Student war protests

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." --Elie Wiesel

That's the signature line my better-half Annie uses on her personal email account. Too bad the young Brandeis student who did the radio essay (on PRI?) last week about the sparse involvement in the Iraq war protests by students in this country is not familiar with that quote. I haven't been able to locate that essay online, but as I remember it the gist was that students weren't apathetic about the Iraq war, it was just that they didn't think protests would do very much to stop it..."protests will only take you so far," she said.

I don't believe that protests will only "take you so far, but that'll have to be a point for another post. Sparse involvement of students in Iraq war protests around the country, however, has often been a topic of discussion at such protests that I've participated in. It looks, though, that student participation in and organization of antiwar protests is on a fast-track increase and much more pervasive than it might appear. Take, for example, these recent news headlines as compiled by a resurgent Students for a Democratic Society (which provides links to all these stories):


3/9/2007 - The Students Are Stirring: A Campus Antiwar Movement Begins to Make Its Mark, by Ron Jacobs - MR Zine - Interview with Kati Ketz of UNC-Asheville SDS about March 20

UNC-Chapel Hill
3/21/2007 - ‘Whose Streets? Our Streets!’ Students protest war by hundreds on anniversary
3/20/2007 - War protesters leave classes, flood streets

Maria Carillo High School (Santa Rosa, CA)
3/21/2007 - Maria Carrillo students protest war

University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
3/21/2007 - Protesters: ‘Get out of Iraq now’

Rutgers University (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Rutgers students walk out of class to protest war
3/21/2007 - Protest halts traffic - Hundreds rally at Rutgers, on Route 18 against war
3/20/2007 - 400 protesters swarm downtown New Brunswick, NJ, shut down highway, block recruiting center

University of Illinois - Chicago
3/21/2007 - Photos from UIC walkout and march

University of Minnesota
3/21/2007 - Students spread message, stop traffic

UNC-Asheville
3/21/2007 - Students walk out of class to protest the war in Iraq

Winthrop University (Winthrop, SC)
3/21/2007 - Winthrop students turn out to protest Iraq war

New York University
3/21/2007 - A walkout in the park: On Iraq’s 4-year anniversary, about 150 protest

University of Iowa
3/21/2007 - Hundreds Rally for Peace
3/9/2007 - Some to Head to Pentagon for Protest

Grand Rapids / Activate SDS (Michigan)
3/21/2007 - Antiwar March Confronts Congressman Ehlers at his Home

Drew University (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Video clips of walkout and march

Cherry Hill High School (New Jersey)
3/21/2007 - Cherry Hill students mark anniversary in war protest

Brown University (Rhode Island)
3/20/2007 - Students arrested at SDS ‘die-in’ downtown
3/19/2007 - R.I. Students Protest Weapons Manufacturer

Middlebury College (Vermont)
3/21/2007 - Students observe Iraq war anniversary

Harvard University
3/21/2007 - Memorial steps host Iraq war vigil

University of Florida
3/21/2007 - 200 UF students march against the war in Iraq
3/19/2007 - Local Activists Join in National Anti-War Protest

North Carolina State
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together

Enloe High School (North Carolina)
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together

Southeast Raleigh High School (North Carolina)
3/21/2007 - Walk out brings high school, college students together

Macalester College (St. Paul, MN)
3/20/2007 - Macalester Students Walk Out Against War

Michigan State University
3/21/2007 - MSU student war protest

Southern Illinois University
3/20/2007 - Anti-War Protest at SIU

Binghamton University
3/20/2007 - Students Participate in Walkout to Protest War

Sacramento State
3/20/2007 - Shoes Display Student Protest of War

UCLA
3/19/2007 - Groups to Hold March in Protest of Iraq War

UC-Santa Barbara
3/18/2007 - Critical Mass (Bike Ride) Against War in Santa Barbara
3/9/2007 - Strike Against War Continues With Bikes

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
3/15/2007 - Protesting for Peace

Ventura College
3/15/2007 - Students rally against Iraq war; 50 from Ventura College Join In

University of Maryland
3/15/20007 - Sparse Protest Marks Iraq Milestone

I'd say that's an impressive amount of student antiwar activity, and certainly more than I was aware of. In addition, Sam Graham-Felsen has a good piece on the increase and broad array of students and student groups in antiwar demonstrations, in which he makes this eye-opening observation: "Four years ago numerous polls found that students, like the majority of the population, overwhelmingly supported the war. Now students, more than any other age group, oppose the war." (emphasis mine) Peter Rothberg also makes this same statement in his March 21 "Students Against War" blog post, also for The Nation magazine.

Wow, that's amazing. I hadn't seen that reported before, but it seems to me like a corner has definitely been turned with respect to student antiwar activities. And if student antiwar involvement continues to grow, we may soon see a tipping point in this country where Congress will be forced to reign in the Bush-Cheney war machine. That point can't come soon enough.