WALKOUT! Against the War, Friday Nov. 16
Twin Cities Student Antiwar Walkout
Friday, November 16
Walkout of class at noon and head downtown for a …
Rally at 1pm at Government Plaza (5th St. and 4th Ave., downtown Minneapolis)
Students from over a dozen high schools and colleges in the Twin Cities area are organizing a mass walkout against the war on Friday, November 16. We are walking out to demand:
*End the War in Iraq! Bring the Troops Home Now!
*Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools!
*Money for Education, Not for War!
We urge students to organize for the walkout in their schools, and community members to attend and help publicize the walkout among the broader community. Please contact us to get involved!
Why a Walkout?
With every passing day the disaster in Iraq worsens. Over 3,800 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in a war for oil and empire.
In the November 2006 Congressional elections the American people sent a clear antiwar message. Yet Congress has refused to bring the troops home, instead giving Bush another hundreds of billions of dollars more to implement his escalation of the war. Further, none of the leading 2008 presidential candidates is even willing to guarantee that they would pull troops out by the end of their first-term in office - in 2013!
The situation is clear: It’s up to us, ordinary people, to build a massive antiwar movement which shakes the foundations of this country and forces the ruling elite to end the war.
Mass walkouts can show that we will not allow business as usual to continue until the government ends its brutal war in Iraq. We will not sit quietly and watch while more Iraqis are killed and more U.S. soldiers are sent to their deaths in a war based on lies.
We are walking out to show our united opposition to our schools being used as recruiting stations for the war. We demand recruiters out of our cafeterias, hallways, and schools. If we make our schools no-go zones for recruiters, cutting off the supply of troops, the Pentagon won’t be able to sustain this war.
A student walkout involving thousands of students can demand the attention of the wider community and media and inspire others to take a stand against the war.
The walkout will help popularize the idea that ordinary people, through collective action, can and must disrupt the war machine, which our schools are part of. If this idea catches on among the tens of thousands of disgruntled young soldiers in Iraq, then U.S. military operations there can be ground to a halt, just as they were in Vietnam.
A huge student walkout this fall will show that we are unwilling to let business go on as usual. We are not going to sit by and watch while people are slaughtered for oil profits. Join us on November 16 and let’s build a movement that can finally stop this war!
ONE DAY of the IRAQ WAR = $720 Million
How would you spend it?
* One day of war or 423,529 children with healthcare for a year?
* One day of war or 34,904 four-year university scholarships?
* One day of war or 12,478 elementary school teachers for a year?
* One day of war or 6,482 families with affordable homes?
-All statistics from American Friends Service Committee’s 2007 “Cost of War” project (afsc.org)