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Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
The Power Is Ours
It is very evident that the nation-wide and. worldwide G.I. movement is growing in strength and power everyday. G.I.'s all over the world who are being forced to do the protecting of Amerikan Imperialist Pig interests are rising up, both in political consciousness and In direct revolutionary action.
On May 16th, a day when bases are normally open, for the military to glorify death and war and the machines that make it all possible, twentythree bases and. installations across the country were forced to close up because the military power structure and, in fact, the pig administration, are very fearful of the power of the people when they rise up in solidarity.
You must become conscious of and try to understand the power that the people have when they join together. It is very obvious it you lookatwhat happened on the 16th of May.
At Ft. Ord, Calif., the Army erected huge barricades and dug trenches along the edge of the post, streched miles of barbed wire at the entranoe of the post, had observation helicopters circling overhead and had armed snipers on the rooftops and of couse, the usual riot control troops. All this to protect (?) 40,000 troops from 4,000 demonstrators.
At Ft. Dix, N.J., the same basic story, barricades, barbed wire, helicopters (which at Ft. Dix landed two dozen federal marshals at the scene, presumably to be ready to bust civilian demonstrators who were showing their solidarity with their G.I. brothers), the riot troops, etc.. The very typical overdone reaction that was used, here at Ft. Carson also and the rest of the bases affected by the demonstrations. You must try to understand the military's reasoning for closing up the bases in this manner, in this type of situation. It is not that the military is afraid that the demonstrators will be able to take over the post if they were allowed to walk on, which is almost, but not quite tacticaily Impossible, at this time. You see, the pigs have all the power, for the moment. The military is very afraid that the people with the correct political thinking, (.eg. the dmonsrators). if they were allowed to just walk on post and rap freely with a mass of G.I.'s about the war?, racism, and the oppression in this country, they might very well succeed in raising the consctous ness ot the troops.
The military, in this case, happens to. be correct in their assumption. The last thing the military wants is for its men to be politically aware of the lies and half-truths that the brass and the pig administration put to the people. Politically aware G.I.'s, you see, have what is to the military a very bad tendency to organize together and to gain strength from that organization. The miiiary is not all together stupid, they can see and be very fearful of the power of their own troops to rise against them. That is why they go to, such great lengths "bo sarpress the movement.
G.I.'s are not fighting tor their rights by themselves, all though most of the work will have to be done by us, civilians have shown their solidarity with us many times before and we must recognize that fact.
Counter-Attack, no. 1