"Stephen, people our age should be out learning, working and transforming the world. People our age should be going to parties and protests, meeting people, falling in love and arguing about what our world should look like. People our age should not be moving targets, denied their human and civil rights; they should not be military grunts, exposed to harm in mind and body, lugging around M-16's and guilty consciences; they should not be thrown behind bars for not wanting to kill and die."
This is an excerpt from a letter by Matan Kaminer, on trial in an Israeli Military Court for refusing induction into the Israeli Army, to Stephen Funk, awaiting trail before a US Military Courts-Martial for desertion (objecting to participate in the Iraq assault).
The complete letter is below. Also below is a Declaration by Kaminer outlining the reasons for his refusal. As well, a June 26 statement by Funk. Some links follow for anyone seeking more information.
All together the information is a lot. But if you forfeit the time to read them you may share the personal plight of these two individuals, representative of so many others, and hopefully a better glimpse into the very backwards practices and institutions common in our world.
Everything below is direct quotation by the two. Nothing has been changed or edited unless otherwise noted.
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[A letter from Matan Kaminer, on trial - Israeli military court, to Stephen Funk US Marines]
'Open Detention', Tel Hashomer Camp, Israel
August 12, 2003
Dear Stephen,
Is this what they call "globalization"?
We live half a world from each other, we have led quite different lives, and yet we are both in the same situation: conscientious objectors to imperial war and occupation, we are both standing military trial this summer. Reading your statement I couldn't help but smile at the basic sameness of military logic around the world - including its inability to understand how anybody could be enough against a war to resist going to kill and die in it.
But I've been presuming you're familiar with my situation. In case you aren't, let me fill you in briefly. I was slated for induction into the Israeli army in December 2002. After a year of volunteer work in a Jewish-Arab youth movement, I had made up my mind to refuse to enlist. Together with other young people in my situation, I signed the High School Seniors' Letter to PM Sharon, and to make myself absolutely clear I sent a personal letter to the military authorities notifying them that I was going to refuse.
They let me know they weren't about to let me go: the army only exempts pacifists (at least that's what it claims) and I didn't meet their definition of a pacifist. So beginning in December I was sentenced by 'disciplinary proceedings' (do they have this ridiculous institution in the Marines too?) to 28 days in military prison - three consecutive times. After my third time in jail, I asked to join my friend Haggai Matar, who was being court-martialed, and within a few weeks three of our friends - Noam, Shimri and Adam - joined us.
Now we are on trial and stand to get up to three years in prison for refusing the order to enlist.
Sounds familiar, huh? But it's not just what they're doing to us that's similar, it's what they're doing to others: occupying a foreign land and oppressing another people in the name of preventing terror. People like you and me know that's just an excuse for furthering economic and political interests of the ruling elite. But it's not the elite that pays the price.
The people who pay the price are in Jenin and Fallujah, in Ramallah and Baghdad, in Tikrit and in Hebron. They are the Iraqi and Palestinian children, hogtied face-down on the floor or shot at on the way to school. But they are also the Israeli and American soldiers, treated as cannon fodder by generals in air-conditioned offices, whose only way to deal with their situation is dehumanization - first of the strange-looking foreigners who want them dead, next of themselves. You can ask your Vietnam veterans or our own.
Stephen, people our age should be out learning, working and transforming the world. People our age should be going to parties and protests, meeting people, falling in love and arguing about what our world should look like. People our age should not be moving targets, denied their human and civil rights; they should not be military grunts, exposed to harm in mind and body, lugging around M-16's and guilty consciences; they should not be thrown behind bars for not wanting to kill and die.
Your trial is set to begin soon. Mine has already begun so maybe I can give you a few pointers.
Look the judges in the eyes. Use every opportunity you have to explain why you stand there. They are human just like you, but they try to deny it to themselves. Don't let them. War is shit and they know it. They should let you go and they know it.
It's likely that we'll both get thrown in prison when this all ends. There will be dark moments in prison, moments when it seems that the outside world has forgotten all about us, that what we did and refused to do was in vain. Well, I know what I'll do in those moments: I'll think of you, Stephen, and I'll know that nothing we do for humanity's sake is ever in vain.
With greatest solidarity, Matan Kaminer
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I presume the reasons for my refusal are known to you, but in case you've forgotten I've attached a declaration. If you need more info, you can open the "Seniors' Letter" website:
http://www.shministim.org
I'll check my own e-mail account for the last time Sunday afternoon (Israel time!). Afterwards my account will be closed, but you can get messages to me through my mother's mailbox, snehab@netvision.net.il
Peace,
Matan
PS: You're invited to propaagate this message and my declaration among anybody who may be interested.
[Follows the declaration of Matan Kaminer]
Freedom is, among other things:
Riding the bus and looking at the sea or reading a book, totally at ease. Walking the land and knowing each part of it, without knowing fear. Meeting new people of all sorts and becoming friends. Finding a job I like and which pays a living wage. Studying what I want to without having to pay a fortune. Being glad in Israel’s human variety without worrying about so-called demographic or economic threats. Walking down the street, or waiting for the light to change, or standing in line at the supermarket, without being drowned in commercials. Hearing the news without hearing about innocent people getting killed.
A place without freedom is a prison.
Israel today is a prison.
The worst kind of prison is the invisible kind. We cannot see our prison, not because it’s bewitched but because we are blind. Our capacity to sense suffering has been blinded. First we were blinded to the suffering of people who look very different from us: they live up in the mountains, they wear mustaches and veils, and they apparently hate us because we are more beautiful and intelligent than they are. Then we were blinded to the suffering of people who look more like us, and even talk our language, albeit in strange accents. But I guess they’re not as able as us, and that’s why they have no jobs and their children have no food. Lastly, we have been blinded to our own suffering. We’ve been convinced that we don’t really suffer – what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and hey, we’re not dead yet. We’ve been blinded to think that our agony is pleasure, and that depression is fun.
The most suffocating kind of prison is made of glass.
Today I’ll be going to another kind of prison, a kind made of cement and tent canvas, of barbed wire fences and the uniforms of prison guards. It’s called Military Prison No. 4. I’m glad to be going because, finally, my prison will be visible. I’ll do my time in this visible prison for a few months for refusing to enlist to Israel’s academy for prison guards: the IDF, Israel’s “Defense Forces” which have been imprisoning an entire people for thirty-five years.
In Military Prison No. 4 I may develop a miraculous sense of sight. From staring at the fabric of my tent I might gain the ability to see fabrics of deceit. Looking at cement walls may teach me to recognize the walls separating human beings. Seeing barbed wires may bring me understanding of the wiring by which people are controlled.
Hope and experience both show that sight is an infectious trait. My goal is an epidemic of seeing people who will tear down the walls of separation with their sense of sight. They will use their vision to rip away the canvasses of lies, and cut the wires of exploitation with their eyes. Military Prison No. 4 already holds a few people who are trying to see, sitting and looking and waiting for me to join. In the schools and on the buses, in the refugee camps and the factories, on the streets and at the roadblocks and in the offices, thousands of seeing people are already infecting their neighbors with the seeing virus.
Soon a critical mass of seeing people will have collected. All of a sudden, everyone will be able to see the prison. Even the guards will realize that they, too, are prisoners.
And the prison will be gone.
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Statement by Marine Corps Lance Corporal Stephen Funk, awaiting military trial September 4 for "desertion".
Stephen Funk
USMC 4th FSSG, New Orleans
June 26, 2003
My name is Stephen Funk. I am a Marine Corps reservist who spoke out against the invasion of Iraq. Now I am being charged with desertion, even though I returned to my unit after completing an application for discharge as a conscientious objector. My military court date is scheduled for September 4 here in New Orleans and I am facing two years in the brig. Challenging the war from my position was extremely difficult and I am very proud of my public stance, but now I need your help.
I was born and raised in Seattle where I joined protests against globalization at the WTO. I moved to Los Angeles for college where I protested for socioeconomic justice at the Democratic National Convention. I have always considered myself an activist and stand with the oppressed peoples of the world. Since high school I have worked with several campaigns for the disadvantaged, political prisoners, and for peace and justice in our communities. I left Los Angeles because I felt the school I attended was too politically apathetic and moved to the Bay Area in hopes of attending UC Berkeley. Despite all this, I was persuaded to join the Marines. Out of school for the first time with depression from the lack of direction and confusion in my life, a recruiter was able to sell me on what I might learn in basic training. Leadership, teamwork, discipline and most importantly a sense of direction and of belonging are what convinced me. It was a decision I made when I was 19 and in a clouded state of mind.
The boot camp experience quickly snapped me back into reality, but by that time it seemed too late to do anything. The purpose of military training is to churn out non-thinking killing machines. All humans have a natural aversion to killing, and being forced to shout out "Kill, Kill, Kill" everyday is a major stress on the mind, body, and soul. One must go through a transformation in order to accommodate the unnatural way of life that the military teaches. I, however, resisted and as a result my moral convictions against violence grew stronger. A marksmanship coach told me that I had a "bad attitude", that in a real situation I wouldn't score as well as I did. Without thinking I replied that he was right, because killing people is wrong. It was as if I had taken a deep breath after holding it for two months, and there was no way I could ever go back and "go along with the program".
I had figured out that war itself was immoral and could not be justified. Yet everyone told me it was futile to try to get out. We were trained to be subordinate in our thoughts, words, and actions. It's hard to go up against all that, even when you know you are right. In February my San Jose-based unit was called up to support the attack on Iraq. I could no longer just obey.
For the next six weeks I kept in contact with my command, explaining why I had not yet reported. I completed my conscientious objector paperwork that I had started earlier, and I attended anti-war protests with hundreds of thousands of others.
In the face of this unjust war based on deception by our leaders, I could not remain silent. In my mind that would have been true cowardice, having a chance to do some good, but playing it safe instead. On April 1, after a press conference in front of my base, I turned myself in. I spoke out so that others in the military would realize that they also have a choice and a duty to resist immoral and illegitimate orders. You don't have to be a cog in the machinery of war. Everyone has the unconquerable power of free will. I wanted those who may be thinking about enlisting to hear and learn from my experiences.
Under media attention, the military initially claimed my application for discharge would be handled quickly and fairly, and that I would likely receive only non-judicial punishment for my unauthorized absence. Now that public scrutiny has died down the military says that I deserve to be convicted. I feel I am being punished simply for practicing my First Amendment rights, and they are seeking an unfit punishment to dissuade others from becoming conscientious objectors.
On base I've been harassed a few times. Some people have told me I'm a traitor, a coward, and unpatriotic. I have also had a few death threats. However, I have also received tremendous positive feedback, even from some of the enlisted people. As my commanding officer explained to the press, "The Marine Corps understands there are service members opposed to the war." I am certainly not alone.
In writing my application for discharge, I was completely honest about who I am. Part of that meant acknowledging that I am gay. I believe that homosexuals should be able to serve if they choose, and that Don't Ask Don't Tell is an awful policy that only helps the military perpetuate anti-gay sentiment among it's ranks. However, I am not an advocate for gay inclusion in the military because I personally do not support military action.
I have a great defender in San Francisco-based National Lawyers Guild attorney Stephen Collier. He hasn't demanded a bunch of money. However, I need to quickly raise enough for travel, lodging, and research. This will cost $10,000 at least. My family and I cannot afford that.
Thank you for your support and please forward this to others who may be able to help.
Stephen Funk
*[NOTE - Funk has recently (Aug. 12) been granted permission to introduce evidence supporting that he is a 'conscientious objector' when he's tried. Court date is September 4, 2003.]
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Not In Our Name - Free Stephen Funk! Gulf War II Objector:
http://www.notinourname.net/funk/
Shministim - Israeli Youth Refusal Movement:
http://www.shministim.org/english/index.htm
Amnesty International - Israel/Occupied Terroritires -Conscientious Objectors:
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/iot_Conscientious_Objectors
ZNet - A Community of People Committed to Social Change:
http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm
