Young Americans Say, 'Stop the Bombing!'

April 30, 1999, will be the 24 anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War. A generation ago our parents marched, burned draft cards, sat-in, and said, "Hell no! We won't go." Working class youth and students led the mass movement to end the Vietnam War. They also did most of the dying for the United States. Now the youth of America face the prospect of a ground war in Yugoslavia.

Young Americans say, "Bombs are never humanitarian," We won't go to War In Yugoslavia.

April 30, 1999, will be the 24 anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam War. A generation ago our parents marched, burned draft cards, sat-in, and said, "Hell no! We won't go." Working class youth and students led the mass movement to end the Vietnam War. They also did most of the dying for the United States. Now the youth of America face the prospect of a ground war in Yugoslavia.

Bombing has only fueled the fires of ethnic and religious hatred in Yugoslavia. Bombing can never be humanitarian. The escalation of violencenever brings peace - Not in our neighborhoods, our schools, at home, on the job, or in a foreign country. Negotiations are far more likely to resolve conflict. Bombing will not stop the atrocities. So far it has only strengthened extremists among the Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. Conflicts cannot be resolved through aggressions, sanctions, blockades, or other means of violence or coercion. Instead, our government should work for peace through the United Nations.

Our government is now spending billions of dollars on bombs, and may spend billions more on a militarily imposed "peace" once the war is over. Meanwhile, the war we should be waging in this country is the war on problems the youth of America face every day: The war on police brutality - for civilian control, the war on racism - to save affirmative action, the war on unemployment - for public works jobs at living wages. These are the wars in which we'd like to enlist.

The memory of war in Vietnam is still with us. We have grown up in its aftermath. We know the destruction it brought to our families, and to the people of Vietnam. We will not go through it again.

The YCL joins with all peace-loving young people throughout the world to protest the U.S. led-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. On April 23, while the 50th anniversary of NATO is "celebrated" in Washington DC, youth will rally in cities across Europe and North America to demand an end to the bombing.

On this international day of protest, let's have broad-based actions, demonstrations, teach-ins, sit-ins, and speak-outs in schools and on campuses all over the U.S. to help build the peace majority. Youth and student organizations should organize delegations to visit their congressional representatives and demand:

* Stop bombing NOW !
* No troops! NATO withdraw all military forces from the region
* Peaceful settlement through the United Nations