Group protests Iraq war with signs and music
Group plans to join protesters in San Francisco Saturday
By MAURICE O. NDOLE
Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition used banners, flyers, shirts
and music to protest the war in Iraq and mark the second anniversary since
the war started.
Communications major Russell Noland drums Wednesday to protest
the war in Iraq.
Photo by Emily Tuck |
There were, however, no speakers denouncing the war during the demonstration,
dubbed happy anniversary, a sarcastic reference to the deaths of American
soldiers in the war.
Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition president Ruth Obel-Jorgensen
said her group decided to conduct the protest in music because they wanted
to do something different.
“We are not going to have speakers today because people can see
the visual and decide for themselves,” Obel-Jorgensen said.
The visual included a makeshift coffin draped in American flags, as well
as anti-war placards and several banners with anti-war slogans spread
around the speaker’s platform at the free speech area.
More than 20 black balloons, some with the inscription ‘happy anniversary,
1,500 soldiers dead, 100,000 Iraqis dead’ were taped to the ground,
spread in several spots on the free speech area walkway.
Obel-Jorgensen said more than 1,500 American soldiers have died in the
war already. She estimated the real number of soldiers dead as a result
of the war could be 6,000.
“When they go to Germany, they die there. But those are not counted,”
she said.
She said 30 to 40 members of her group planned to participate in a larger
protest Saturday in San Francisco, which will mark the second anniversary
of the first bombs being dropped in Iraq.
There was a moment of excitement during the protest when a student passing
in the free speech area intentionally burst some of the balloons.
“Happy anniversary,” a man yelled from the speaker’s
platform to counter the student who was popping the balloons.
Kelly Krueger, a junior majoring in criminology, said even though she
supports the war, she didn’t see anything wrong with the protest.
“I think it’s nice that there is somebody protesting something
on campus,” Krueger said.
Krueger said the U. S. did the right thing in Iraq because it stopped
Saddam Hussein, a tyrant who was killing his own people.
“It bothers me that 1,500 U.S. soldiers have died, but I think it
will prevent more people from dying in the future,” Krueger said.
Eric Wilderson, a member of the Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition,
said the protest achieved its goals because people were stopping to see
what was going on.
He said a lot of people who don’t support the war felt isolated
because during the elections, both Democratic and Republican presidential
candidates were in support of the war.
“We are trying to show people that there is an anti-war movement
at Fresno State,” Wilderson said. “We are spreading our message
because the government doesn’t care and the media doesn’t
care.”
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