Justin Sane's Military Free Zone

By John Malkin, AlterNet. Posted April 27, 2005.

Justin Sane is lead singer and guitarist with the punk band Anti-Flag. He grew up in Pennsylvania and formed a band in 1988 with drummer Pat Thetic. They developed the sound that became Anti-Flag and later toured worldwide with Green Day, NOFX and Rage Against The Machine. Their albums include Terror State and Death of a Nation.

Justin Sane and Anti-Flag have always been dedicated to social change, from the movement to free Mumia Abu Jamal to encouraging youth voter participation in the 2004 U.S. presidential elections. In 2003 they formed the Underground Action Alliance and currently they have formed an organization called the Military Free Zone to challenge military recruitment in high schools.

The following interview was broadcast live on Radio Free Santa Cruz on March 21, 2005.

John Malkin: I want to welcome you to Free Radio Santa Cruz.

Justin Sane: Thanks so much for having me. It is a pleasure to be here.

You have devoted a lot of energy to social change in your music making. The latest project you are involved with is the military free zone. You have been working with members of Congress and others to resist a provision of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Tell me about that act and how it relates to military recruitment in high schools.

There is a provision that is buried in the No Child Left Behind Act. If you attend a public high school, your school system is required to turn over your private information to the U.S. military unless you opt out. 'Opt out' means that you need to turn in a form, signed by a guardian or a parent, stating that you do not want the military to have your private information. It is basically the exact opposite of the age-old school permission slip, where if you wanted to go on a school field trip or if you wanted the school to give out your private information, you had to turn in a form signed by your parent saying that it was OK. Instead, the school is going to give away your private information to the military, specifically for recruitment targeting, unless you hand in a form telling them not to do so.

Of course, 99 percent of the population really knows nothing about this provision in the No Child Left Behind Act. Most public schools haven't bothered to tell their students and they're simply giving their students' information out. When we heard about that, obviously, we were dumbfounded. It is just another example of the arrogance of this Bush administration. And the arrogance of the people who drafted this ridiculous piece of legislation that is supposedly going to be something that is good for children's education. This is the kind of stuff that the young people in this country are made disillusioned by, I believe. It is one of things that make me feel disillusioned. We felt like we needed to make kids aware of this, especially because they are our main audience. They are the people who we usually connect to with our music.

You have just launched a national "Opt Out" campaign and petition drive to end this involuntary military recruitment in High Schools. Tell me about how you originally began working on this issue with Congresspeople, like Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.).

Well, first of all, we decided to launch a national campaign. The goal of the campaign was to let kids know that they could opt out and that they could protect their private information. Unfortunately, it was going to take a little bit of work on their part, but there is an option where they can protect their private information. Secondly, we wanted to start a petition drive so that we could collect tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of signatures, so that we can go back to Congress and we can say to them, "Look, you drafted this legislation. People are not happy with it and it needs to be changed."

We built a web site called militaryfreezone.org. At that web site, there is an opt out form that you can download and print out. There is a petition that you can sign. There is all kinds of information to help you inform others and you can send a letter to your congressperson.

Luckily, in the build up to the 2004 presidential election, we met Congressmember Jim McDermott in Seattle when we were on the Rock Against Bush Tour, a tour which was part of the drive to register as many young voters as we possibly could. Congressmember McDermott is certainly an ally in ideology. He worked with us on a number of things with the Rock Against Bush campaign. When we informed him about this provision buried in the No Child Left Behind Act, he said, "Come to Washington. Let's launch your campaign on Capitol Hill. We'll do a press conference. I am certainly willing to back you guys." He is a Navy veteran, so it sort of gives us a little bit of credibility and maybe we'll reach some of the right wingers or people that are a little more into militarism who wouldn't necessarily take us as seriously. So, he invited us to Capitol Hill and we went there and did a press conference with him on March 17. Also there were Reps. Woolsey and Stark, who were also willing to back us on this campaign.

John Malkin is a journalist and musician who hosts a weekly radio program on Free Radio Santa Cruz (www.freakradio.org). A book of his interviews with musicians -- 'Sounds of Freedom' -- will be released on May 1 by Parallax Press.

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