Around 50 Oberlin students made the trek to Washington D.C. last weekend to take part in a protest against the looming war in Iraq, joining tens of thousands from around the country for what many are calling an historic event.
“It was the biggest demonstration in Washington since the Vietnam era,” Senior Kate Saturley said. “You definitely felt that energy.”
Protest organizers estimate around 200,000 attended, while police put the number closer to 100,000.
Similar events took place the same day throughout the country and around the world, though most crowds numbered no more than a few thousand according to news accounts. Protestors organized in San Francisco and Chicago, as well as in cities in Mexico, Japan, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium.
Speakers at the event included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Susan Sarandon, the Rev. Al Sharpton and singer Patti Smith. The speakers derided the Bush administration’s policies and called for a revolution at the ballot box.
“A lot of the speakers were really moving, especially Jesse Jackson,” Senior Greg Gheorghiu said. “But most of them didn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before.”
The event itself, Gheorghiu said, wasn’t quite what he expected.
“The whole point is to show up. But once all the people are there, there isn’t really all that much to do,” he said.
Others, though, said the event shaped up better than they expected.
“I was ecstatic about it,” Saturley said. “There were so many people there from so many different generations, all different walks of life.”
The size of the turnout had been in doubt up to the last minute, Saturley explained, “especially ‘cause the weather was supposed to be bad and the sniper had a lot of people changing their plans. But the whole thing was organized really well.”
The war against Iraq wasn’t the only item on the whipping post.
“People used the protest to protest a lot of different general anxieties,” Gheorghiu said. “People were carrying signs for Free Mumia, anti-IMF and anti-World Bank. Apparently those have something to do with bombing Iraq.”
In another twist, a group of Iraqi-Americans staged a counter protest nearby, arguing that U.S. foreign policy is on the right track. Spokesman for the Iraqi-American Council Aziz al-Taee told CNN, “I think America is doing just fine... We think every day Saddam stays in power, he kills more Iraqis.”
“It was kind of weird,” Gheorghiu said. “Their group were chanting, ‘Saddam and Hitler are the same, only difference is the name.’ We were chanting, ‘Bush and Hitler are the same, only difference is the name.’”
The Oberlin Coalition Against the War, an umbrella organization which brings together various groups on campus to oppose the Iraq campaign, organized transportation to D.C. for 30 Obies.
“One of the objectives of the Coalition is to bring together groups who, despite different agendas, can come together under the common objective of resisting the war on Iraq,” Senior Marriana Leavy-Sperounis said.
The Coalition is planning more measures at Oberlin, too, such as an anti-war conference on Dec. 7-8 which will bring together students from Kent State, Antioch College, Ohio State, University of Minneapolis, Cuyahoga Community College, University of Michigan and activists from the American Civil Liberties Union and Chicago.
“What we really want to do is activate this whole campus,” Leavy-Sperounis said, “in order to instill in the Oberlin community a sense of urgency in order to organize against the war in Iraq.”