Prompted by the threat of U.S. military action in Afghanistan, Georgetown Solidarity staged a demonstration to protest violence against innocent civilians. The event was part of peace demonstrations last Thursday at more than 140 campuses nationwide for the National Day of Student Action, sponsored by Wesleyan University.
At the demonstration, nearly a dozen students lay in Red Square on the ground with their faces covered. The action was designed to symbolize the victims of global terrorism and U.S. military strikes. GU Solidarity, which advocates human rights by supporting labor, economic and peace movements, intended to “make the peace option legitimate so people can talk about it,” chief organizer Andrew Milmore (CAS ‘02) said.
Each individual playing a “victim” in the demonstration wore a sign explaining the circumstances surrounding his or her death. Examples of these included a businessman at the World Trade Center, a janitor at the Pentagon and a journalist reporting on Palestinian-Israeli crossfire. Other hypothetical victims included a Japanese-American who died in a U.S. internment camp during World War II and a rice paddy worker killed by U.S. bombing in the Vietnam war.
Two people remained standing at the end of the demonstration—an Afghan woman asking not to be bombed and a U.S. serviceman asking not to be sent to war.
“We’re a sad and angry nation, which is completely justified, but we need to think before we act,” Milmore said.
Mary Nagle (CAS ‘05), a co-coordinator and participant in the protest, said the group’s aim was to convey the significance of civilian deaths.
“A civilian death is horrible no matter where it’s from,” Nagle said. “We’re not anti-American. We just want Americans to uphold the same standards they expect the rest of the world to uphold.”
Virginia Leavell (CAS ’05) felt that the demonstration “started a dialogue among students … it allowed people that normally feel alone in their views to speak up.”
Nagle said she was pleased to see the number of students at the demonstration who share GU Solidarity’s views, but who may have been reluctant to speak out until now. “Now is not an easy time to question the U.S. government,” she said.
GU Solidarity plans to promote several upcoming events in the D.C. area, such as tomorrow’s National March for Peace. This Tuesday, there will be a teach-in on U.S. foreign policy and the global situation. Milmore said GU Solidarity also hopes to bring U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to campus. Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against giving President Bush total control over military action.
