On the Frontlines:

On October 22, 2005, Military Out of Our Schools Bay Area (MOOS-Bay) teamed up with the Campus Anti-war Network (CAN) to host a conference entitled, "On the Frontlines: Options for Youth in Times of War" on the UC Berkeley campus. The conference merged the Campus Anti-war Network's annual conference with a local MOOS-Bay gathering, providing the backdrop for a rich exchange between University students from around the country, local youth of color, and educators, parents and anti-war activists.

As part of the MOOS-Bay network, The Ruckus Society's "Not Your Soldier" project helped to organize workshops and performances by and for young people of color, and conducted outreach to organizations working primarily with young people of color in the Bay Area. Working as the "Youth Track" conference organizing committee, The Ruckus Society helped young people to organize themselves and play leading roles in the conference.

On the Frontlines was a huge success, with over six hundred registered participants (and dozens more un-registered). About half were affiliated with the Campus Anti-war Network and about half were a combination of local adults and youth, including high school students from East Oakland, San Francisco's Mission District, and Oakland's Chinatown. The event combined heartbreaking and inspiring presentations and performances from veterans of the previous and current Iraq wars, veterans of other military conflicts, "gold star" parents, community activists, and youth people themselves.

Conscientious Objectors - such as Pablo Paredes, Joshua Carteel, and Aidan Delgado (recent C.O.s) were joined by Aimee Allison and Tahan Jones (C.O.s in 1991), and Jeff Paterson, the first active duty Marine to refuse deployment during the "first" gulf war. These military resisters, representing the true military heroes of US wars of aggression - the soldiers who refuse - were greeted with tears and standing ovations as they shared their stories and visions of the movement and the world we are fighting for.

Counter-Recruitment organizers also mixed it up with youth organizers, anti-war activists and local artists. Workshops were presented by the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, the National Network Opposed to Militarization of Youth, the War Resisters League, Coalition Against Militarization of Schools, Students Against War, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Jewish Voices for Peace, the Youth Media Council, Movement Strategy Center, and Youth Together.

Performers included Art in Action, Head Rush, Beats & Flows from the East Side Arts Alliance, Ariel Luckey, Dangerous Minds of Watsonville, the Faculty Boys, and the Company of Prophets, and Local 1200 DJ Willie Maze. There was a Youth Film Festival, and the "I Will Not Kill" photo booth gave people the opportunity to put their face on their public statement against the war. Through various mediums, organizers both presented on and co-created the movement against war, militarization, and military recruitment.

Participants and organizers left the On the Frontlines conference buzzing with new skills, information and contacts, and began making plans for events such as the national Not Your Soldier Day on November 17, the national Stand Down Day on November 18, and numerous local counter-recruitment and anti-war events. The Ruckus Society and Not Your Soldier look forward to participating in many more ground-breaking events with our partners and allies on the frontlines of counter-recruitment organizing in the future.