Aid and Abet

Army of None review by Jeremy Brecher - Znet and Truthout August 17, 2007

An Army of None
By Jeremy Brecher
t r u t h o u t | Book Review

Saturday 28 July 2007

“Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World,” (Seven Stories Press, August 2007) by Aimee Allison and David Solnit, is a manual for opponents of the Iraq war.

“Army of None” is a manual for opponents of the Iraq war who want to cut off its supply of cannon fodder. It presents how-to guides, hot tips and successful examples of counterrecruitment strategies in schools and communities around the US. It argues that such actions can be a critical part of ending the war by depriving the military of soldiers to fight it. It presents this strategy as part of a more general “people power” approach to combating war and transforming society, based on the withdrawal of popular compliance with authority.

The authors argue that, without enough soldiers, it is impossible to sustain a large, long-term occupation in a country like Iraq.(1) Anyone who doubts this argument should read the recent speech by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) - the speech that heralded the stampede of Republican politicians away from support of Bush’s Iraq policy. Along with the intractable political situation in Iraq and the loss of support for the war by the American people, Lugar listed a third factor that makes current policy untenable: “The fatigue of our military.” Indeed, the window for employing American troops “without damaging our military strength or our ability to respond to other national security priorities,” according to Lugar, “is closing.”

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Army of None Book Release Party & Tour Kick Off - Aug 30 in Oakland

Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End
the War, and Build a Better World
by Aimee Allison and David Solnit

Army of None Book Release Party in Oakland!
Cosponsored by: Courage to Resist, Not Your Soldier, The Oakland Institute, Women of Color Resource Center, and Veterans for Peace Chapter 69.

BOOK RELEASE & PROJECT KICK-OFF CELEBRATION
Join Army vet Aimee Allison and global justice organizer and puppeteer David Solnit in celebrating their book release and launching a 40-city tour to support local counter recruitment and antiwar efforts.

THURS AUG 30, 6:30pm

Club Oasis
135 12th St., @ Madison, Oakland
(6 blocks E. of Broadway/12th St. BART)

How Do We Stop the War?
World Premiere: Army of None Puppet Show!
Spoken Word!
Snacks by Chef Tom Cohen!
Buy a Book!
Free and open to the public!

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Buy the book at the courage to Resist website or request it through your local independent bookseller!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/armyofnone

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Army of None on Tour!

Aimee and David will be travelling to 40 communities from September through January - visit their Myspace Page for frequent updates. Contact Jen Angel (jenangel-at-riseup.net) to schedule a presentation, workshop, or performance.
http://www.myspace.com/armyofnonebook

Army of None Review on After Downing Street

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/25620

Resistance of One
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-08-10 10:47. Nonviolent Resistance

By David Swanson

There is something else we can try. If you’ve given up on staging marches and rallies, or if – like me – you haven’t but you want to try something else as well, and if you’ve given up on lobbying Congress as pointless, or if – like me – you haven’t but you want to try something else as well, and if educating your fellow citizens as to exactly how completely corrupt the whole system is seems like an incomplete answer, and if staging a general strike or taking over the capital only seems like a good idea if you can get millions of others to join you, there is another approach that can be taken right away by a single person, a small group, or a crowd.

You can counter recruit, counter the corporate war profiteers, and counter the media. Talking to high school and college students and career counselors about the reality of the military, done at the smallest or largest scale, helps to deny the military the troops it needs to occupy foreign lands and kill. Of course, the military pushes back, raising the top age for recruits (now at 42), promising bigger bonuses (now at $50,000), and lowering various qualifications. Ultimately, the military can push back by instituting a draft. But that could also lead to much greater resistance. Corporations profiting from the pretended “reconstruction” of Iraq, from the control of Iraq’s oil, and from the use of weapons and mercenaries, can be protested and influenced. Bechtel chose to stop bidding on contracts in Iraq rather than endure further protest. And the media can be resisted through the creation and promotion of independent media, through criticism and protest, and through campaigns targeting advertisers.

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Army of None Review in Third Estate

They loved it!

http://thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/2-books-20-minutes.html

2 Books, 20 minutes

[…]

Wally: This book is Army of None. The authors are Aimee Allison and David Solnit. It’s a trade paperback put out by Seven Stories Press and available also at Courage to Resist — as well as bookstores. It’s cover price is $14.95. Not counting end notes, it’s 187 pages. C.I.’s going to do some sort of wrap at the end. We roughly figured out how we were going to divide this ahead of time.

Kat: First of all, like Mike was saying, we’re all busy. In addition, we’re all reading way more than we usually do. The point in terms of Army of None is this: There is no starting point. If you feel like picking up one more book that you have to read in order from page one to the final page will make you scream, pick up this book and determine the order you want to go in.

Dona: Right. Some of my favorite non-fiction books are that way. Susan Faludi’s Backlash, for example. You can figure out what section most interests you and then read that part and pretty much construct your entire reading on your own. I know what Kat’s talking about. We’re all getting burned out on the reading. There are three sections to this book and, within each section, there are subsections. This book is your own journey. You can read it start to finish or you can skip around and make up your own order. This isn’t Agatha Christie, you won’t start with one chapter and think, “Now I know who the murderer is!” It all flows together for a tight book.

Ty: And Wally noted the illustrations. Thank you to the authors for those. There are times when we wonder if we should have any illustrations here because they take so much time. Then we come across that book that really breathes because of its illustrations. Those include photos, such as one of war resister Kyle Snyder, and drawings that are really too amazing to put into words. In fact, I want an illustration from the book to be our illustration for the book.

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Army of None Book Now Available! July 24, 2007

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Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End the War, and Build a Better World
by Aimee Allison and David Solnit
Now Available on Seven Stories Press!

Buy the book at the book release party on August 30! (more information below)

Buy the book at the Seven Stories website or request it through your local independent bookseller!

http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100436890

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More information about Army of None:

Uniformed US Army Officers lunch with students in elementary school cafeterias. Army training programs including rifle and pistol instruction replace physical education in middle schools. Like never before, military recruiters are entering the halls of US schools with unchecked access in an attempt to bolster a military in crisis.

However, even as these destructive efforts to militarize youth accelerate, so do the creative and powerful efforts of students, community members, and veterans to challenge them. Today, the counterrecruitment movement–from counseling to poetry slams to citywide lobbying efforts–has become one of the most practical ways to tangibly resist US policy that cuts funding for education and social programs while promoting war and occupation. Without enough soldiers, the US cannot sustain its empire.

Army of None exposes the real story behind the military recruitment complex, and offers guides, tools, and resources for education and action, and people power strategies to win.

Counterrecruitment is one of the most compelling and effective parts of the anti-war movement today. On July 9, ABC News reported that the Army has fallen short of its recruiting goals for May and June by almost 17%. (Read the full article here), a testament to both the movement’s effectiveness and the unpopularity of this war.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/exclusive-army-.html

Read excerpts from the book here!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/armyofnone

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What people are saying about Army of None:

Army Of None is a direct challenge to the militarization of American youth. It’s not a treatise on non-violence or strategy. It’s a toolkit, a practical how-to manual, for the emerging politics of non-cooperation and direct action. It is addressed to students, newcomers in the movement, practitioners of change, ordinary people who are prepared to end militarism through their own direct efforts… Army Of None is published at a pivotal moment in the peace movement. ”
- Paul Rockwell in Counterpunch

“Army of None is a manual for opponents of the Iraq war who want to cut off its supply of cannonfodder. It presents how-to guides, hot tips, and successful examples of counterrecruitment strategies in schools and communities around the U.S…. Army of None provides a fascinating deconstruction of military recruiting mindgames.”
- Historian Jeremy Brecher
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About the Authors:

Army veteran Aimee Allison has led school and community counterrecruitment activities over the last decade. She’s a contributor to 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military. Global Justice and antiwar organizer David Solnit is the editor of Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World.
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Save the date! August 30 Army of None Book Release Party in Oakland!

Cosponsored by: Courage to Resist, Not Your Soldier, The Oakland Institute, Women of Color Resource Center, and Veterans for Peace Chapter 69.

BOOK RELEASE & PROJECT KICK-OFF CELEBRATION
Join Army vet Aimee Allison and global justice organizer and puppeteer David Solnit in celebrating their book release and launching a 40-city tour to support local counter recruitment and antiwar efforts.

THURS AUG 30, 6:30pm

Club Oasis
135 12th St., @ Madison, Oakland
(6 blocks E. of Broadway/12th St. BART)

How Do We Stop the War?
World Premiere: Army of None Puppet Show!
Spoken Word!
Snacks by Chef Tom Cohen!
Buy a Book!
Free and open to the public!

—–
Army of None on Tour!

Aimee and David will be travelling to 40 communities from September through January - visit their Myspace Page for frequent updates. Contact Jen Angel (jenangel-at-riseup.net) to schedule a presentation, workshop, or performance.
http://www.myspace.com/armyofnonebook

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Raise money for your organization!

Bulk copies of Army of None are available at a discount by contacting Lars Reilly, lars@sevenstories.com or 212-226-8760. Orders of 10 or more get the book HALF OFF the cover price!
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Bring the Army of None Project to your city! July 11, 2007

Aimee and David are such amazing presenters, I’m very excited to work with them to get their important message out. Please email me if you have any questions.
–Jen

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Bring the Army of None Project to your city!!

This fall Aimee Allison and David Solnit will be travelling the country sharing their combined 30 years of experience with counter-recruitment and anti-war groups around the country. They want to meet with your group to strategize about local campaigns, do presentations to high school and college students about what really happens when you join the military, do public presentations on the military’s recruitment practices, and faciliate workshops on strategic organizing.

Contact us now to make sure that they stop in your city! Dates will be announced as we have them.

Download a full-size version of this flyer at the Courage to Resist website.

Anti-war, global justice and arts organizer DAVID SOLNIT was a main organizer in the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. He is the editor of Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World.

Army veteran Aimee Allison has led school and community counter-recruitment activities over the last decade. She is a contributor to 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military. She was recruited out of high school and became a Conscientious to the Gulf War. She actively supports veterans that are healing from their war experiences.