I spend my life trying to convince kids not to join the military and not to fight America's wars

"I served two deployments in Afghanistan. What I saw and did there disgusted me. Now I spend my life trying to convince kids not to join the military and not to fight these wars for the ruling class.⁣

I speak to high school and college-aged students now. I feel overwhelmed by all those I’m not reaching. I constantly ask myself if it’s all in vain. The US military is working with a billion-dollar-a-year advertising budget. More than 10,000 military recruiters stalk the hallways of high schools across the country targeting those with the fewest options after graduation. Black and brown people are disproportionately recruited.⁣

But know one thing: bottom-up socialism, communicated one conversation at a time and then collectively struggled for, is the only thing that can get in the way of another major war, the ongoing climate catastrophe and increased exploitation and oppression in the world. So I keep at it. I keep going to the schools trying to communicate the benefits of socialism and the horrors of capitalism and imperialism.⁣

⁣

But there are days, like August 16 in Kabul, that make me despair and want to give up. Over my desk, I have a taped quote from Howard Zinn that I read from time to time. It keeps me going:⁣

'To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.'⁣

Another world is possible. It has to be."

Rory Fanning, Afghan War veteran