Pitches wanted (militarism) | $100-$250 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: SCIENCE FOR THE PEOPLE

Deadline: 22 August 2022

Science for the People seeks proposals for articles, art, and other content for the upcoming issue, “Killing in the Name Of” (Volume 25, no. 3, Winter 2022).

The antiwar movement gave birth to Science for the People in 1969. Soon after, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would begin tracking SftP’s activities. In a 1972 internal counterintelligence memo, the Bureau accurately observed SftP’s opposition to the scientific-military-industrial complex:

[SftP] claims their goal is to make science serve the people. Underlying this goal is the basic belief that science at present is benefitting not mankind but establishment corporations … SftP contends that science [at present] serves more to destroy than to benefit mankind. SftP cites the example that the US military and naval forces support much of scientific research conducted in the United States today to provide themselves with scientific data to make armaments, instead of using this and other research to fight disease and poverty.

A half century has passed. Even though the United States was defeated in Vietnam, the war’s devastation on the economy, environment, health, and psyche of the living persists to this day. Landmines remain uncleared, and chemical agents are still causing birth defects and chronic diseases. The disaster in Vietnam did not give the US war machine a moment’s pause as it has waged at least thirty more wars since then—not even counting covert actions like the 1973 coup in Chile, or today’s proxy wars waged through satellite states against Yemen, or continued support of settler-colonialism in Palestine.

The violence perpetrated by the US empire is not just reserved for the poorer majority of the world. The domestic prison-industrial complex and surveillance apparatus that allows police to kill and imprison with impunity is intimately tied up with the same military-industrial complex. From local police departments being outfitted with military-grade weapons and equipment, to exchanges of law enforcement practices with the Israeli occupation force, militarism is the core of repression at home as well as abroad.

Militarism is the modus operandi of empires, both as an ideology and a material process: it is the means through which capitalism mobilizes resources and organizes social relations based on destruction, violence, and death. If this is humanity at its worst, it is because we have yet to extricate capitalism from our reality.

Building from the radical roots of SftP, this upcoming issue aims to revisit questions regarding the complicity of science (including social science) in militarism and imperialism, endless justifications for endless wars, and the seamless integration of big tech and big military. In addition, we ask these questions particularly urgent for our time: How does militarism relate to ecology and climate change? How has the political and technological basis of militarism changed from previous generations to ours? How do we organize against militarism in 2022?

We welcome submissions that tackle these and other related topics around militarism and science. We seek radical perspectives and particularly voices from the frontlines of resistance.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submit proposals here (English) or here (Spanish).
Deadline for submissions: August 22, 2022

• We ask prospective authors to provide a detailed outline.
• We accept proposals for features, opinions, book and media reviews, artwork and more. You can read more about the kinds of articles we publish and our rates here.
• Please keep outlines under one page and image uploads to 20 Mb total.
• Science for the People articles are geared toward non-specialists, and are written in a journalistic format and from a radical perspective. We consider submissions from scientists across the STEM fields, scholars working in science and technology studies, as well as non-scientists and non-specialists. We especially encourage submissions from activists and those organizing in the sciences, and those working in the humanities and arts at their intersection of science and technology. We particularly welcome women, people of color, non-binary individuals, and others traditionally underrepresented in these fields to send submissions to Science for the People.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Submissions: Via the webform
• Website: https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Science for the People aims to build and promote social movements and political struggles around progressive and radical perspectives on science and society. It is committed to the democratic practice of science for the benefit of humanity and the planet. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a paragraph highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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