Summer 2008 Number 2 CCW Kicks Off Its Lobbying Campaign!
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The Reporter The Center on for Conscience’ Sake Conscience & War Volume 65 Summer 2008 Number 2 CCW Kicks Off Its Lobbying Campaign! Andrew Gorby explains CCW’s lobbying strategy for the Military Conscientious Objector Act as CCW supporters await their lobbying visits. Also Inside: CCW Supporters Gather in DC May 15 and 16 News Briefs....................Page 2 in Support of Conscientious Objection sharing the highlights of the work each had done CCW News.....................Page 3 On May 15 and 16, supporters of conscientious during the previous year. Then Bill Galvin gave a objectors gathered in Washington, DC, in honor brief history of conscientious objection and An- GI Rights Hotline............Page 4 of International CO Day. The two-day event in- drew Gorby spoke about conscientious objectors CCW’s Amicus Brief......Page 5 cluded CCW’s annual Advisory Council meeting, in the current climate. and a lobby day in support of the rights of COs Lobby Day 2008............Page 6 in the military. Over lunch Thomas Bergman led a discussion encouraging participants to think “outside the Movie Review.................Page 7 International CO Day began with a welcome by box” about what conscientious objection really J.E. McNeil, Executive Director of CCW, which is, rather than limiting one’s understanding to the was followed by each staff member of the Center legal definition set forth in current laws. Continued on page 6 Reporter for Conscience’ Sake 1 Vol. 65, No. 2 News Briefs NYT: Desperate USMC Recruiters solution to the problem many students face. Target Women and Minorities “We were hoping to educate as many students As the current wars make military recruitment as possible about the priorities of the federal government for military spending as opposed to Board of Directors more difficult, the United States Marine Corps Phil Jones, Chair is stepping up their efforts at enticing young lowering tuition,” said Ryerson Students’ Union Church of the Brethren people to enlist from under-represented demo- President Nora Loreto. graphics in order to broaden their recruitment E. James Lieberman, Vice Chair Loreto and about 10 others picketed the Force’s Jewish Peace Fellowship pool. booth at the April 3 Grab-a-Grad fair in the Theodore Sitther, Secretary This is according to an article in the New York buisiness building. At Large Times published April 21. Tom Hoopes, Treasurer Demonstrators wore shirts with fake blood - Philadelphia Yearly Meeting In the latest campaign, a print ad in a fitness stains and handed out thousands of anti-war fly ers and buttons with messages like “education Dan Mach magazine shows a female marine striking a mar- At Large tial arts pose in front of a crowd of men who are not occupation” and “drop fees not bombs.” looking up to her as their leader. The tag line: Dallas Wisehaupt Canada Launches New Military At Large “There are no female marines. Only marines.” Advertising Campaign David Miller The advertisement is appealing to athletic Mennonite Central Commitee females who are eager to prove themselves In the past, Canadian Forces advertisements Staff against their male counterparts, according to focused on combat. Now, they focus on other J.E. McNeil market research. missions of the Canadian military, according to Executive Director an April 16 article from Canwest News Service. Bill Galvin The recruitment of women stands in contrast to Counseling Coordinator statistics reported in an article in the New York The new ads have a music-video edge to them Times Magazine March 18, 2007, that nearly with images that blink and slower, moodier Elizabeth Sprague Outreach Coordinator one-third of women seeking treatment from music. The words “Fight Distress,” “Fight Fear” the VA reported they were raped during their and “Fight Chaos” float across the screen as Thomas Bergman service, as documented in a 2003 study financed members of the Armed Forces are shown racing Administrative Assistant by the Department of Defense. across the frozen tundra of Canada’s North on Andrew Gorby snowmobiles to save people huddling together Legislative Affairs Additional advertising also targets people from under blankets in the fuselage of a downed minority groups. The Marines Corps is reach- Daniel O’Connor plane. Staff Attorney ing out to Latinos with ads in La Raza’s news- paper that emphasize family and honor (“Each “There was some concern from outside the unit in the Corps is a family, and each member Forces that we were highlighting the combat Founded in 1940, the Center on Conscience & War works to extend knows they never stand alone”), and to Arab- aspect too much. There is a lot the Canadian and defend the rights of conscientious Americans with a message about nationality Forces does and we need to make sure that Ca- objectors to war. In pursuit of this call- and identity (“I am American. I am Arab. I am a nadians see that,” said Col. Matthew Overton. ing, the Center provides these services Marine ... I know where I stand”). free of charge: He denied that a rising Canadian death toll in • Counsel military conscientious objectors. Students at Ryerson University Afghanistan caused the change in the military’s • Provide legal support for military person- usual combat-oriented advertising message. nel. Protest Recruitment on Campus • Lobby Congress to extend and defend the rights of conscientious objectors. Some students at Ryerson University in To- VA Releases Suicide Statistics • Provide accurate information to the public on Selective Service registration. ronto, Canada, cannot pay their tuition, and • Provide support to COs who refuse to Canadian military recruiters are there offering In Veterans for Common Sense vs. Peake, the register for the draft through F.E.A.T student to help. Veterans Administration (VA) disclosed docu- loans. ments revealing reports of over 500 suicides a • Counsel soldiers on the GI Rights Hotline with accuracy and honesty. According to an article in the Eyeopener, month occurring among veterans. The docu- • Military counter-recruitment information Ryerson’s student newspaper, on April 8, 2008, ments also reveal that the VA knew of these sta- • Provide workshops, training, and speakers tistics but did not disclose them until this case. on any of the above topics. however, some students think this is the wrong Reporter for Conscience’ Sake 2 Vol. 65, No. 2 CCW News Luis Salvador Interns for CCW CCW Staff Support IVAW’s Winter Sol- dier Testemonials Hello, my name is Luis Salvador at the age of 16, and I’ll be working with the Center on Conscience & War from April 21 Iraq War and Afghanistan War veterans gave chilling eyewitness until April 25. I will return accounts at IVAW’s “Winter Soldier” event Thursday March 13 on June 9 through the 20 through Sunday in Silver Spring Maryland. This event was par- for my internship. I am a allel to testimony given subsequent to the Vietnam War in 1971 Junior currently attend- by veterans about the realities of that war. But this time the ing Cesar Chavez Charter veterans were speaking out earlier and more precisely as to the High School for Public clear violations of Articles of War. And even more importantly, Policy. As part of the each speaker’s testimony was vetted and verified prior to their school curriculum I have being given a forum to speak. to attend three weeks of community service. After Winter Soldier was an event by and for IVAW and while non- high school I would like members of IVAW were allowed to witness it, they were just as to attend to a college clearly not the focus of this event. The Center was there in mass somewhere in Japan, in a supporting role with Executive Director, J. E. McNeil, and studying art or technical staff attorney Dan O’Connor vetting and advising many of the engineering. During the dozens of speakers. “The unexpurgated versions of the stories time I will spend here I they told were heart rending,” remarked J. E. after the event. will try to help out the “But it was Dan’s and other attorneys’ and my job to make most that I can. My goal sure each of the veterans and servicemembers either did not is to learn something new say things that put them in legal jeopardy or were at least clear and meet with some new about what they were doing when they decided to tell all.” people. I support what this organization is do- “I was asked later on if I listened to any of the testimony,” ing for those who object explained Dan, “But by the time I had met and heard the unvar- to killing. In my belief nished stories, I didn’t have the energy to hear it again.” those who kill without a conscience cannot call Andrew Gorby, CCW’s Director of Legislative Affairs and a themselves humans or soldier, just monsters. I disagree with member of IVAW, organized a table of information with materi- what the military is doing by not creating soldiers but drones, als and counselors of the GI Rights Hotline. “While we were bodies that react on nothing but muscle memory, leaving their not allowed to put the GI Rights Hotline or the Center’s name conscience too slow to have a thought. on the table, we wanted to be sure that the veterans and ser- vicemembers had the information they needed while they were Check out the CCW website! there. We actually were able to counsel a few servicemembers www.centeronconscience.org as to discharge issues at the table.” Bill Galvin, CCW’s coun- You can access: seling coordinator, also helped staff the table. Information on lobbying your member of Congress in More than 200 hundred veterans and servicemembers attended support of conscientious objection.