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ACTION REPORTS

Outreach To Australian Soldiers:

“A Highly Successful Speak-Out In
Front Of Townsville’s Lavarack
Barracks, One Of The Australian
Army’s Largest Bases”
“Stand Fast Has Built Important
Contacts With People Who Are Able To
Get Stand Fast’s Message Directly To
Soldiers In One Of Australia’s Largest
Garrison Towns”
[Late but worth it: Thanks to Max Watts, Australia, who sent this in.

13 August 2010 Stand Fast

Stand Fast’s Graeme Dunstan organised a highly successful speak-out in front of

Townsville’s Lavarack Barracks, one of the Australian Army’s largest bases.

There was a good turn out of local supporters, 14 in total including a British veteran of
Cyprus, Jenny Stirling from the Greens and David Lowe from the Socialist Alliance. The
speak-out had a good media response with all local news media was represented.
Media included ABC Radio Townsville (12.30 pm Friday news plus a drive time
interview), extensive coverage WIN and Seven TV news (long, maybe 2 minute
segments) and page 4 of the Townsville Bulletin (see photo).

The speak-out did not receive any abuse from troops entering/leaving the barracks and
from the speak-out Stand Fast has built important contacts with people who are able to
get Stand Fast’s message directly to soldiers in one of Australia’s largest garrison towns.

Stand Fast is a group of veterans and former military personnel who oppose the
current wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MORE:

“A Military Adventure Of Dubious Value

To Australia Instigated By War
Criminals”
September 09, 2010 By Stephen Fugate via Max Watts, Australia

Thursday afternoon often sees me near the Enoggera Army Base where alongside
the main road we of the ‘Vigil’ hold posters protesting Australia’s involvement in
the criminal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today was a bit different with the appearance before the Army Camp’s main gate with
Stand Fast who held a Speak Out event that was covered by the media.
This is a fairly poignant time as Australian soldiers have recently been dropping
like flies owing to the increase in hostilities where they are operating in
Afghanistan.

Many of those who have died were Queenslanders.

Honour guards, flag-draped caskets and tearful funerals attended by somber

politicians are becoming all too frequent. And it is all totally unnecessary.

We could stop anytime we wanted rather than ‘finish the job’ and ‘stay the distance’ in a
military adventure of dubious value to Australia instigated by war criminals against
sovereign non-aggressive nations.

I’m reminded of a quote by Mohammed Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) who refused to serve
with the US Army in Vietnam as saying “No Vietnamese ever called me Nigger!”

Veterans’ Day Outreach To New York

National Guard
From: Alan S, Military Resistance Organization
To: Military Resistance Newsletter
Sent: November 11, 2010
Subject: Veterans Day Outreach

11/11/10 OUTREACH:
WHAT BETTER DAY TO HEAR “NO SOLDIER LIKES WAR” THAN THIS?

What better day for troop outreach than Veterans Day? Since I couldn’t answer the
question at home I made my way to commuter terminals looking for soldiers to talk to.

The troops were out and my first stop found 2 National Guard privates. One knew me
and took a contact card [see below] saying he couldn’t accept a handout (Military
Resistance Newsletter, contact card, GI Rights Pamphlet and double sided Military
Resistance/IVAW info).

The other, took the handout paying close attention to my description of our activities then
folding the zip locked handout into squares that fit conveniently into a trouser pocket.
The inconsistency of those unable to take and those taking handouts continues to
intrigue me.

Another encounter wasn’t at a transportation terminal but a department store where a

member of the 82nd Airborne was shopping. Surprised to be approached, he listened
and took a handout, thanking me.

The next encounter was with a private and sergeant standing guard at a terminal
entrance. The private, having recognized me from New York City armory outreaches,
wanted to know why there weren’t any cookies at the 11/5 Armory outreach.
When told there was, he paused then realized he entered the northern armory entrance
while 3 of us were outreaching on the southern side. I felt angry and ashamed at his
story since had there been just one more Military Resistance member or outreach
volunteer we could have split into two groups of two and covered both sides, outreaching
to 15-20 more soldiers we missed because of there were only three present, one less
than required for two posts. (For personal safety, Military Resistance procedure for
contact with groups of troops requires at least two people at each outreach station; no
one distributes alone.) We know the next armory event is 2/25/11. Let’s hope we can
field at least four.

The cookieless private took a handout and extra cards. He also reported indifference at
(some time ago) receiving a copy of the “Querido Camilo” DVD. When asked if he’d
received “Sir! No Sir!” he said yes but hadn’t seen it yet. He was urged to do so soon as
it is quite different in political message than “Querido Camilo.” The sergeant (a first time
receiver) took the last handout with interest, having observed the private’s dialogue with
me.

Finally, a group of five soldiers were found in the same terminal, one being a Lieutenant
Colonel. Not having anymore handouts, just cards, and a bit hesitant to outreach an
officer, a conversation followed nonetheless. All were friendly as I mentioned Military
Resistance’s anti-war position and as I was about to offer cards they began moving on
but not before the colonel and another soldier said, almost in unison, “no soldier likes
war.” What better day to hear that than this one?

MORE:

ACTION REPORTS WANTED:

FROM YOU!
An effective way to encourage others to support members of the armed forces
organizing to resist the Imperial war is to report what you do.

If you’ve carried out organized contact with troops on active duty, at base gates,
airports, or anywhere else, send a report in to Military Resistance for the Action
Reports section.

Same for contact with National Guard and/or Reserve components.

They don’t have to be long. Just clear, and direct action reports about what work
was done and how.

If there were favorable responses, say so.

If there were unfavorable responses or problems, don’t leave them out. Reporting
what went wrong and/or got screwed up is especially important, so that others
may learn from you what to expect, and how to avoid similar problems if possible.

If you are not planning or engaging in outreach to the troops, you have nothing to
report.
 NOTE WELL:

Do not make public any information that could compromise the work.

Identifying information – locations, personnel – will be omitted from the reports.

Whether you are serving in the armed forces or not, do not identify members of
the armed forces organizing to stop the wars.

If accidentally included, that information will not be published.

The sole exception: occasions when a member of the armed services explicitly
directs identifying information be published in reporting on the action.

MORE:

[front]

[back]

[Cards designed by Richie M, Military Resistance Organization]

MORE:

The Military Resistance Organization:

 Military Resistance Mission Statement:
1. The mission of Military Resistance is to bring together in one organization
members of the armed forces and civilians in order to give aid and comfort to
members of the armed forces who are organizing to end the wars of empire in
Afghanistan and Iraq. The long term objective is to assist in eliminating all wars
of empire by eliminating all empires.

2. Military Resistance does not advocate individual disobedience to orders or

desertion from the armed forces. The most effective resistance is organized by
members of the armed forces working together.

However, Military Resistance respects and will assist in the defense of troops who
see individual desertion or refusal of orders as the only course of action open to
them for reasons of conscience.

3. Military Resistance stands for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all

U.S. and other occupation troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Occupied nations have the right to independence and the right to resist Imperial
invasion and occupation by force of arms.

4. Efforts to increase democratic rights in every society, organization, movement,

and within the armed forces itself will receive encouragement and support.

Members of the armed forces, whether those of the United States or any other
nation, have the right and duty to act against dictatorships commanding their
services, and to assist civilian movements against dictatorship.

This applies whether a political dictatorship is imposed by force of arms or a

political dictatorship is imposed by those in command of the resources of society
using their wealth to purchase the political leadership.

5. Military Resistance uses organizational democracy.

This means control of the organization by the membership, through elected

delegates to any coordinating bodies that may be formed, whether at local,
regional, or national levels.

Any member may run for any job in the organization. All persons elected are
subject to immediate recall, by majority vote of the membership.

Coordinating bodies report their actions, decisions and votes to the membership
who elected them, and may be overruled by a majority of the membership.
6. It is not necessary for Military Resistance to be in political agreement with
other organizations in order to work together towards specific common
objectives.

It is productive for organizations working together on common projects to discuss

differences about the best way forward for the movement.

Debate is necessary to arrive at the best course of action.

Membership Requirements:
7. It is a condition of membership that each member prioritize and participate in
organized action to reach out to active duty armed forces, Reserve and/or National
Guard units.

8. Military Resistance or individual members may choose to support candidates

for elective office who are for immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan,
but do not support a candidate opposed to immediate, unconditional withdrawal.

9. Members may not be active duty or drilling reserve commissioned officers, or

employed in any capacity by any police or intelligence agency, local, state, or
national.

10. I understand and am in agreement with the above statement. I pledge to

defend my brothers and sisters, and the democratic rights of the citizens of the
United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

----------------------------(Signed

(Date)

----------------------------- (Application taken by)

Military Resistance: Contact@militaryproject.org

Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657
888-711-2550

MORE

You Can Take Action That Makes

A Difference:
Join The Military Resistance
Organization:
 MILITARY RESISTANCE MEMBERSHIP
APPLICATION
Name (please print): __________________________

Armed Forces? (Branch) ____________

Veteran? Years: ____________

Union: ____________________

Occupation: _________________________________________

Mailing address: ______________________________________

E-Mail:_____________________________

Phone (Landline):_______________________________________

Phone (Cell):___________________________________________

$ dues paid _________________________

(See next: Calendar year basis.)

Armed Forces Members @ Dues waived

Civilians @ $25
Students/Unemployed @ $10
Civilian/Military Prisoners @ Dues Waived

Comments:

NOTE: Civilian applicants will be interviewed, in person if possible, or by phone.

Military Resistance: Contact@militaryproject.org

Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657
888-711-2550

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 Foreign Occupation “Service Member”
Killed Somewhere Or Other In
Afghanistan:
Nationality Not Announced
November 12, 2010 Associated Press

In eastern Afghanistan, a foreign service member was killed in an insurgent attack.

Neither the nationality of the service member nor any other details were released. So far
this year, 626 U.S. and international troops have died in Afghanistan, according to a
count by The Associated Press.

Father Of Slain Soldier Says Son ‘Loved

Life’

Spc. Brett W. Land, 24, of Wasco, Calif., died Oct. 30 in the Zhari district, Afghanistan, of
wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

Nov 02 2010 BY JASON KOTOWSKI, Californian staff writer

Kenneth Land said his son probably would have returned to wrestling after serving in the
U.S. Army.

“He was a good kid,” Land said of 24-year-old Brett W. Land, who was killed Saturday in
Afghanistan. “He just loved life and he loved to wrestle.”

Brett Land was good at other sports, but by high school -- he attended Bakersfield High -
- he put all his focus toward wrestling and traveled to competitions around the country,
Kenneth Land said Tuesday. Brett Land was a three-time Central Section Grand
Masters champion and placed twice in state championships.
He was due home Nov. 15 for a short leave, Kenneth Land said. It would have been his
son’s first chance to see his newborn daughter, Rileigh, after spending the past six
months overseas.

Kenneth Land, who lives in Porterville, said he supported his son’s decision to join the
Army. “We talked and I thought it was a good idea, it seemed like what he wanted to
do,” he said. “I was fine with it.”

Brett Land had planned on serving a couple of tours of duty, then maybe wrestle for
Army and one day coach the sport, Kenneth Land said.

Brett Land was fatally wounded by an improvised explosive device, according to a

Department of Defense news release. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault),
Fort Campbell, Ky.

Kenneth Land said he’s heard there were four other soldiers injured in the explosion, but
he hasn’t been able to find out about the extent of their injuries. They were in an
armored Humvee than ran over the IED, he said.

Brett’s body has been shipped back to the United States, but Kenneth Land said he’s not
sure when it will be turned over to the family, and services had not yet been planned.

In addition to his father, Brett Land is survived by wife Sarah Land, mother Gretchen
Land, brothers Ryan and Rocky, and sister Julie, Kenneth Land said.

Attack On Kabul Military Convoy Kabul

Wounds A Foreign Soldier

A U.S. military vehicle targeted by a bomber in Kabul November 12, 2010. One U.S.
soldier was wounded. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
Nov 12 Reuters

A car bomber attacked a military convoy near the new parliament building in the Afghan
capital on Friday, police and the coalition said, the first attack in Kabul in three months
after security was increased.

Police said an Afghan soldier and one foreign servicemember were wounded in the
attack on the city’s outskirts.

A Reuters witness said the mangled remains of the car used in the bombing lay in the
middle of the main road near the new parliament on Kabul’s outskirts, with debris strewn
over a wide area.

A damaged Humvee vehicle was pulled off to the side. A military base is near the site of
the blast.

The Hizb-i-Islami group that operates under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan
Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the attack. “The bombing
has been carried out by one of our men,” Harun Zarghun, a spokesman for Hizb-i-Islami,
told The Associated Press.

“The attack is part of our campaign to oust American forces from Afghanistan.”

FUTILE EXERCISE:
ALL HOME NOW!

A U.S. Marine from Eighth Marines Alpha Company on a patrol through the town of
Kunjak in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, October 26, 2010.
REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly
A U.S. Marine from the Eighth Marines searching for an improvised explosive device
during patrol in the town of Nabuk in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, October
31, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly

U.S. Marines from Eighth Marines patrol in the town of Deh Zore in southern
Afghanistan’s Helmand province, November 4, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly
U.S. Marines, First Marine Division, call in mortar support as their patrol comes under
fire, Nov. 7, 2010 in Sangin, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE

END THE OCCUPATION

MILITARY NEWS

HOW MANY MORE FOR OBAMA’S WARS?

The casket containing the body of Army Cpl. Chad Young, 25, of Rochester, Ill., who
was killed in Afghanistan, arrives at the 183rd Fighter Wing at Abraham Lincoln Capital
Airport in Springfield, Ill., on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2010. Young, who was promoted to
corporal posthumously, was killed when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an
improvised explosive device in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Nov. 3. (AP Photo/Seth
Perlman)

Obama To Gay Troops: ‘Stay In The

Closet ‘For Now’”
“I Was Against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Before I Was For It!”
[Thanks to Pham Binh, Military Resistance Organization, for the headline.]

Although President Obama has said he is opposed to the antigay military policy,
his administration has argued in court that repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” should
be undertaken by Congress rather than by judicial decision, and that the military
be given enough time for a gradual transition.

November 12, 2010 By Warren Richey, Staff writer, Christian Science Monitor

The Supreme Court refused Friday to take up a request by the Log Cabin Republicans,
a gay rights group, asking the justices to reinstate a federal judge’s order blocking
enforcement of the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The action means the Defense Department can continue to enforce the disputed policy
banning openly gay individuals from serving in the military pending the outcome of an
ongoing legal battle over the measure’s constitutionality.
US District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled in September that the 17-year policy violated the
rights of gay and lesbian service members to be treated equally by the military. In
October, the Riverside, Calif.-based judge issued a worldwide injunction blocking
Pentagon enforcement of the policy.

The injunction was in place for a week before an appeals court panel ordered that it be
lifted. That action effectively reinstated the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” for the period of
time necessary for the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to hear the
government’s appeal of Judge Phillips’s decision in the underlying case. Oral arguments
in the appeal are set for February.

Although President Obama has said he is opposed to the antigay military policy, his
administration has argued in court that repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” should be
undertaken by Congress rather than by judicial decision, and that the military be given
enough time for a gradual transition.

In a brief filed at the Supreme Court on Friday, the Log Cabin Republicans urged the
high court to reinstate Judge Phillips’s injunction.

“The government pretends to this court that legislative repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is
assured and that an orderly, ‘deliberate’ implementation of that repeal – on the military’s
timetable – must be conducted,” Mr. Woods wrote. But repeal is far from assured and,
according to press reports, increasingly unlikely, he said.

“Because legislative repeal is dubious,” Woods wrote, “it cannot be relied on to remedy
the constitutional harms that service members are sustaining every day.”

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS
“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had
I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of
biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

“The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing the
Army from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced the
government to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy”
-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt

It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.

-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

Set The Night On Fire

(Armistice Day 2010)
From: Mike Hastie
To: Military Resistance
Sent: November 11, 2010
Subject: Set The Night On Fire ( Armistice Day 2010 )

Set The Night On Fire (Armistice Day 2010)

While the so-called “hippies” were dropping drugs in the 60s,

the United States Government was dropping Napalm on innocent
Vietnamese villages throughout America’s terrorist war on Vietnam.

As a veteran, I am constantly reminded that war is beyond evil,

and that 58,000 American soldiers did not die for some glorious
act called freedom. 300,000 American soldiers were wounded
in this war.

Tens of thousands of American veterans committed

suicide. Our nation was torn apart. The Vietnamese culture was
absolutely decimated. The death toll was in the millions. 90% of
those killed were innocent civilians.

Vietnam’s pain and suffering

as a country is far beyond anything that has ever been experienced
in American history. It is often stated that it takes seven generations
to heal from a war. Since the end of World War II, the United States
has bombed 28 countries.

Lying is the most powerful weapon in war.

I did not serve in Vietnam for the cause of freedom, I served Big
Business in America for the cause of profit. The only glory in war,
is in the imagination of those who were never there.
Just remember that W A R stands for: Wealthy Are Richer.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
November 11, 2010

In memory of :
Bobby Drew
Willie Hemphill
Sean Daley
They did not die in Vietnam,
but as a result of being there.

Photo and caption from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of
Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work,
contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)
One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head.
The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a
so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen
of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
December 13, 2004

NEED SOME TRUTH?

CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER
Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the government
in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more
than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside the
armed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class
people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a
weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces.

If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network
of active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

And join with Iraq Veterans Against the War to end the occupations and bring all
troops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)

How To Stop A War:

“On April 27 [1968] A Group Of Forty
Active-Duty People Marched At The
Head Of An Anti-War Demonstration
In San Francisco, The First Time GIs
Led A Civilian Peace Rally”
 “On February 16, 1969, The Alliance
Sponsored A Peace Rally In Downtown
Seattle, With Two Hundred Active- Duty
People Leading A Crowd Of Several
Thousand”

[No, they didn’t go to DC begging the Imperial Congress to stop the war. They
weren’t fools. They knew that when the army rebelled, the war would end. They
did, and it did. Duh. T]

Excerpts from: SOLDIERS IN REVOLT: DAVID CORTRIGHT, Anchor Press/Doubleday,

Garden City, New York, 1975. [Reprint available from Haymarket Books]

********************************

The young people forced into the ranks by the Vietnam build-up expressed a
sometimes articulate, sometimes desperate, opposition to an unwanted mission.

The GI movement imbued the military with the voice of a troubled citizenry, providing a
measure of democratic restraint on though otherwise unresponsive and imperious
institutions of war.
The appearance of coffeehouses and a burgeoning GI press, in an atmosphere of
mounting disillusionment over stalemate in Vietnam, set the stage for the first significant
GI action.

The Army’s huge armored training center at Fort Hood experienced a particularly rapid
deterioration of troop morale, especially among combat returnees, and throughout the
Vietnam period witnessed extensive unrest and drug use (the base’s copious marijuana
supplies earned it the sobriquet “Fort Head”).

The civilians who opened the Oleo Strut in the summer of 1968 thus met with an
enthusiastic response; with the founding of Fatigue Press, a long history of successful GI
activism began.

The first political gathering of Fort Hood soldiers occurred in Killeen on July 5, 1968.

A “Love-ln” and countercultural festival was held in Condor Park, featuring rock music
and anti-war speeches; approximately two hundred soldiers attended, most of them
white.

The atmosphere at the base grew considerably tenser in the following weeks, however,
as thousands of troops were prepared for possible use against civilian demonstrators at
the Democratic National Convention in Chicago — culminating in a dramatic and
important act of political defiance among black troops.

On the evening of August 23, over one hundred black soldiers from the 1st Armored
Cavalry Division gathered on base to discuss their opposition to Army racism and the
use of troops against civilians.

After a lengthy, all-night assembly, which included a visit from commanding general
Powell, forty-three of the blacks were arrested for refusal to follow orders.

The action of the blacks was spontaneous and unrelated to the work of the white
soldiers (reflecting a common pattern of parallel but separate development of dissent
among blacks and whites), but the Oleo Strut GIs supported the brothers and helped
with their legal defense.

Because of widespread support for the resisters, especially among blacks, the Army’s
treatment of the Fort Hood 43 was not as harsh as it might have been; most received
only light jail sentences.

The San Francisco Bay Area has been in the vanguard of most of the radical
movements in the United States during the past decade, and the GI movement was no
exception.

With the support of two local GI newspapers, The Ally and Task Force, area
servicepeople were among the first to speak out in 1968.

On April 27 a group of forty active-duty people marched at the head of an anti-war

demonstration in San Francisco, the first time GIs led a civilian peace rally.
Two months later, also in San Francisco, nine AWOL enlisted men (five soldiers, two
sailors, one airman, and one Marine) publicly took sanctuary at Howard Presbyterian
Church in moral opposition to the war. After a forty-eight-hour “service of celebration
and communion,” they were arrested by MPs on July 17.

***********************************************

In the fall, the growing network of GI activists in the area laid plans for the largest
servicemen’s peace action to date — an active-duty contingent for the scheduled
October is anti-war rally in downtown San Francisco.

Among the efforts to mobilize area soldiers and distribute literature about the
march was Navy nurse Susan Schnall’s daring feat of dropping leaflets from an
airplane onto five area military bases (for which she was later court-martialed).

As the demonstration date approached, military authorities became nervous that a

large number of GIs might become involved, and, in a manner that became
standard whenever protests were planned, sought to prevent servicemen from
attending.

A communication from the Military Airlift Command in Washington, later anonymously

released to The Ally, depicted the military’s attitude toward even lawful dissent: it urged
that ‘this demonstration be quashed if possible because of possible severe impact on
military discipline throughout the services.”

On the Saturday of the actual march, soldiers at the nearby Presidio were detained
for mandatory company formations, while special maneuvers and other diversions
were held at several West Coast bases.

Despite such obstruction, two hundred active-duty GIs and some one hundred
reservists marched at the head of the demonstration, in what was the largest
gathering yet of the expanding GI movement.

Two days later, in an incident partly inspired by the show of antiwar strength on October
12, twenty-seven inmates of the Presidio stockade held a sit-down strike to protest the
shooting death a few days earlier of fellow prisoner Richard Bunch and to call attention
to unbearable living conditions—what became known later as the Presidio mutiny. (For
a sensitive and penetrating account of the Presidio incident see Fred Gardner’s Unlawful
Concert.)

As the GI movement emerged, civilian radical organizations played an important role in

helping to sustain rank-and-file dissent. One of the first agencies to recognize the
changes taking place within the Army was the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC)
and its closely allied counterpart, the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA).

One of the first examples of this co-operation was the Gl-Civilian Alliance for Peace (Gl-
CAP) and the newspaper Counterpoint at Fort Lewis.

Aided by SMC activists, Gl-CAP developed into one of the most successful early
Gl-movement groups, with as many as fifty servicemen at regular weekly
meetings.
On February 16, 1969, the Alliance sponsored a peace rally in downtown Seattle,
with two hundred active- duty people leading a crowd of several thousand.

A few months later, the servicemen formed their own organization apart from the
civilians and continued their work as an all GI group.

MORE:

Vietnam GI: Reprints Available

Vietnam: They Stopped An Imperial War

Not available from anybody else, anywhere

Edited by Vietnam Veteran Jeff Sharlet from 1968 until his death, this newspaper
rocked the world, attracting attention even from Time Magazine, and extremely
hostile attention from the chain of command. The pages and pages of letters in
the paper from troops in Vietnam condemning the war are lost to history, but you
can find them here.

The Military Project has copied complete sets of Vietnam GI. The originals were a
bit rough, but every page is there. Over 100 pages, full 11x17 size.

Free on request to active duty members of the armed forces.

Cost for others: $15 if picked up in New York City. For mailing inside USA add $5
for bubble bag and postage. For outside USA, include extra for mailing 2.5
pounds to wherever you are.

Checks, money orders payable to: The Military Project

Orders to:
Military Resistance
Box 126
2576 Broadway
New York, N.Y.
10025-5657

All proceeds are used for projects giving aid and comfort to members of the
armed forces opposed to today’s Imperial wars.

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT

THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE

WARS

November 13, 1933:

American Working-Class Heroes

Carl Bunin, Peace History November 10-16

The first recorded “sit-down” strike in the U.S. was staged by workers at the Hormel
Packing Company in Austin, Minnesota. The tactic worked: Hormel agreed to submit
wage demands to binding arbitration.

The success of this strike reinvigorated the labor movement, which had been in decline
through the 1920s.
“Four hundred men, many of them armed with clubs, sticks and rocks, crashed
through the plant entrance, shattering the glass doors and sweeping the guards
before them.

“The strikers quickly ran throughout the plant to chase out non-union workers.
One . . . group crashed through the doors of a conference room where Jay Hormel
and five company executives were meeting and declared “We’re taking
possession. So move out!” (Larry Engelmann, “We Were the Poor -- The Hormel
Strike of 1933,” Labor History, Fall, 1974.)

The tactic worked: within four days Hormel agreed to submit wage demands to binding
arbitration. The success of this strike reinvigorated the labor movement, which had been
in decline throughout the 1920s.

OCCUPATION HAITI

Foreign Occupation Troops Attack

Anti-Occupation Protest:
“Protests Against The UN Occupation
Have Been On The Rise”
10/19/2010 Weekly News Update on the Americas,

On Oct. 15 about 60 Haitians protested an extension of the mandate for the UN

Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) by blocking the entrance to the mission’s
main logistics base near the Port-au-Prince airport.

The Associated Press reported that the protesters, many of them people left homeless
by a major earthquake on Jan. 12, spray-painted slogans on cars and burned the
Brazilian flag; Brazilian troops lead the joint military-police mission, which has occupied
Haiti since June 2004.

MINUSTAH security forces reacted violently to the protest, with a plainclothes guard
striking a protester and a Jordanian soldier firing a warning shot. AP journalists said a
Haitian police agent hit protesters with his rifle and a UN vehicle “push(ed) through the
crowd, knocking over protesters and journalists.”

The United Nations (UN) Security Council had voted unanimously on Oct. 14 to extend
MINUSTAH’s mandate for one year, to Oct. 15, 2011. The council set the maximum
number of soldiers for the force at 8,940 and the number of police agents at 4,391; in
2008 the maximum was 7,060 soldiers and 2,091 police agents. The UN has budgeted
$380 million for the mission this year. (AP, Oct. 15 via San Francisco Examiner;
AlterPresse, Haiti, Oct. 14; Radio Kiskeya, Haiti, Oct. 14)

Opposition to renewing the mandate is widespread among grassroots

organizations, and protests against the UN occupation have been on the rise
since the death of 16-year-old Gérald Jean Gilles at a MINUSTAH camp in Cap-
Haïtien on Aug. 17.

At an Oct. 15 press conference, economist Camille Chalmers, executive secretary of the

nonprofit Haitian Platform Advocating an Alternative Development (PAPDA), denounced
the mission as part of a “new offensive by American imperialism.”

He cited a history of abuse, including a major case of sexual abuse that led to the
removal of more than 100 Sri Lankan soldiers, and noted that MINUSTAH cost a total of
$5 billion from 2004 to 2009. “Rather than serving to reinforce the institutional
capabilities of the Haitian state, (these resources) have been squandered in the
operational expenses of the UN mission,” Chalmers said. (AlterPresse, Oct. 15)

On Oct. 14 the Haitian delegation to the third World March of Women conference, held
in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the 1,000 representatives from
42 countries that “Haitian women are fighting against the presence of MINUSTAH in our
country.” (AlterPresse, Oct. 16)

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10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

How Zionists Terrorize A Child

In Occupied Palestine:
Arrested, Detained, Beaten And
Fined By The Occupation Army,
 Palestinian Karam Daana, 13, Has
Been Placed Under House Arrest
For Five Months Without Trial:
“He Doesn’t Have The Right To Play”
“His Father Has Lost His Work Permit”

Karam with his father Khalid.

A DCI spokesperson commented on the sentence, “It’s a very draconian

punishment for someone who maintains his innocence and he has not yet had a
trial. There are lots of other measures they could take without preventing him from
going to school. Why deprive a 13-year-old from going to school?”

October 25, 2010 Written and photographed by Charlotte Silver, Palestine Monitor

After being arrested, detained, beaten and fined by the Israeli army, Karam Daana,
13, has been placed under house arrest for five months during which he cannot
attend school.

His father has lost his work permit.

Karam is yet to receive a trial.

Entering a room full of adults and strangers, Karam Daana timidly says hello before
immediately finding a seat and hanging his head down. At first his shy behavior seemed
standard for a 13-year-old boy, bashful in front of so much attention. But quickly it
became clear that there is nothing ordinary about Karam’s behavior.

Karam’s father, Khalid Daana, explained, “He’s not normal, he doesn’t talk too much, he
doesn’t pray too much. He was always talking, he was active and clever. But now he is
another person.”

On 28 September, the Ofer Military Court, located outside Ramallah, sentenced

Karam Daana to five months house arrest at his uncle’s home and fined the family
2,000 NIS during his pre-trail hearing.

During this time, Karam may not attend school or leave the parameters of this
home.

The charge was throwing rocks at a settler.

Children are routinely picked up on similar charges: The Defence for Children
International organisation estimates that 700 children are imprisoned every year, 300 of
which are prosecuted in a military court. Typical sentences are approximately three
months in prison, of which one month is served during pre-trial detention.

Yet, this time the prosecutors sought a uniquely harsh punishment of five months
confinement without school.

The loss of this time in school will prevent Karam from moving onto the eighth grade with
his peers; he will need to make up the seventh grade.

A DCI spokesperson commented on the sentence, “It’s a very draconian punishment for
someone who maintains his innocence and he has not yet had a trial. There are lots of
other measures they could take without preventing him from going to school. Why
deprive a 13-year-old from going to school?”

After leaving the Offer court, Karam told his uncle, Basan Daana, “I only need this:
I want to see my friends, to play with my friends, to go to school, to carry my bag,
to go outside, to feel free, to move, to play.”

Confounded, Basan repeats, “He doesn’t have the right to play.”

Khalid describes Karam’s daily agony under house arrest, “Every morning he
looks out the window and sees all of his friends, all of his cousins, they are going
to the school and sometimes he wants to run away to go with them.”

There are constant surveillance cameras monitoring the activities of Palestinians in the
Old City of Hebron, if Karam is caught violating his sentence, his family will be charged
20,000 NIS.

The punishment did not stop at 2,000 NIS and house arrest for Karam.
A few days after Karam returned from Ofer, the Israeli soldiers revoked Khalid’s
permit to work in Israel while he was crossing a checkpoint in Hebron. “Now he
doesn’t have work. Just because he’s the father,” a neighbour explained.

Karam lives in the Old City of Hebron, 100 metres from the settlement of Kiryat Arba. On
September 22, he was arrested after a settler accused him of throwing rocks at her car,
causing her to crash.

When the police picked Karam up, they blindfolded him as they took him to Ja’bara
police station in Hebron.

Once there, the police interrogated Karam, shouting at him and asking “Why do
you throw rocks.” Karam told them that he did not throw rocks. After reviewing
the surveillance cameras, the Israeli soldiers saw that Karam was nowhere near
the accident and released him that same day.

However, the next day during Karam’s sister’s wedding party, the Israeli soldiers
returned to his home and took Karam back to Ja’bara police station, where they further
interrogated him until 1:00 am.

“They tied his hands, covered his eyes, and his legs also. They were shouting in his
face,” said Basan.

Karam broke his silence, and answered with a raspy voice, “They only asked who throws
stones, who do you know that throws stones, do you know who throws stones.”

In the middle of the night, the police transferred the boy to Ofer prison, where he
remained for the week.

A neighbour of Karam explained, “The Israelis want to do this: they want to make
the kids scared, not to go to these streets, not to use it. They don’t want anyone to
come here, to stay here. They want to make people leave.”

The roads leading to Karam’s and many other Palestinian homes in the Old City are
forbidden to non-settler cars.

In order to get to Karam’s family’s house, one must park outside the village and walk
along roads that settlers drive on freely.

Karam is still awaiting trial, at which point the military court will hear from
prosecuting and defence attorneys. It has become customary for children to plead
guilty regardless of their culpability, as it ensures a shorter detention period.

However, Karam will plead innocent.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign
terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The
foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]
DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

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