A little more than a week after President Bush announced the US military response to the September 11 attacks, youth and student organizations convened to represent an opposing view. Prior to the meeting, about 150 campus actions were called on September 20th as a Day of Action.
While the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) consists of the usual progressive organizations most would expect to be involved, it has been praised by such publications as the Village Voice as \"most promising\" and Liza Featherstone of The Nation writes that it \"will startle anyone who imagines that all peace activists are white folk-music fans; it includes the youth division of the Black Radical Congress and the Muslim Student Association.\"
Indeed, this was not an accident. At the founding coalition meeting in Washington, organizations united around a campaign that would pull in youth that would not have been involved otherwise. This meant speaking to the issues in a way that everyday people would understand and relate to, recognizing how the \"War on Terror\" is really affecting them at home in the United States.
\"This includes spreading the message to youth in communities of color that the military should not be the only way they can go to college; that military policing is as dangerous as it seems, and as of yet Congress has not introduced an economic stimulus package that will help you find a job\", says Julie Beatty, president of the United States Student Association (USSA), a coalition member.
The youth coalition�s first action took place on the local level where affiliated youth organizations joined with other local groups to pull off citywide review boards.
At review board events, youth and students held local government and some campus officials accountable for their actions that perpetuate the unchecked \"war on terrorism\" within their communities. Discussions took place where the undefined \"war\" was connected to the proposed military budget and to increased tuition around the country.
Future local actions by the coalition will focus on the local impacts of the �war on terrorism.� Municipal officials will be exposed for investing in the imprisonment of \"suspected\" immigrants and people of color through business partners and financial managers. Public school system heads may be criticized for forcing young people to participate in religious conservatism by hiding it inside an idea of patriotism.
Administrators on university campuses may be especially watched for profiling and tracking certain students out. State government officials will be checked for distributing state money in a way that pits education against working people while hurting both.
NYSPC has also united with the National Coalition for Peace and Justice, the 9/11 Emergency National Network, New York City Labor Against the War, and other coalitions fighting the \"war on terrorism\" and the backlash it has caused. Calling for all who disagree with the current situation to stand up to it, joining the coalitions at a mobilization in Washington on April 20.
Here, young people and their allies will demand the accountability of national decision-makers consistent with that demanded of local officials with the review boards. The coalition is attempting to mobilize affected people who have never participated in such mass action.
Further demonstrating the broad depth needed to fight the repression born from recent US actions, the youth coalition is using the event on April 20 is not finale, but as a mobilizing tool for what is turning into a long term campaign for peace. As reported by Andy Burns of the 180/Movement for Democracy, another coalition member, \"We really want to be strategic in what we are capable of accomplishing in hopes that we can make some concrete changes in our situations; changes that people in smallest of rural towns and in the largest of urban highrise apartment buildings can feel and appreciate.
This is not just another campaign.\" The Coalition will regroup in May with more organizational members and new energy to evaluate progress on the current climate and determine the best manner in which to continue fighting until the war overseas and the war at home has ended. The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition is in it for the long haul!
Erica Smiley is the National Chair of the Black Radical Congress Youth Caucus. The YCL is member of the NYSPC.
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