Protesting USMC recruiters at UC Berkeley

About 30 anti war activists protested the inclusion of the United States Marine Corps at today's UC Berkeley career fair. After a 15 minute picket and flyering outside the career fair, about 20 students went inside the career fair to take the message to the recruiters and everyone inside the career fair.

For about 20 minutes students asked the recruiters about their policy barring gays from the military, and also about the morality of the war in Iraq. Those were the two main issues that the protestors raised. Personally I feel that trying to apply moral suasion to marine recrutiers is useless but I don't fault anyone for trying. Myself and others tried to get the head recruiter to sign a statement saying that they would not hire openly gay people, but they refused.

Meanwhile, a few others talked to the director of the Career Fair, who basically passed the buck and said that it was a policy of the UC Regents to allow the military recruiters there.

After that there was chanting inside for about 10 minutes, at which time we were informed that we would be arrested if we didn't leave. After a little more chanting, we left.

I know that there were a few people willing to be arrested, but we just didn't have the turnout ot make it effective. That was the big problem today, there simply weren't enough people there. The event was organized by the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition (BTSW), and it seemed to me that there were maybe a dozen ISO people, a few BTSW people who aren't also ISOers, three Sparticus', and a handful of unaffiliated anti-authoritarians. As one participant remarked, "It would have been an entirely different story if we had two or three times this many people".

This brings up my point of constructive criticism for BTSW: more outreach is needed! There should have been more outreach made to queer groups, and also to some of the anarchist collectives around campus. That would have increased the number and the militancy, I think, of the protest.

But I commend BTSW for grabbing onto the issue of the militarys discriminatory hiring policy as one that can get the recruiters off campus. It's also a good way to try wake up the student antiwar movement again by focusing onto a local issue that can be won.

A little background:

Last fall, the the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that if a college opposes the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy barring homosexuals from serving in the armed forces, that school has a First Amendment right to protest by blocking access to military recruiters. UC Berkeley's own anti-discrimination policy forbids employers who discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Also, check out this link for info on a succesful expulsion of military recruiters in Seattle. http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2005/01/244225.shtml