Peace activists speak out against the ‘militarization of education’ in Cochise County (video)

Fun! Food! Adventure! Smiling young faces!

And killing machines?

The poster pictured here advertises the Aviation Open House at Cochise Community College back in October 2012. The purpose of the open house was to showcase the college’s new aviation classrooms, flight simulators, and training facilities. Jobs and education for rural Arizona youth– what could be more wholesome? Unfortunately, the open house also shined a spotlight on the college’s cozy (and a bit creepy) relationship with merchant of death and destruction Northrup Grumman— as well as the college’s disdain for freedom of speech.

Two local members of Women in Black attempted to protest at the event and were ousted– one for trying to distribute anti-war fliers and the other for posting anti-war fliers around campus. Both women– both teachers– say they were exercising their right to free speech and trying to educate college students about the not-so-rosy side of war and the drones they are being trained to built and fly. More details and a Loneprotestor video after the jump.

The video below begins poingnantly with clips from a Cochise County Community promo about the new Aviation Center. Friendly corporate giant Northrup Grumman talks about their commitment to the community and how they built and designed the “Innovation Campus” and the curriculum. (How convenient, since Fort Huachucha is a center for drone warfare.) Later the video turns to testimony by the two activists before the college’s governing board– where they remind the board of the college’s commitment to free speech and lament the glorification of war and the militarization/corporatization of education.

Do you want your children and grandchildren to build and fly killing machines? I don’t.

Aren’t there peace-related jobs they can be trained for? Of course.

Down with drones.

Give peace a chance.

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This entry was posted on January 17, 2013 by Pamela Powers in Arizona, Economics, education, Free Speech, jobs, Military, Video, War and tagged drones, military industrial comples, war.

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I stand on the side of Love. I believe in kindness to all creatures on Earth and the inherent self-worth of all individuals–not just people who agree with me or look like me.

Widespread economic and social injustice prompted me to become a candidate for the Arizona House, representing Legislative District 9 in the 2016 election.

My platform focused on economic reforms to grow Arizona’s economy, establish a state-based public bank, fix our infrastructure, fully fund public education, grow local small businesses and community banks, and put people back to work at good-paying jobs.

In the Arizona House, I was a strong voice for fiscal responsibility a moratorium on corporate tax breaks until the schools were fully funded, increased cash assistance to the poor, expansion of maternal healthcare benefits, equal rights, choice, unions, education at all levels and protecting our water supply.

After three terms, I retired from the Arizona Legislature in January 2023 but will continue to blog and produce my podcast “A View from the Left Side.”

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