ARMY DEN OF DESTRUCTION IN PHILLY

There was a protest Saturday in Philadelphia at the Army Experience Center that sits inside the Franklin Mills Mall. Over 200 folks marched one mile from a local church and entered the mall for a protest. After some time the police ordered them to leave and all but seven did who were then arrested.

Philadelphia Veterans for Peace member John Grant wrote about the place, "The Army Experience Center sees patriotism in stirring up the primal, hormonal emotions of our vulnerable teenagers to recruit them to hunt down and kill other, equally duped kids in far flung and strange cultures like Afghanistan. Now, it is doing this recruiting in a dismal economic downturn."

If there was any doubt that America is a killing culture this is it. It is morally reprehensible that in a public space our kids are exposed, and invited, to enter this cult-like center where murder and violence are glorified. The fact that the society-at-large is not beyond themselves with outrage over this just goes to show how far as a nation we have sunk into the dark side.

As I have said so many times this is our future under corporate globalization, or at least it is the future the oligarchy plans for us. We won't have jobs for our children in the traditional sense. Our "job" under corporate globalization will be "security export" - making weapons and sending our kids off the kill those who are not submitting to the dictates of the corporate powers in the Middle East, Central Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Our tax dollars will increasingly be wasted on these types of "fun and entertainment centers" to corrupt the future generations values so that they become killers without a blink of an eye.

Just below is an NBC-TV report on this center in Philadelphia. Note the near total lack of outrage in the story. We should all be sick to our stomachs. More power to those who protested at this den of destruction last Saturday. Next time there should be 20 times as many people there. There must be protests over and over again at this place. Forget holding national protests in DC. It is places like this that need the massive national demos. This is where the action is for the peace movement. Take it to the heartland and create debate in our communities about what kind of nation we have become!