Activist in MN shut down several recruiting stations on "Zero Recruitment Day"

[annm4peace]

At each targeted military Recruitment Centers was a mix of young, old, men, woman, students, veterans.. etc. over all it was a very good day. check out this link to see pictures once they are posted:
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/apr/thursday-april-23-zero-recruitment-day

( I was able to join one of the groups on my lunch break from work, I helped read off those Minnesota Military members killed in Iraq and Afganistan, which is over 70 for our state alone)

Zero Recruitment Day saw at least five significant actions at military recruiting stations throughout the Twin Cities in addition to an action at the campus ROTC in Mankato.

In Brooklyn Center, four activists locked themselves to a station, disrupting business for over half the day.

Three Grandmothers for Peace were arrested after trying to enlist in St. Louis Park; afterwards, supporters continued to disrupt business.

At Lake and Lyndale in Minneapolis, a full day of action culminated in a redecoration of the recruiting station there, leading to a bizarre spectacle of fire trucks.

Actions also happened in West St. Paul and the University of Minnesota, where a lengthy rally closed the recruiting station there, while College Republican counter-protesters held signs--many racists and advocating torture--nearby.

TCIMC's dispatch is now off-line; read below for a play-by-play and check back for video reports in the next few days!

6:20pm: The action appears to be over, but at LynLake, three big fire trucks (including the hazardous materials truck) plus oodles of police have been tying up traffic quite well themselves. The whole corner is still taped off.


5:40pm: Cops taped off the NW corner of Lake/Lyndale, by recruiting station, calling it a "crime scene." The rally has relocated to across the street. The fire department is even on the scene investigating the glue used for the posters! If sidewalk chalk makes protesters terrorists (a la AETA 4), does glue? The best news: the recruiting center is officially shut down.

5:20pm: LynLake station totally covered with posters, foreclosure signs glued to the front.

5:10pm: Several Minneapolis cops have arrived @ noisy LynLake rally and trying to talk to protesters; recruiters locked the door and are videotaping protesters from inside. Cops and recruiters are together pointing people out in crowd.

4:15pm: Rally at Lake/Lyndale getting ready to begin at 4:30. One recruiter had nothing better to do than spend ~10min. peeling off a sticker from the door... give him some more work! TCIMC has been taking video of various actions; watch the site in the next few days.

2:45pm: U of M action continues well past the official end-time of 1:00pm. One burly cop is guarding the recruiting station front door. Come down to campus and give your support the ol' college try!

2:00pm: Four lockdowners were released about one hour ago; charged with two misdemeanors: trespass and 4th degree criminal property damage. The latter charge results from the police cutting the doors to the recruiting center, not any action on the activists' part. They're well and ask you to pay attention for possible court solidarity actions in the future!

1:55pm: Lake and Lyndale presence is still going strong, lots of fliers distro'd and sidewalk chalking. Mobilize for 4:30 "Foreclosure the War" rally there.

* * * for previous reports read more. text "follow tcimc" or "follow zrd" to 40404 for twitter updates. to report news, call our dispatch @ 651-503-5661. * * *

1:30pm: Morning arrest @ Lake and Lyndale has been confirmed. Woman was charged with disorderly conduct for putting a "Don't enlist" sticker on a cop car right as another cop pulled in behind. She was ticketed and released and is now back in the action!

1:00pm: West St. Paul action @ 1672 S. Robert has been going strong all day; activists entered recruiting station at 8am but officers didn't want to talk. Six cop cars but no arrests. Lots of fliers distro'd in surrounding area and Wal-Mart, Target parking lots; after being kicked out of those by security, the crew is back on Robert Street.

11:45am: Doors of the Knollwood mall station have been locked; the station shut down by mall security thanks to wily activists!

11:35am: Lockdowners in Brooklyn Center have been cut out, arrested and taken to Brooklyn Center Police Station, 6645 Humboldt Ave. N. Total of seven confirmed arrests so far today.

At the U of M: Demonstration underway at Oak and Washington recruiting station led by U of M SDS. A College Republican counter-protest has about 30 people holding pro-America signs, some of which advocate waterboarding.

11:15am: Brooklyn Center Police Commander Stu Robinson told the Star Tribune: "officers told the protesters that they would not be arrested unless they begin to damage property or act in some other threatening manner." Pants on fire? Threatening to military recruitment, true. The station's still closed ("unstaffed," as the Strib says, since the recruiters were hanging out at the coffee shop next door).

10:45am: Police have given dispersal order in Brooklyn Center. Locked activists aren't moving; support rally has moved off the property. Arrests appear imminent

10:35am: Brooklyn Center: Bigger police presence on the scene - six hennepin county sheriff cars, 5 BCPD and a fire truck. Activists asking for support: go to 5615 Xerxes Ave. N, near Brookdale Mall

10:25am: Demonstration set to begin at West St. Paul Air Force/Army/Navy recruiting station, led by Twin Cities Peace Campaign and AlliantAction. Join them! 1672 Robert Street, city of West STP

10:10am: Three grandmas for peace were arrested @ Knollwood Mall, taken to the St. Louis Park police station, ticketed for trespassing and released. They're now going back to the mall and encouraging others to come disrupt business as usual.

10:00am: Report from Brooklyn Center: Recruiters wanted police to arrest lockdowners immediately, but police have refused! The army recruiting station remains CLOSED and may be closed for the day (it's normally open 8-8).

9:50am: Report from Mankato, MN: Demonstration at mall was met by heavy police and mall security presence. Recruiters said that all area recruiting stations received a memo about Zero Recruitment Day. Protest is moving to the MSU-Mankato campus ROTC now...

9:35am: Unconfirmed report of arrest one block away from Lyndale/Lake St recruiting station. Small crowd there; MPD cop rolled up to say that an unknown white woman was arrested a block away after stickering a car. MPD Squad # 525. Investigating...

At Knollwood: Two police are inside recruiting station in the mall w/ six Grandmothers for Peace. Three police officers are blocking the door, with small crowd of supporters in the hallway and more police outside the mall

9:30am: Report that arrests imminent @ Knollwood Mall station; Grandmothers for Peace attempted to enlist and some may refuse to leave. Cops on the scene. Press conference set to begin there shortly. 8332 Hwy 7, St. Louis Park

8:20am: Police have finally arrived at Brooklyn Center lockdown, 3 BCPD cars.

4/23 8am: Lockdown @ 5615 Xerxes Brooklyn Center Recruiting Station! Activists have locked themselves to the door with u-locks and lockboxes. Read the statement

* * *

Some of the public actions announced so far:

* St. Louis Park: 9:30 a.m. press conference and demonstration at Knollwood Mall, Parking Lot (by the Knollwood sign), Highway 7 and Texas Avenue
* Minneapolis: 11am - 1pm @ Army Recruiting Station, 806 Washington Ave. SE (near corner of Washington & Oak Street
* Minneapolis: Army Recruting Center on Lake St. & Lyndale Ave from 8:30 am-6:00 pm; rallies at 12 and 4:30
* Mankato, MN: Demonstration at Minnesota State University--Mankato ROTC, 12 noon

On April 23, communities across MN will take action to stop military recruitment, resist recruiter lies, and demand an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Actions will take place at recruiting centers all over the Twin Cities and beyond. A diversity of tactics will be used simultaneously under one message: Troops Out Now, Money for Human Needs, Not War, Zero Recruitment Today! So take action yourself, or join one in progress.

[valerief]

1. K&R

:kick:

[MADem]

2. I'll bet any amount of money that the recruiters just used that day as a training day.

They either caught up on paperwork, recruited off site, had "production meetings" with their supervisors, knocked out some mandatory annual general military training, worked on advancement requirements, or got a day of liberty, which for people working eighty hour weeks, is a good deal.

That probably won't be a popular comment, but I'll bet it's accurate.

Most recruiting doesn't happen in the offices, so the effort, while dramatic to the participants in the action, likely impacted the recruiting effort little if at all.

Recruiters are on the lookout twenty four/seven. They don't just sit behind a desk waiting for people to walk into their office. In fact, walk-ins in many localities are the LEAST popular way of getting a contract. Recruiters recruit by "smiling and dialing" (chatting people up at places like fast food joints, computer stores, video game outlets, where young adults gather, and 'cold calling' prospects on the phone, or receiving calls from people who are interested in joining), it happens at the Military Entrance Processing Station, where the ASVAB test is administered, and physicals are conducted, and job assignments are made....and it often happens across kitchen tables, where the contracts (which every recruiter keeps in their briefcase in their car) are sometimes filled out, particularly when a parent wants to be involved in the decision. Sometimes, protests like these actually help recruiting, because they force the recruiter to break his or her pattern and try something different--and often, that produces a contract they might not otherwise have gotten.

First one to "shoot the messenger" for revealing these truths is a poor reader and getting angry for the wrong reasons.

[Duckhunter935]

3. Correct

Glad I was never a recruiter. Almost impossible job with little reward. Luck of the draw good or bad areas.

[MADem]

4. I had the sad duty to be in charge of over a hundred of them for a time.

It's a soul crushing tour. I never could understand the career recruiters....I mean, really, going to sea ain't all that bad. It beats the hell out of recruiting, IMO.

[annm4peace]

5. we are not against the recruiters, we know they are "tours"

we are against the recruiting.
Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Of course, I don't know what they do at all of these protests but we try to say something kind to them, or ignore them. We know it must be horrible. In fresno, ca.. they bring cookies.

[MADem]

6. I think most people don't realize that when the recruiting offices are defaced, the

lowest ranking schmuck is the one who will be cleaning it up. He or she will get to spend yet another hour away from his or her family doing so. The protestors should also realize that their actions don't impact the bosses of the recruiters at all--their attitude is, "So you got shut down on Wednesday? Well, you'd better work on Saturday, then, hadn't you? You WILL make goal, or your evaluation/fitness report will SUFFER for it."

These protests may make the protesters feel good, and they may garner them a bit of attention as passers-by point and stare, but they're really akin to beating the maids, gardeners and footmen for the sins of the Lord of The Manor. They have zero impact on the leadership going up the Service/DOD chains.

I know you probably don't like that answer, but it's the unvarnished truth. I've been there, done that and bought the tee shirt.

[annm4peace]

9. better than have to shot and kill innocents

I would rather they clean the defaced station.. better than spending another day lying to a young person to try and get them to join so they make the quota and not get demoted.

There are a lot of worse things than having to clean off the posters.

As a demonstrator, there are many weekends, and family times I have missed trying to educate and stop this military madness. I would rather not be protesting. I would rather NOT marching, in freezing weather. I would rather NOT have to copy down the names of troops killed in Iraq and Afganistan and then read them off in public.

I would rather NOT have to listen to another soldier tell his soul torturing story of what he did.

I would rather NOT have to watch and listen to the soldiers during "Winter Soldier"

I would rather NOT have to hold a mother or sister who broke down after telling me their loved one was killed in Iraq, or committeed suicide.

I would rather not look into the eyes of a female troop who was raped by a commanding officer and still had to go back overseas.

I would rather not have to have my cousin tell me her stepson isn't coming back to U.S. on leave because it is harder on him to leave family again than to just stay in Iraq. He is on 4th tour as a sniper. I would rather NOT have to keep the pain in my soul knowing that when he finally does come back, if he does, he won't be well and neither will his family.

I would rather NOT have to protest in front of recruiters's station.. just like the many others there would like NOT to have to protest.

[MADem]

10. Talk to the people who are considering enlisting, if you want results.

That's all I'm saying.

Your activities may make "you" feel good, but that's all they're doing--making YOU feel good.

They don't disrupt recruiting at all, because most recruiting takes place away from these offices where you're staging your disruptions. All you're doing is keeping a recruiter away from his family for an extra hour if you deface the station, because he (or she) "will" put in his full day of prospecting, smiling and dialing, etc. in addition to spending time cleaning up the mess you might make.

I think your argument would have a little more juice, too, if there were a draft in effect. No one is forced to sign up, and even though our public schools are in distress, they still teach a little bit of reading and writing, and recruits do have to be able to read and write as a precondition to enlistment. They are required to initial every page of their contract at least once, often more, and they sign their consent on the dotted line at every step of the process.

And some people, believe it or not, are motivated to serve. They sign up because they want to go into that line of work.

Do NOT shoot the messenger, now. I'm just telling it like it is.

[annm4peace]

12. we do that also. Many campaigns on talking high school kids

funny you mention keeping them from going home that day.. when the military extends tours for months and months. and was also doing stop loss

Just like I was saying before.. no they are not forced to sign up, but many are lied to before and during the time they are in the military.

[MADem]

13. You probably don't realize that, for the USA/USMC guys, especially, thouse

guys who aren't going home on that day have likely come off a tour in Iraq or the 'Stan--and this is their "shore duty" or CONUS tour. They're the same folks who were stop-lossed and extended. But see--that's in your contract, too. That yes, you CAN be stop lossed, and your enlistment contract CAN be extended. If you read your contract, you see these things.

There comes a point in time, too, where people who are old enough to sign contracts need to get the spirit and read them. Further, if you can demonstrate that a recruiter has lied to you in a substantive way, you can get out of the contract. It's happened before.

In very large letters as part of the contract, there's a big fat paragraph that says, in no uncertain terms, that promises made by recruiters don't fly--the only thing you are guaranteed is what is in this contract you are signing. It's written to be understood by a person with eighth grade reading skills, so I'm figuring that most new recruits are able to "get" that.

I realize you mean well, I just don't think your efforts have much if any effect. In fact, they often can serve to make people who have served in the military and found value in their service feel that you're challenging, insulting or denigrating them in some fashion.

[annm4peace]

14. if this was true, why were there so many veterans also protesting ?

I think we can agree to disagree

and yes we know it has an effect. Hardly any news covers us, but hundreds drive by, and with at least 5 different locations and being there at least 5 hours that is 1000's we have reached, and 1000's we made think. It is up to that individual to feel we are insulting them and that is nothing we can control. AT least we know they are serving and have served and can tell you how many have died and how many are wounded.

[MADem]

15. We can always "agree to disagree." That's never a problem with me.

The military is a big place. If you expect monolithic, lockstep morons, little tin cutouts like Star Wars storm troopers, or the "henchmen" in a James Bond flick, you're laboring under a profound misapprehension.

See, the military--they're US. They're ME. My father, many of my ancestors. They're my uncles, cousins, friends. They're Democrats, like ME. They're Republicans, like Dan Quayle. They're male and female, they're old and young, they're gay and straight, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Wiccan, nothing at all, black, white, every shade, and every cultural heritage. They aren't cookie cutter robots.

For you to say that veterans were there is unsurprising, but it simply proves my point, not yours. "They" are us--all of us. With wide ranging opinions and views.

And some, indeed many, of "them" do find value in their service, even if you don't agree with them.

You didn't disrupt the process, though. You simply disrupted the lives of a few bottom guys on the totem pole. That's my point, too.

No messenger shooting, please.

[annm4peace]

7. Picture and article in MN University's Daily newspaper

http://www.mndaily.com/2009/04/23/fight-breaks-out-amid-stadium-village-protest#comment-11893

Two opposing protests in front of a Stadium Village military recruitment office Thursday — totaling about 50 people — led to at least one fight, though no arrests were made.

Members of the Students for a Democratic Society and Anti-War Committee lined up on Washington Avenue to protest military involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq Thursday morning.

In opposition to the protest, students from the University of Minnesota’s College Republicans, as well as veterans and supporters, positioned themselves in front of the recruiting office, carrying signs accusing the original protestors of being unpatriotic.

One sign read, “End the war by winning it.”

The dual protest began peacefully, with each group trying to muffle the other’s message in a shouting competition from separate sides of the street. Eventually, members of SDS, the Anti-War Committee and supporters crossed the street to protest in front of the military recruiting office, resulting in a brief physical altercation between the opposing groups leaving a few protestors pushed to the ground.

[Cid_B]

8. The juvenille idiocy here....

.. is to long to list but needless to say it is childish, misplaced and disgusting.

If you'll excuse me I've got a formation to attend.

[gratuitous]

11. Hoo-raw and outstanding, citizens!

Not everyone is an acolyte in the High Church of Redemptive Violence, and a public witness to that fact is always in order.

:patriot: