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JE McNeil is teaching people how to apply for Conscientious Objector status because as a Quaker she is conscientiously opposed to war in in any form by reason of a sincerely held religious belief.

 

Convinced that a military draft is on the horizon, a Quaker attorney JE Mc Neil, from the Center on Conscience and War, recently held a draft counseling training in Eau Claire.  http://www.nisbco.org/ Mc Neil teaches people how to apply for conscientious objector status. A person can become a Conscientious Objector if they prove to their draft board  they are “conscientiously opposed to war in any form by by reason of religious training and belief.” Nick Vander Puy from the Superior Broadcast Network reports.

 

The United States Constitution gives the government authority to raise an army. But there is also an established right to conscientiously object to war. 

 Conscientious objection to war is deeply rooted in our values of freedom.  Fleeing conscription in Europe, many religious groups came to America. 

 Among them the Quakers. 

 E Mc Neil holds a bumper sticker.  It says “Quakers- Since 1660, working for Peace.”

 

“Quakers, ever since we were founded, not quite since we were founded.  Pretty much to the beginning we were fairly clear, God did not want us to participate in war.  So we don’t.”

 

Just prior to the election there was a flurry of announcements from the Bush-Cheney Administration that there isn’t going to be a draft.  In fact, there was even a vote in the House against resuming the draft.  Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld offered several reasons why we don’t need a draft.  But JE Mc Neil thinks this is mostly doublespeak, and that the resumption of the draft is probable.

 

“The second thing he said was we don’t need a draft because we’re meeting our quotas in the Navy and Air Force, totally ignoring the struggle we’re having meeting our quotas in the Marines and Army, and that we weren’t even coming close in the reserves and national guard.”

 

JE Mc Neil says in an era when Patriotism has come to mean silence in the face of war, conscientious objection may seem quaint or even treasonous. 

 

“Well, John F. Kennedy said war will end in that distant future when conscientious objectors are afforded the same status as warriors.  And I think what he meant when we start honoring peace in a real concrete way, instead of just honoring death and killing, that we will begin to work towards it concretely. And see it as the real solution to the problems of the world. As long as we wait to the last minute to feel that the only solution is war we’ll never have peace.”

 The selective service law requires every eighteen year old male to register for the draft.

 To get the ball rolling towards becoming a Conscientious Objector Mc Neil advises writing across your registration form, “I’m opposed to participation in war  in any form because of my ethical, moral, or religious beliefs.” 

 

The selective service will not acknowledge your request for CO Status, but they will send you a form asking you to correct any mistakes.  Send back to Selective Service this  statement, “I registered as a conscientious objector.  Please correct your records.” 

 

Send this statement to Selective Service certified mail return receipt requested.

 

With a government postmark this document becomes an affidavit, useful for establishing intent to become a conscientious objector.

 

Becoming a conscientious objector requires some deep thought.  One needs to take a fearless inventory of one’s beliefs.

 

“The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you believe war in any form is wrong. In our country the saddest question is war in any form, not just this war or that war, so if you think it’s ok to bomb babies in Afghanistan but not Iraq you wouldn’t qualify.”

 

 

The second thing you need to  consider is that it’s an issue of war, not violence, so when the draft board asks you what would you do if someone broke into your house and raped your grandmother, it’s perfectly ok to say I would tackle them and beat them to a bloody pulp.  

 

 

Mc Neil reminds us that the most the famous conscientious objector from the nineteen sixties, Muhammad Ali, did after all, beat up people for a living.

 

One wonders why working class people, who get such a bad deal from the bosses, are so quick to pick up a weapon for the government.  JE Mc Neil says the Nazis figured this a long time ago.

 

“Well, we know, working class people send their children off to war for a lot of reasons. It creates discipline. Some believe it gives them opportunities they never have. The real bottom line was described by Hitler’s second in command Herman Goerring, in the Nuremberg trials, by nature the farmers and workers of a nation are not going to be interested in fighting, but people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders because all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for a lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to danger.  It works the same in every country.”

 

Saying this kind of stuff Mc Neil catches a lot of flak on talk radio.  When she visited Eau Claire somebody called in and said they wanted to stomp her.

 

“When people say to me I’m dishonoring the men who died to protect my rights I say one of two things, depending on my mood, the people who died to protect my rights are the people who died in jail refusing to kill, the other thing I often do is to point out to the person who says their family member died trying to protect my freedom of speech that they are dishonoring that person more by trying to squelch my freedom of speech that that person died to protect.”

 

I’m Nick Vander Puy for the Superior Broadcast Network

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