Arrested protester speaks out
Silencing students: we do that. Sadistic threats: we do that. Excessive and unnecessary force: we do that too. Attention Fanshawe Students, the moment you cross onto this side of our gated community's security barrier - fence - you are trespassing. As a trespasser you are subject to being beaten, threatened, humiliated and arrested without an explanation. Sound ridiculous? It did to me too before February 13; the day it all changed.
As many of you already know, a group of six students, including myself, decided to attend the career fair on Tuesday to promote peace, love and the de-militarization of the world for Valentine's Day. We held signs and handed out information as a counterweight to the military recruiter's lies. We did not block any tables, we did not block traffic, we were not aggressive and we were openly discussing issues with many supporters of the military, who still appreciated our efforts to promote peace.
Still, I was singled out and, to quote Bob Clark, the Security and Emergency Supervisor at Fanshawe, “made an example of.” I was physically assaulted, and arrested, without any explanation by an unidentified, and un-uniformed, ex-police officer in front of dozens of witnesses.
While Mr. Clark took me into his custody, he insulted me, assaulted me, and at one point threatened to break my fingers. In the end, I was taken into police custody and charged with trespassing. All this, even though we had already been told it was OK for us to be there by the manager of Career Services, Doug Millar, who happened to be in charge of the career fair.
As an involved, tuition-paying, honour role student, I was under the impression that I could proudly call Fanshawe my home, my community and my college. This source of pride in Fanshawe College was based on the college's tolerance, progressive nature and the fact that for the most part Fanshawe did not stifle freedom of speech in the way Western University so actively does. At Fanshawe, I felt that the students truly did have a voice. Sadly, it seems as though Fanshawe is now following Western's example of silencing students.
Fanshawe has now made it very clear that they do not serve their students. Instead of putting us, the students, first, they make it their only priority to cater to the needs of trans-national corporations, such as Coca-Cola, and government organizations, such as the Canadian Armed Forces. Why Fanshawe College is so supportive of having military recruiters constantly at our school, recruiting us, baffles me. It is especially confusing since the sole objective of these military recruiters is to get us to leave college and join the army. Why would Fanshawe encourage their students to leave? Wouldn't Fanshawe rather that we stay here and keep paying tuition, instead of dying as pawns of American imperialism?
To the disgust of many, the Canadian military has been drastically increasing their presence at Fanshawe, and have made a point of being in constant visibility of students; their “target” market. All year, recruiters have been setting up booths and tables inside our college, convincing us to join the military instead of pursuing our own dreams for which we are in college in the first place. It is shameful of our military to resort to distributing propaganda in our schools in a desperate attempt to lure confused and impressionable youths into their web of lies.
If students were genuinely interested in joining the military, they wouldn't be at Fanshawe, a college that as of yet doesn't train students in counter-insurgency and occupation tactics. If students here feel as though they made a mistake in pursuing a higher education, and that they would be better suited fighting a useless war in Afghanistan, there is a base within walking distance of our college that is recruiting anyone they can get.
But the recruiters won't wait for you to come to them; they will bring their empty promises and propaganda to you. This is because the Canadian military, and the current Canadian neo-conservative regime, is desperate for new recruits to join America's sinking ship in Afghanistan. To achieve this, the military incessantly bombards us with unrealistic video game-styled commercials that portray Canadian soldiers as heroes, who “fight fear”, “fight chaos”, and “fight distress.” What theses commercials conveniently leave out is the fact that Canadian soldiers fight and murder actual people who are defending their country and community from a foreign occupation. They leave out the death, they leave out the destruction, they leave out the pain, and they leave out all the other dreadful realities of war.
These booths in our schools are an integral part of this multi-million dollar marketing of pro-military propaganda that we are being force-fed with on a daily basis. We should not be subjected to this in an educational institution. The recruiters do not belong at Fanshawe, their presence here is offensive and intimidating, and they must leave.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
As many of you already know, a group of six students, including myself, decided to attend the career fair on Tuesday to promote peace, love and the de-militarization of the world for Valentine's Day. We held signs and handed out information as a counterweight to the military recruiter's lies. We did not block any tables, we did not block traffic, we were not aggressive and we were openly discussing issues with many supporters of the military, who still appreciated our efforts to promote peace.
Still, I was singled out and, to quote Bob Clark, the Security and Emergency Supervisor at Fanshawe, “made an example of.” I was physically assaulted, and arrested, without any explanation by an unidentified, and un-uniformed, ex-police officer in front of dozens of witnesses.
While Mr. Clark took me into his custody, he insulted me, assaulted me, and at one point threatened to break my fingers. In the end, I was taken into police custody and charged with trespassing. All this, even though we had already been told it was OK for us to be there by the manager of Career Services, Doug Millar, who happened to be in charge of the career fair.
As an involved, tuition-paying, honour role student, I was under the impression that I could proudly call Fanshawe my home, my community and my college. This source of pride in Fanshawe College was based on the college's tolerance, progressive nature and the fact that for the most part Fanshawe did not stifle freedom of speech in the way Western University so actively does. At Fanshawe, I felt that the students truly did have a voice. Sadly, it seems as though Fanshawe is now following Western's example of silencing students.
Fanshawe has now made it very clear that they do not serve their students. Instead of putting us, the students, first, they make it their only priority to cater to the needs of trans-national corporations, such as Coca-Cola, and government organizations, such as the Canadian Armed Forces. Why Fanshawe College is so supportive of having military recruiters constantly at our school, recruiting us, baffles me. It is especially confusing since the sole objective of these military recruiters is to get us to leave college and join the army. Why would Fanshawe encourage their students to leave? Wouldn't Fanshawe rather that we stay here and keep paying tuition, instead of dying as pawns of American imperialism?
To the disgust of many, the Canadian military has been drastically increasing their presence at Fanshawe, and have made a point of being in constant visibility of students; their “target” market. All year, recruiters have been setting up booths and tables inside our college, convincing us to join the military instead of pursuing our own dreams for which we are in college in the first place. It is shameful of our military to resort to distributing propaganda in our schools in a desperate attempt to lure confused and impressionable youths into their web of lies.
If students were genuinely interested in joining the military, they wouldn't be at Fanshawe, a college that as of yet doesn't train students in counter-insurgency and occupation tactics. If students here feel as though they made a mistake in pursuing a higher education, and that they would be better suited fighting a useless war in Afghanistan, there is a base within walking distance of our college that is recruiting anyone they can get.
But the recruiters won't wait for you to come to them; they will bring their empty promises and propaganda to you. This is because the Canadian military, and the current Canadian neo-conservative regime, is desperate for new recruits to join America's sinking ship in Afghanistan. To achieve this, the military incessantly bombards us with unrealistic video game-styled commercials that portray Canadian soldiers as heroes, who “fight fear”, “fight chaos”, and “fight distress.” What theses commercials conveniently leave out is the fact that Canadian soldiers fight and murder actual people who are defending their country and community from a foreign occupation. They leave out the death, they leave out the destruction, they leave out the pain, and they leave out all the other dreadful realities of war.
These booths in our schools are an integral part of this multi-million dollar marketing of pro-military propaganda that we are being force-fed with on a daily basis. We should not be subjected to this in an educational institution. The recruiters do not belong at Fanshawe, their presence here is offensive and intimidating, and they must leave.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
