HomeMarch 2008 Anchors Away
Successful Community Forum The Struggle to Strengthen Senn Continues
In the face of continuing attacks on the existence of Senn High School as an excellent and diverse general community high school open to all students, Senn’s Local School Council and the Strategic Planning Committee hosted a well received rollout of the Senn Strategic Plan on Monday evening, March 10, to an audience of over 200.
For the last 19 months, teachers, parents, students and community people have worked hard to develop a plan to lift every aspect of the learning environment at Senn. This plan for an on-going process to be implemented over the next five years, was launched with enthusiastic presentations by students, teachers, and community people. The event, with students front and center, reflects the unity and strength of the students and others to continue to build on Senn’s successes.
It was very important to have this forum. It shows community interest in Senn-- both to maintain the school and to have the Board of Education recognize and respect the sentiments of the community about the school.
This is a continuation of the struggle to beat back an attempt by Alderman Mary Ann Smith four years ago to break up Senn High School, which included placing the naval military academy in the school building over the objection of students, teachers, parents, and the community. The same sort of issue is reflected in city-wide demonstrations and protests against the threats to public education posed by the Daley Administration’s taking power from the parents’ and community’s Local School Councils and moves to privatize and militarize public education in Chicago under the name of Renaissance 2010.
During the forum, Gerod Sherley, a Chicago Public Schools official, stated, “We are committed to helping Senn with this plan.” We hope the Board of Education goes along with this positive expression of support.
$$$$ FOR WAR ON IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN, NOT THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE
When more of OUR tax dollars get spent on the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, less of those tax dollars are available for people’s vital needs.
Did you know that Chicago taxpayers alone have paid well over $4.8 billion for the first 5 years of the Iraq War? (www.nationalpriorities.org --“The Cost of War…Bringing the Federal Budget Home”) For that same $4.8 billion, here are examples of what could have been provided in Chicago for each of the last 5 years:
● health insurance for 350,000 children AND
● 1,000 additional public school teachers AND
●5,500 additional children’s Head Start placements.
(and there would still have been enough money left over to build 10,000 affordable housing units here in Chicago). The same is true on the national level. More than $609 billion have gone for war on Iraq and Afghanistan–more than $15 billion a month–in addition to the Pentagon budget of more than $450 billion a year (Lori Montgomery, “The Cost of War, Unnoticed,” Washington Post, May 8, 2007). This does not count the over $700 billion in interest on money that is borrowed to fund the wars. (Ken Kilanian, “War costs may total $2.4 trillion,” USA Today, October 23, 2007). For those amounts of money, it has been estimated that one year of the Pentagon budget could eliminate hunger worldwide. (See The Millennium Project of the UN.) Inside the U.S., the continuing funding of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan could provide 8 million schoolteachers, over 3 million affordable homes for New Orleans and more. There is plenty of money. Let’s be part of the movement to have that money be spent on the needs of the people.
March 19 – 20 Demonstrations, Actions Stop Funding War and Occupation Bring All the Troops Home Now STOPPING ILLEGAL U.S. WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES HAS NEVER MATTERED MORE: After nearly 5 years of war in Iraq, what do we have? ● A continuing brutal occupation and no end in sight. ● Hundreds of thousands dead and maimed.● A trillion dollars of American taxpayers’ money spent for death and destruction.
Wednesday, March 19 — Protest! 6 p.m. rally, Federal Plaza at Adams & Dearborn, then march from the Loop to the “Gold Coast” via Michigan Avenue (permitted). Thursday, March 20 — A day of creative actions followed by a permitted “Convergence” at 5 p.m. at the Federal Plaza. You and your friends are invited to join in.
RESPONSE TO READERS: We have been asked to explain or provide evidence for some of our statements. Here are a few points. Feel free to ask about more… ● “Navy personnel are being used as ground soldiers in the…U.S. occupation of Iraq.”– The Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs reported that as of October 4, 2006, there were “approximately 11,000 Sailors serving on the ground in the Central Command area of responsibility (CENTCOM AOR) More than 4,000 of those are serving on the ground in Iraq” (www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?storyid=25889). Plans have been for the Navy to play an even bigger role on the ground in Iraq according to Admiral Michael G. Mullen. ● Much of the naval fleet is poised off the coast of Iran, to be engaged in a war on Iran if the U.S. government decides to attack militarily– Last May, over 17,000 navy personnel were on ships right off the coast of Iran. (www.usatoday. com/news/world/2007-05-23-us-iranN.htm). Various other reports indicate that much of the fleet remains in or near the Persian Gulf today.
● The U.S. attack on Iraq was “illegal and unjust”– The U.S. war against Iraq is illegal because no country has a right to attack another country unless it is has been attacked first. It’s in the UN Charter, and is U.S. law since the U.S. signed the Charter. Iraq did not attack the U.S. or even threaten it
Winter Soldier Hearings–Iraq Veterans will Target the Crime of Occupation March 13-16 Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will be holding hearings March 13-16 in Washington, DC to expose the brutal nature of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and show that war crimes against humanity are a necessary and systemic feature of this occupation. They are also saluting the resistance among the soldiers to committing such crimes. Geoff Millard, president of the IVAW Washington chapter says, “It’s not simply that we’re going to outline these huge atrocities. It’s mainly to show how the systematic nature of occupation is oppression…. The common U.S. soldier is not a bloodthirsty animal. “The problem is the occupation of Iraq itself.” Perry O’Brien, 25, an Afghanistan veteran and key leader of Winter Soldier says what Winter Soldier will do is argue, through testimony from soldiers and Marines who fought in the Iraq war, that Abu Ghraib and Haditha in Iraq are standard military behavior not ‘excesses…the disconnect between the [soldiers’] code and what soldiers are asked to do in the war is the source of a tremendous amount of guilt that many of us carry around.” Iraq Veterans Against the War also plans to host live streaming video of the conference on its website (ivaw.org), where archived footage of direct testimony will remain. (from an article by Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, indymedia.org)
SUICIDES IN THE MILITARY–
According to Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press, multiple new efforts aimed at stemming suicides in the Army are falling short of their goal: The service anticipates another jump in the annual number of soldiers who kill themselves or try to, including in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones.
Ms. Jelinek has quoted U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., as
saying the new figures are “heart-wrenching.” Murray is a leading critic of the treatment given returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She says, “Until they [the government] come to grips with how long and frequent deployments are straining soldiers and shattering lives we will continue to see this frightening trend,” she said. (On the internet, see “Jelinek on military suicides” to learn more about this.)
A GUIDE TO NON-MILITARY ALTERNATIVES AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. The military is not a necessary option. See It’s My Life, new from the American Friends Service Committee. Go to www.afsc.org/itsmylife It may be free to you.
ANOTHER ANTI-WAR ACTION– Pax Christi is planning a silent march this Saturday, March 15, at 3 p.m. from Granville and Glenwood to mark 5 years of war in Iraq and the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and 4,000 U.S. troops
OPT- OUT– Encourage everyone to fill out an opt-out form to keep military recruiters from contacting you at home. This is an effective tool in keeping the military from recruiting more young people for the illegal and unjust U.S. wars. At the January 31st hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Personnel dealing with recruitment, a Marine recruiter talked about the recruitment lists from schools and said that a lot of students take their names off the list (opt-out), which makes the job for the recruiter more difficult.