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Anti-war protesters close down recruiting center
By: Zac Farber
Posted: 4/4/08
Eight Macalester students lashed themselves together with PVC pipes
fortified by duct tape and chicken wire while two students used U-shaped
bike locks to fasten their necks to the entrances of army and navy
recruiting centers on Wa****ngton Avenue near the University of Minnesota
campus.
Macalester Students for a Democratic Society organized the March 27
event to protest the Iraq war, one week after its fifth anniversary. A
crowd of about 100 people, most of whom voiced sup****t for the
protesters, gathered around the spectacle. Some, who were members of
University of Minnesota's College Republicans, said the Macalester
protesters were infringing on potential recruits' right to join the
military.
The atmosphere was jubilant, with protesters waving signs and preening
in front of the Fox and Kare 11 cameras. Macalester students carpooled,
bicycled and took buses to the Minneapolis recruiting stations, where
they were joined by U of M students, passers-by and students who played
hookey from local high schools.
MPJC-SDS coordinated the protest in conjunction with the Anti-War
Committee, a U of M student group. More than 200 U of M students
attended an Anti-War Committee rally. Students proceeded to march to the
Army National Guard recruitment office on Wa****ngton Avenue, across the
street from the recruiting centers where Macalester students were
protesting. Police on horseback and bicycles arrested 16 protesters who
entered the National Guard office on trespassing charges, Minneapolis
Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said.
None of the arrested students attend Macalester and MPJC-SDS declared
their protest a success.
"We declared Mission Accomplished because the centers were shut down all
day, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m." a member of MPJC-SDS who called himself
"DanarchyMacSDS" wrote in a post on Infoshop News, a website that bills
itself as "anarchist news, opinion and much more."
At the protest the eight students who chained themselves to the
recruiting centers doors declined to give their names and directed
questions to Sadie Cox '11 and Daniel Balogh '10.
"We chose this particular place," Cox said, "because we think it is the
closest thing there is to a military presence in the cities."
Cox said that 70 percent of the Iraqi people want the United States to
leave and that it is time to withdraw American troops.
"We've been relying on the idea that the people who were elected will
get the U.S. out of Iraq soon," she said, referring to the Democratic
victories in House and Senate elections in 2006.
She cautioned against similar false hopes for change in the presidential
election. "The dream candidates--as wonderful and idealistic as they
are--might not be the be all and end all," she said.
The protesters' press statement, which they distributed to local media,
hinted at dissatisfaction with the limited role of direct democracy in
the American political system. "We will not tolerate a system," the
statement read, "which only allows for dissent to be registered through
infrequent elections and party politics."
Bryan Axelrod, a sophomore at the U of M, served three tours of duty in
Iraq's Anbar province. He said that the protesters thwarted potential
recruits who showed interest in non-controversial military positions
such as navy doctor or pilots who assisted in rescue missions after
Hurricane Katrina.
"The only way the occupation is going to end," he said, "is when the
Iraqi government is strong enough to stand by its own."
Axelrod countered the protesters' claim that Iraqis want the United
States out of their country.
"What you don't really hear about," he said, "is the Iraqis who invite
American soldiers into their homes when they're already at war, and they
offer them food and offer them water."
But most of the Macalester students in attendance disagreed.
"I think it's really im****tant," Natalia Shulkin '08 said, "that people
speak out against the war and what's happening in our name."
Many Macalester students heard about the Minneapolis protest at a
"speakout" against the war held at 11 a.m. that morning at Bateman Plaza.
Students passed around a bullhorn and gave extem****aneous speeches about
why they opposed the Iraq war as about 30 students and community members
watched.
"I think we've been killing for far too long," Carl Skarbek '11 said.
"There were over 165 investigated re****ts of ***ual assault by the
army," Jon Branden '11 said.
In clear terms Margaret Beegle, executive assistant at the Institute for
Global Citizen****p, blamed Bush and Cheney for what she called a
"destructive geopolitical game."
"Take them to Hague," she said. "Charge them with crimes against humanity.
"I'm willing to be on a committee if somebody wants to do something like
that."
Cox later read a statement that concluded by calling for "an end to this
illegal, unethical and disgraceful war on the Iraqi people, once and for
all." Then she asked the crowd to come join her at the Minneapolis
recruiting stations.
"They really do need our sup****t," she said. "A bunch of cops just got
there."
Kayla Burchuk '10 helped sell the onlookers on the benefits of traveling
4.5 miles to cheer on the protesters.
"They made these really cool box structures to lock their arms in," she
said. "They look like robots."
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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