Counter-recruitment
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Counter-recruitment is a strategy often taken up to oppose war. Counter-recruitment is an attempt to prevent military recruiters from enlisting civilians into the military. There are several methods commonly utilized in a counter-recruitment campaign, ranging from the political speech to direct action. Such a campaign can also target entities connected to the military, such as intelligence agencies, or private corporations, especially those with defense contracts.
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[edit] In the United States
Recently, counter-recruitment (which has long been a strategy of pacifist and other anti-war groups) has received a large boost in the United States with the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and the well-publicized recruitment difficulties of branches of the U.S. military, particularly the Army and National Guard. Beginning in early 2005, the U.S. counter-recruitment movement grew substantially, particularly on high school and college campuses, where it is often led by students who see themselves as targeted for military service in a war they don't support.
[edit] Early history
The counter-recruitment movement became important as the successor to the anti-draft movement with the end of conscription in the United States in 1973, just after the end of the Vietnam War. The military stepped up its efforts to recruit volunteers to fill the gap, with the total number of recruiters, recruiting stations, and dollars spent on recruiting each more than doubling between 1971 and 1974. Anti-war and anti-draft activists responded with a number of initiatives, using tactics similar to those used by counter-recruiters today. Activists distributed leaflets to students, publicly debated recruiters, and used equal-access provisions to obtain space next to recruiters to dispute their claims. The American Friends Service Committee (A.F.S.C.) and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (C.C.C.O.) began publishing counter-recruitment literature and attempting to coordinate the movement nationally. These organizations have been continuously involved in counter-recruitment to the present day.
[edit] High schools
On U.S. high school campuses, most counter-recruitment activism since 2001 has focused around a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires that high schools provide contact and other information to the military for all of their students who do not opt out.
Counter-recruitment campaigns have attempted to put pressure on schools to disobey the law in protest, to be active about informing students of their ability to opt out, and/or to allow counter-recruiters equal access to military recruiters. These political campaigns have had a significant degree of success, particularly in the Los Angeles area, where one has been led by the Coalition Against Militarism In Our Schools, and the San Francisco Bay Area, where one has been led by Military Out of Our Schools-Bay Area. A simpler and easier, though perhaps less effective, strategy by counter-recruiters has been to simply show up before or after the school day and provide students entering or exiting their school with opt-out forms, produced by the local school district or by a sympathetic national legal organization such as the American Civil Liberties Union or the National Lawyers Guild.
Organizations which have attempted to organize such campaigns on a national scale include A.F.S.C. and C.C.C.O., the Campus Antiwar Network, and the War Resisters League. Code Pink, with the Ruckus Society, has sponsored training camps on counter-recruitment as well as producing informational literature for use by counter-recruiters. United for Peace and Justice has counter-recruitment as one of its seven issue-specific campaigns. Mennonite Central Committee http://www.mcc.org/us/co/counter/conference/ has a lot of resources on the subject and held a conference Nov. 3-5, 2006 in San Antonio, TX for those working on this issue.
[edit] Colleges and universities
On U.S. college campuses, the Campus Antiwar Network (C.A.N.) claims that its protests have chased recruiters off over a dozen schools since its founding in 2003, including San Francisco State University, City College of New York, UC Santa Cruz, and (in the first and perhaps most-known protest, as president Bush was being inaugurated) Seattle Central Community College, as well as disrupting recruitment at countless others. A common method of attack against military recruitment at schools which have non-discrimination policies that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered students has been to demand that military recruitment be prevented in order to comply with these policies, since the U.S. military discriminates against LGBT persons through its Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
C.A.N. also organized nationally coordinated student counter-recruitment protests on December 6, 2005, as the Supreme Court was hearing arguments in Rumsfeld v. FAIR to decide the legality of the Solomon Amendment, which requires universities to allow military recruiters or forfeit their federal funding.
At colleges and universities, counter-recruitment activities have often resulted in discipline from university administrators, who have threatened activists with penalties including expulsion, and law enforcement, who have arrested and sometimes used physical violence against activists engaged in counter-recruitment protest. C.A.N. says that it has faced ten "major free speech cases" relating to its counter-recruitment activities. In every case, all charges against students were dropped after a public defense campaign was waged. Many counter-recruitment activities at universities also appear in the Pentagon's surveillance database of anti-war protests, a portion of which was leaked to NBC in December 2005.
[edit] Proposition I/College Not Combat
Perhaps the most significant single result of the counter-recruitment movement to date has been the passage, with 60% in support, of Proposition I/College Not Combat in San Francisco on November 5, 2005. This proposition, which does not carry enforcement power, declared the city's opposition to military recruitment in public high schools and universities and stated that money should instead be directed toward scholarships. It was written by Todd Chretien.
[edit] In the United Kingdom
Opposition to joining the British Army existed in Ireland at least as far back as the 1800s. A number of anti-recruiting songs dating from the pre-World War I period exist, with some dating the mid 1800s - some examples are Arthur McBride, Mrs. McGrath, and Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye.
[edit] In Canada
Recently, Operation Objection has emerged as the umbrella counter-recruitment campaign in Canada. Despite the fact that Canada did not send troops to Iraq, there has been significant military participation in the occupation of Afghanistan, with over 2200 Canadian troops serving there, as well as Canada preparing to take command of the NATO mission. The Canadian military has also launched a national campaign to dramatically increase the number of recruiters throughout the country. Operation Objection is growing rapidly across Canada with youth and students taking part in protests against military recruiting activities on university campuses.[4]
[edit] Debate
In addition to the general debates about war and the alleged connection of the military to homophobia, sexism, racism, and imperialism which take place across the anti-war movement and relate to counter-recruitment, there are debates about the benefits of military service and the promises of recruiters which take place specifically in the context of counter-recruitment:
- Whether recruiters exploit a lack of other options for underprivileged young people, in a phenomenon sometimes called the "Poverty Draft."
- Whether recruiters are honest. Various investigations, such as one in May 2005 by Cincinnati's WLWT, have revealed dishonest conduct by individuals; a recruiter interviewed in the documentary Why We Fight notes that people in his profession have "the bad reputation of used car salesmen." Military defenders argue that the bad actions of a few shouldn't taint the whole. Counter-recruiters argue that high pressure on recruiters creates systemic dishonesty. The U.S. military shut down its entire recruitment apparatus for a single day in 2005 in order to "refocus" on ethical conduct.
- Whether the military will pay for an education. Through various programs, such as the G.I. Bill in the U.S., which offers up to $71,000, young people are given an incentive to join the military in the form of scholarships for college when their enlistments expire. This is the primary reason why many enlist; a young recruit interviewed in Why We Fight, William Solomon, cites this as his motivation. Counter-recruiters argue that this is a false hope, noting for example that 57% of those who apply for G.I. Bill benefits do not receive them, and that the average net payment to those who do is less than $2200. This is a consequence of various eligibility requirements; 65% of eligible veterans receive money.
- Whether military service provides job skills. Recruiters often suggest that personal and technical skills learned in the military will improve later employment prospects in civilian life, with very similar skills utilized for nursing and electronic and mechanical repair. Counter-recruiters claim that this does not apply to most recruits, citing for example a study in the U.S. which found that 12% of male and 6% of female veterans say they have used their military skills in their civilian careers. However, a study titled "Military Experience & CEOs: Is There a Link?" found that "leadership skills acquired during military training can absolutely enhance one’s chances for success in corporate life."
- Whether reform from within is a better solution than disassociation. Many who agree that there are problems in the military argue that these will be better solved if those who recognize them as problems gain influence in the military rather than avoiding it. Others argue in response that the military's problems are structural, and that its disciplinary hierarchy prevents successful internal pressure. This debate occurs mostly in narrower contexts, such as debates about whether left-wing activists should join the military or whether universities in the U.S. should have ROTC programs, rather than in discussions of general enlistment.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Cortright, David (2005). Soldiers in Revolt. Haymarket Books. ISBN 1-931859-27-2. Page 187.
- ^ Cortright, David (2005). Soldiers in Revolt. Haymarket Books. ISBN 1-931859-27-2. Page 237.
- ^ Past Actions and Events. Retrieved on March 18, 2006.
- ^ "Amid Scandal, Recruitment Halts", CBS News, May 20, 2005.
- ^ Diener, Sam; Munro, Jamie (June-July 2005). "Military Money for College: A Reality Check". Peacework.
- ^ Honesty in Recruitment Newsletter (pdf). Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools. Retrieved on March 18, 2006.
- ^ "Yes, sir! Military officers do well as CEOs", MSNBC, June 16, 2006.
- ^ Wilkes, Sean (2004). Advocates for Columbia ROTC and Students United for America Brief: Proposal to Return ROTC to Columbia’s Campus. Retrieved on March 18, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Center on Conscience & War (CCW) since 1940
- American Friends Service Committee antiwar since 1917
- [10] Project YANO on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities
- "Counter-recruitment day sweeps U.S. colleges" on Common Dreams.org
- Former military recruiter Chris Dugan on why he became a counter-recruiter
- FrontPageMag, David Horowitz's magazine, provides a hostile survey of the people and organizations involved in the counter-recruitment movement
- Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and MOOS Military Out of Our Schools
- The New Yorker's Guide to Military Recruitment an extensive anti-recruitment fact source.
- Counter-Recruitment 101; a young Chicago vet tells it like it is. From Chicago FreeSpeechZone.
- GI Rights Hotline
- Washington Truth in Recruiting Statement listing the untruths (omissions and misrepresentations) of recruiters
- War Resisters League- Youth and Counter-recruitment Program
- The Official US Military School Recruiting Program Handbook, widely cited in the US counter-recruitment movement
- Operation Yellow Elephant
- Mennonite Central Committee Conference on Counter Recruitment
- Not on My Watch; Chicago college students get tossed out of a job fair after engaging military recruiters. From Chicago FreeSpeechZone.
