A new peace movement.

AuthorDecker, Anne
PositionDemonstrations made US reconsider bombing Iraq in Feb '98

The February protest at Ohio State against the U.S. plans to bomb Iraq not only caught the Clinton Administration off guard. It caught the media, and even some veteran peace activists, by surprise as well.

When protesters packed the St. John Arena to confront Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen, and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger on February 18 before an international TV audience, they seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Bombing will not settle the score, Bombing is an act of war," they chanted. They stood up to the Clinton team and asked tough questions about the hypocrisy of U.S. policy the officials couldn't answer.

When Albright said to the crowd, "We need your support," the protesters shouted back, "You can't have it!"

The Ohio State event reenergized peace activists across the country. But it was not an isolated incident. Nor was it the first. On other campuses and in other communities, protests sprang up to block U.S. aggression against Iraq.

Within weeks. the outlines of a new anti-war movement began to appear. Some of the protesters were seasoned activists. Many were newcomers. Appalled by the prospect of a U.S. bombing raid, sickened by news of civilian casualties since the 1991 Gulf War, people who had never been politically active before began to organize teach-ins, vigils, demonstrations, and information campaigns -- and prepared for civil disobedience. They might not have been striving for systematic political change, but they insisted that U.S. policy toward Iraq is wrong.

Ohio State was a well-planned event, with local and national groups participating. "Basically, there were sixteen to twenty groups -- mostly students -- involved in organizing it," says Sultane Salim, a senior at Ohio State and president of the Muslim Student Association. "We met at noon on the day of the event and protested at the gates of the campus until 1 p.m., when we moved outside the St. John Arena. Some protesters went inside because they wanted to participate."

For Salim, the Iraq protest was a pivotal event. "I have never before done political work in quite this way. I have been a part of the Association for years, but never organized a rally, a protest, or anything similar. Usually, we just send out letters to Senators, that sort of thing. This time, we were out, visible, in full force."

Why now? "The idea of a military attack on Iraq -- which basically would just kill citizens with no valid policy objective. no methodology -- made me mad," says Salim. "We would just be punishing a civilian population for what its government is doing -- and that is against every international law. The callousness of the Administration motivated me."

Jon Strange is a substitute teacher in the Columbus public schools. "My housemate. who belongs to a group called Anti-Racist Action, told me about an impromptu meeting the night before the event," says Strange, who opposed...

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