MIM Notes No. 200      December 15, 1999

University of California forum: U$ Military off our campus!

SANTA BARBARA, CA -- MIM and RAIL organized a forum for November 
10 on the connections between the Amerikan military and the 
University of California(UC). RAIL activists and other anti-
militarist activists gave presentations on topics ranging from 
Department of Defense funding for university research, to CIA 
recruiting on campus, to the history of academic opposition to 
military research.

On short notice, presenters were able to gather concrete details 
about military research at UC Santa Barbara helping to educate and 
organize the mostly student audience. One activist spent a 
significant amount of time traveling and researching in 
preparation. The day of the presentation, s/he discovered that the 
military had contracted research at UC-Santa Barbara into remote 
sensing technology. We encourage activists to learn from this 
example: If you don't know something, investigate! A little bit of 
initiative and dedication goes a long way toward organizing 
against imperialism.

Although the UC is largely in charge of Amerika's nuclear weapons 
program, as the article below details, there is nothing peculiar 
about the UC. In fact, the UC is well behind the top two 
recipients of Department of Defense funding (Johns Hopkins and 
MIT). Plenty of other universities are keeping pace with the UC, 
including Harvard, the University of Michigan, UMass Amherst (all 
of whom are in the top 25).

Forum participants discussed many issues, including the many "high 
tech" weapons, such as depleted uranium (DU) shells, which were 
made possible either directly through university research or 
indirectly thanks to the efforts of university-trained 
researchers. (By the way, DU shells not only kill more 
effectively, they have also been linked to possible long-term 
environmental damage. Some say that the incidence of leukemia 
among children has skyrocketed since the united snakes used DU 
shells there during the Gulf War.)

As all of the presenters pointed out, the connections between the 
military and the universities should not be a surprise, as the 
universities are inseparable from the broader context of Amerikan 
monopoly capitalism. One of the peculiarities of Amerikan 
imperialism is that state intervention in the economy -- which is 
huge despite the rhetoric of Reaganites and their ilk -- comes in 
the form of military spending. Noam Chomsky and R. C. Lewontin 
argue that because of Amerika's ideological aversion to social 
democracy and affinity for militarism, the military foots the bill 
for basic research which largely serves corporate interests.(1) Of 
course, Amerika is also seriously concerned with maintaining its 
lead in efficient killing technology, as that is the cudgel which 
ultimately keeps the Amerikan political and economic hegemony in 
place.

Universities, which carry out scientific research and teaching, 
are, like any other social institution, incapable of being class-
neutral. Right now, the bourgeois state and direct capitalist 
sponsorship ensure they serve imperialism. We need to think big, 
we need to think about replacing the dictatorship of the 
bourgeoisie with the dictatorship of the international 
proletariat. Then scientists won't have to worry that their 
research will be turned into better bombs or shells, and future 
generations will be taught how to better serve the people, rather 
than how to better serve their own careers.

The related article summarizes just some of the links between the 
Amerikan military and the UC discussed at the forum. If you'd like 
to work with MIM and RAIL to organize similar educational forums 
in the future, contact the address on page 2.