x-posted to the usual places.

NATIONWIDE STUDENT STRIKE Sept. 26



START SPREADING THE WORD

Backed by Noam Chomsky and more than 100 other professors so far...a call
has been put out for a student strike on Sept. 26, coordinated with the D.C.
action on the September 24-25 weekend.

This effort is in line with Cindy's efforts, but seeks to begin to transfer
the focus from Texas to the nation's 300-plus Pentagon-dependent
universities.

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September 26, 2005

President George W. Bush, The White House
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Department of Defense, The Pentagon
President Nils Hasselmo, Association of American Universities
Governor Ted Kulongoski, State of Oregon
President Dave Frohnmayer, University of Oregon

Dear Public Servants,

As University of Oregon's first graduate student in the field of Peace
Studies, it is my responsibility to explore the role of the military in
society and those conditions that most promote peace and human welfare.
In so doing, I have come to understand the nature of America's war
industry, and how that industry has flourished in the wake of the Cold
War. I have come to find that more than 300 of our universities are
developing weapons for the Department of Defense, and that these schools
are increasingly reliant on the industry of war to sustain their
education programs. Indeed, the Association of American Universities
appears to be little more than a lobby for such funding.

As a person of good conscience, I have learned too much about the
business of war to remain silent about its overwhelming encroachment in
our schools, communities, and global life systems. In promoting this
encroachment, I do not believe that you serve in the interest of
prosperity and security for the common people. By your consistent
actions, in fact, it is abundantly clear that you believe America's top
priority is profit from the business of war, not the general welfare of
its people.

When America was born a people-first country, the concept of freedom
spread rapidly throughout the world without military force. The vision
of our Founders was to advance the notion of people living in peace
using the freedom that nature provides upon birth. You may feel at peace
with yourselves, but I believe you are acting as businessmen instead of
servants. And in honoring our Founding principles, I must proclaim that
to exploit the fears and prejudices of the common people to maintain the
flow of profits from conflict--to perpetuate a state of war for personal
gain--is treasonous to our creed.

You say this is a peace-loving nation when you know it is not; America
is by far history's greatest peddler of arms, and your business is
making war everyone else's business. The people, under this set of
priorities, are an expendable resource, and on behalf of those who
founded this country and those whose lives stand in peril today--thus,
on behalf of all Americans--I reject the notion of our servants serving
only themselves and war profiteers.

Therefore, I feel compelled to strike in peaceful but vociferous
opposition to your priorities until our national policies reflect our
priorities and serve the rights and needs of the common people.

I am a dedicated scholar and University of Oregon alumnus. But I refuse
to study inside the classroom of any school that sells itself to the war
industry, and I will stand outside and speak my heart as strongly as
possible to highlight the obvious hypocrisy that you promote. For I fear
that if I do not, America and other countries are very likely to suffer
and fall as a result of your cold determination to saturate with weapons
a world that stands on the verge of resource depletion.

Developing weapons at our institutions of enlightenment contradicts the
inherent purpose of learning. How will we ever learn peace while making
war in our schools?

I hereby submit to you this petition for peaceful priorities.

Dutifully, Brian D. Bogart bbogart@darkwing.uoregon.edu Multicultural
Studies Certificate, US-Japan Relations, Lewis and Clark College,
Portland 1995 International Studies Certificate, Waseda University,
Tokyo 1996 B.A. Japanese History, University of Oregon 1997 M.A.
Candidate, Peace Studies, University of Oregon

Sponsors of this action include:

Noam Chomsky
Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Franklin W. Stahl
Professor Emeritus of Biology
University of Oregon

Peter Phillips Ph.D.
Sociology Department/Project Censored
Sonoma State University

(names removed for space)

--
"The country we carry in our hearts is waiting." Bruce Springsteen
Wage Peace

Grant E. Remington
2503 NE Dunckley
Portland, Oregon 97212
503-282-5015
grant@dunckleystreet.com
U.S. Labor Against War (USLAW)
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www.uslaboragainstwar.org
<http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/> Email: <info@uslaboragainstwar.org>
PMB 153
1718 "M" Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
Co-convenors:
Gene Bruskin, Maria Guillen, Fred Mason, Bob Muehlenkamp, and Nancy
Wohlforth
Michael Eisenscher, National Organizer & Website Coordinator
Adrienne Nicosia, Administrative Staff