Students for a Democratic Society

Tom Hayden gave a speech about the Port Huron Statement. The Port Huron Statement (1962) was one of the founding documents of the New Left and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), embodying the egalitarian idealism of 1960s student activists.

This progressive manifesto challenged the cold war and campus apathy, condemned American racism, and called for a new student movement centered on the idea of participatory democracy. The manifesto helped to inspire the generation of student activists who would organize against war, racism, poverty and political repression in the 1960s.

It was one of the most important declarations ever made. Today organizations like the Future of Freedom Foundation are tackling issues of imperial overreach and the national security state.

Get the new book The War State. Read it, then give it to a friend, and tell him to give it to a friend. Use it to organize and unite.

THE UNENDING WAR ON TERROR

Most people assume that the phrase “war on terror” is just a popular phrase. No its not! Here is why; on September 11, 2001 the United States suffered major terrorist attack that shook it to its roots. These attacks were headed by the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda. The attacks were a series of four harmonized attacks that crashed passenger planes into the world trade centre, the US Pentagon and a failed attempt at Washington DC led to a crash at Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passenger tried to overcome the hijackers. A total of almost 3000 people died in the wake of these attacks, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.

What has all this history got to do with war on terror? Well the United States launched war on terror as a result of these attacks. During the tenure of President Bush, the war on terror was launched to get rid of militant activities and organisations.

The war on terror is popularly referred to as Bush’s war on terror, as the phrase “war on terror” was first used by President Bush. The war on terror is also known as the Global War on Terrorism as it has extended to various countries of the world where terrorist make their quarters. The war on terror now referred to by the Obama government as Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO), has gone beyond just Identifying or capturing terrorist. The US and affiliate countries are using all within their power to eliminate organizations, aids and sponsors of terrorist attacks.

The war on terror is still ongoing, as it has been described as a war that cannot be won. However, several operations established as a result of the war on terror are still active. Some of these operations include operation active endeavour; established to obstruct movements of militants and weapons of mass destruction, operation enduring freedom in Philippines, Africa and Trans-Sahara. The most notable operation and one which is still ongoing, is Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

British and United States forces invaded Afghanistan to smoke out the notorious Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda militants. The United States finally carried out a raid that killed the evasive Osama Bin laden in 2011. Lately, there are peace talks which could lead to the withdrawal of NATO and non-NATO forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The memories of the September 11 attack left a permanent mark, not just on the US but also on other countries of the world who are fighting this war on terror with as many means as they can. The war on terror is a global war that every individual should be aware of because when terror hits, it leaves a very bitter after taste.

A big problem with the wars since September 11, 2001 is the big drain they have had on the economy. In the above video Scott Horton explains how it has really made the economy hard on people and made more people poor. It has brought a big political centralization and created big bureaucracy that is growing and snuffing out the private economy. The biggest employer now is the defense department with three million people working for it. SDS warned this was going to happen if we didn’t stop it in the 1960′s.

The defense department is vested with the responsibility of providing the military forces required to put off war and guide the security of a nation. There are several elements that make up the department of defense, including air force, marine corps, the navy, and the army. Apart from the military makeup of this department, there are a number of civilians employed under this unit as well. The United States department of defense is headed by the secretary of defense, with the responsibility of exercising control, direction, and authority over all units of the department. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the US department of defense, which is the largest building in the world.

There are several offices in the headquarters: the office of the secretary of defense, the office of the chairman of joint chief of staff, head of military service departments, head of defense agencies, and specified and unified combatant commands. All these units perform their duties in full cooperation and coordination but in the event of conflicts arising in the cause of their jurisdiction, the decision of the secretary of defense supersedes every other decision in the department. The Joint Chiefs of Staff is made up of the commandant of Marine Corps, the air force, the chief of staff, chief of naval operations, the U.S Army, and the chairman and vice chairman. The chairman is the main adviser to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, and even the president on security matters. There are equally other senior military advisers to the defense secretary, the NSC, and the president. The military-industrial complex feed this giant war machine.

Each of the units in the defense department is organized separately with their own secretary but still under the control, direction, and authority of the defense secretary. The secretaries of the military departments are responsible to the defense secretary for the efficiency and operation of their department.

In the US defense department, specified and unified combatant commands report to the secretary of defense, and they are responsible for accomplishing the military task assigned to their units. Both have links to what C. Wright Mills called the power elite.

The DOD or the pentagon supervises and coordinates all functions and agencies of the government that are directly or indirectly responsible for the national security of the United States. There are currently more than 2 million employees in the US Defense department which include civilian workers, airmen, marines, sailors, and duty soldiers. These employees are used in various capacities and deployed across several regions of the world. The US department of defense still remains the largest employer of labor in the world.

All countries have their own make-up of the department of defense. While the structure might have certain similarities, the allocation of duties and sharing of authorities may differ from country to country.

It seems like history repeats. Just like in the 1960′s when the original SDS formed foreign policy is a big issue of the time. US intervention in Vietnam drew people to SDS just like US intervention in other parts of the world is making people ask tough questions about what their nation is doing.

Take the situation in Ukraine. TV talks about it, but you need to go back a few years to see where it began.

The 2008 Ukraine political crisis began after the coalition group of President Viktor Yushchenko withdrew from the coalition government following a vote to limit the President’s powers. The bill, if it had been passed, would have meant that the president would seek the approval and consent of the Prime Minister before he can appoint or dismiss the Prosecutor General.

The president would have limited powers to appoint the head of their state intelligence agency, reject a candidate for prime minister, and appoint local heads of government. President Yushchenko declared that negotiations in the parliament were only possible after the revocation of the constitutional laws adopted in 2008. She stated that the reason behind their clamor for negotiation was not to bring peace but to prepare for a coup and overthrow the government in power. Therefore she decided not to grant concession to the coalition party. Although the Georgian conflict was part of the cause of the 2008 crisis in Ukraine, the major cause has been identified as the inability of the ruling government and the coalition government to arrive at a truce regarding the sharing and separation of powers in the government. President Yushchenko claimed she was a neutral party that she doesn’t support or stand against any part, but her activities during the conflict showed she was more in support of the EU.

The leader of the Civil Movement for People’s Self Defense, Yuri Lutsenko, reiterated that the breakup of the coalition that invariably led to the conflict was provoked by the secretary to the president. While several internal sources had their own reasons for the start of the crisis, foreign media equally have their own tale of the story. They reported that the political conflict was ignited by armed conflict between Georgia and Russia that began in August 2008. They equally stated that disagreement between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko regarding Ukraine’s reaction towards the dispute fuelled the crisis.

A lot of political economists believe that if the attempted coalition was successful, their differences would have been settled. But the collapse of the coalition and the failure to recreate the coalition, and the subsequent dissolve of the parliament sparked the crisis even further.

The crisis continued for several weeks and would have ended if the democratic coalition of LYTVVN, NUNS, and the BYUT blocs were successful. What is crazy is many of the Ukrainian elites took money out of the country and even did gold investing to protect themselves from currency turmoil.

But the crises finally came to an end after the reformation of the Orange coalition government in December 2008 following the election of Volodymyr Lynn as the parliamentary speaker.