On April 16 the anti-war student group at the university I work had a lunch-time
protest/get together near a footpath where three of the largest dorms come together.
Although I generally support the war, I wonder sometimes how I’d sell the anti-war
message if I was on the other side. Not like this. Appealing to a blanket form
of pacifism is a non-starter because it generally appeals only to people who
already share that particular ideology. It also doesn’t help if you’re doing
a “War is not the answer”-style message but you’re presenting individuals
who are on record as supporting various armed revolutionary movements as these
folks have done.
Only about 8 people showed up, and they all seemed to be anti-war activists
who spent most of the time playing frisbee like this guy. Hint: if you look
like you could have been in the outtakes of “PCU” you need to rethink
your strategy.
Cute flag, but the symbolism is lost a bit by draping it over this gas guzzler.
Hint: if you’re going to claim the war is about oil, don’t have 5 or 6 gas guzzling
vehicles parked around your protest.
Okay she mangled most of the songs she sang, but I still give her an A for
effort. But if I have to hear another Indigo Girls cover I think I’ll scream.
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BBBOOORRRIIING — and a bit odd. The second picture there is of Helen Caldicott
and the quote actually reads,
The greatest thing a parent can do for his or her children is to work for
nuclear disarmament. Why make sure kids clean their teeth and eat healthy food if they’re not going to survive?
Hey, why bother getting out of bed every morning if I’m not going to survive?
If the anti-war movement ever wants to go mainstream, it’s going to have lose
the kooks.
The group could have also used an update on the fliers it was handing out.
I was handed a piece of paper saying that the impending war could kill over
500,000 Iraqi civilians and cost up to $1.4 trillion. Given that the war was
all but finished by then with rather minimal loss of life and a cost of less
than $100 billion for the military side of things, it seemed like I’d stepped
through the looking glass into an alternate universe.
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About 100 yards away from the anti-war folks is a monument commemorating Sept.
11. Many of the same folks who were involved in the anti-war efforts visa vis
Iraq were also the folks who were complaining that the war in Afghanistan would
cause mass starvation, lead to further terrorist attacks, etc., etc. Rather
than recognize that what happened on Sept. 11 was something dramatically new,
the anti-war movement simply shoved Afghanistan and then Iraq into the same
old tired script.
Note: As a public service, I’ve included all of the photographs I took of the protests on April 16, 2003 here. These are free to use for any purpose provided you credit me, Brian Carnell, as the photographer. Take them, edit them, republish them, whatever.