Activism Across America

Seen today at the convergence Goodman Avenue and East Avenue in Rochester, New York today: A determined anti-war protest, with demonstrators holding signs with slogans like Stop the War System on all four street corners.

Some people are trying to suggest that, simply because America’s wars have been going on for so long, there is no point in protesting against them any more. They call peace activists nuts for keeping up their efforts. I say that they’ve got it backwards. It is precisely because America’s Homeland Security wars have been going on so long, with so little success, that it is necessary to maintain protests against them.

Congratulations to Direct Action to Stop the War for a successful anti-war protest… against a software company in San Francisco.

Fail to see the connection between a San Francisco software company and an antiwar protest? Let me help you out, then: The connection is a game called America’s Army that since 2002 has been used by the U.S. Army to target minors as young as thirteen for military recruitment.

Ubisoft developed the game in cooperation with the Pentagon as a propaganda tool to encourage kids to join the Army and support George W. Bush’s wars.

Direct Action to Stop the War has responded with a successful protest against UbiSoft’s involvement in the recruitment pro-war software project. Yesterday, a large group of people gathered outside the offices of Ubisoft, and rallied under the theme War Is Not A Game.

Keep up the good work, Direct Action.