FEATURE Children: they, too, are joining the peace movement inthe U.S. By Emily De Nitto and shall be given opportunities and fa- cilities...to enable him to develop...in a healthy and normal manner,” states the United Na- tions Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Does the course of the Reagan Administration conform to this standard? One 14-year-old Afro- American from Flatbush, Brooklyn, doesn’t think so. “There shouldn’t be any nuclear weapons. They're messing up our future. They should get rid of them —and the President,’’she said. Her 12-year old friend agreed. ‘‘Look at all the money going to kill people of other countries while the poor people here starve. The President should talk, not fight. We should get rid of him.”’ Statistics support their opinions. The Reagan . Administration military buildup —the largest - peace-time buildup in our nation’s history —goes hand in hand with cutbacks and cut-outs of sorely needed social programs. Among those most af- fected by these lopsided priorities are the nation’ s children. For example, aid for schools in poor commu- nities (Title I of Aid for Elementary and Secondary Education) was cut $1.94 billion for fiscal years 82 and ’83, affecting three million children, according to the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Pol- icy. Cutting funds for 48 AH-64 attack helicopters alone could retore this program. Or compare these figures: In 1984 the Reagan Administration has requested $6,363 million just for the MX missile, while the National School Lunch Program; Women, Infant and Children Feeding Program; Headstart; Family Social Services, and Refugee and Entrants Assistance combined are to receive $6,534 million, according to Clergy and Lai- ~ ty Concerned. About 8,400 children — including 2,700 from New York City — have lost daycare services in New York State alone since the government began slashing the program two years ago. Reagan even wants to abolish the national Department of Educa- tion, though public resistance has kept him from raising this issue recently. But no expense is spared when it comes to developing weapons that even many in Congress argue are unnecesary and dan- gerous. Over $38 billion in weapons procurement was wasted by the Pentagon this year alone. The Children’s Defense Fund, a child advocacy organization, has published A Children’s Defense Budget, in which it compares military spending with cuts in programs affecting children, and the executive board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed to the Second Special Session on Disarmament in 1982 to assure reduction of arms expenditures to meet children’s needs. Perhaps this information never reached the White House. But the most poignant call for an end to the arms race and high military spending comes from the children themselves. Ask them what they think, and they describe nightmares of apocalyptic doom, they speak of frustration with ‘‘old, grey men’’ who talk of ‘limited’? nuclear war and ‘‘acceptable”’ ¢ r4 T= child shall enjoy special protection Emily De Nitto is a member of the Daily Worid staff. PACIFIC TRIBUNE— -SEPTEMBER 2, 1983— a eaten, numbers dead. ‘‘We have a simple plea,”’ nah Ravin, one of the founders of the Children’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CCND). ‘‘We’re just asking to be able to grow up.’ Many adults think that young people aren’t says Han- concerned with such ‘‘global’’ issues as nuclear arms and war. A 1982 questionnaire distributed by Educators for Social Repsonsibility, an anti-nucle- ar weapons teachers group, found that 87% of U.S. teenagers surveyed thought there would be nuclear war within the next 20 years, 90% felt the nation would not survive such a war, and 81% said the fear of such a war affected their hopes for the future. “There is a profound disease and anxiety about the future among young people,”’ notes Dr. William Beardslee, a psychiatrist who has done several. studies on Hiroshima victims with a Harvard col- league, Dr. Robert Lifton. ‘‘The image of the mush- room cloud has cast a shadow on our society,’ said Lifton, creating a ‘‘futurelessness’’ among young people that he thinks may be a major factor in alco- _hol and drug abuse and the attraction of apocalyp- tic cults for some. But many young people are fighting back. Nu- merous children’s and teenagers’ disarmament groups exist on the local level, and there are seve- ral national organizations. Adult spokespeople in- clude such noted pediatricians as Dr. Helen Caldi- cott and Dr. Benjamin Spock. Educators for Social Responsiblity has created a guide for teaching about nuclear war to students from kindergarten to grade 12 called Creating our Future, and the Na- tional Education Association has produced a teach- ing aid called ‘‘Choices: a unit on conflict and nu- clear war,’’ with lesson plans in it. Conferences like the one held at Wayne State University this May on ‘‘The Threat of Nuclear War to Children and Youth’ are increasing. and — groups like Advocates for Children combine young people and adults to fight against Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps in the junior high schools. Several documentary films have been pro- duced recently on children and nuclear war, includ- ing Bombs Will Make the Rainbow Break. This film documents a national letter writing and reading campaign organized by CCND, around which the group was formed. ‘‘It started in Plainfield, Ver- mont, in 1981,’’ said Hannah. ‘‘Five kids (ages 12 to 18) were talking together about the nuclear threat —we were really scared —to try to figure out what we could do. We thought the world was going to end and we couldn’t leave it up to the government to fix it; they weren’t going to do anything but make it worse.” They sent leaflets around the country asking for letters to President Reagan that they hoped to present to him en masse. They collected close to 3,000 letters, but after requesting a meeting to read them to him, they were told Reagan was ‘‘too busy” to meet with them, said Hannah. They called the offices of Bush, Weinberger, < and Haig, but no one was available. They spoke to a — senior policy advisor to the President over several — weeks, Hannah said, but “‘he finally admitted that the White House was completely baffled about how — to deal with us.” After further persistence, Selma’ Duggins, of the Liason for Children, agreed to meet them during a reading of the letters in front of the White House. But five minutes before the reading — : began a White House aide came out to say it is the — policy not to allow officials in front. of the White — House when so much news media is there. “‘We felt they were afraid of us,’’ said Hannah. _ : “The Reagan Adminstration is building more and more weapons; all we want is a safe world,” she stressed. They even turned the lawn sprinklers on the kids. “‘It was obvious harassment, but we didn’t mind; we just played in them.”’ On June 19 they went back to the White House with close to 5,500 new letters, and this time Dug- gins met with them. ‘‘She didn’t have anything to say, but we told her that this is the most important issue for the youth of-the world today. It comes down to survival,’ said Hannah. ~ CCND now has 50 to 60 chapters and is involv- : ing kids in community organizing in their neighbor- _ } hoods on the issue. They also have international — contacts, which they hope to develop. Hannah has just returned from a speaking tour of France, Swe- 7; | den, and Finland, and she also attended the Prague pa in June. “Young people feel alienated by our govern- x ment and the whole process,’’ said Cindy Shannon, program director for the Student/Teacher Organi — zation to Prevent Nuclear War (STOP Nuclear — War). ‘But they do feel motivated by doing things in their own communities, talking to their peers. and tapping their own creativity and enthusiasm. They make an important and unique contribution pase: they really are the victims with the most to ose.”’ STOP is a national organization of high school students and teachers who are involved in extra- curricular activities and education on the nuclear — war menace and what can be done about it. They have 80 chapters with over 2,000 members in 38 states. Their activities are as varied and creative as young people themselves, from plays to teach- — ins to campaigns to make their schools nuclear free zones. They did a number of things against CrisIS - Relocation Plans in the event of nuclear war that resulted in the rejection of these plans by several towns and cities. Shannon feels it is important for young people to have their own organizations and their own lead- ership. ‘‘When students speak passionately it is 4 very moving thing. They remind us of how much we're risking by going on with this nuclear mad- ness and it makes a lot of adults come out of theil — own passivity,’ she said.