The Madison Area Peace Coalition sponsored a teach-in about the “War on Terrorism” Saturday in the Old Madison Room of Memorial Union.
The teach-in featured lecturers on topics such as current U.S. foreign policy with respect to the war on terrorism and peaceful alternatives to military action.
Since Sept. 25, when the organization began, MAPC has attempted to be active within the community.
Founding member and teach-in speaker Rae Vogeler said MAPC began in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We had heard that the U.S. may be retaliating, and we wanted to prevent a war before it began,” Vogeler said.
Vogeler said MAPC sponsored numerous events, such as marches and rallies, in addition to the teach-in.
She said the purpose of the teach-in was to educate the members of the MAPC and the larger community about the “War on Terrorism.”
“We want to help equip people with information so that they feel comfortable discussing peace and social justice issues with their neighbors, co-workers, relatives and friends,” Vogeler said.
Another speaker at the event, Allen Ruff, said he hoped to “go beyond Osama [bin Laden] and give people a deeper understanding of long-term goals of U.S. policy.”
UW sophomore Tim McCook said he attended the teach-in in order to gain a broader perspective about events going on in the world.
“The speakers had a beneficial perspective that you don’t hear about from the mainstream media,” he said.
McCook said it is important to attend events such as the teach-in.
“People need to inform themselves and improve their sense of reality with a broadened perspective,” he said.
Chris Dols, UW freshman, agreed with McCook on the benefits of the teach-in and emphasized student participation.
“The attendance among students at the event was definitely low,” he said.
Dols said the reason for the lack of students at the teach-in is their level of complacence and unawareness of the events going on in the world.
“For some there is nothing out there but CNN,” he said.
UW senior Ben Collins disagreed and said the amount of students at the teach-in was not representative of the number of students interested in the organization.
Collins is a member of a subgroup of MAPC that is specifically for students, called The Student Youth Caucus of the MAPC.
This group originated the same time as MAPC and holds meetings every Monday night at 6 p.m. in the Union.
Collins said the number of students in SYC-MAPC is growing and there is a lot of student interest.
He said the purpose of the group is to educate people who don’t fully understand what is going on with the “War on Terrorism.”
“The bottom line is that your voice matters. The only changes that come under democracy come from the people,” he said. “At the very least, educate yourselves from both sides, not just from the media.”
Although MAPC represents those encouraging peace rather than war, Tony Blodgett, founding member of Students in Support of America, a group supporting the U.S. effort in Afghanistan said MAPC is in the minority.
“They have a right to their opinion, yet it represents a small minority,” he said.
