COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Counter-Recruitment: General
Berkeley backs down
Carolyn Jones, Christopher Heredia and Steve Rubenstein, San Francisco Chronicle.
February 13, 2008
After a day of enraged confrontation outside Berkeley City Hall between anti-war and pro-military demonstrators, the City Council backed down early Wednesday from its controversial decision to tell the U.S. Marines they are "unwelcome intruders" for operating a downtown recruiting center.Council members conceded that they had erred in passing a resolution Jan. 29 that condemned the Marines - rather than the war in Iraq - and some council members added that they felt they owed U.S. troops an apology as well the many Berkeley residents who were ashamed and offended by their position.
"To err is human but to really screw up it takes the Berkeley City Council," said council member Gordon Wozniak. "We failed our city. We embarrassed our city."
In the end, however, the council voted against issuing a public apology for its January action.
The officials said, however, that they strongly believe the Bush administration has used lies and deceit to lead the country into a war in which nearly 4,000 American troops have been killed. They also criticized the government for what they said was hiding the horrors of the war behind a "support our troops" mantra.
"We do not want to ostracize our troops," said council member Linda Maio. "They are our sons and our daughters. We care about them. We love them and we want to bring them home."
But Maio added, the war in Iraq is "badly thought out" and she does not support the government's recruiting efforts for this war.
The backdown became apparent late Tuesday night when Mayor Tom Bates and three council members aligned themselves with the two who called on the council last week to rethink its position. The January decision created a firestorm of criticism across the nation from people who called the council's position on the Marines harsh and inappropriate. Others cheered the council as courageous.
Berkeley's critics included six Republican U.S. senators who have vowed to cut federal funding for several Berkeley programs, such as the Chez Panisse Foundation, which provides school lunches at Berkeley's public schools, and the Robert Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at UC Berkeley.
Council members maintained that they were not caving in to pressure from right-wing bloggers or radio-show hosts in backing away from their January vote.
Protesters began gathering as early as Monday night outside City Hall in anticipation of the Tuesday night meeting. By Tuesday morning, some confrontations had become physical, and police in riot gear moved in to separate the groups. At its peak, 2,000 protesters had gathered outside City Hall, police said.
Three protesters were arrested for minor scuffles with other demonstrators - and a fourth for allegedly slapping a police officer - in what was one of the largest demonstrations in the city in years.
Tuesday evening, many demonstrators squeezed into the council chambers - some telling the council to stand firm, others urging the council to apologize for insulting the military and the men and women who are serving their country. The council allowed public testimony to continue into the early morning Wednesday before making a decision.
"Berkeley doesn't speak for America," said Eve Tidwell of Columbus, Ga., who flew into the Bay Area on Tuesday after watching news accounts of the uproar over the Marines in Berkeley. "If terror came to Berkeley, the Marines would come to protect the people here."
Tidwell, whose son-in-law is in the Navy, wanted the council to rescind its objection to the Marines and the recruiting office they opened on Shattuck Square a year ago. She encouraged others to boycott Berkeley businesses until the council backed down.
But Susan Killebrew, a Berkeley mother who brought her twin 7-year-old daughters, Aria and Sophia, to the demonstration, said she wanted the city to stand firm against the war and the recruiting center.
"We might have to suffer (negative publicity) as a result of it," she said before the meeting Tuesday, "but not as much as the children in Iraq who are traumatized by the constant military presence there. My heart is broken by this war. I marched against it before the invasion. It makes me sad that so many have died."
Council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli called last week for the council to retreat from its position on the Marines and instead make clear that while the city opposes the war, it supports the troops.
Olds and Capitelli opposed the council's resolution, passed by a 6-3 vote, to send the objection letter to the Marines. The city manager had not yet prepared the letter and was awaiting the results of Tuesday's council meeting.
As the meeting got under way, three other council members, Max Anderson, Linda Maio and Darrell Moore, and the mayor offered yet another resolution that was similar to the Olds-Capitelli one, rescinding the letter and supporting the troops.
During the meeting, protesters could still be heard shouting outside Maudelle Shirek City Hall. They had spent the day yelling, singing, chanting and flag-waving along Martin Luther King Jr. Way. At times, the arguments grew intense, as protesters stood face-to-face screaming obscenities at one another.
A 49-year-old man from Rocklin (Placer County) and two Berkeley teenagers were arrested in separate scuffles, police said. About 1 p.m., a man supporting the Marines ventured into an encampment by the anti-war group Code Pink and drew a knife. Police arrested Keith Donald Salvatore for brandishing the weapon. He told police he had taken out the knife in self-defense after war protesters wrapped him in a pink banner, said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, a police spokeswoman.
Police arrested the teenagers, boys ages 13 and 15, for scuffling with Marines supporters.
At around 4 p.m., police arrested Luisa Romero De Los Angeles, an 18-year-old Berkeley resident who they say slapped a police officer who told her to back away as she demanded they release the two boys who had been arrested earlier.
Code Pink activists said that even with the council backing off, they intend to place a resolution on the local ballot to oust the recruiters.
"We want voters to be able to decide ... just like they have a say whether a liquor store or porn shop opens near a school," said Jodie Evans, a Berkeley yoga studio owner who co-founded Code Pink.
Evans, wearing a pink crown that said "I Miss America," sat on a lawn chair outside of City Hall in the chilly night air listening to testimony from the meeting inside, which was being broadcast to the hundreds who couldn't fit inside the building.
Iraq war veteran Javier Tenorio of Berkeley was also listening outside of City Hall. The former Army infantryman who served two tours of duty called the ballot proposal "ridiculous."
"Even if they achieve it, it's going to be voted down," Tenorio said. "There are enough people in Berkeley who support the military, including university Republicans. We're going to beat this."
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