WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Clear Channel: Mouthpiece of Militarization (Session 1)         
Taishi Duchicela, Media Justice Organizer with the Youth Media Council,
Leslie Ruiz: Si Se Puede Fellow with the Youth Media Council
Workshop will map Clear Channel's pro-war and military activities and connect the impacts that their agenda has on communities of color,    focusing on content, strategy, community. Presenters will connect how Hip Hop is being used by the right as a tool to bring young people and people of color to the frontlines of the war.  

College Not Combat: How to run an electoral campaign to challenge recruiters (Session 1)
Jeremy Tully, College Not Combat           
College Not Combat (Proposition I in San Francisco) is a ballot measure that states that military recruiters should not be allowed to recruit in schools, and that the city of San Francisco should find alternate ways of funding college educations for youth. The College Not Combat campaign has served as a pole of attraction in the Bay Area for people who are opposed to the war and looking for a way to bring it to the end, and will provide important political support to counter-recruitment activists when it passes in November. This workshop will cover both the political importance of ballot measures and the steps involved in carrying such a campaign through to completion.

Conscientious Objection and Resistance (Session 1)      
Aidan Delgado, Iraq War Vet and CO,
Aimee Allison, Gulf War CO and GI Rights Counselor,
David Waters, Vietnam Veteran and War Tax Resister,
Tahan Jones, Gulf War Resister, and  
Samorah Penderhughes, Berkeley High School Student          
What is a Conscientious Objector? How can you prepare a CO file in case there's a return to the draft? What happens if you decide you're a CO after joining the military? What if the government rejects your CO application? Do conscientious objectors have to pay taxes for war? We will look at conscientious objection as a way to resist war and to counter military recruitment.

Countering Militarism Inside High Schools: (Session 1)
Equal access strategies and legal issues that affect students and community organizers Rick Jahnkow, Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft and Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, San Diego
COMD and Project YANO have 20+ years of experience supporting student activism and securing equal access to schools in highly militarized San Diego County.   Issues to be covered include legal precedents, effective ways to achieve access without relying on litigation, and the different laws that apply to students and community activists when seeking to present alternative views inside high schools.

Countering Recruitment with AWOL Magazine (Session 1)
Kevin Ramirez, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, AWOL Magazine         
AWOL magazine is a powerful tool which uses Hip Hop culture in the struggle against militarism and recruitment. Hands on Art.

Gender and Militarism (Session 1)      
Katrina Socco, Gabriella Network         
War, militarization and disaster always mean rape. Stripped down to their sexual organs, women have historically and continue to be forced into prostitution and sex slavery to "comfort" male soldiers and relief workers.   Internally, over half of women in the US Military surveryed by the Pentagon report sexual harassment and abuse including rape by commanding officers.   Women of color comprise 38% of  women on active duty, while men of color comprise only 28% of all men on active duty. These are only a few indications of who is truly at the bottom of the US economic ladder.   Why is it that women are so rarely part of the discussion then? To find out the 411, and learn ways to get involved come to this workshop.

Linking the Issues- War Profiteering & Counter Recruitment (Session 1)
Maryam Roberts, Art in Action/Global Exchange,
Xiomara Castro, Art in Action
Connecting war-profiteering/corporate accountability/economic reasons driving the war, and debunking the myths around military recruiting & war.  In the second half covers counter-recruitment basics.

NOT YOUR SOLDIER! Build power in your High School (Session 1)
The Ruckus Society            
Learn how to get your people together, to build power and kick recruiters out! This training will teach how to be organized, keep people interested, and be effective at working against the military in your school.

Rep Ya BLOC! (Session 1)      
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Movement Strategy Center           
What are we passionate about? What are our goals for the movement? Our communities? Ourselves? Where do they converge?   It is about finding a personal political identity that reflects our values, so that who, what, and where we associate reflect our values instead of being trapped in someone else's ideology. Will focus on foundational personal development work to ground their personal counter recruitment arguments. Participants walk away with a better sense of their own values and how they feel change happens, and an idea of OTHER vehicles to drive them towards that change.

Reports from CAN Chapters (Session 1)
Campus Antiwar Network         

Spoken Word for Justice (Session 1)
Galen Peterson, Art in Action         
Come refine your experience with the word! This workshop will feature very interactive spoken word exercises and writing activities to create space to express your feelings, and add to what you are learning about issues surrounding counter-recruitment.   Freewrite, collectively create a group spoken word piece, and share with each other in a fresh supportive environment. Beginners welcome!  

Campus Repression and Student Rights: the SFSU Case (Session 2)      
Campus Antiwar Network         

Demilitarization and Counter-Recruitment (Session 2)
Campus Antiwar Network         

Does the US Need a Military? (Session 2)      
Campus Antiwar Network         

Education & Job Training Options w/o the Military (Session 2)
Jamie Kenner of Bay Area Youth Agency Consortium and
Peralta Colleges,
Maria Palafox, Jobcorps,
Jonothan Dumas,City of Oakland Employment Services,
Monica Montenegro, East Bay Consortium of Educational Institutions     
An overview of services available in the Bay Area for young people who are looking for job training and/or financial aid without joining the military.   Will cover union apprenticeships, community college job training programs, Federal jobs programs and financial aid options for college.

Forum Theatre and Military Recruitment (Session 2)
Rosa Gonzales, Luis "Xago" Juarez, Milta Ortiz, Levana Saxon, Aryeh Shell, PEACE-Popular Education and Action Collective       
Operation INLA'KESH" - 10 minute skit about military recruitment in communities of color Forum Theatre is a short scene that shows the problem and invites the audience to replace the characters and try out different solutions.
This workshop will explore ways to use theater as a tool for youth to engage in dialogue and act out alternatives to military recruitment in their schools and communities.  

How to Counter Military Recruitment in High Schools (Session 2)         
Kevin Ramirez of CCCO,
Danielle Schnur and Rico Chenyek of Berkeley High School,
Ruby Butler and Zamill Bonnerof Youth Empowerment School,
plus two students who have been organziing against recruiters in their New York City high school.            
A basic introduction on how the military recruits in the public high schools and strategies for counter recruitment with High School students describing their successes in mobilizing to educate and organize their peers to resist dishonest military recruitment on their campuses and in their communities.

Lessons from the Movement That Stopped the War in Vietnam (Session 2)
Campus Antiwar Network         

Military Recruitment in Latino/a Communities      
Jorge Mariscal, Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, San Diego;
Isabel G. Just Think,
Fernando Suarez del Solar, Guerrero Azteca
A report on on-going Latino/a-led campaigns to educate Spanish-speaking communities about military recruiting.  The recent opt-out/ASVAB campaign initiated on August 29 will be described and follow-up activities outlined, e.g. high school leafleting, community forums, media work.

NOT YOUR SOLDIER: Kick Recruiters out of your High School (Session 2)
The Ruckus Society            
Learn what direct action is and how to use it to get recruiters out of your school and community.   Role play confronting a recruiter, practice talking to military supporters, learn how to get your message out! This is a great follow up to "NOT YOUR SOLDIER! Build power in your high school". We will define nonviolent direct action, learn how to plan a successful action, role play what it feels like to confront a recruiter.

Our Generation Won't Go! Students Connected to the Military Speak Out (Session 2)
Campus Antiwar Network         

Palestine and the Antiwar Movement (Session 2)      
Campus Antiwar Network         

Panel Discussion with Veterans (Session 2)      
Aidan Delgado, Laura Slatterly, Joshua Casteel, Aimee Allison, Diana Morrison
Veterans sitting on a panel to share their personal experiences of recruiting and war. First hand stories that fall somewhere between military propaganda and antipwar messages.

Preparing for Draft Resistance (Session 2)             
Max Ventura, Radical Families Collective,
Ed Hasbrouck, Resistance.info          
Will there be a military draft?   A health care workers draft? National service?   If so, how will it work? What can we do now -- personally and in our families, schools, and communities -- to prepare and mobilize for draft resistance, and to support those who may be subject to a draft? 

Relief Not War: Eyewitness Report from New Orleans (Session 2)      
Campus Antiwar Network         

The War on Terror: Who Profits? Who Loses? (Session 2)      
Jim Haber, Director War Resisters League West
Debra Hubert, WRL National Committee Member          
This presentation shows in detail the many ways that war profiteers have come to influence United States war-making policy. You'll find out how these corporations use the Defense Policy Board, Campaign Contributions, Public Relations and media blitzes, and insider access to make war for profit. You'll also find out how our Stop the Merchants of Death campaign plans to resist and end war-profiteering - starting with a counter-corporate-recruitment campaign against Halliburton

What Would Happen if the Troops Left Now?  (Session 2)      
Campus Antiwar Network         

Youth Organizing Workshop (Session 2)    
Youth Together

Building a National Student Counter-Recruitment Movement (Session 3)
Campus Antiwar Network         

Counter Recruitment Curriculum for the High School Classroom (Session 3)
June Brumer, Ruby Butler and Zamill Bonner, Alternatives to War through Education/CCCO,
Adrienne Sciutto, Recruitment Education,
Elisa Ghang, Women of Color Resource Center            
An overview of some of the resources to help you make successful counter recruitment presentations to high school classrooms and youth groups.   Includes examples of interactive games, "CR Jeopardy," downloadable photos and text for a lesson plan on "What Recruiters Don't Tell You," and a "Fashion & Militarism" slide show.

Creating a Student Newspaper (Session 3)    
Campus Antiwar Network      

   
Demilitarizing Schools and Presenting Alternatives- CAMS Adopt A School Project (Session 3)
Arlene Inyoue and   Gregory Sotir, Coalition Against the Militarization of our Schools, Los Angeles, CAMS
This workshop will share about the experience and strategies of CAMS, a grassroots coalition with a multi pronged approach to addressing militarism in L.A. schools. With a base from the teachers union (Human Rights Committee, UTLA) we have expanded our vision to a focused goal on supporting students in their empowerment and dismantling the militarism embedded in the school system. We will present our new Adopt A School Guidebook and Tool Kit available on the web, which gives a step by step process to addressing the militarism in the school and providing alternatives.

Guiding Principles for Direct Action (Session 3)    
Campus Antiwar Network         

How to Start a CAN Chapter at Your School (Session 3)    
Campus Antiwar Network         

Kicking Recruiters Out of Our Schools (Session 3)    
Campus Antiwar Network         

Lobbying 101 for Counter Recruitment (Session 3)         
David Mezzera, School of the Americas Watch
Using HR 551 as a sample piece of legislation, help participants in the workshop understand their role and potential power in moving a bill or resolution through Congress. Conversely, taking a piece of legislation such as the resumption of the draft and helping participants understand methods of trying to block such legislation from moving through the committee process. Such a workshop would hopefully answer the who, what, why and how questions of private, individual lobbying.

Make Art, Take Action (Session 3)
Celana Ahtye, Art in Action,
Alli Chagi-Star, Art in Action
We will create theater that matters through a collaborative process called "Democracy Dances," and other creative group games. The workshops goals are to cultivate an awareness of the causualties of war through experience and expression in dance, theater, song, and to create art that can be used in future actions against recruitment and militarization.

Military Families & Resisters Panel Discussion (Session 3)
Fernando Suarez del Solar, founder of Proyecto Guerrero Azteca and member of Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO);   
Judith Ross, MFSO member recently arrested in civil disobedience at the White House;
Marylin Saner, MFSO member with one son in Iraq,
Laurie and Russell Loving, their son in Iraq, started the Sacramento region MFSO.
A panel of parents who are members of Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out lead a discussion, sharing their own experiences, answering questions and providing support and essential information for families with loved ones in the war, returning from the war, or about to be deployed. The workshop will include information on many ways to get involved, including counter-recruitment in high schools.

Organizing Against Repression in Our Schools  (Session 3)
Campus Antiwar Network         

People Power Strategy (Session 3)
Levana Saxon, David Solnit, Aryeh Shell, Courage to Resist  
The workshop will include ideas, skills and hands-on role-plays and exercises to help us be more strategic in our counter-recruitment efforts. We will cover people power and how it works, how to plan a campaign and how to frame our story.

Slideshow: A Conscientious Objector's View of Iraq from within the US Army      (Session 3)
Aidan Delgado, Iraq war veteran, conscientious objector          
Aidan Delgado served in Iraq from April 2003 to April 2004 where he was deployed as an Army Reserve Specialist in Nasiriyah and Abu Ghraib. Soon after his arrival in Iraq, he sought conscientious objector status and turned in his weapon. At Abu Ghraib, he witnessed U.S. soldiers abuse and kill Iraqi detainees. After serving his full tour of duty, Aidan Delgado was finally granted conscientious objector status and was honorably discharged. He offers a first person account of the horrors of war, illustrated with photos he took while serving in Iraq.

Who's the Target: Media Literacy in Times of War (Session 3)
Isabel G., Just Think   
Participants will be introduced to the key concepts of media literacy and take part in a group activity to analyze military recruitment and partiotic acvertising (commecials, Magazines, posters, brochures, etc.) for hidden messages that we do not realize we are receiving.