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Teen Peace
Peace and Conscientious Objector Study Group
Goals and objectives
1. Educate young people about the history of non-violence
- Study non-violence using videos, readings of speeches and essays,
fiction, biographies and the internet.
- Allow young people to discuss their thoughts and give them the
opportunity to become articulate speakers on peace and non-violence.
- Incorporate noncompetitive games for trust, team building, and
fun.
- It is important that youth are not lectured at, but are given
time to reflect and discuss their own thoughts and feelings.
2. Document conscientious objector status, in case a draft is
reinstated
Support ways to build a file to document they have deeply felt and a
long-held belief against going to war and finding nonviolent solutions
through:
- Journal writings to document and clarify thoughts
- Photographs at peace rallies at social justice events to document
they attended.
- Video statements from students, or have them make a video about
peace or non-violence issues.
- Submit articles to local papers- how they feel facing a possible
draft and/or thoughts on peace and conscientious objectors
- Write letters to editors of newspapers
- Ask their church or synagogue leader to give a sermon on
conscientious objectors, and give the youth an opportunity to speak
publicly to their congregation. Include their name on the order of
service and keep this for documentation that they spoke in public about
their beliefs.
- Register as a conscientious objector with religious and/or other
organizations in writing. It is fine to research on-line, but important
to have written correspondence.
- Get involved in public events, or organize a teen event yourself.
Volunteer at peace events and seek opportunities to speak in public.
- Organize a nonviolent video series. Watch and discuss videos with
others.
3. Identify actions to work for peace and justice
- Attend Peace rallies and marches
- Attend lectures, invite lecturers to your class or community
- Read newspapers to identify local problems and service projects
to work for change.
- Brainstorm - identify individual or group projects for work in
your community
- Attend non-violence trainings- i.e. compassionate listening,
conflict resolution
- Organize a peace essay writing contest
4. Build community support for Conscientious Objectors
- Ask parents and others to speak up for COs if they are called
before a draft board. Share your views with them, so they can speak up
for you.
- Friends and community support are important. It takes a different
kind of courage to be a conscientious objector. This has never been a
popular belief.
5. Oppose School Recruiting
- Provide an opposing viewpoint against military service. You can
get flyers from the War
Resisters League and the Central
Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO).
- Maintain a presence when military recruiters are at school. It
may be better for parents and community adults to staff a table to hand
out flyers. It is a good idea to get a military veteran to help staff
the table.
- Speak up in school classes, or ask your teacher if you can bring
in a speaker.
6. Educate students about the Draft and military service
- Discuss the reality of military service- boot camp, loss of
civilian rights and freedom, training to fight and kill.
- Understand the legalities of selective service registration,
including penalties for non-registrants. Work to change the laws.
- Prepare now for facing a future draft board. They want to see
long-held beliefs.
- Get information from the War Resisters League, Central Committee for
Conscientious
Objectors (CCCO) and the Center on
Conscience & War
- Another website about being a Conscientious Objector is Peace-Out. It is
specifically oriented towards people in the military but much of the
information is equally valuable to anybody.
Intended audience
- 15-18 year olds - suggested goals 1-6
- 12-14 year olds- suggested goals 1-3
- under 12 year olds- suggest they work on goal 1 (conflict
resolution, noncompetitive games, learn about nonviolent leaders) Older
kids could lead events to share what they have learned with younger
kids. It is one way to document that you acted on a deeply held belief.
- homeschoolers
- religious education programs
- public schools students
- community outreach
Partial Resource List:
E-mail me with
suggestions for additional resources.
| Some of these books
and videos can be purchased through my association with Amazon.com.
To order
a book:
- Click on the book
or video title.
- A detailed Amazon.com
page will appear in a window.
- You can then
order the book thru Amazon's secure server.
|
|
Let us know if there are
particular titles that you would recommend or want us to carry. You can
also search the entire Amazon.com catalog and be assured of the same
great prices and outstanding service that Amazon.com is known for.
Videos
Readings
- Choosing
Peace, by Robert Seeley
- Ain't
Gonna Study War No More, by Milton Meltzer
- Handbook
of Non-violence, by Robert Seeley
- Soul
of a Citizen, by Paul Loeb
- A
Force More Powerful, by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall
- Talking
Peace, by Jimmy Carter
- Operation
Warhawks, How Young People Become Warriors, by Terrence
Webster-Doyle
- Gandhi
on Non-violence, by Thomas Merton
- Non-violent
Resistance, by M. K. Gandhi
- A
Knock at Midnight: Sermons of Martin Luther King
- A Different Kind of Courage, interviews of COs, by Phil Andrus
- Down
in My Heart; Peace Witness in War Time, by William
Stafford
- Jarhead:
A Marines Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles,
Anthony Swofford
- Purple
Hearts: Back from Iraq,
by Nina Berman (Photographer)
- War
is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges
- What
Every Person Should Know About War, Chris Hedges
- From
Yale to Jail, The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter, David
Dellinger
- All
of One Peace, Essays on Nonviolence, Colman McCarthy
- We
Will Not Cease, Archibald Baxter
- War
is a Racket, by General Smedley D. Butler
- People's
History of the United States, by Howard Zinn
- Medic,
Ben Sherman
Fiction
See the following authors for fictional depictions of war
- John Dos Passos
- Thomas Boyd
- William Faulkner
- E.E. Cummings
- William March
- Ernest Hemingway
- poetry
Biographies
Internet Resources
Introduction
My name is Liz Rivera Goldstein. As a mother of two home schooled
teens, I began to be concerned that my children may be drafted in the
near future. After viewing the video, "The Good War", about
conscientious objectors during World War II, I began to investigate
what it means to be a CO. One of the first comments I heard was, "Well,
you get their teachers to write letters, and you submit school essays
that show they are conscientious objectors." How could my children, as
homeschoolers, get such documentation? Other homeschoolers have similar
concerns, and I have heard from other families in Port Townsend, where
I live. I feel that I cannot do this only for my own children.
Reflecting on how the Vietnam War affected my childhood, and the world
around me, I hope I can try to make my children's lives, and the lives
of their friends and families more compassionate and less torn by world
violence.
I have worked to make the world better for children as a midwife, a
volunteer with Girl Scouts for over 13 years, a preschool teacher, and
conflict resolution school playground mediator. I have worked with kids
from birth to teen, and especially enjoyed 10 years on the staff of a
day camp (4 years as camp director). I believe in listening to young
people and helping them to make their dreams and ideas a reality.
For more information contact: Liz
Rivera Goldstein at liz@teenpeace.org
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