My university is organizing a week-long celebration of Veterans' Day next week. They're going to be selling "[College] Supports Our Troops" wristbands, organizing trips to the army medical hospital, and writing letters to soldiers. None of this really sounds bad, but I still have a bad feeling about it. I'm afraid that it will turn into a jingoistic celebration of U.S. imperialism and military power. This would be annoying enough on its own, but it's even worse, I think, at my school - because it's a Catholic school, the administration and a lot of the students like to say that our school "is pro-life," when the only life they really care about is fetus life. The Catholic Church is very against the Iraq war, but our school never acknowledges that fact. And now they're organizing an event to honour the people who fight wars? So... I kind of want to do some kind of underground resistance to this "celebration," but I'm worried that it would alienate people and that it would be inappropriate to make this "holiday" into a political event. And in case it makes a difference, the kinds of things I was thinking about doing were leaving counter-recruitment literature around campus, and chalking/posting military resistance literature/slogans/pictures around campus. So, does this sound like a horribly inappropriate and insensitive thing to do? Are there better ways for me to accomplish this goal? Maybe I could write to the school newspaper about the hypocracy of "pro-life" people celebrating Veterans' Day?
I agree it's a touchy area. I would like to wear a t shirt that says Think before you die or kill! No one should ask you to kill in their name! Murder should be personal! I am not advocating that you do that. You are in school. I think writing a letter to your school paper is the best way to get your point acrossed. And I agree with all your points.
I don't feel right about going against veteran's day, this isn't just abour Iraq, it's about anyone who was ever a veteran, think of all the people drafted in WW2, Korea and Vietnam that this is their day too. It's not a celebration of war, it's a celebration of the people who had to go through the hell of it. Remember Veterans day started off as Armistice day to celebrate the end of WW1, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
