From Draft NOtices, August-September-October 2001
— Molly Morgan
In June, San Diego was host to BIO2001, an annual conference for the biotechnology industry. As a result it also became the host for Beyond Biodevastation, the fifth grassroots gathering to celebrate biodiversity and question genetic engineering. Events included a two-day teach-in featuring world-class speakers from nearly every continent; a colorful, spirited march of about 800 people protesting various aspects of genetically modified organisms; and a variety of creative direct actions designed to educate the public and challenge conventional thinking about genetic engineering.
"Biowarfare" was the title of a presentation at the teach-in by Edward Hammond and Susana Pimiento from the Sunshine Project, a nonprofit organization that works to stop the development and use of biological weapons. Hammond, a U.S. policy researcher, Pimiento, a Colombian lawyer working in the U.S., and Jan van Aken, a German biologist, formed the organization last year upon discovering their mutual concern about biological weapons and their intense commitment to avert the dangers of new weapons stemming from advances in biotechnology. The name of the Sunshine Project refers to the fact that many biological weapons are quickly broken down and rendered harmless by exposure to bright sunlight.
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, May-June-July 2001
— Ray Wolf
Well, the reign of King George II certainly started off in an interesting fashion — the first person in over a century to take the White House without winning the popular vote. So what can we expect from him? Of course, there will be the usual stuff — you know, lies to the American people, assaults on welfare for people while quietly increasing corporate welfare, blatant disregard for international law except when it benefits the U.S. economic agenda, and, if needed, inventing an enemy and then bombing the hell out of that country’s civilians and infrastructure. That having been said, let’s take a look at how the Bush regime will affect those of us working for peace and social justice as well as the world at large. In this article, five primary areas of concern will be covered: military spending, North Korea, the Middle East, Colombia, and education reform.
Bush has consistently said that he will increase the Pentagon’s budget. In his inaugural address he said, "We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge. We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors." Who exactly is going to seriously challenge the United States with anything but Saddam Hussein–style saber rattling? The U.S. military is already the most powerful and technologically advanced in the world, possesses the most nuclear weapons and probably the most biological and chemical weapons, and is arguably the most active and well trained. Nearly fifty percent of the federal discretionary budget goes to support past and present military expenses. How would building U.S. defenses "beyond challenge" prevent "new horrors" in this century? Many of the world’s horrors in the last 50 years were initiated or covertly instigated by this powerful military, so building it up should invoke only more of the same.
From Draft NOtices, May-June-July 2001
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Latest proposal would help the armed forces force their way into high schools.
Apparently, the Pentagon and its supporters aren’t satisfied with only using extreme political pressure to accomplish a military invasion of civilian high schools. They would rather employ a more familiar method: force.
That’s the underlying meaning of an amendment attached by Representative David Vitter (R-Louisiana) to an education bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives. The amendment states:
Any secondary school that receives Federal funds under this Act shall permit regular United States Armed Services recruitment activities on school grounds, in a manner reasonably accessible to all students of such school.
Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:
