Dress to Protest! Announcing Anti-Flag’s WEAR YOUR CONVICTIONS ON YOUR SLEEVE DAY! March 28th, 2003 The A-F Army is mobilizing to protest the illegal and immoral US war against Iraq!

In the spirit of our song "You've Been To Our Shows, Now Go To A Fucking Protest", we are inviting all people of all ages to participate in the "Dressed to Protest" action. A lot of the following information is geared towards high school students because they are most likely to have their free speech rights violated or to get in trouble for exercising them. That doesn't mean we don't want college students, little kids, working stiffs, granpas and grannies to wear an armband, because we do! So get your grandma involved, God dammit! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO PARTICIPATE? Wear a white armband on March 28th, 2003! Make it from a white t-shirt, a sock, or a white handkerchief! If you want to be more creative you could cut up an Anti-Flag shirt or patch in a way that the graphics or text make a statement. However, the safest way to go would be to have just a plain white armband... that way you won’t accidentally put anything on your armband that might get you into trouble (more on this below). Whatever you do, just be sure to get yourself an armband! And make sure it’s an armband. Why an armband? Because... the landmark Supreme Court Case that established that students have protected speech rights in school was Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, in 1969. In the Tinker case, the students in question black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. You can read the decision at http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/tinker.html. In this time of all out attack on free speech and other civil liberties, we want you to stick to a form of symbolic speech that there is absolutely no question is protected under the First Amendment. Also, it’s a good way to honor those students who paved the way for student free speech in school. But before you make your armbands, you have to help us out by doing a few things... 1. DO NOT PUT PROFANITY OF ANY KIND ON YOUR ARMBANDS! Profanity (cursing and swear words) is not protected speech while you’re in school. 2. Go to our Students’ Rights Section on the Anti-Flag site. Here’s the link: http://www.a-frecords.com/news/ACLU/ACLU.htm. Read this material and get yourself very familiar with it, and consider the suggestions that are offered there. 3. Print out the Students’ Rights Section of the Anti-Flag site and take it to school with you the day of the protest. That way you will have something to show teachers and administrators to back yourself up. 4. Do some of your own research on students’ rights. You can start by reading Tinker v. Des Moines. And type it into www.Google.com. Any information you find with that search will surely lead you to other sources too. Or go to the ACLU students’ rights page at http://www.aclu.org/StudentsRights/StudentsRightsMain.cfm. Print out any useful material you find from your research and take it to school with you. 5. Don’t know what we’re talking about when we say ‘protected speech’? Go read the Student’s Rights Section at http://www.a-frecords.com/news/ACLU/ACLU.htm WHAT IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE AT SCHOOL FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROTEST? While Anti-Flag wants as many of you who feel that this war is unjust to participate in our protest if it’s something you feel comfortable doing, we don’t want to you get into trouble (which you shouldn’t, but since the political climate is so repressive right now, you might.) While it’s clear that you have a constitutional right to wear the white armbands, that doesn’t mean that school officials will respect that right. If they don’t and tell you to take it off, you can try to explain to them why you have a right to wear it (and there’s suggestions on how to do this below), but we suggest you not push it to the point of getting in trouble. If a teacher or principal makes you take it off, do so and then you can take the right action to challenge them, probably by working with the ACLU. You can teach them about your rights after the fact and this way you won’t get disciplined. We are working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to help students when schools do not respect students’ free speech rights. We are letting every ACLU office in every state know about our protest. In the event that you are made to take your armband off, contact the ACLU. Please keep checking back to our site for that information. This way, if you do get static at school, you can let your teachers/principal know that: 1. You know what your rights are; 2. You are already in contact with the ACLU about this protest, and protecting your free speech rights. 3. The ACLU is ready to take action on your behalf if you are penalized for exercising your free speech rights. We wish that coordination with the ACLU was unnecessary, but sadly it is. We’re working directly with the ACLU because we want you to have the proper resources so that your school does not intimidate you or violate your free speech rights. One more thing you can do to help us, and yourselves, out, is to not get combative, belligerent, confrontational, obnoxious, mouthy or any other such behavior with your teachers and school administrators if you do run into difficulty with them. Doing so is something that can legitimately get you in trouble. Don’t give your school any reason that might even approach being a real reason to punish you. Keep your cool and be respectful (even if they aren’t being respectful of you.) It’s no fun to hold your nose while doing something, but sometimes it’s the best way to go because it will help you out in the long run. Demonstrate the smarts that we know you have and please, take this advice! Don’t know what the ACLU is, or how it will help you defend your rights? Go read the Student’s Rights Section at http://www.a-frecords.com/news/ACLU/ACLU.htm WHAT IF YOU JUST CAN’T AFFORD TO DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT GET YOU INTO TROUBLE RIGHT NOW? This one’s easy: don’t participate. While we’re hoping as many of you who can participate in this protest will choose to do so, we do not want anyone to feel that they HAVE to, because you don’t. Membership in the A-F Army is not something that you have to apply for, or go through a stupid initiation to get… it’s all about how you think and how you treat other people! Choosing to protest does not make you a better (or punker) person, just as choosing not to protest doesn’t make you a better (or punker) person. We all have a unique set of circumstances in our lives, and because each of us has a unique set of circumstances in our lives, no one can make the decision about whether or not you want to participate in this protest for you. If anyone tries to pressure you into joining in the protest when you’re not comfortable doing so, tell them to fuck off! PREPARE YOURSELF TO DEFEND YOUR STANCE! Here are some arguments and explanations for you to use as to why you are wearing your armband: 1. The Bush Administration is not interested in the welfare of the Iraqi people. If they were, they would have supported dropping the economic sanctions that were imposed after the first Gulf War. These sanctions have deprived the Iraqi people adequate food, medicine, and materials necessary to rebuild the country’s infrastructure (roads, water sanitation, etc.) As a result, millions of Iraqis have died from preventable and treatable illnesses, especially children. Economic sanctions have not hurt Saddam Hussein. 2. The Bush Regime does not care about establishing a genuinely democratic system of government in Iraq. For starters, the Bush regime snubbed its nose at democracy in action when they chose to invade Iraq without a United Nations resolution authorizing them do so, which makes this invasion illegal under international law. Secondly, if the US really cared about establishing a free and democratic society in Iraq it should not have made it possible for a ruthless leader like Saddam Hussein to be in power in the first place, never mind supporting him for many years with US military aid. 3. Quote another Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1918 said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." 4. Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11, according to the CIA. 5. The Bush Administration was never serious about weapons inspections. The Bush Administration repeatedly stated that they were going into Iraq no matter what. 6. The Bush Administration is sending American troops into a very dangerous situation where they could be killed, and where Iraqi civilians may be killed. If America were really serious about wanting the people of Iraq to be free, they would have backed the Iraqi uprisings in 1991, instead George Bush Senior turned his back on them. 7. We want to support our troops by bringing them home, where they will be safe, just as we want to support the citizens of Iraq by keeping them safe, too. 8. The population of Iraq is almost 50% children who are under 15. No matter what is going on between our countries they are innocent and do not deserve to be killed, orphaned, or psychologically traumatized. 9. During the last Gulf War, President Bush Sr. encouraged Iraqis who wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein to rebel. They did so, and then were not backed up by the US government or coalition forces that were necessary to make their rebellion successful. The rebellion was completely crushed. If America was really serious about wanting the people of Iraq to be free, they could have achieved that goal in 1991. 10. The armbands are meant to symbolize the fact that the Bush Administration must change its foreign policy to be more creative and peace oriented. 11. As a result of political statements (armbands, t-shirts, etc.) and activism/protests against war by the peace movement, the US military has had to change its attitude about casualties during wartime. In the first Gulf War, when asked about the number of Iraqi dead, Colin Powell said "That is not a number I am concerned about." (According to the US State Department the number of Iraqi’s killed was 90,000, compared to 148 US casualties.) Since then, actions by peace activists calling attention to the atrocities of war has pressured the US government to take special action to limit as much as possible civilian and military casualties during US military actions. No loss of life is the only acceptable loss of life, however, without the actions of peace activists the numbers of dead would be much higher. 12. The BBC reported that both the CIA and British Intelligence have recently filed reports stating that Iraq is not a threat to anyone outside of its borders and is not likely to attack another nation unless it is attacked. So, we hope that you’ll considering joining our WEAR YOUR CONVICTIONS ON YOUR SLEEVE DAY protest. Please check back so that you can get the ACLU contact information once we have it all together for you. Also, make sure to let us know how it goes for you! Send us your pictures and stories about the day so that we can put them on the site for all of you to see. Together, we can make a difference, so let’s do it! Click here for a flyer you can print out and give to all your friends, or paste all over your school.