More than a hundred mothers have contacted me over the years, alarmed at the relationships their teenaged children were developing with military recruiters at school. They wanted to know what they could do about it. They were angry, and they were worried.

The fact these women reached out to me and other counter-recruitment activists demonstrates the degree of alarm they experienced. They feared their vulnerable children would enlist against their wishes. They were terrified their child would be killed while they stood by. This was the driving force of their resistance.

Several mothers told me they deeply resented the presence of military recruiters in their child’s school and they described the influence recruiters were having over their child’s thinking and behavior. They talked about difficult relationships they had with their children. Some said their child had forged close relationships with recruiters at school for over two years. These moms were certain their sons were going to enlist because their boys knew the pain it would inflict on their mothers.

http://worldbeyondwar.org/peace-studies-can-help-end-wars

Remarks at Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, October 28, 2017.

Thank you for inviting me. Can everyone who thinks that war is never, and can never be, justified please raise your hand. Thank you. Now if you think every war is always justified. Thank you. And finally all the moderates holding the balanced subtle middle ground: some wars are justified. Thank you. You may not be surprised to hear that this room is not typical of this country. Typical is for absolutely everyone to pile into that last group.

The relationship between peace and war is clearly not understood by the U.S. public as along the lines of that between alive and dead. Peace and war are things people imagine can coexist.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers started a boycott of an iconic central Ohio-based fast-food chain over a year ago. This was after the company stopped sourcing its tomatoes from Florida instead of joining the CIW’s Fair Food Program to protect Florida farmworkers from exploitation.

Wendy’s has responded to the boycott by quibbling over why they don’t want to pay a penny-per-pound premium for Florida tomatoes to support a living wage for the workers who harvest them. One thing that Wendy’s spokespersons don’t want to talk about is sexual violence in the agricultural industry.

On October 23, women of the CIW led a protest in the rain outside Wendy’s Dublin headquarters to raise awareness of widespread sexual harassment and rape in Mexican agribusinesses, where Wendy’s now sources tomatoes and other produce. They were joined by faith communities and members of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) at Ohio State University.

Thursday, October 26, 5-6pm
https://www.facebook.com/kaboubf
You can watch this event via live stream video on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/kaboubf