WHAT’S INSIDE
This free 64-page, pocket-sized book includes everything a New Yorker needs to know about military recruitment and resources for counter-recruitment in NYC. Profiles of former soldiers sit side-by-side information on the enlistment contract, military myths, the No Child Left Behind Act, action/legal resources, a Harper's-style index of facts, and much more. At the heart of the book is an opt-out form that students can tear out, fill in, and hand over to their school administrators to prevent their contact information from being released to recruiters. Download the guide or find out where to get it in your neighborhood.
INTRODUCTION
New York is, for countless millions, a beacon. As much as it has a history as a destination point and a place to make a better life, it also has a history of protest, at different times and for different reasons, when needed.
During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued the Enrollment Act of Conscription, or military draft. Lincoln’s call for 300,000 young men to fight a seemingly endless war frightened even those who supported the Union cause. Not everyone was nervous, however—one of the exemptions to the Act was a “commutation fee.” For $300, an outrageous sum in 1863, the wealthier citizens of New York could buy their way out.
On July 12th, 1863, the names of the first draftees were published in city newspapers. Within hours, throngs of outraged New Yorkers had formed a roving mob, destroying homes of the rich, looting stores, and sadly, fighting amongst themselves. For three days, 50,000 people terrorized New York, sick of the war, enraged at being forced to fight because they literally couldn’t afford not to.
Few New Yorkers would welcome a three-day riot, even if the draft were reinstated for the war in Iraq. But the parallels are there from 1863—the fact that then, as now, money is a key factor in enlistment, and many who join the military do so for economic reasons, even when those benefits are not guaranteed.
On May 2, 2003, aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier called the USS Abraham Lincoln, George W. Bush proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.” He wore a flight suit, despite the fact that he had used his wealth and position in society to advance to the top of the list for the Texas Air National Guard, a position that shielded him from combat in Vietnam.
Almost three years later, we know the war isn’t over. We know the same economic advantages are being used to free certain people from the specter of enlistment, and we know who profits from this war and who loses. What else do we know, and what are we going to do with that knowledge? What you hold in your hands is as much a love letter as a warning, filled with equal parts hope and outrage, a product of wishful thinking, grim acknowledgment and thoughts of the past as well as the future.
PRESS RESOURCES
SUGGESTED READING
Berrigan, Dan. The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. • Blight, James G. and janet M. Lang.
The Fog of War: Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. • Breitman, George, ed.
Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements. • Chomsky, Noam. 9-11. • Crawford,
John. The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in
Iraq. • Johnson, Chalmers. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.
2nd ed. • Hedges, Chris. What Every Person Should Know About War • Kayton, Bruce.
Radical Walking Tours of New York City. • hooks, bell. A Woman’s Mourning Song. •
Lombardi, Mark, et al. Mark Lombardi: Global Networks. • Rich, Adrienne. Diving into
the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972 • Strasser, Steven, ed., The Abu Ghraib Investigations: The
Official Reports of the Independent Panel and the Pentagon on the Shocking Prisoner Abuse
in Iraq. • United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights. • United States.
US Constitution, Bill of Rights. • Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass • Zinn, Howard. A
People’s History of the United States: 1942–Present
THANK YOU
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