In article <47F7EBB8.2070703@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Dan Clore <clore@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> http://tinyurl.com/3m5cnv
> 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."
yeah
--
Money.. what a concept
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