------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 9, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
ANSWER YOUTH ACTION PLANS TO INSPECT BUSH'S "PRESIDENTIAL PALACE" By Julie Fry Youth organizers for the International ANSWER coalition announced Dec. 26 that they are planning a youth and student action against war in Iraq for Jan. 19 in Washington, D.C. The action will be in conjunction with the Jan. 18 national anti-war demonstration. The organizers are calling on youth to gather at the Department of In- Justice at 11 a.m. on Jan. 19 and then march to the White House for a "youth and student weapons inspection" of what they have dubbed the "Presidential Palace." There is also a meeting planned for 6 p.m. on the evening of Jan. 18 at the Church of the Brethren in D.C. to prepare for the following day's activities. Young people all over the country have been organizing to stop the war on Iraq and are expected to be a large presence in Washington during the Jan. 18 weekend. Youth make up over half of the 2,500 individuals and groups that have endorsed the demonstration so far. In addition, a third of the organizing centers for Jan. 18 are based on either high school or college campuses. ANSWER organizers report that the call for a youth action on Jan. 19 has already sparked a tremendous response from youth around the country who have been calling and e- mailing ANSWER's D.C. office to find out how to get involved. YOUTH MOBILIZATION ACROSS THE COUNTRY Youth all around the country have been fighting back against Bush's attacks on education and students. On many college campuses, students have started "non-compliance campaigns" to force their administrations not to comply with the FBI's racist demands to turn over information about Arab and Muslim students. Students are also organizing against Bush's misnamed "No Child Left Behind" act, which requires high school administrators to turn over the names, addresses and telephone numbers of their students to military recruiters in order to receive federal grants for their schools. The act requires parents to notify the schools if they do not want their children to be recruited by the military. But this military recruiting provision is such a small feature of this new law that most parents probably will not know about it until their children are already being contacted by recruiters. High school students have been resisting this law. The city of Oakland, Calif., prompted by its students and the teachers' union, has refused to comply with the military recruiting provision of the "No Child Left Behind" Act. Students in San Francisco are pushing their administrations to do the same. Students and youth are also resisting military recruiting in general. According to ANSWER organizers, one of the most common groups of people who want to get involved in the anti-war movement is working class and oppressed youth who were lured to the military and to ROTC programs with promises of a free education and job training. Instead, these youth are being trained to be killers, and to be killed, in a racist war for oil in Iraq. According to Tahnee Stair, an organizer for ANSWER in San Francisco, "Youth and students are seeing more clearly than ever that the billions of dollars that should go to jobs, job training and education for their futures are being used instead to teach youth how to slaughter their brothers and sisters in Iraq with high-tech weapons just to line the pockets of greedy corporate bosses." MOBILIZE FOR JAN. 19 The Jan. 19 action will give youth and students from around the country the chance to come together to fight back against the attack on the Iraqi people and against the government's attack on young people in this country. Sarah Sloan, a youth organizer for International ANSWER, says that it is important to have an action for youth during the Jan. 18 weekend because "Youth and students are going to be directly affected by the war and the long-term consequences of spending billions on war instead of jobs, education, and social programs." As in all important social movements, youth have been at the forefront of the current anti-war movement. On Jan.19, they will be a force to reckon with in Washington, D.C. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
