I was in the middle of eating my lunch yesterday when a darkly clad man darted out of nowhere and dropped a flyer on the table in front of me. I looked up to see him scurry amongst the other students sitting nearby, swiftly papering their tables. He spoke to no one and ran away when he was finished. What important (or scandalous) message could be on this hastily delivered flyer? I picked it up and read the bold headline: “Stop the War on Iraq.” That’s quite a tall order, but I read on to see exactly how I should go about it.
The flyer instructed me to protest the war March 5 by walking out of my classes and heading outside to yell and chant with the peace-loving doves. This walk-out is a national effort urging students to let President Bush know that they do not support his proposed war.
Sadly, that little flyer succinctly sums up everything that is wrong with the current peace movement. First of all, who exactly will be punished by this walk-out on the 5th? Honestly, George Bush does not give a damn if you skip the second half of your econ class to go outside and wave a sign around. Similarly, he does not care if 10 people stand on a corner and chant nasty things about him. In fact, he didn’t even care when tens of thousands of people assembled in D.C. Jan. 18. Yet, there is another rally planned for Feb. 15 in New York City. No doubt the turnout for that event will be substantial if not massive. But regardless, on Feb. 16, nothing will be different. I was at the Jan. 18 D.C. march, and from the ground, it was a strange and powerful thing. The peace parade marched along in below-zero weather, full of people drumming and chanting while brandishing American flags and snotty handmade signs. The media crawled through the crowd, looked down from a scaffolding perch, rode around in police escorted busses and buzzed above in helicopters. But despite all of the footage logged, the rally was news for approximately 15 seconds.
Hank Stuever wrote a scathing mockery of the whole thing the following Monday in The Washington Post. Stuever perfunctorily dismissed the whole protest as “scattershot.” No doubt the Bush people read it, rolled their eyes and muttered, “silly hippies.” According to a Gallup poll from this week, 38 percent of Americans oppose invading Iraq with ground troops to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The poll also showed 58 percent support the measure and 4 percent were undecided. The Hawks are in the majority, but you cannot dismiss a 38 percent opposition as an insignificant fringe group. Enough people are openly speaking out against the proposed war to legitimately call it a “peace movement.”
Holding big, attention-getting gatherings is a timeless staple of peace movements. Woodstock, for example, was a really, really successful rally. It is essential to draw attention to the cause and the number of people behind it. But grassroots activism is as important as the big parades. Pointless and degrading stunts like walking out of class are not effective.
While making cardboard signs is fine and good, angry citizens should make petitions too. Wear buttons all over your coat that say “No War,” but also wear buttons supporting your favorite peaceful politician. Go ahead and stare down the camera from the local news and say, “I’m protesting because I’m angry about the government’s policies.” But then, back up that statement by actually voting in the next election. Go ahead and let the silly hippies walk out of class. Those with serious qualms about the current state of Bush’s foreign policy should opt for more effective and mature action.
Kate MacDonald ([email protected]) is a journalism, film and economics student at UW-Milwaukee.
