Report of Counter-Recruitment Action of SDS-UIC

On Wednesday, September 5th UIC held their annual Fun Fair, which is an event meant to allow new and returning students a chance to meet the Student Organizations on campus. Naturally the UIC chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) had a table and met many great students. Unfortunately, there is a dark to this event. You see every year Marine recruiters show up. How they are a Student Organization is beyond me. Fortunately we had a little surprise waiting for them when they showed up. Now you must understand that counter-recruitment actions are not a novel concept here at UIC. And we figured that the recruiters were expecting us.
We doubt though that they were expecting what we did. Realizing that traditional counter-recruitment (pamphlets explaining why one should not join the military and countering the lies and exaggerations of the recruiters, etc.) is something the recruiters are probably being trained to deal with; we thought a new tactic was needed. So here is the tactic we came up with. We pretended to be them or more precisely to be working for them. Recruiters, especially at the larger events (Blues Fest, etc.), often hire an ad agency to have lots of young people act as a barrier between potential recruits and actual recruiters. Because we could not pass for real Marines with our longer hair and less than uber-masculine builds, we posed as workers for an ad agency working with the Marines recruiters. Camouflage pants and hats were worn to give on authentic look. The pivotal point of our deception was the pamphlet we handed out. It was a satirical pamphlet that outlined the ‘benefits’ of joining the Marines, including statistics showing how many people actually receive the benefits the recruiters promise (surprisingly few) and what is needed to actually receive many of the benefits (doing the less wanted and/or most dangerous jobs in the military). We are indebted to the Department of Defense for providing such good (and damning) stats.
In essence we took away there voice on campus. Many people interested in the Marines approached us and took our pamphlet and simply walked away without talking to the real recruiters. Best of all was the response of many people. I asked while handing out pamphlets “Interested in a career in the military?”. I got responses such as “No (f-ing) way”, “I don’t thinks so”, and my favorite “I was in the Air Force already and I am NOT going back.” This lasted for a couple of hours till we ran out of pamphlets. The attendance at our next meeting nearly doubled. Mostly, I believe, due to the rising tide of student activism and not so much because of our action. We were praised by many people for the creativity of the action and many wondered how the military recruiters could counter this tactic. Other groups doing counter-recruitment should consider such a tactic, along with other great tactics. It was quite effective and we all had a great time playing the parts.
We drew our inspiration from guerilla theatre groups such as the Yes Men and many other great groups and individuals out there and appreciate the pioneering work that they accomplished. I would also like to thank Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) at UIC, who did more traditional counter-recruitment work during Fun Fair and I believe helped our cover by acting as a contrast. What has become obvious is that students are willing now to see the need for action against the war and are stepping up. SDS has grown exponentially in the last year and continues to grow. It’s proving to be the most vibrant and dynamic national multi-issue radical student group.

“STOP THE WAR,
YES WE CAN,
SDS IS BACK AGAIN”

In Struggle,
Ryan Donnelly
SDS-UIC

Interested in starting an SDS chapter at your university or affiliating your current group with SDS? Check out the website. www.newsds.org

And/Or come to the next Chicago SDS meeting:
Date: September 12th
Time: 4 PM
Place: Chicago Cultural Center (in the Café)
78 E Washington St
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 744-6630