Locals trek to anti-war rally
Students and community
members bussed to the
Bay area for an anti-war
protest that drew thousands
Jan Montry
City/State Politics Reporter
SAN FRANCISCO — Sara Worl
was on the bus because she
wanted to educate herself and to
exercise the most fundamental
American freedom.
“I’ve been trying to raise my own
awareness of what’s going on in the
name of our flag,” she said. “As an
American, I feel it’s my duty to ex
ercise (the First Amendment) — to
speak out.”
Beau Eastlund was on the bus be
cause he wanted to see a big protest.
“I wanted to be part of some
manner of protest, and I figured
the one going on in San Francisco
would garner more media atten
tion than some of the local
protests,” he said.
With different reasons and vary
ing beliefs, almost 50 students and
community members — a number
of them freshmen who had never
been to a major rally — got on a bus
Friday bound for the San Francisco
anti-war rally.
And after the rally, the energized
bus riders going to Berkeley for the
night were most amazed with the
diversity of the people involved with
the march, including young, old, lib
eral and conservative.
“It was just amazing to see how
we all had different focuses and dif
ferent beliefs, but we all came there
for one common goal,” Lane Com
munity College student Charly
Robinson said. “For me, all of these
people were strangers yesterday,
but I’m leaving with a whole lot oi
new friends.”
Caitlin Gamble and Hana Binder,
two University freshmen, agreed.
“I thought we had a great
turnout, and it was really good tc
see all the different types of people
that were there,” Gamble said.
Binder, who saw President Bush
supporters on the street opposing
the war, said the diversity
was amazing.
“I just thought it was cool hov
everyone was open to each other,’
"It was just amazing
to see how we all had
different focuses and
different beliefs, but
we all came there for
one common goal...
For me, all of these
people were strangers
yesterday, but I'm
leaving with a whole
lot of new friends."
Charly Robinsor
LCC studen
she said. “We were all brought to
gether to protest one thing.”
But if it wasn’t the diversity of th<
crowd that struck the local partici
r pants, it was its size — about
200,000 according to rally organiz
ers and 55,000 according to police
officials — and the impact they
thought it had on America.
“The crowd was endless,” Univer
sity junior Hereyezen Perry said. “I
think it was loud. There is no way
we couldn’t be heard.”
Travis Dominguez, a recent Uni
versity graduate, said it was nice to
see so many people with a common
mindset.
“If it didn’t make an impact on
everyone else, it made an impact on
the people here,” he said.
Although most of the bus riders
had different perspectives about the
strongest points of the march, one
message was clear among all of
I them: No war.
I “There are better ways to resolve
our problems,” University freshman
Risa Nabielski said. “There should
be a better way.”
Contact the senior news reporter
: atjanmontry@daiIyemerald.com.
World
continued from page 1
roughed them up and kept some pro
testers from joining the event.
Egypt is one of the strongest U.S.
allies in the region. But the demon
stration, like the public psyche in
Egypt, blended anger toward Amer
ica’s threat to Iraq with the hostility
Egyptians generally feel for U.S.
support of Israel in its conflict with
the Palestinians. Both cases are
seen in the Middle East as proof of
an anti-Arab bias.
Marches in France, Britain, Ger
many, Sweden and Italy reflected
profound resentment of U.S. mus
cle-flexing. The ideological chasm
between Europe and the United
States has widened dramatically as
many Europeans accuse Washing
ton, D.G., of embarking on a cynical
war intended to ensure U.S. access
to oil. The fervent displays of sym
pathy for Americans that filled the
streets of Europe after the Sept. 11
attacks seem a distant memory.
The worldwide rallies were not
massive. And the participants tend
ed to be leftists, nationalists, trade
union members and other tradition
al critics of the United States. But
just as Iraq has stirred opposition in
unlikely sectors of the U.S. public,
such as World War II veterans, the
international antiwar camp has at
tracted unexpected activists as well.
The French newspaper Le
Monde published a front-page es
say Saturday in which John Le
Carre, the British espionage au
thor, delivered a scornful assault
on Bush. He said the U.S. adminis
tration’s policies are “madness” on
a scale surpassing McCarthyism
and the Vietnam War.
© 2003, Los Angeles Times.
D.C. rally
continued from page 1
Peace: Levi Strom, Alex Gonzalez,
Melissa Jencks, Marya Lusky, Rachel
Dean, Dylan McManus, Merri Bath,
Phillipa Anderson, Nick Pandjiris and
Nathaniel N-T.
Holding up a handmade banner
proclaiming “University of Oregon
Students for Peace,” the students
were greeted with warmth and
cheers by Easterners who cried, to
the smiles of many in the group,
“Hey! Welcome Orygun!”
The day was reminiscent of near
ly 34 years ago, when hundreds of
thousands gathered in that exact lo
cation to protest the Vietnam War.
If the cold weather may have with
held some of the day’s exuberance,
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the sheer number of bodies authen
ticated and legitimized their cause.
Spirits were high even at the begin
ning of the event, when more than 20
speakers took to the podium to rally
the masses below. Among the speak
ers was the Rev. A1 Sharpton of the
National Action Network, who said to
the cheers of the crowd, “Mr. Bush
held Dr. King’s picture in the White
House last year, but he needs to have
the words. If Dr. King was here today
celebrating his birthday, he would be
saying, ‘Give peace a chance.’” Other
speakers included actress Jessica
Lange; Rev. Jesse Jackson; former
U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark;
Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich.; and
Vietnam veteran and “Bom on the
Fourth of July” author Ron Kovic.
By the time people began to arrive
r
at the designated end of the march,
the Navy Yard, many were still wait
ing to begin. Surprisingly, a small
number of police lined the streets,
and their only purpose seemed to be
keeping demonstrators off the side
walks. A number of people on stilts
dressed as Uncle Sam picked their
way through the crowd, and even a
convincing George W. Bush, Dick Ch
eney and Donald Rumsfeld, complete
with paper mache heads, greeted the
crowd, calling, “Make way for the
Bush administration!”
Although the march got under way
a little after 1:30 p.m., the University
students did not reach the Navy Yard
(only a couple of miles away) until
well after 5 p.m. Throngs of people
were still behind them, and thou
sands remained in front of the Navy
Yard dancing, chanting and beating
drums. While the mood was uplifting
through most of the march, many of
the demonstrators showed signs of fa
tigue, and the cold was beginning to
sink in toward the end of the day.
Speaking on the importance of
being in D.G. for the rally, Anderson
said, “I feel a sense of urgency at
this time because of Bush’s policies
and eagerness to invade Iraq. This is
a message to him.”
And on a freezing day on the East
Coast, thousands of miles away from
home, the University students made
their presence and views known, and
joined the thousands of others who
braved the cold for peace.
Contact the columnist at
meghannfarnsworth@dailyemerald.com.
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