National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
4th Anniversary Action 3-19-07
Wear Your Opposition On Your Sleeve
Get Your Congressperson To Show Their Opposition On Their Sleeve and On The Floor
Monday, March 19, 2007 will be the 4th Anniversary of the United States’ immoral and illegal invasion of Iraq, the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) is asking for its members and member groups to collectively display youth and student solidarity against the war and the priorities of this country by wearing a “Books Not Bombs” button, t-shirt or armband.
SEAC is a member organization ot the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC), which aims to organize and mobilize the youth and student response to Bush's open-ended, so-called "war on terror." This broad-based youth and student led coalition was formed shortly after the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and has worked to build strategic, long-term opposition of youth and students to the war, both at home and abroad. We believe that young people have an important role to play in taking back our democracy-on our campuses, out in the streets, and at the ballot box. NYSPC believes that the struggle for social and economic justice is key to the struggle for peace and we are committed to engaging and including youth of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth, working class and other marginalized youth. For more information, see www.nyspc.org
A basic tenet of our coalition is the Books not Bombs! agenda, which calls for our government to fund education and not empire!
The BOOKS NOT BOMBS Agenda: Fund Education - Not Empire!
We demand the immediate restoration of all funds for public schools and universities cut from local and federal budgets over the last three years, and the reversal of all tuition hikes in the same period. We demand dramatic increases in assistance to low-income youth through Pell Grants, TRIO, and all programs for students in need. We demand the repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act's high-stakes testing regime, and of the Higher Education Act's denial of federal aid to drug offenders. And we demand that Congress pass legislation (like the DREAM Act) to extend educational opportunities to all immigrant youth.
Military Out of Our Schools!
College administrations should support the ongoing legal challenge to the Solomon Amendment, and both colleges and high schools should make it campus policy to prominently advertise the rights of students and parents to opt out of having student information released to military recruiters.
Protect Our Civil Liberties!
Provisions that violate youth and students rights in the USA PATRIOT Act must be revised, and school student unions and administrations should pass resolutions to oppose its implementation on campus.
Campuses for Peace - Not War!
Our campuses must be disarmed and democratized. All campuses must track, catalog and make publicly available all military-related and funded research and investments. Students and faculty should pass resolutions requiring campus administrators to demilitarize education by severing all military ties. All universities and schools must end their historic support for weapons of mass destruction and demand an end to all university collaborations that lead to the development, testing or production of nuclear weapons.
Schools - Not Jails!
College administrators must divulge all university business relations-- including contracts and investments--with companies that profit from or finance prison construction or operations. College administrations should set up recruitment and retention programs for communities adversely affected by incarceration, specifically low-income youth and youth of color. Lastly, state governments must invest more money in education and rehabilitation programs instead of prioritizing incarceration.
To get involved, see www.nyspc.org or e-mail info@nyspc.org
