Most politically-minded groups on campus have responded to the war in Iraq in the same way they respond to everything: a flurry of fliers, a liberal chalking of Red Square and possibly a poorly-attended lecture or two. It’s the ante, and, in its repetitiveness, is easily ignored. If Georgetown students are going to have any meaningful dialogue on the war in Iraq, they need to find ways to spread their messages that cannot be ignored.
The members of one campus group, Georgetown Peace Action, have gone to considerable length to make their views known, and in so doing have contributed significantly to dialogue on campus.
Undoubtedly, you noticed members of Peace Action setting up their tents last Wednesday evening in response to President Bush’s speech announcing the beginning of the war. There they camped, and there they have remained, with about eight to 10 students sleeping each night in front of signs advocating a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It takes guts to sleep in a tent while maintaining your life as a student, especially as spring is not quite upon us. The Peace Action campers have been confronted with bitterly cold nights and several days of heavy rains. But the campus has responded, and the Red Square campsite has served not only as a beacon of anti-war sentiment but also as a catalyst for on-campus discussion.
For example, Sahil Warsi (SFS ‘05), a member of Peace Action, has spent most of the past week sleeping in Red Square. Besides a few incidents of harassment, he has found students, faculty and staff to be respectful and responsive. He and his fellow protesters have woken up to food donations from a variety of campus groups. One day, the group hosted a D.C. elementary school teacher, who brought her class to Red Square to see the camp. Most importantly, though, they have brought together students from a variety of political bents to discuss the war in Iraq.
“People have been sitting down and spending hours talking,” he said. “We’ve had all sorts of people, people who don’t necessarily agree with us.”
It is easy to forget that Red Square is a place where you can do just about anything to get your message out. Peace Action has reminded us why that unbridled free speech is so important, and it’s a lesson from which the entire campus could stand to benefit.
