*From The "Veterans And Service Members Task Force" Of The ANSWER Coalition- A Ten-Point Program

Click on the title to link to the "Veterans And Service Members Task Force" Of The ANSWER Coalition Website.

Markin comment:

I have placed this ten-point program here in order to generate a little discussion about the kind of demands and slogans that we should be educating service members around. My first impression, after looking at this program, was that ten points is too many for starters. But that is a little quirk of mine about "keeping it simple" with programmatic demands, especially when making propaganda for those who may not be that politically sophisticated starting out. Many of the demands are supportable but I question why they would be in a program that is trying to reach rank and file service members today.

This program is a lot to chew at one sitting, especially that point about abolishing the officers corps. That is an excellent point but it is also, practically speaking, the call to split the army more appropriately made (other than for propaganda purposes)in a revolutionary situation. If not, in essence, it is merely a call for rank and file control of the existing military that is akin to the call for workers control of production in a non-revolutionary situation. I believe that is no something that we want to advocate. We do not want to take administrative responsibility for running the imperial state, period.

Secondly, and this is probably a greater objection, some of the demands on their face are more utopian than even our little civilian demands for a workers party that fights for a workers government. Things like dismantling the military-industrial complex, reparations to victims, indictments of war criminals and profiteers are tasks that we will be more than happy to take up on "Day One" of workers power but, at least in my reading of the program there appears to be a belief that this can be done, or should be done by the current imperial rulers. Ask Commander-in-Chief of Obama if he is interested in redressing many historic wrongs? Is that the plan here? The question posed that way gives the answer.

Finally, I note there is no call for a rank and file service members union in the program. A ranks-based service members union is somewhat analogous to a workers union in concept in that it is an important way to gain unity for collective action in "on the job" rank and file matters like those questions of racial, sexual and homophobic harassment, job assignments, etc. mentioned in the program. And the military bosses will hate it as much as civilian employers hate workers unions. More later.

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March Forward!- Veterans and Services Members Task Force Of The ANSWER Coalition

10 Point Program for Struggle

1
We demand the right to refuse illegal and immoral orders.

Service members should no longer be bound to carry out the plans of the Pentagon and Wall Street in violation of U.S. law, international law and people’s right to self-determination. Service members deserve the right to resist, without persecution, orders that conflict with internationally recognized laws or that conflict with their own conscience.

2
We demand an immediate end to the criminal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Service members should no longer be sent to fight, kill, die, be seriously wounded and/or psychologically scarred furthering the domination of U.S. corporations over other nations. We have nothing to gain from these wars. The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan serve only the interests of the rich, not the service personnel who are sent over and over to repress people who have the right to determine their own destiny. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are not our enemies. The more than 800 U.S. bases in 130 countries around the world should be shut down and the troops, fleets and air power brought home.

3
We demand an end to the existing officer corps.

The existing class stratification in the military must end. Officers—who are overwhelmingly from more privileged sectors of society—enjoy a much higher standard of living. They are paid significantly more, are provided much higher quality housing, and have access to services not available to enlisted personnel. Officers advance their careers on the backs of enlisted personnel, going so far as to send their troops into harm’s way for the good of their résumés. The existing officer corps should be dismantled and replaced by enlisted service members who are democratically elected by their units and who are subject to recall at anytime. Officers should no longer enjoy special privileges, including hand salutes. We also demand the right for lower enlisted ranks to unionize and form committees to address grievances with the chain of command, the unit and the military.

4
We demand an end to racism, sexism and homophobia prevalent in the military.

These are intentional barriers to rank-and-file unity against the will of the Pentagon, and must be eliminated through comprehensive education and strict disciplinary action. We demand an end to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and all other discriminatory measures against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender individuals.

5
We demand adequate funding for The Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans should have full access to quality health care. Services should be drastically expanded to meet the real physical and mental health needs of veterans and their families. Independent medical investigations should be initiated to research the effects of potentially harmful experimental drugs and chemical, biological and nuclear agents to which service members have been exposed. Any service member who has served in a combat theater should automatically receive lifetime compensation from the VA for being forced to suffer or inflict physical and/or psychological harm in advancing the interests of U.S. corporations.

6
We demand the right to a job, housing, health care and education for all.

Service members are lured into the military with the hopes of escaping economic hardship as a civilian, and to obtain education benefits and job training. Yet thousands of service members must remain in the military, literally trapped due to the lack of opportunities in the civilian world. No service member should have to choose between military service and poverty. Housing, a job, and access to free quality education and job training should be a right for everyone.

7
We demand the immediate end to all military aid to governments in service of US imperialism.

U.S. domination is not only exercised through direct military involvement, but also through a myriad of brutal client regimes and comprador governments that are funded, supported and directed by the U.S. government. Service members should not have to serve a military that uses billions of dollars in funds and weapons to prop up governments that are guilty of committing war crimes or repressing their citizens for the interests of the Pentagon and Wall Street. Aid to such countries as Israel, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, South Korea, Uganda and Egypt should be immediately cut off. All remaining funds, military equipment and weapons should be repossessed. Reparations should be paid to the populations that the military aid was used to repress.

8
We demand the immediate dismantling of the permanent military-industrial complex.

As long as there is a system in place that allows U.S. corporations to reap massive profits from going to war, there will be war for profit. The domination of the military-industrial complex has caused the death of tens of thousands of service personnel, and millions of innocent people—all in the name of profit. All private military corporations should be shut down or nationalized. The more than 1 trillion dollars a year that feeds the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex should be used to meet people’s needs.

9
We demand that all those involved in pursuing war for profit be indicted.

To ensure that service personnel no longer have to fight for the interests of the rich, all those responsible must be held accountable. Politicians, policy makers, lobbyists, CEOs and others involved in pursuing warfare—both military and economic—as a means to reap profit should be indicted for war crimes. Media outlets involved in disseminating false information in support of these plans should also be held accountable.

10
We demand full reparations paid, with interest, to all victims of the U.S. military.

As service members in the U.S. military, we have been told that our enemy is the poor and oppressed abroad. But they are not our enemies. To begin to undo the injustices in which we have been forced to take part, the U.S. government should pay for the rebuilding of every structure bombed, compensating families for every person killed and providing a lifetime of health care and disability benefits for every individual wounded, including resistance fighters who took up arms against the U.S. military.