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BY YINGJIA WANG

In print | December 6, 2007

Since its revival earlier this year, Swarthmore’s Students for a Democratic Society has hit the ground running. Notably, the group has attended a recent protest at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which is better known by its former name, the School of the Americas, and has actively networked with SDS groups from area schools. A counter-army recruitment campaign is also in the works for next semester.

Ten students from the college, the majority of whom were SDS members, attended the Vigil to Close the School of the Americas over the weekend of Nov. 16 in Fort Benning, GA, where SOA is located. According to School of the Americas Watch’s Web site, the weekend included speakers such as U.S. presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich and well-known human rights activist Adriana Portillo Bartow.

SOA is a United States Department of Defense facility operated military training institute for Latin American military leaders.

Perhaps one of the Department of Defense’s most controversial projects, the SOA is accused of training its students in methods that violate international human rights laws — accusations that have been bolstered by select alumni who later became known for their atrocious human rights abuses.

Two SDS members who attended the protest, Anna Kastner ’08 and Markus Schlotterbeck ’10, felt that it was important for SDS to be present at the protest.

“It’s a cause that I always thought was important, and I also think that it’s for a cause that is achievable. I know last year there was a bill in Congress to close down the School of the Americas that came incredibly close to passing. So I feel that at the national level there is a lot of support for shutting down the School of the Americas, so this is an important year to push for that,” Kastner said.

“I felt like I was participating in at least raising awareness in U.S. involvement in training soldiers who are the leaders and members of paramilitary group and death squads in South America. It’s a very clear example of U.S. foreign policy that is contrary to standards of human rights and contrary to the values that the U.S. espouses,” Schlotterbeck said.

In addition to the SOA protest, Swarthmore SDS has also been active in regional SDS activities. Just this past weekend, members attended the Northeast Regional SDS convention in Philadelphia.

Once the national SDS completes a census, the group will know more concretely about the numbers and activities of other SDS chapters. “We talked a lot about the national SDS and what they’re doing. I think they agreed on some points of unity for the Northeast as a region. Our chapter of SDS will be receiving a ballot of sorts where we can have input on what the national SDS is doing,” Kastner said. “We also got a good sense of SDS nationwide, of how many groups there are and how strong each individual chapter is.”

Looking ahead, SDS is planning a counter-recruitment campaign that it is looking to put into effect next semester. “Counter-recruitment is going places where recruiters have a strong presence … and saying some of the things that the military doesn’t say. It is countering the message of the recruiters and telling potential recruits the things the military doesn’t want to tell them,” Schlotterbeck said.

Schlotterbeck also described the reasoning behind this campaign as two-fold.

“The inspiration is that the military is recruiting disproportionately to minority and disadvantaged people and that these people are dying overseas,” said Schlotterbeck. “This is something close to home that we can hope to achieve … This is a way to deal with the effects of war that is happening in communities around us.”

Thus far, SDS has gathered information about schools that may be potential sites for its campaign and has drawn upon the counter-recruitment training session that some members attended at the SOA protest.

According to Schlotterbeck, the group is generally interested in going into schools where recruitment is heavy and either setting up a table in a lunchroom or passing out information in the halls. He does not foresee much difficulty in receiving permission from schools for SDS to carry out its campaign, since schools that allow recruiters are required to allow counter-recruiters to be present as well. In addition, schools aren’t necessary resistant to counter-recruitment efforts.

Students at the college have responded favorably to SDS’ counter-recruitment campaign.

“I’m glad to see a Swarthmore group doing counter-recruitment because military recruiters sometimes target a very specific group and give them very biased and misleading information about the military. I think this campaign will help people make a more balanced decision about whether or not to enlist,” C.J. Seitz-Brown ’10 said.

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