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| FOR's Gathering of Conscience and Courage "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind. War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." JFK A Luta Continua! The struggle continues! The charge that reverberated through the African liberation struggles of the 1970s was issued in Nyack by WWII conscientious objector George Houser to kick off the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Gathering of Conscience and Courage in February 2005. The four-day gathering brought together peace activists from across the United States and Canada. Out of the conference emerged a new campaign, I Will Not Kill which will be directed at young people, and the "Nyack Declaration," (see link below) affirming the right of conscientious objection and opposing any future draft.
Houser was one of the infamous “Union 8,” a group of eight Union Theology Seminary students who refused to register in October 1940. As a result, they were arrested and jailed for a year and a day in Danbury, CT. Houser urged the group to remember to take the struggle of supporting conscientious objectors “one step at a time” and recited a stanza of Amazing Grace to serve as motivation: “Through many dangers, toils and snares ... Ibrahim Ramey, FOR Disarmament Coordinator, stated the key objective for the weekend: to become “part of a united front in building a national proactive movement.” He also expressed the hope that the gathering would assist FOR in finding ways to enhance what is already being done in the field of conscientious objection, to fill in the gaps of what needs to be done and provide opportunities to share resources. One of the issues discussed during the gathering was the possibility of a future draft. Oskar Castro, Youth and Militarism Program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, said that misinformation had led the public to believe that a future draft is eminent.
“Yes, there is a possibility of a draft … there always is because we have a selective service,” said Castro. “But the question is what is the real probability and what are the cost factors associated with that … we have to base the probability on foreign policy.” In analyzing current foreign policy and looking at U.S. relations with such countries as yria and relations between China and Taiwan, Castro said he could see a draft on the horizon but not any time soon. Bill Galvin, draft counselor at the Center on Conscience and War, said that the signs he had seen were indicating a real military personnel problem. “Before the Iraq War, the National Guard was at 80 percent strength so if they are stating they are now at crisis level what does that mean?” Galvin asked. After debating the likelihood of a draft, the group seemed to agree that rather than focus the majority of future efforts on helping service men and women apply for conscientious objector status once in the military, a task that is becoming increasingly more difficult, they would prefer to see more work done to educate youth and parents about alternative options to the military.
During the course of the weekend, the coalition of participants created a campaign to be launched May 15, 2005 on International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, as well as a declaration of conscience and courage. Through a mass advertising effort, the campaign “I Will Not Kill” will direct people to a Web site with resources and links to various groups with information on conscientious objection and alternatives to the military. The campaign’s goals are to raise awareness about war and the effects of war, as well as consciousness of resistance to war and opposition to a draft. Another key element of the campaign is to work to dismantle the selective service system and ursue a culture of life rather than a culture of death (from the U.N. Decade for the Culture of Peace). The group also hopes the campaign will create images of COs as heroes and resisters as patriotic. The “I Will Not Kill” campaign will target high school and college age youth of color and youth from rural and impoverished white communities. With this audience in mind, the group is stressing the importance of participation by youth and people of color. Arlene Inouye, a Los Angeles public school teacher and founder of the Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools, said future campaigns have got to be student-led or at least in partnerships with students. “It’s got to be a student movement … for me it doesn’t mean anything if we do something for students unless we have them leading the way,” Inouye said. “We need to be giving our students opportunities to express themselves and to be leaders.
Carlos Emmanuel San Pedro, 19, is part of the peace group Alternative to Military: Options and Resources. He believes that young people are the best recruiters for such a movement because “youth bring in youth.” Also during the conference, at a public forum at The Global Justice Ministry of The Riverside Church, another vital point was stressed: When building a movement, one must make a conscientious effort to have a racially diverse group of leaders and decision-makers. Longtime veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Willie Ricks, known as Mukasa, said that one thing can transcend race and that is struggle. “It’s not about color; it’s about what you do for the world,” Mukasa said. In a spirited and emotional speech about his experiences as a person of a color and a leader of SNCC during the 1960s Civil Rights movement, Mukasa proved to be a real-life example of utilizing nonviolence to overcome oppression. By the end of his speech e had the audience chanting “Hell No We Won’t Go” with their fists in the air, ready to resist the Bush administration’s imperialistic policies. Also at the forum Elandria Williams, 25, and a member of the FOR Nonviolent Youth Collective; shared her knowledge of how youth of color can and are affecting the peace movement. She emphasized again why incorporating youth of color is important the movement. . “In order for a movement to be effective it has to engage with the people it is trying to help,” Williams said. “You can’t assume that one person’s reality is the norm, there are different realities you have to take into consideration.” Jeff Schutts, a former Army lieutenant during the Cold War who was denied CO status, said although it is important to keep in mind the poverty draft, it is also important to realize that money is not the only thing drawing youth into the military; youth also have a desire to be a part of something bigger. Schutts, who is now a professor and a principal member of the War Resisters Support Committee in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, urged the group to remember that it is possible to reach out to people in the military. “Yes the military exists to direct violence … but inside the military there are lots of soldiers who are good people who we can touch,” Schutts said. Castro also stated it was important to keep in mind that people evolve and this means soldiers as well. “There are a lot of people in the left or the progressive movement who can’t see the light when it comes to how a soldier could ever become a conscientious objector. People think ‘they volunteered and they knew what they were getting into’,” Castro said. He added that that was a strange assumption to make because everyone is a changed individual and nobody is exactly the way they were when they were young. “We’ve all evolved and military personnel will evolve as human beings as well,” Castro said. Other Resources: GI Hotline 1-800-FYI-95GI (394-9544) Peace-Out - http://www.peace-out.com/ Center on Conscience and War - http://www.nisbco.org/ Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors - http://www.objector.org/ Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools - http://www.militaryfreeschools.org/ Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors – http://www.objector.org/ Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities – http://www.projectyano.org/
©2001 Fellowship of Reconciliation |
