BOOKS NOT BOMBS!
Our generation will speak out to demand:
Funding for Education, Not Empire
We demand the immediate restoration of all funds for public schools and universities cut from local and federal budgets over the last three years, and the reversal of all tuition hikes in the same period. We demand dramatic increases in assistance to low-income youth through Pell Grants, TRIO, and all programs for students in need. We demand the repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act\'s high-stakes testing regime, and of the Higher Education Act\'s denial of federal aid to drug offenders. And we demand that Congress pass legislation (like the DREAM Act) to extend educational opportunities to all immigrant youth.
No Military Recruitment in Our Schools
College administrations should support the ongoing legal challenge to the Solomon Amendment, and both colleges and high schools should make it campus policy to prominently advertise the rights of students and parents to opt out of having student information released to military recruiters.
Respect our Civil Liberties
Provisions that violate youth and students rights in the USA PATRIOT Act must be revised, and school student unions and administrations should pass resolutions to oppose its implementation on campus.
Campuses for Peace, Not War
Campus administrators must publicly disclose all military-related research and all financial relationships with weapons manufacturers. Campus administrators must pledge to work towards severing these relationships and agree to a freeze on any new military research or additional dealings with weapons manufacturers.
Schools not Jails
College administrators must divulge all university business relations-- including contracts and investments--with companies that profit from or finance prison construction or operations. College administrations should set up recruitment and retention programs for communities adversely affected by incarceration, specifically low-income youth and youth of color. Lastly, state governments must invest more money in education and rehabilitation programs instead of prioritizing incarceration.
March 4th, 2004
Actions will include:
Concerts, Rallies, Voter Registration events and much much more....
Brought to you by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC)
GET INVOLVED!
For more info and resources,
and to connect with other young people who will be making this campaign happen, check out www.nyspc.net and
www.campusactivism.org/booksnotbombs.
Contact us at info@nyspc.net, or
215-222-4711. Let\'s do this!
To endorse please email info@nyspc.net, visit www.campusactivism.org/booksnotbombs or call 215-222-4711.
Initial Endorsers include:
180/Movement for Democracy and Education
Black Radical Congress-Youth Division
Campus Greens
Coalition to Demilitarize the University of California
Muslim Students Association of the US and Canada
National Youth Advocacy Coaltion
New York Youth Bloc
Not With Our Money
Student Environmental Action Coalition
Student Peace Action Network
Students United for a Responsible Global Environment
Students Transforming and Resisting Corporations
United Students Against Sweatshops
United States Student Association
Uptown Youth For Peace and Justice
Young Communist League
Young Democratic Socialists
Young People\'s Socialist League
Youth PAWR
On March 4th, 2004, demand:
• BOOKS NOT BOMBS
• END THE MILITARY OCCUPATION OF OUR SCHOOLS
• DEFEND FREEDOM ON THE HOME FRONT
On March 5th, 2003, thousands of young people in more than 450 high schools and colleges nationwide participated in a Student Strike for Books Not Bombs and against the impending war on Iraq. The strike was initiated by the National Youth & Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC), a broad coalition fighting back against the militarization of our lives and our world.
One year later, it has become even clearer that our generation will continue to be betrayed by this government\'s drive to make our country an empire.
So we will stand up as a generation on March 4th because...
• There\'s always enough money for building weapons of mass destruction and for locking up young people, but there\'s somehow never enough for education. For every new missile or prison built, another public school is allowed to crumble, and another class of students can\'t afford to pay for rising tuition.
• We are losing our basic freedoms and constitutional rights one by one, as the government expands its power through USA PATRIOT Acts and detention camps. Those who speak out are treated like criminals, innocent people are rounded up from their homes, and we\'re all being watched--yet we are no safer.
• In place of decent jobs and schools, young people have been given military recruiters, who get students\' information without their permission. Low-income youth and youth of color have been extensively targeted by military recruiters just as they have been consistently denied access to higher education.
• Our colleges and universities are complicit in the war machine and the infringement of our rights, from performing research for the Pentagon to turning in students\' records to investing in killer corporations. Our schools are supposed to be independent, but many now serve these military and corporate interests instead of the public good.
We believe the US can be better than this. But unless we take action, the threats to our lives and liberties will only continue to grow.
Our generation can join together now in questioning and resisting the course that has been set for us--against our interests, against our will, and against some of our most deeply held values. As young people have before, we can ignite real change starting in our own schools and communities.
Across the country, on March 4th and the weeks leading up to it, we will be:
• winning student government, faculty, and administration resolutions in support of the Books Not Bombs agenda, and demands like cutting tuition, divesting from militarism, and keeping the Pentagon and the USA PATRIOT Act out of our schools.
• registering voters for peace and freedom, and calling on young people to build our political power in 2004 to show that our government can no longer ignore us.
• organizing demonstrations, parties and concerts to bring people together, have some defiant fun, and help build our movement.
• publishing articles in newspapers, creating artwork for people to see, performing poetry and theater against the war at home, fusing our culture with our cause.
• reaching out at neighboring schools and other places where youth congregate, to raise consciousness of what\'s going on and bring more people into this struggle.
• thinking about what actions will send the most powerful statement on March 4th, uniting our local communities around the campaign, then going out and organizing up a storm.
• • Because NYSPC recognizes that the war at home is directly related to the war abroad, the March 4th Day of Action this year will be organized in solidarity with and leading up to the March 20th Global Day of Protest Against War & Occupation. For more info see www.unitedforpeace.org • •
GET INVOLVED! For more info and resources, and to connect with other young people who will be making this campaign happen, check out www.nyspc.net and www.campusactivism.org/booksnotbombs. Contact us at info@nyspc.net, or 215-222-4711. Let\'s do this!
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