About the Student Peace action network

SPAN's work is particularly important at a tumultuous time like this. The current administration seems determined to flex its military muscle no matter what the cost; to pursue corporate interests at the expense of human life; to wriggle out of (and outright violate) international treaties; to drive the country into budget deficits with excessive military spending while our schools are starved for funds. It is pushing for new nuclear weapons and more uses for them. It is fueling anti-Americanism abroad. So, what are we going to do?

Through coordinated direct actions, demonstrations, teach-ins, letter-writing campaigns, dissemination of materials, and other tactics, SPAN activists all over the country challenge policies like these and work for non-violent, constructive alternatives.

 

History

In the fall of 1995, a national Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) was initiated to bring the voices of young activists into the forefront of the peace movement. The organizers of the student network recognized that many young activists across the country were making connections between unchecked militarism and the diminishing social services. However, young voices lacked a systematic tool for communication to unify the messages of each young community. While the Student Environmental Action Coalition has built an enormous base of student environmental activists and CampusActivism.net serves as an effective clearinghouse for resources for activists, there was no national network for student Peace and Justice organizing.

SPAN was created to facilitate communication and to forge a more popular and diverse student peace movement. We are supported by the Peace Action Education Fund, which monitors policy and creates educational materials to assist in grassroots organizing efforts. We also work closely with Peace Action, the nation's largest grassroots peace and justice organization.

 

Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund

Peace Action is the nation's largest grassroots peace and justice organization. For over 40 years, Peace Action has been dedicated to the principles that every human being has the right to live without the threat of nuclear weapons; that war is not a suitable response to conflict; and that because America has the resources to both provide for and protect its citizens, our economy must focus on priorities like education and healthcare rather than excessive Pentagon budgets. Peace Action has gotten results, from the 1963 treaty to ban above ground nuclear testing, to the 1996 signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; from ending the war in Vietnam, to blocking weapons sales to human rights abusing countries. Their mission statement reads, in part: "We believe, given the right tools, ordinary people can change the world. At Peace Action, we recognize that real change comes from the bottom up and we are committed to educating and organizing at the grassroots level."

The Peace Action Education Fund funds SPAN's work, and the collaboration between SPAN and Peace Action helps us build a multi-generational, diverse, cooperative movement for peace and justice. Though Peace Action and SPAN have similar guiding principles, SPAN is a student-driven organization whose campaigns are decided upon and carried out by students. Both SPAN and Peace Action are peace and justice organizations without affiliation to any political parties or other ideological agendas.