Rutgers Student Killed by ROTC Training Program: Time to End All Rutgers Collusion with War Machine and Israel!
Neil Edara, 22, of Ridgewood was a victim of Rutgers collaboration with the US war machine. He was a Rutgers ROTC student who has perished during training as part of Rutgers ROTC program at Fort Knox in Kentucky. Read here for more details about his death.
RIP Neal Edara. To those who are his ROTC colleagues at Rutgers – condolences but also take heed. ROTC is not the place to be. You do not want to be a soldier for genocide and imperialism for the US right now. US troops are actively assisting a forced starvation genocide operation in Gaza that is killing dozens – succumbing to malnourishment each day – with 100s more being gunned down on supposed “aid” lines that are not providing any meager fraction of the needed aid. The US is playing fast and loose with bombings and military threats all over the planet and national guard troops and marines are deployed against “our own people” as part of Trump’s attempt to create a reign of terror for immigrants of color in the US.
To Rutgers students: Stay steadfast in your pressure on Rutgers to sever all ties to the brutal genocidal Israeli regime and opposition to investments in munitions producers and please include opposition to all Rutgers support for the war machine including ROTC programs, recruitment for the military and CIA and other spy agencies, support for ICE and CIA through the IC CAE (Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence), and recruitment for war manufacturers and contractors. In Rutgers’ case it is also a “sister university” of Tel Aviv University which is the brain trust that produced the deadly doctrine that drives the genocide in Gaza. The demands need to be made across all campuses in NJ and throughout the US – sever all academic ties to Israel and the US war machine – including to deadly ROTC!
Nobody should be joining the military during genocide – the US is directly involved in the forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza and the US war machine is in locked step with Israel’s continued extermination of 100s of 1000s of Palestinians.
The loss of life of Neal Edara did not have to happen – he is another soldier for imperialism stolen from his family in his youth based upon false promise of excellence through participation in the Rutgers ROTC program. His death does not advance the cause of democracy or freedom but communicates to us all that our children are cannon fodder for the endless wars – the threat of nuclear war and US supported genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – and the West Bank and the threat of total Middle East War.
We need to reject for our youth any role in support of the horrendous policies and the threats of nuclear war. And we need to oppose the direct role that universirties – like Rutgers – play in bringing death and mayhem through support of the US war machine and Israel.
The US must stand down and back off from the threats against folks all over the planet and we must provide infrastructure and support for work that supports the best interests of our communities – not wars for profit and genocide in Gaza!
