The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News October 13, 2007

Activist Obies March for Peace

Local Oberlin, activists along with College students from the Oberlin Peace Activists’ League and the College Democrats, joined an anti-war protest in front of the home of Senator George Voinovich last Sunday afternoon.  The demonstration, which was organized by the Northeast Ohio Anti-War Coalition, was billed as “Bringing the War Home to Senator George Voinovich” and intended to pressure the Republican senator into supporting an end to the war in Iraq.

The demonstration culminated in the presentation of a symbolic Sunday dinner. A statement from the event organizers explained that the metaphorical meal featured pork to represent the “‘pork’ contracts in Iraq,” “bacon to represent what Sen. Voinovich has not brought home to his neighborhood” in the form of healthcare and other necessities, turkey to “represent what the Iraq war/occupation has been from day one,” water to represent what the people in Iraq do not have in sufficient quantity, oil “to represent what the Iraq war/occupation has been about from the beginning” and a jalape&ntilde;o pepper — to symbolize “the anger Iraqis and people around the world feel toward US foreign policy.”

Before marching on the Senator’s house, activists listened to speakers from Veterans for Peace, who denounced the Iraq War in ringing terms, in Cleveland’s Wildwood Park.

In route to Voinovich’s house, protesters distributed flyers to the senator’s neighbors, stating, “We call for Sen. Voinovich to end his support since 2003 for the Iraq war and for war funding (already more than $450 billion — over $423 million from City of Cleveland taxpayers alone!),” and claimed that the money could have been better used to hire thousands of public school teachers or assist the needy.

George Voinovich voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2003 and is considered a possible swing vote on the issue, though to date he has voted against several bills calling for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. Voinovich’s position as a senator with a reputation for being a “moderate” Republican representing a battleground state has made him a target for pro and anti-war groups and inspired some demonstrators to carry signs that read, “flip-flop, George.”

The Oberlin students in attendance shared their fellow marchers’ frustration with the senator. “If I had to use one word to describe Senator Voinovich, it would be ‘rubber stamp.’  He’s a rubber stamp for George Bush and has enabled this war from the beginning,” said Sam Lewis, College sophomore and College Democrats co-chair.


 
 
   

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