Huge Protests Tonight At Berkeley City Council Meeting Over Military Recruiting…
Posted by MJ on February 12, 2008
This post originally appeared in the Shadow Democracy blog which is a old project I was part of but no longer exists.
The big showdown has been brewing for weeks after the Berkeley city council voted to ask the Marines Corp. to close the recruiting station downtown near the UC Berkeley campus because they are “unwelcome intruders”. The issue has been the city not wanting the Marines to recruit their young people for the Iraq War that is not supported by the majority of the people in the city.
Hundreds of people from anti-war groups like Code Pink will be met by support-the-troops groups that is sure to be interesting.
The San Francisco Chronicle has been covering the story…
Lisa Rubens, historian at the Regional Oral History Office at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library said, “Nothing has really gotten the press or the world’s attention about war protests like this has” and then continued with “There’s been this wonderfully out-of-proportion, knee-jerk response. It’s clever, inflammatory and symbolic.”
“It’s an indication that the ’60s are not completely dead in Berkeley,” said Charles Wollenberg, chair of social sciences at Berkeley City College and author of “Berkeley: A City in History.” “The tragedy is that the issue of the war seems to have gotten lost. The issue instead has become Berkeley itself, and I don’t think that’s what the City Council had in mind.”
Councilwoman Linda Maio, who led the charge to tell the Marines they weren’t welcome in town, agreed.
“We did not expect it to explode like this,” she said, adding that the council received more than 24,000 e-mails on the topic. “But we’ll take the heat and the attacks. Even though we’re under a lot of pressure, I think it’s fair to say this war is a misuse of our young people. And we’ll stand up for that.”
The council is under a lot of pressure to reverse their vote and to revoke the Code Pink permit for the use of parking lot near the recruiting station.
The nation’s largest so called pro-troop organization Move America Forward even has it’s own demands for the Berkeley council. They seem to think the council’s action and the anti-war protesters are against the troops. Why can’t these pro-troop groups understand the issue is the illegal war in Iraq and the recruitment of more American victims and not the military or the troops themselves?
Curiously, these groups and the general media seem to be zeroed on the Code Pink people. Let’s focus on the most extreme and loud looking ones to create a bias towards the issue. Guess what? The Code Pink people are only part of the anti-war movement made of mostly everyday people like you and me who want a end to this war.
Congress is now even getting in the act with the introduction of Semper Fi Act of 2008 by Republicans, that looks to take 2 million dollars in federal aid away from the city of Berkeley and give it to the Marines. How outrageous! This is because Berkeley is being labeled as “treasonous” but people don’t seem to understand that the Marines are being asked to move and not forced. So much for the freedom of speech! Not to mention the Semper Fi Act is so unneeded since the Bush administration has been shifting billions of dollars from the states and localities to the military budget already over the years. This not the first time the threat of cutting aid has been used to enforce the will of the military. The “No child left behind act” that was passed a while ago requires schools to allow military recruiters on campus or you guessed it they will lose their federal funding.
Side note… The War Resisters League has a interesting pie chart on the true cost of our military budget wise.
I hope the Berkeley council does not cave in under the pressure and stands by their citizens and their ideals. We the people need to change the debate of the War away from troop support (Which we all do) and focus on the cost and injustice of it. Let’s stand up and say enough, we are not unpatriotic because we are against this War and the increasingly militarism of the our nation.
Frank Delany said
“To the Business community of Berkeley California: Your City Council did not have your interest at heart when they used their Political Power to make a stand against the war in Iraq. It is obvious that they did not consider the backlash from the rest of the country on your business. I think you should remind them that they were elected to protect your interests as a community and not use their power to express their own idealistic viewpoints. As individuals they can accomplish this without using their political office as a microphone. I’m sorry to say that your Mayor and the City Council have failed you and I think come election time you should remember this.”
MJ "revoltingpawn" said
Frank Delany…
You seem to be missing the whole point. Most of the Berkeley community did agree with their action. As you said in your comment it was people outside the community with a problem and butting in.
The council did what they felt was right based on the community standards and when the whole thing was blown out of proportion they backed off. While I wish they stuck to their guns it was just not worth it for them.
louise said
JUST WANT TO KNOW ONE THING. DID THE CITY COUNCIL BACK OFF BEFORE OR AFTER IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT THE MONEY BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM???
IF IT WAS BEFORE, OK. IF IT WAS AFTER, THEN SHAME, SHAME!!
MJ "revoltingpawn" said
Louise…
Any need for all CAPS?
Why does it matter when the council backed off? The council voted to reside the unwelcome vote after the threat of blocking federal aid.
The council had no choice because all the outside attention would have been a distraction for them and the city. It’s a shame some members of Congress felt the need to use the threat of blocking aid to stamp out freedom of expression. It’s just another attack on our liberties.