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LOCAL Announcement :: Children & Education : Civil & Human Rights : Gender & Sexuality : Media : Peace

Mobilize for the Chicago Air & Water Show!

NEXT MEETING:
Saturday, August 14 @ 4:00 PM
New World Resource Center
1300 N. Western Ave. (one block north of Division)

KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR UPDATES!

AN AD HOC COMMITTEE HAS BEEN FORMED TO CHALLENGE THE SPECTACLE OF MILITARISM KNOWN AS THE CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW. EVERYONE IS INVITED TO GET INVOLVED WITH THIS IMPORTANT MOBILIZATION AGAINST MILITARISM.
The city alone will spend more than $20 MILLION on the “Military Commercial” billing it as family entertainment but the reality is that the Air & Water Show (Aug 21-22) is nothing more than a display of military muscle and a celebration of the "might makes right" philosophy".

Come share your vision and ideas!
All individuals and organizations are welcome!
If you are opposed to war, militarism, and injustice then you need to be here!
Help us to remind people what the true purpose of these machines is!

For additional information, or to endorse the initiative, please send an email to S4SJ (at) hotmail.com. Please note that endorsement entails one OR more of the following voluntary tasks.
- Volunteering to produce and/or distribute flyers
- Participating in planning meetings
- Helping with outreach (emails, flyers, phone calls, word of mouth, etc.)
- Making a financial contribution, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem, to help defray the costs of publicity, T-shirts, and other items

Ideas for the mobilization include:
Counter-recruiting at the armed forces tents
Street theatre and die-ins
Abu Ghraib Orange Jumpsuits
Leafleting at entrance points to the festival
Press Conference
Making T-Shirts that participants can wear to display their objection to militarism
Signs, Banners, Puppets and of course “other” stuff

MORE BACKGROUND ON THE INITIATIVE:

In it's relentless quest for Global Hegemony and Empire the United States continues to overextend itself politically, economically and militarily. With more than 330,000 troops deployed overseas in nearly 130 countries, with the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan exacting a heavy toll on these already strained resources, and with several branches of the armed forces missing their recruiting goals in recent years the military must continually find ways to replenish it's ever depleting ranks of enlisted personnel. The flip side to this equation is that the U.S. military is becoming more visible, creative and proactive in their efforts to recruit the nation's youth into a life of servitude, exploitation and eventual use as cannon fodder for future wars of aggression.

For the sake of our sisters and brothers throughout the globe we CANNOT allow that to happen!

Military recruiters, media, government and schools go to great lengths to romanticize war and glorify military hardware such as M-16 assault rifles, grenade launchers, land mines, tanks, fighter jets, cluster bombs, and so-called smart targeting systems. War should be recognized for the horror and devastation that it is, not as fun and games, a way out, a means to obtain money for education, or just a job. If the message of the Air & Water Show is in any way received by the youth of our communities as an endorsement of aggression and a celebration of a the "might makes right" philosophy, then a gross educational failure has occurred on our part as activists, concerned individuals, parents, friends, etc.

Now is the time to speak out against the militarization of our society!

Now is the time to counter the false and misleading propaganda put out by military recruiters in their attempts to PACKAGE, MARKET & SELL the military to the nation's youth!

Now is the time to provide our youth with viable alternatives to obtain college funding and job skills training!

Now is the time to demonstrate solidarity with the people of the world that are being oppressed, tortured and slaughtered at the hands of the U.S. Armed Forces, not to mention with those who now reside in the U.S. that have witnessed and/or been subjected to these very same atrocities by the U.S. military and the regimes they support!

Keep in mind that there is an increasing likelihood that the U.S. government will reinstate the draft sometime during the course of the next year. It is imperative that we begin talking with people NOW about draft resistance and a good way to begin is by exposing the military for what it is.


SO BE SURE TO SAVE THE DATES FOR THE CHICAGO AIR & WATER SHOW
August 21-22, 2004
North Avenue Beach
10AM to 4PM (approximately)
Details TBA
BTW, the Air & Water Show is listed under the Kids Events section of the Mayor’s Office for Special Events homepage and it was also advertised in the Tribune under the Sports Section.

DON’T FORGET TO WEAR SUNSCREEN, SOME FORM OF HEAD COVERING, LOOSE FITTING AND COMFORTABLE CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR, AND BRING PLENTY OF WATER AND SNACKS OR MONEY TO PURCHASE THEM WITH.


The ad-hoc committee mobilizing against the Air & Water Show also endorses the Chicago-Area Campaign for Military-Free Schools.

"The Chicago-Area Campaign for Military-Free Schools is committed to raising community awareness of the prevalence and impact of military recruitment in our schools. We seek to mobilize opposition both to the militarization of youth and to its detrimental effects on education."
 
 

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