Classes have started again, and military recruiters are out in full force. Students spill onto the quad, the August sun blazes down on the sea of people rushing off to class or lounging in the grass. And there are my fellow students, standing tall in their uniforms, underneath a military tent where they pass out literature, start conversations, or just smile at passersby
An analysis on the "combat-troop" withdrawal and what it means for Iraq, U.S. stategists, and the anti-war movement. Written by CIVSOL member Ryan Harvey.
By Sarah Lazare and Ryan Harvey.
This article appeared in the August 16/23, 2010 edition of The Nation.
CIVSOL members interview 3 former soldiers from Bravo Company 2-16, one of the units involved in the Iraq "Wikileaks" video showing a July 12th, 2007 shooting in Baghdad. This interview looks not only at the details surrounding the events in the video, but looks in detail at the policies and military protocol that led to it and many other inidents like it.
An introduction to and analysis of the strategic work of the Civilian-Soldier Alliance and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
by Greg Rosenthal
From June 16-20, I had the extreme pleasure of participating in an Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Civilian-Soldier Alliance (Civ-Sol) Leadership and Organizer Training with 20 veterans and 20 civilian allies. It was a full week of community building, strategic planning, leadership development, and sharing stories of hope, struggle, hardship and commitment.
The two most exciting things for me were to see the level of strategic thinking and critical reflection that everyone engaged in throughout the four-day training, and the further development of the organization’s organizing model–reflecting aspects of two leading human rights organizations, the United Workers and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)–focusing on transformative organizing, leadership development and campaigning.
A member of the Afghan National Army opened fire on a group of British soldiers yesterday, killing three and wounding four others. CIVSOL member Ryan Harvey talks to Afghanistan war veterans about their reflections on the Afghan Army, revealing an image of a war that many local don't want to fight, at least, not on the side of the U.S.
An interview by CivSol member Sarah Lazare with two former soldiers who describe how they helped prevent their unit from deploying to a war zone.
What do you do if you are a soldier being asked to fight a war you do not believe in?
For two former soldiers whose unit was ordered to deploy to Iraq in April 2005, the answer came in the form of work slowdowns, letter-writing campaigns, and one-on-one organizing with fellow soldiers. The result: they helped prevent their unit from deploying to a war zone.
MJ is a war resister currently underground within the borders of Canada. Read what he has to say and take a small peek at what true resistance actually means.
"I don’t need to be a soldier. No one does. We have enough work as it is being human."
- MJ
An article by CIVSOL member Sarah Lazare, written for Al Jazeera...
On the eve of the the seventh anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, American anti-war activists are still calling for a real end to a conflict that has now lasted longer than both world wars and the American Civil War.
San Francisco CivSol member, Sarah Lazare, and fellow organizer Clare Bayard provide a detailed analysis of the anti-war movement as the nation marks its 7th year in Iraq. Read the full article here.
By Ryan Harvey and Sergio España – August 25 2009, Fire in the Hole/CIVSOL. Published by CommonDreams, August 28th, 2009
As the government of Afghanistan, under the watchful eye of Washington, prepared for its second national election since the U.S. invasion of 2001, we sat down with Shazia, a Kabul resident and member of the powerful organization RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. We wanted to ask her about the current situation in her country, and the experiences of women under the regime of Hamid Karzai and his American backers.
Download as print-ready PDF.
By: Ryan Harvey - June, 2009, Fire in the Hole/CIVSOL
That the war in Iraq is similar to the U.S. invasion of Vietnam is a popular concept but has relatively few real comparisons, both militarily and politically. One could more-closely compare it to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the 10-year occupation that followed. However, a much better comparison can be made, and you don’t even have to travel far. The British occupation of the newly created Iraq immediately following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the end of World War One, and the “treaties” that enforced British hegemony there for the next few decades, is too close for comfort.
Examning relations between the radical Left and the Soldier Anti-War Movement in the context of class and economic privellege. This article also looks the strategy of Soldier-Activism to stop war.
