Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

: Isidro D. Ortiz, Ph.D.; Articles Archive; 16 April 2020; Hits: 812

The Legacy of the 1970 Chicano Anti-war Moratorium

From Draft NOtices, April-June 2020

The Resistance Continues: Building on the Legacy of the 1970 Chicano Anti-war Moratorium

— Isidro D. Ortiz, Ph.D.

On August 29, 1970, the sounds of “¡Raza Sí, Guerra No!,” and “Chale, No we Won’t Go!” thundered across East Los Angeles as an estimated 30,000 Chicana/os marched to protest the war in Vietnam. The march was one of the events of the Chicano Moratorium (CM). Organized and spearheaded by the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, the CM was the capstone in the Chicano anti-war movement that surged in 1969 and 1970 throughout Aztlán, the mythical Chicano homeland.

Today the Moratorium still stands as the largest protest against the war in Vietnam by Chicanos. In some circles, it has achieved “iconic” status. A catalyst to the emergence of the movement were the findings of a study by political scientist Ralph Guzman. His research revealed that Chicanos were experiencing disproportionate casualties in the war in Vietnam, suffering twenty percent of the casualties at a time when they comprised only ten percent of the population of the Southwestern United States and when oppression and inequality were parts of the everyday experience of Chicanos, especially Chicano youth. In the public schools, for example, Chicano students were marginalized via segregation in the schools and tracking into vocational courses and away from curricula that would prepare them for college, feeding a school-to-military pipeline. They were also subjected to punishment for speaking Spanish and denied proper counseling services. Consequently, by 1970 the dropout rate, or as Chicano activists called it “the pushout rate,” hovered around fifty-five percent in East Los Angeles and elsewhere. And, like other draft-eligible youth, many were ensnared in the web of the draft and faced the prospect of death in Vietnam.

: Bonnie J Caracciolo; Articles Archive; 16 April 2020; Hits: 1202

A Counter-recruitment Victory

From Draft NOtices, April-June 2020

A Counter-recruitment Victory: Chelsea Uniting Against the War

— Bonnie J Caracciolo

For fourteen years a dedicated group of anti-war citizens in a working-class suburb of Boston, MA, has worked to inform high school students in their community, including their own children, about the perils of military recruitment. Chelsea Uniting Against the War (CUAW) convenes within the first week of the school year to distribute counter-recruitment flyers informing students of the risks of military service. They then follow up this activity by speaking with students one-on-one during school lunch breaks while distributing forms to opt out of school releases of student information to military recruiters. These lunchtime events occurred twice each year and were always preceded by a phone call to the principal’s office to determine an appropriate date. At no time did CUAW enter the school without prior notice.

This annual routine changed in the Spring of 2019 when CUAW showed up on the appointed date and was confronted by the newly-hired principal who told the members they were not going to be allowed to continue. CUAW members left the school without incident.

In September of last year (2019) a group of nine CUAW members assembled outside of Chelsea High School during the first week of school as it had done for the previous thirteen years, for the purpose of distributing a counter-recruitment flyer and to discuss the opt out form which is included in the school’s student handbook.

: Edward Hasbrouck; Articles Archive; 15 April 2020; Hits: 1493

National Commission Recommendation

National Commission Says Expand Draft Registration

to Include Women

— Edward Hasbrouck

On March 25, the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS), after a three-year charade of stage-managed and largely one-sided public events accompanied by closed-door meetings and negotiations among the members of the Commission, released its final report. It recommends that Congress amend the Military Selective Service Act to require that young women, as well as young men, register for the draft when they reach age 18, and inform the Selective Service System each time they change their address until their 26th birthday.

The Commission's recommendations with respect to Selective Service registration are such a naïve fantasy, completely unfeasible and with no foundation in research or reality. The Commission kept its head firmly in the sand, carefully avoiding any inquiry into whether or how the current (unenforced and widely violated) registration requirement for men, much less an expanded registration requirement applicable also to women, could be enforced.

In the report’s 255 pages, there's no mention at all of compliance or noncompliance with draft registration. There's been no audit of the registration database since 1982, and the Commission didn't conduct or ask for one.