Working for Peace in the Community’s Classroom
by Alexandria Giardino

I work at a community college that serves 14,000 students, about half of them black, the other half Latino. I teach them how to write and, in my English classes, I often teach history and political science as well. My students are starving for knowledge; their schools have always been underfunded, and, as a result, they are undereducated. But one thing my students do seem to know a lot about is war. They come from Central America and South Central; many of them have been living in or running from a war zone since childhood. Now my students are angry and worried—they just aren’t sure with whom they are angry or about what they are worried. In this way, they are like most Americans. Unlike most Americans, though, they are the people who will be on the front lines, because my students are the typical soldiers--young, poor, available. Several are already reservists; many have been activated. Meanwhile, Governor Davis proposes to double their tuition, shrink their financial aid, and choke their educational resources, all in an effort to salvage our state’s wrecked economy. Just this spring semester, our college has lost $2.1 million in cut backs. Far, far more is on the chopping block for fall.

Something sinister is at hand. I am determined to teach my students, and myself, how to comprehend what is happening, how to articulate a meaningful position against it, and how to save their future in the process. In fact, I am contractually obligated to do so. As my contracts states, I "have the academic freedom to seek the truth" and I must "guarantee freedom of learning to the students." I have found a few ways to fulfill my responsibilities.

Above all, I am supportive of my students, many of whom have become involved in Not In Our Name. Two in particular have walked our campus distributing NION flyers (which they translated into Spanish), talking to students, teaching peace. One of these women is engaged to a now-active soldier! On March 5, I will not hold regular classes. Instead, I will hold a teach-in about connections between federal politics and the state-level budget crisis. That same day, at the college’s main entrance, some students will hold a giant banner reading "No War! Guerra No!" Others are planning a walk out. Yet others are already writing letters and making phone calls, fighting the Bush barrage. In these ways, they are taking what they have learned the hard way about struggle and war, and combinign that with the new skills they have learned in the communtiy college classroom: how to express their voices.

All history classes on Wednesday March 5 will be devoted to raising awareness of the current situation in Iraq. Class will be spent sharing information and discussing issues. Our goal is to promote critical thinking by increasing the amount and quality of information our students have on all sides of the issues: Iraq's position and role in the Middle East, America's policies towards Iraq, the global response, the role of the UN and other international agencies, the possible effects and consequences (both positive and negative) of a war, and what a post-war Iraq might look like. This will be an objective discussion centered on information, not opinions. Our hope is that this will help our students formulate informed opinions, make informed decisions and better understand their world.

Additionally, we are setting up an Iraq resource room for the day in the VDL. History teachers will be on hand during their free periods and break to answer questions and to discuss issues. We will have many resources on hand for students to further their understanding of the issues. Please encourage your students to stop by during break or a free period to see what we've got.

Your participation, creativity, and ideas are welcome. If you have resources you'd like to contribute, please give them to either Steve C. or Julie S. by Tuesday. If you have free periods and you'd like to come to the resource center, wonderful.

We'll be making an announcement during Monday assemble to inform the kids of the plan.

On behalf of the Middle School History department, thank you in advance for you support.

At the LAUSD board meeting
After she had put forward an anti-war resolution for the board's consideration (tabled till next week) and in response to a speaker from NION asking the board to pass a similar resolution that the Oakland Education Association passed that no students should be punished for anti-war activities including walkouts on March 5, Genethia Hudley Hayes stated on the record something to the effect that she comes from a civil rights movement background and one thing she learned was that if the law is wrong, then one must follow one's conscience and do the right thing! (paraphrasing!) So many students will be doing that on March 5 and we need to back them up and give them encouragement - they are the future! and putting a lot on the line to stop this war!

Iraq Peace Team, Baghdad
March 1st, 2003

We, the undersigned 20 members of the Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad, write you from the brink of tragedy - a flesh and blood tragedy for the people of Iraq, a moral tragedy for the people of the U.S.

We write you as the U.S. has assembled one of the mightiest war machines ever to plague this fragile and bloodied planet. This war machine is poised to attack Iraq - a comparatively defenseless nation already crippled by years of UN sanctions. A nation whose misfortune, it has been said, is that "our" oil is beneath its sands.

The attack - its Pentagon architects proudly call it "shock and awe" - may happen any day now. It's aimed at the cradle of much of the world's civilization. Land of the Tigris and Euphrates, land of Sumer and Babylon, land of Abraham and the Garden of Eden, Iraq is also the land of 24 million human beings - most of whom would be too young to vote or enlist if they were in the U.S.

We were immensely heartened by the marches in the U.S. - and all over the world - on February 15. We are aware that many in the U.S. will hit the streets the very day "shock and awe" commences.

Given its unimaginable scale, its unthinkable carnage, however, "shock and awe" must be stopped BEFORE it happens.

Our Call, then, is for PRE-EMPTIVE nonviolent civil disobedience action in every village and city and capitol in the U.S.

Please join us. We must all mobilize all of our networks. We must all use our collective resourcefulness. We must find ways to throw sand in the gears of the war machine. The precise date of the U.S. attack is unknown, but here is reason to believe it may be very soon.

The time to act is now.

The Iraq Peace Team: Cynthia Banas, Michael Birmingham, Cathy Breen, Chris Doucot, Kathy Kelly, Scott Kerr, Edward Kinane, Cliff Kindy, Ramzi Kysia, Michael Ferner, Doug Johnson, Charlie Litekey, Lisa Martens, Elaine Martinez, Lisa Ndejuru, Bettejo Passalaqua, Mary Burton, Risely Trisch Schuh, Neville Watson, Jerry Zawada

From Brian Frye, of the Sisters of St. Joseph,
Cleveland, OH

Dear Friends in the Faith Community,

I am putting out this last minute call, to ask you to encourage your colleagues and the peacemakers in your congregations to create or find some form of public expression for peace in just two days, Ash Wednesday. I have already given some of you the flyer of what we are going to do in front of our property on Rocky River Drive at 4:40 PM for a half hour. (I attached the flyer below, just in case you haven't seen it, or can forward it on to others.) I encourage you to consider joining us, joining another event happening that day, or even better, creating your own similar witness in front of your church. Unlike some of the other peace events, the "success" of this Moratorium Against War effort will not be measured by how many people came to one central event, but rather the large number of different locations and ways people make their own public "statement" or expression for peace. Even just ringing the church bells!

The papers and TV cameras may or may not take great notice. But I am hoping that the individuals taking one new step for peace this day, in a manner that resonates with their heart and conscience, will feel connected to a power of spirit (I would say it is the same spirit Christians call the Holy Spirit). So, maybe "success" isn't really what I said above, though that may be a good "tactical" measure. Maybe "success" is in the changing of hearts and the deepening of groundedness and commitment to justice and peace. And, for me, in spite of all the pessimism that "this war is going to happen, no matter what we do", I still have some faith that the war can be stopped. This day, and others like it, are what we have to do to try.

For a list of other events planned for March 5, and much more information, look at the evolving website: www.geocities.com/nion_cleveland (There is an underscore (_) between nion and cleveland.)

Please pass this information and call for action on in the best ways you know!

Thanks,
Brian Fry

For more information contact:
Moratorium Committee
moratorium2003@yahoo.com * 1-866-54NOWAR
www.moratoriumtostopwar.org