outside the Science and Engineering Library. The inspectors also marched silently through the library and passed out information about UCSC's connection to the war machine.

Students Against War (SAW) meets every Friday in Conference Room #C above the Baytree Plaza at 5pm. SAW's demilitarization working group meets every Sunday in Cowell's fireside lounge at 7pm.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Audio: Hans; UC Plays Central Role in Thermo-Nuclear Weapons R&D

See also: UCSC's weekly "Weapons Inpsections" Tour a success (4/22/05) || Fiat Pax || FuckTheRegents.com

Camilo Mejia shares his experiences in Iraq at the Vet's Hall.

“By putting my weapons down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being,� said Camilo Mejia, the first US soldier to actively resist the Iraq War. The former US Army staff sergeant went AWOL in October 2003 while home on a two-week leave. It wasn't until March 15, 2004, that Mejia turned himself in to military commanders and filed for discharge as a conscientious objector, becoming the first Iraq War veteran to publicly challenge the morality of the war. In May 2004, he was convicted of desertion, and sentenced to nine months in the brig. Having recently been freed, Mejia is now on a speaking tour of the West Coast, and will visit Santa Cruz on Wednesday, May 4th, 7:00 p.m. at the Veteran's Memorial Building, 846 Front St., next to the post office. Immediate wireless translation from English to Spanish translation will be available. Audio PSA: Download Mp3

Photos: War Resister Camilo Mejia Speaks at SC Vets Hall

Audio: Camilo Mejia, Iraq War Resister, Speaks Out

Meanwhile, in San Diego, CA, Navy sailor Pablo Paredes' request for conscientious objector status has been denied. His court martial is scheduled for May 11, inside the San Diego 32nd St. Naval Station. Various support activities and protests are being planned for May 10-13 in San Diego.

SF Bay Area Events || San Diego Events

On Friday April 22, Students Against War kicked off a weekly "Weapons Inspections" tour to raise awareness about the presence of the military-industrial complex at UCSC. Every Friday, a "Weapons Inspections" tour will leave the Bay Tree Bookstore at 12:30 - everyone is welcome to join.

The Weapons Inspections tour seeks to educate students about the 35 military-funded research projects being conducted by UCSC staff on campus and the UC's ongoing management of the nuclear labs at Los Alamos, NM and Livermore, CA. About 30 students marched up to science hill and held a loud and horrible die-in in the plaza at Baskin Engineering, where most of this research is being done. The Weapons Inspections team then searched the science library for weapons of mass destruction in a silent, single-file procession and passed out information to students there.

[ Fiat Pax || The UC is a prominent site of military research (DOWNLOAD the .pdf) || UCSC, Weapons Research, Universities in the Service of the Warfare State ]

On the Judicial Branch, continued

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 14, 2005

CONTACT: Students Against War’s ad-hoc press team:
Jen Low, Josh Sonnenfeld, Kot Hordynski

Control of California's Peace and Freedom Party has been seized by a small group of self styled "socialists" from the Bay Area and Los Angeles basin.

Over the past several decades students and faculty of the University of California, often in tandem with nuclear disarmament NGOs in California and New Mexico, have conducted a series of campaigns to end the UC's involvement in nuclear weapons research, design, testing, and production at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore laboratories. These campaigns represent an important contribution to the global nuclear abolition movement, which historian Lawrence Wittner has described as "the largest, most dynamic international citizens' movement of modern times."