Syracuse M19 - Rally Against War and the Militarization of our Universities

Central New Yorkers, show your opposition to the war and the use of universities to maintain the war machine. Also, share choice words you may have with war criminal John Poindexter, visiting the University that day! Friday, March 19th, 2004 from 11:00AM to 3:00PM on the steps of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University.

The illegal, unjust, and immoral war on Iraq was undertaken against the demands of history’s largest peace demonstrations. It was executed and encouraged by media, scholars, and leaders not accountable to us citizens through popular elections. This culture of militarism spreads its tentacles throughout U.S. institutions, which include schools and universities that are supposed to train and educate citizens for the democratic creation of a better world. Syracuse University is not free of this military culture. The Maxwell School of Citizenship has multiple ties to the CIA and houses the nation’s premiere training course for senior military leaders and defense contractors, the National Security Studies (NSS) program. There, the elites of the military-industrial complex, from the chief commander in Afghanistan to Lockheed-Martin’s space weapons engineers, network and plan how to maintain and enhance their grip on the planet’s largest defense budget. Meanwhile, the School of Law now has its own program/garrison, the Institute for National Security and Counter-terrorism (INSCT), devoted to the legal ramifications of domestic surveillance and abridging the Bill of the Rights.

This March 19th marks a convergence of the war abroad and the machinery that makes it possible. The day before the anniversary of the Iraq invasion, and two days before the arrival of the NSS for their six-week spring session, the School of Law’s INSCT program holds its first conference. As one of their closing speakers, they’re bringing Reagan’s former national security advisor, war criminal of Iran-Contra and other atrocities, and most recently, chief of Homeland Security’s Orwellian “Total Information Awareness” project, John Poindexter. Join students, faculty, community members, and others from Syracuse and Central NY to rally at SU campus to speak, sing, cheer, and rally to show our opposition to war and occupation, whether in Iraq or in the university, and to affirm our commitment to peace and ensuring academia promotes security for all, not privilege for some.

WHEN: Friday March 19th, 2004 – 11:00AM to 3:00PM
WHERE: Syracuse University – Syracuse, NY (Hendricks Chapel steps)