While we support the spirit, philosophy and efficacy of anti-war protests, yesterday's long-planned \Books Not Bombs"" protest was disappointing on several counts.
Protest organizers can thank city planners for the most effective leg of their rally: By shutting down traffic from Langdon Street to Johnson Street for more than 30 minutes, the city's lunchtime commuters were given the opportunity to reflect on the justice of the president's omnipresent war on Iraq.
First off, the local turnout of a nationwide student protest was a less-than-impressive 2,000 for a campus of more than 40,000 students and of which, a substantial, visible segment were high school students. Locally, the number falls short of the count for the Feb. 1 protest, which took place in dozens of cities worldwide, a protest which made a specific and powerful statement about U.S. foreign policy.
On top of this, organizers seemed to bite off more than they could chew, throwing issues of state education funding allocation and the inevitable university tuition hikes dividing the interests and efforts of participants, diluting the effort and resulting in an underwhelming, dispassionate shell directed by the usual protesting suspects.
Another faction of the demonstration attempted, unsuccessfully, to pressure the chancellor's office into taking a stand on behalf of the university, students and faculty, against the war.
Where protesters have often stated the oppression of dissenting opinions by the government, their step of seeking anti-war endorsement from the chancellor inadvertently did the same. Just as demonstrators demand the right to have and air their own opinions, those who support the president on the issue of Iraq deserve the same respect.
While we endorse well thought-out policy at all times and war only as the last option, it would be exciting and refreshing for the campus and city's activists to take a realistic look and provide a real answer to war, rather than calling mindlessly for peace out of habit.
