Activism!!: SDS in Minnesota

Minnesota: National Guard Recruitment Station shut down to protest war in Iraq, 16 arrested

By staff

Minneapolis, MN - 16 demonstrators were arrested here, March 27, after shutting down the offices of the Army National Guard Recruiting Office and protesting five years of war and occupation in Iraq,.

The civil disobedience was organized by the Anti-War Committee, and included participants from many local peace groups, including the Anti-War Committee, University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Women Against Military Madness, and Youth Against War and Racism.

The protests come on the heels of a month of activities that have marked the five year anniversary of the war, and the grim milestone of 4000 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq. More than a thousand anti-war actions were organized around the country. Some of these protests included acts of civil disobedience, leading to the arrests of more than 200 anti-war protesters nation-wide.

Minneapolis protesters were challenging Army National Guard recruiters on the lies that are told to convince young people to enlist. Katrina Plotz, of the Anti-War Committee, explains, "Military recruiters entice young people to enlist with false promises of money for college, job training and assurances that they won't see combat. We're here to educate people about the lies recruiters tell and to protest a system that uses and abuses its soldiers. We want the war to end now and for the troops to come home."

The action at the recruitment office followed a 400-person rally and march organized by the University of Minnesota SDS and was coordinated with an action by Macalester SDS as they shut down another nearby military recruitment center.

"A powerful student movement against the war on Iraq is coming into being," says Tracy Molm of University of Minnesota SDS.

"We will continue to confront the war makers at every opportunity."