Dear Left Hook Readers,

November is almost over and we still have a long way to go to hit our second anniversary fund drive goal- if we don't meet it by the end of this month, we'll have to severely curtail and scale back our work here.

Left Hook started out as and remains the only independent leftist youth journal in this country. And by leftist, we don't mean the kind of "pander to the conservatives" politics you see from the Democratic Party and its hangers-on.

From the very beginning - far before it became popular - we took a principled stand against the war in Iraq, predicting the emergence of serious resistance early as November 2003. We've been publicizing and projecting the anti-war movement from the front lines, publishing countless ground reports, highlighting cases of abuse, interviewing student anti-war activists and veterans of the Iraq war, and demolishing pro-war arguments.

Young writers here have taken up a much wider range of important issues as well: from the oppression of Palestinians to the drastic costs of higher education in America, from the administration's malice in Katrina to the larger role of capitalism and neoliberalism in producing such tragedies, it's all been covered here in political analysis, cultural commentary, interviews, ground reports, and more.

And our material here is fresh, original, and from a unique youth perspective: not the same standard fare stuff reprinted and recycled all over the internet.

Of course, you already know all that - otherwise you wouldn't be reading this space right now, where we receive hundreds of visitors daily thanks to word of mouth and larger sites constantly linking to our material.

But you undoubtedly also know that, as a small, independent leftist site, we cannot continue without the financial support of our readers - that means you! There's just two of us students here at the helm, and though the cost of Ramen noodles remains relatively stable, we have to maintain our (pretty modest) funding goals to keep bringing you the quality and content you've been regularly enjoying here.

So please help keep Left Hook alive and donate today! Be it $10 or $100 - every bit that you chip in helps. Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Editors
Derek Seidman and M. Junaid Alam

RIT Anti War Stands Up to Marine Recruiters and Win Again

Kenneth Love

ROCHESTER, NY- Members of RIT Anti War, the student antiwar group and Campus Antiwar Network chapter at the Rochester Institute of Technology found out that Marine Corps recruiters would be in the Student Alumni Union and once again could not let them be left unchallenged. RIT Anti War reserved space likewise and that morning set up our enormous table full of counter-recruitment, CAN and Anti War literature. The Marines were actually late by three hours, so we took the opportunity to sign up new members and meet professors and faculty who happy to see us there. We also used this as an opportunity to build our "Military Out of Our Schools" meeting the next day.

Only 3-4 students made it to the Marines table and were immediately engaged by anti-war activists after leaving. All of them said they "had no plans on joining." During the afternoon rush our strength grew to 23 activists. We formed a huge line, holding "College Not Combat" and "Troops out Now" banners and signs. The line stretched from our table to the other side of the Union hall. We handed out over 400 pamphlets and signed up around 50 people to join RIT Anti War. Ironically, a fire alarm went off after frustrated campus administrators left the table, so we quickly moved outside to catch everyone walking out of the building; activists held signs high and one even stood next to the group of recruiters holding a sign in the air that read "College Not Combat." After being effectively blocked from the majority of traffic through the Union the recruiters packed up and left 3 hours early.

This was the second successful counter-recruitment effort at RIT and represents how organizing counter-recruitment actions can effectively challenge any military presence on campuses. Many people joined in on the action as well, once again concretely showing the opportunities of the antiwar movement. Full steam ahead for the CAN counter-recruitment conference in Berkley, eight members will be going.

If you found this piece useful, please keep us alive by making a donation to our second anniversary fund drive .

Kenneth Love, Rochester Institute of Technology Anti War, Organizer

As taken from the list-serv of the Campus Anti-War Network.