Students protest war

By Jack Gillum

SAN FRANCISCO -- Santa Clara students marched with thousands of demonstrators Saturday in one of the nation's largest protests against a potential U.S. military strike in Iraq.

The rally here, organized by the group International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), was keyed to similar demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and around the world to bring attention to what the group calls President Bush's planned "war of aggression."

The list of Santa Clara participants included leaders and members of on-campus social service organizations, including the Peace Action Committee (PAC) and the Santa Claran's for Social Justice (SCSJ).

Demonstrators in the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend event gathered near San Francisco's Pier 1 shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday. The march flowed down Market Street to an early-afternoon rally at the downtown Civic Center.

"I am excited to see that there are so many people that want to take action based on their conscience," said Jake David, the head of SCSJ and who also helped organize university students for Saturday's march.

A departure from the image of young, anti-war demonstrators circa the Vietnam era, San Francisco gatherers ranged in age from children to senior citizens, including one group that called themselves "Grandmas for Peace."

Kristin Love, Santa Clara's student body president, said she too was "overjoyed" by the Santa Clara turnout.

"I'm inspired by seeing so many students that are willing to come out here on a Saturday morning," said Love, who commented that she received encouragement to participate in the demonstration from one of her professors.

Campus-related protests against a potential Iraqi war are not a new phenomenon. Last month, several Santa Clara students began a five-day hunger strike outside the federal building in downtown San Jose.

At the San Francisco march, protesters repeated chants and displayed colorful anti-war signs as they marched with a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. Some Santa Clara protesters had planed to wear red shirts or other Santa Clara gear.

Creativity was also present among some displays at the rally, including signs that read "Mend Your Fuelish Ways," and "Cruise Liners, Not Cruise Missiles."

Worldwide protests last weekend have been focused on anti-war themes and Washington's hard-lined approach against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in particular. While the White House says it has no official timetable, the President has threatened military action if Iraq does not comply with U.N. resolutions and disable its weapons of mass destruction.

But William Stover, a professor of international law and politics at Santa Clara, sees a greater importance in U.N. searches and believes that these conflicts "need to start with diplomacy first."

"[These inspections] are an important process. It's a slower process, but we're not in a great hurry," said Stover, once a foreign service officer at the U.S. State Department.

Some dissenters also fear that an Iraqi war is too much and stretching the U.S. War on Terrorism too thin.

Stephanie Camoroda, a sophomore and program coordinator of Santa Clara Community Action Program's (SCCAP) Teen's Club project, feels that "the focus of this war is always changing."

"Now we have to get Saddam, and we don't hear much about Afghanistan anymore," said Camoroda, referring to military operations in that country following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Camoroda, a participant in this weekend's rally, said she has seen the impact of war while spending two months this past summer living in El Salvador.

"I've seen what [war] does to families and communities," said Camoroda. Iraq is so "far away," she said, that "it seems like it doesn't matter."

Last week, U.N. weapons inspectors discovered empty chemical warheads south of Baghdad. The find, which Washington calls "troubling and serious," has raised questions as to the completeness and accuracy of Iraq's 12,000-page weapons report, which was delivered to the U.N. Security Council in December.

Iraq claims, however, the weapons found are remnants from similar U.N. inspections in 1996.

Overall, Stover said that Washington could listen to the protesters this weekend, believing that there is currently "no need for unilateral, military action."

"This march is a very important break on the administration," said Stover. "This tells policy makers that not everybody in the U.S. is willing to go to war."