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Activists protest 5 years of war
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by Cara Harshman
Monday, March 24, 2008
More than 100 Madison activists of all ages gathered around
the Capitol last week in a five-day protest marking the fifth anniversary of
the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Miles Kristan, an anti-war activist, organized events held
at the Capitol and State Street Saturday through Wednesday, with assistance
from the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, and the Madison Area Peace
Coalition.
Events included rallies — attracting more than 150 people on
Wednesday — marches up and down State Street, a silent vigil to honor victims
of the war, an event at the Orpheum for Iraq Veterans Against the War, marching
in the St. Patrick’s Day parade and showcasing a 20-foot peace-train float with
an eight-foot-tall statue of President Bush in an orange jumpsuit.
“The idea of the float was the justice of [Bush] going to
jail for his crimes,” Kristan said.
On Wednesday, a group of 40 activists went to the office of U.S.
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and demanded to speak with the senator.
Kristan said the group stayed in the office long enough to
get a statement approved by Kohl, until Homeland Security came and Kristan led
the protestors out of the office so they would not be arrested.
According to Kristan, the five days of protests achieved
their goal to make statewide and national news.
“Thousands of people saw us,” he said. “That was our big
goal… because we feel that Madison has a great anti-war history, and so we
wanted to properly commemorate the 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers, the half a million
Iraqis and also this anniversary.”
City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said he spoke with
Kristan in the days before the protests, begging him not to get arrested and
offering advice on legal issues surrounding protests. No arrests were made in
the five days of protests.
Verveer said he gives Kristan credit for stepping forward
and bringing this war to the public’s attention.
“Madison had a well-deserved reputation for being a hotbed
of political protest, and we’ve kind of lost that,” Verveer said. “Students
don’t seem as captivated by the tragic war that is taking place in Iraq. I
think [the protest] is totally appropriate.”
Kristan said he and his co-organizers also handed out
leaflets, “chalked the hell out of State Street” and sent out mass e-mails
through anti-war networks.
For Kristan, this sort of political activism is necessary to
get troops out of Iraq and to end the war.
“It’s going to require that the people get politically
involved and not put all their hope and faith in any politician,” he added.
“This protest is not the first and will not be the last; (we) will continue to
protest until this war is over.”
Anonymous (March 24, 2008 @ 10:32am):
"For Kristan, this sort of political activism is necessary to get troops out of Iraq and to end the war."
Necessary, but not sufficient.
Really, do you think peace trains will end the war? Some people are profiting so much from the war that it'll take a huge escalation to make a difference. Most people have settled onto one side of the fence or the other, and the people that don't oppose the war now will always beat the drums. 5 years of protests, teach-ins, and fliers have not ended the war. Voting the spineless dems into office has not ended the war. Protesters need to raise the costs of the war until it is no longer profitable for war-hawks. The cost in dollars and lives obviously doesn't matter to Bush and his ilk, because it's not their money or their families' lives.
Bringing the war home of course has mixed results. During Vietnam, ground troops were brought home but the war didn't end for several more years. I know it's taboo to do so (and I'm sure both CRs and CDs will attack me for this), but whether you agree with the cause and tactics or not, the NY bicycle bomber was thinking tactically towards his ends: by destroying or vandalizing a recruitment center, it sent the message that the same could happen to any of them, and it raised the costs of building and operating recruitment centers. Unfortunately, most of the "anti-war" movement has yet to adequately tie their tactics with any analysis of cause and effect, i.e. what it will actually take to "bring the troops home."
Anonymous (March 24, 2008 @ 10:43am):
They're not antiwar, they're just on the other side.
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