Campus Antiwar Network - Tactics

Tactics

Historically, the Campus Antiwar Network has used a variety of tactics:

• National demonstrations: CAN helped to mobilize students for the national February 15, 2003 antiwar protest demonstrations prior to the invasion of Iraq, and more recently marched with a contingent estimated by organizers at two thousand people at the September 24, 2005 anti-war protest in Washington, DC. It has also called its own national actions. For example, CAN called for and organized a day of action on December 6, 2005, the date that the Supreme Court heard FAIR v. Rumsfeld, a case deciding the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment's provision denying federal funding to colleges that ban military recruiters. The action consisted of protests at recruiting stations across the country.

• Referendums: CAN helped write and campaign for the "College Not Combat" ballot measure passed by residents of San Francisco on November 2, 2005, described by proponents as a statement that voters "want it to be city policy to oppose military recruiters’ access to public schools and to consider funding scholarships for education and training that could provide an alternative to military service."

• Direct aid: CAN sent caravans to New Orleans from places such as New York and Chicago, after Hurricane Katrina. These brought supplies and volunteers to work with local Louisiana activists, such as Malik Rahim, towards hurricane relief. The New York students kept a journal of their activities called "This is solidarity, not charity".

• Talks, debates, and speaking tours: In Fall of 2003, the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) and Muslim Students' Association (MSA) organized a national speaking tour titled "Speaking Truth to Empire." The tour's purpose was to reorganize the student antiwar movement. Featured speakers included Noam Chomsky, Rania Masri, Howard Zinn, as well as military families and veterans. Following this, CAN and MSA co-sponsored another tour called "Eyewitness to Empire," which featured CAN member, Khury-Petersen Smith, who traveled to Iraq and spent a week in Baghdad during January 2004.

• Petitions, letters, and phone calls to school and government officials.

• Creative performances of various kinds, involving, for example, spoken word poetry and hip hop artists.

• International collaboration. CAN sent delegates to the London International Peace Conference on December 10, 2005. CAN also put on a panel discussion called "Fighting the Empire From Within," featuring CAN activists involved in military "counter-recruitment," war resister Pablo Paredes, and others, at the 2006 World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. More recently, CAN has nationally decided to get involved with the Iraqi Student Project, a humanitarian aid project which seeks to bring Iraqi college students to America for higher education.

• Blockades and Direct Action: CAN claimed sector 6 in the RNC Welcoming Committee map at the St Paul Republican National Convention in 2008, where they attempted to block Republican delegates from reaching the excel center in an attempt to prevent a quorum. Six members were arrested at the RNC, one was charged with conspiracy to riot, felony.