March 31 National call to action.

No Draft, No Way!

SIGN UP to volunteer, be a local organizing center, endorse, list your local action on this site!

On March 31, the Selective Service System (SSS) will report to President Bush that it is ready to implement the draft within 75 days. (see the Selective Service Performance Plan here) Right now, the SSS is staffing local draft boards, training volunteer registrars to work on high school and college campuses, and streamlining its induction process. They have also gained access to the Department of Education's computer files, to ensure maximum registration.

It is clear that the Bush Administration is preparing for a draft. They are desperate for new soldiers to continue the occupation of Iraq and to prepare for new wars against Iran, Syria, and elsewhere.

At the same time that Bush is looking to youth to supply cannon fodder for his wars, he is busy cutting financial aid and slashing social programs. The same young people that Bush wants to use to fight his wars are finding it harder to pay for their education, find jobs that pay a living wage, or obtain basic necessities, like health care or affordable housing.

It is time for young people, who are already under attack from the Bush Administration, to take a stand.

On March 31, the same day that the Selective Service System is reporting that the draft is ready to go, youth all over the country will report that they will refuse to go.

Local No Draft, No Way organizers and other anti-draft activists are planning protests, walkouts, and direct action at recruiting centers, selective service offices, and other sites. We call upon students, youth, and antiwar activists to organize local actions on March 31 to say "No Draft, No Way!"

LOCAL MARCH 31st Activities

How you can get involved:

Contact local No Draft No Way organizers.

List your activity.   Endorse this call to action.  Become a local organizing center.  Volunteer!

A burning draft card.

Let's Organize NOW to Stop the Draft:

SIGN UP to volunteer, be a local organizing center, endorse, list your local action on this site!

1) Donate to help build a network of educators, activists, and resisters to fight the draft--before it returns.

2) Organize an anti-draft meeting at your school, church or mosque, union hall, etc. Contact us at 212-633-6646 for help and speakers.

3) Organize protests outside the selective service office in your area.

4) Contact local No Draft No Way organizers and find out how to get involved.

No Draft T-shirts & Other Items Available Online

NEW! How To Stay Out of the Military: A Primer On Draft Resistance

To organize an anti-draft meeting at your school, community organization, etc., contact us at: info@nodraftnoway.org.

Reinstatement of the draft is likely soon, despite what the politicians say.

We must begin NOW to build a movement to stop the draft before it starts.

The U.S. military is in a quagmire in Iraq, facing a national popular uprising against the occupation. Although the U.S. has 138,000 soldiers, supplemented by as many as 20,000 mercenaries, in Iraq, this force is not sufficient to defeat the uprising. According to the Associated Press, military officials have recently admitted that the resistance numbers more as high as 20,000 and has enough popular support among the Iraqi people that they cannot be militarily defeated. Nevertheless, President Bush is committed to trying to maintain the occupation, and is threatening to launch new wars against Iran, North Korea, and Syria.

Soldiers are dying every day. A report issued in January, 2004 by Jeffrey Record, a visiting professor at the Air War College, said the Army is "near the breaking point." The Pentagon has been forced to issue repeated "stop loss" orders and recall soldiers who had retired or otherwise returned to civilian life.

Out of 10 Army Divisions, part or all of 9 of them are either deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Twenty-one out of 33 regular combat brigades are on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, or the Balkans. That's 63% of the Army's combat strength. This means the Army is extremely overextended. Military experts agree that in order to maintain long-term mobilizations, an army needs twice as many soldiers at home as deployed. That means the U.S. Army is more than 100,000 soldiers short. The Bush Administration has been trying to fill the gap with Reserve and National Guard troops, but this is a temporary fix at best.

Meanwhile, official U.S. foreign policy is now the doctrine of "pre-emptive war" and "regime change" wherever a leader runs afoul of U.S. corporate interests. An invasion of Iran, Syria, Korea, or Cuba -- all of whom are on Washington and Wall Street's list of targets -- would require tens or hundreds of thousands of new soldiers.

Enlistment rates not even able to maintain current force levels, much less provide troops for new invasions and occupations. All four services missed their enlistment quotas last year, and enlistments in the Reserves, National Guard, and regular military are at a 30-year low. Many current members of the armed forces plan to get out as soon as their current enlistment ends. According to a poll conducted by the military newspaper Stars & Stripes, 49% of soldiers stationed in Iraq do not plan to re-enlist.

The President has given the Selective Service System a set of readiness goals to be implemented by March 31, 2005. As part of these performance goals, the System must be ready to be fully operational within 75 days. This means the Draft could be in operation as early as June 15, 2005.

We must begin NOW to organize against the draft.

People who oppose the implementation of the draft need to act now to stop it. We cannot rely on politicians; we must be a massive grass-roots movement to say "No Draft! No Way!"

We need to begin now to build this movement. Here are some ways to begin:

• Become a NoDraftNoWay.org organizer in your area.
• Organize a local anti-draft group in your community.
• Download the NoDraftNoWay literature and begin to get the word out in your school, union, place of worship, and workplace.
• Expose the "Economic Draft" already in place by providing counter-recruiting information to young people and organizing demonstrations outside recruiting centers.
• Organize local demonstrations at the site of your local Selective Service office.
• Write letters to members of Congress and the local media expressing opposition to the draft.
• Donate to help us get the word out.