The Badger Herald

NEWS

Madison residents show up to protest

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Also by John Potratz:

UW enacts new parental notification policy for students (September 22, 2005)
Group petitions for financial support (October 12, 2005)
Isreali speaker lauds business (October 26, 2005)
Unions remain top priority (April 13, 2005)
Spanish visas return (November 11, 2005)

by John Potratz

Monday, January 24, 2005

Despite Friday’s forecast of 10 inches of snow, Madison residents and University of Wisconsin Union members congregated at Union South Friday night to drink fruit punch, folkdance and “inaugurate the resistance” to the war in Iraq at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Peacemaker’s Ball.

Held as a celebration of protest to President George W. Bush’s second-term inauguration and the war in Iraq, the Peacemaker’s Ball featured live bluegrass and country performances by local musicians who provided soundtrack for folk and contra dancing. While blizzard-like conditions prevented a large turnout to the event, those who attended were in high spirits and displayed strong anti-Bush opinions.

Fifty-two-year-old Madison resident Stephen Rich performed at the event and said Bush is deceiving the American public to gain support for the war.

“I believe this war is all about money,” Rich said. “Just look at the no-bid contracts to Halliburton — our revolutionary war started over the price of tea.”

When asked how he felt about the inauguration, Rich replied he thinks most of what “I heard can be said to have been dropped out of the south end of a north-bound bull.”

Most of the approximately two-dozen attendees were older than the average student, but some youths braved the snowy conditions, swapping boots for dancing shoes.

“I strongly dislike President Bush and his values, I believe there was a great deal of fraud in this election as well as in [the last],” 25-year-old Madison resident Jolin Mitchel said.

Although the ball itself was not in direct protest to the inauguration and was held a day afterward, the WILPF is active in both local and national movements, lobbying and sponsoring events to dismantle what they call a “war economy” while also asserting women’s and human rights.

“We are opposed to most of Bush’s economic policies and the war,” WILPF co-chair Dolores Grengg said. “We are a peace and justice organization, we do not think war is a good way to solve problems and [WILPF believes] the reasons we went to this war are non-existent.”

She added the only reason the United States was in Iraq was for oil and empire.

However, UW sophomore Brian Riordan would like to put focus on other issues. Riordan said he believes groups like WILPF and the Peacemakers’ Ball are dividing our country and discouraging needed support for American troops.

“I think the [WILPF] shouldn’t go against our president in a time of war — they’re dividing us right now, they are undermining Bush’s victory and should recognize the inauguration as part of a legitimate election,” Riordan said.

Twenty-seven-year-old Andreas Fejes, an UW honorary fellow from Sweden, came to the ball to support beliefs he developed while at home overseas. Fejes said he thought it was “nice to see the resistance in America” and to see there are different voices besides those in the media.

“Most Swedes are skeptical about the War in Iraq and Bush, his policies are hurting a lot of people around the world, not just in Iraq,” Fejes said. “[I] think the [United Nations] should take responsibility to create peace in the world not just one country saying it’s our way or the highway.”