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GI Resistance

Meet The American Military Veterans Fasting For Gaza

June 17, 2025 Azad Essa, Middle East Eye. , , , , ,
Joy Metzler was a second lieutenant in the US Air Force when Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in protest against the US's role in Israel's war on Gaza. The 23-year-old Metzler was so moved by Bushnell's sacrifice in February 2024 that she began researching Palestine. Horrified by Israel's occupation and US backing for what international human rights groups, experts and several countries now qualify as an act of genocide in Gaza, she became a conscientious objector to the war, choosing to leave the air force in August 2024. Her application to be excused from the air force was approved in April 2025.

US Military Members Have The Right To Refuse Illegal Orders

June 16, 2025 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , , ,
On June 7, 2025, the Trump administration overstepped the state government and federalized the national guard in California. They were deployed to Los Angeles to suppress protests against the rampant raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In an unprecedented move, the administration also ordered marines to Los Angeles to join the guard. Clearing the FOG speaks with attorney James Branum of the Military Law Task Force, a branch of the National Lawyers Guild, about the history and legality of domestic troop deployments, the dangers of escalation and violations of civil rights, and what rights members of the military have to refuse to participate. Branum outlines the resources available to military members who want more information or need legal support.

The Use Of National Guard And Active Duty Troops To Control Opposition

June 10, 2025 James M. Branum, Military Law Task Force. , , , , ,
The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild is opposed to the use of military forces to “put down” or “control” the heartfelt reactions by community members to workplace immigration raids in Los Angeles and other cities. The Trump administration claims the use of the troops is necessary because local police are incapable of protecting the masked, non-uniformed, but heavily armed, federal forces from ICE, DHS, ATF and the FBI. Nothing could be further from the truth. In California, for example, Governor Gavin Newsom has denounced the use of military troops as a dangerous escalation of the confrontations.

Vietnam: A Victory Never To Be Forgotten

May 7, 2025 Allen Myers, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
It’s a historic anniversary that the U.S. ruling class and its allies around the world wish we would forget. Fifty years ago, on 30 April 1975, U.S. imperialism suffered the worst military defeat in its history as troops of the North Vietnamese Army and South Vietnam National Liberation Front took complete control of Ho Chi Minh City (then called Saigon) and the few scattered areas of the south that had not yet been liberated. The Vietnamese victory was the culmination of more than three decades of struggle against Japanese, British, French and American imperialism. At the time, the United States was, as it still is today, the world’s leading military power. And yet that incredible power was defeated by a small, underdeveloped, mostly rural society.

How US Atrocities In Vietnam Aroused A Lifetime Of Resistance

May 3, 2025 John Catalinotto, Workers World. , , , , ,
It was in March 1971 when I walked into the penitentiary in Lompoc, California. We were stripped naked, and this big cop got right in my face with details about me on my I.D. card that he had to process. And he said, “So you’re the motherf–king Po–ck hippie that hijacked that ship.” And I walked up to him, and I was just butt naked, and I got right in his face. And I said, “Number one, I don’t know about no mf Po−ck hippie that hijacked the ship. If you’re asking me if I’m the guy that mutinied and is sentenced to mutiny, then you have the right person.” That was the very first day.

How US Crimes Against Vietnam Sparked Mutiny

April 30, 2025 John Catalinotto, Workers World. , , ,
On March 14, we carried out our revolutionary hijacking. That’s what we called it. We had now captured the bridge. We had a skeleton crew of about a dozen, enough to operate the ship for a short period. I had the second mate show me our position on the charts. This gave me the general direction and everything. The engines kicked back in and we maintained our route. The radio operator couldn’t use the equipment without our hearing him. We demanded  radio silence for two days. I followed the radar immediately to see if there were any other ships around.

Resistance From Within: US Military Members Oppose War Crimes

February 10, 2025 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , ,
The United States' support for the genocide in Palestine, especially since the launch of Operation Al Aqsa Flood in October 2023, has led federal employees and active duty military members to take action in opposition to violations of domestic and international law. Clearing the FOG speaks with two members of the US Air Force, Juan Bettancourt and Joy Metzler, who have applied for conscientious objector status. Together with Larry Hebert, who conducted a hunger strike in front of the White House last year, they created Servicemembers for Ceasefire to provide a space for members of the military to question US foreign policy. Bettancourt and Metzler describe their journeys, the level of dissent within the military and the deployment of US troops domestically.

Border Deployment To Insurrection Act: Trump’s Illegal Military Plans

January 31, 2025 Mike Prysner, Empire Files. , , , ,
The current deployment of soldiers and Marines to the US-Mexico border is illegal and immoral. The looming possibility of Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, in an attempt to paper it over, actually raises more danger of unconstitutional orders. We have just spent 20 years being used as cannon fodder for hapless debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, soldiers and Marines are being used as propaganda fodder for the oldest Commander-in-Chief ever, taking office with the worst approval rating in modern history. Conventional, active-duty units from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force have been the first to the border under US Northern Command.

1968 And 2025: What Prospect For Resistance Inside US Military?

January 25, 2025 Johnnie Lewis, Workers' World. , , , ,
A recent article in the British Guardian newspaper recounted the experiences of veterans of the U.S. military and their thoughts and feelings in opposition to the U.S.-aided and -abetted genocide on Palestinian Gaza perpetrated by Zionist Israel. This opposition is to be applauded. The U.S. military is now “all-volunteer.” So, this opposition will allow youth contemplating joining the military a different, sobering perspective. No doubt many young people already have this perspective because all branches of the military are failing to meet their recruiting quotas. My experience in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1969 was quite different from that of these veterans.

Meet The US Soldiers And Bureaucrats Defecting Over Gaza

November 12, 2024 Chris Lombardi, Waging Nonviolence. , , , , , ,
As the crisis in the Middle East rages on, a growing movement is confronting U.S. funding of Israel’s wars — including a perhaps-surprising number of those once charged with enforcing U.S. policies. Some are military veterans, while others worked for the State Department and other federal agencies. Such resistance is critical to any nonviolent revolution, says Erica Chenoweth, co-author of “Why Civil Resistance Works.” Chenoweth describes such “defections” as foundational to any hope of real change; dissent by the government’s enforcers — security forces, civilian bureaucrats — show cracks in a regime’s powers.

Air Force Academy Graduate Deconstructs A Military Mindset

November 3, 2024 2d Lt. Joy Metzler, USAF, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Somewhere around the age of 20, I sat in a large auditorium at the United States Air Force Academy with a thousand other cadets and cheered at footage of real drone strikes on real people, laughing along with everyone else as we watched little, pixelated figures run for cover that we all knew was futile. When I look back on that event, I wonder what part of me I had to sacrifice to find humor in the loss of life. In many ways, it’s thanks to the Air Force Academy that I currently have an anti-war stance. I was given the tools to examine my military service and foreign policy in a couple mundane, core classes: law and ethics, though my ethics course has stuck with me the most, ironically enough.

Veterans For Peace Applauds Israeli Soldiers Who Refuse To Fight In Gaza

October 23, 2024 Veterans For Peace. , , , , ,
Veterans For Peace applauds the Israeli military reservists who are calling for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, and who say they will not participate in genocide. You are doing the right thing. Your courageous stance may be answered by official threats and even imprisonment. But you will never regret refusing to kill innocent Palestinian men, women and children. Palestinian Lives Matter. Yet Palestinians are being systematically slaughtered before the eyes of the world. The ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza is unacceptable. It is a stain on human history. And it must be ended. Veterans For Peace has consistently called for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for a permanent ceasefire, and most importantly, for an end to US arms shipments to Israel.

US And Israeli Military Resisters Reach Out To US Service Members

August 20, 2024 John Catalinotto, Workers World. , , , , ,
Israeli and U.S. military resisters held a zoom news conference Aug. 15 to publicize a call to active duty U.S. service members to declare their opposition to the Israeli massacres in Gaza – and U.S. complicity with what many people consider genocide. In Israel, there is an establishment-manufactured consensus supporting the criminal war and a massive group of fascist settlers. The individual Israeli “refuseniks” who participated in the news conference were those who had earlier declared themselves Conscientious Objectors to participating in the ongoing military occupation of Palestinian lands. They refuse participation in the current genocide and encouraged U.S. service members to also take this position.

Gaza Blowback: A Crisis Of Conscience In The Military Can Impact Foreign Policy

June 29, 2024 Greg Stoker, MintPress News. , , , , , ,
The unprecedented live-streamed violence in Gaza has forced a crisis of conscience for many government employees. From the State Department to the military, individuals have taken rebellious action to remove themselves from participating in a blazingly obvious campaign of controlled famine and collective punishment. Tonight on State of Play, we interview two conscientious objectors from the United States Air Force and reflect on military retention rates, the recruiting crisis, and the lessening of military capacity due to increasingly unpopular foreign policy actions. Will the younger generation’s lack of jingoistic zeal be a potential brake for US belligerence?

US Soldier Reveals Why Aaron Bushnell Self-Immolated

March 11, 2024 Mnar Adley, MintPress News. , , , , , , , ,
One week after Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in an extreme act of Protest for Palestine – the world has been awe-struck by his galvanizing act of courage, with his last words being Free Palestine. Across the world, including in Yemen and Gaza, Bushnell is being memorialized as a martyr for Palestine as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza that has left over 30,000 people dead. His protest was not only moving but stood in stark contrast to the empty rhetoric given by so-called liberal politicians who’ve done very little to stop Israel from continuing its war on civilians.
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