COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: War Protests: General
Students march against the war
Garrett McCulloch & Katie Stapleton-Paff, The Daily
November 03, 2005
President George W. Bush's second year since re-election started with hostility -- at least from Seattle protesters.Students from the UW and around Seattle marked the first anniversary of Bush's 2004 re-election by marching out of classes and onto city streets yesterday afternoon in a walkout coordinated with similar events across the country. The event was staged by the UW's chapter of Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR), which also organized walkouts at 35 colleges around the nation.
The UW's group started as a small circle of about 20 who assembled in Red Square at noon. The crowd swelled to about 100 before activists, chanting anti-war slogans to drumbeats and bagpipes, marched through campus and boarded buses to Westlake Center. There they joined a crowd of about 2,000, hailing mostly from local colleges and high schools.
"This isn't about one rally, this is about starting a movement for peace," ASUW Vice President Ashley Miller told the crowd gathered in Red Square.
The demonstrators denounced Bush's Iraq and military recruitment policies, along with cutbacks in education, health care and disaster relief. As people filled a plaza at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Pine Street, a variety of colorful signs -- often sporting equally colorful slogans -- rose above the demonstrators' heads.
"Bush needs a timeout," was emblazoned on one young child's sign. "I wish I were proud to be American," read another.
"I'm here today because I want money to go to education, not war," said UW freshman Kaitlin Morrison. "I think of it as a student strike -- a small sacrifice to show them I want change."
The crowd's enthusiasm peaked as it marched from Westlake Center to Capitol Hill, where police escorted demonstrators to the neighborhood's arts center. Workshops by local artists, band performances and speakers concluded the day's events.
Some protestors even questioned the value of what they were doing.
"As far as if we're actually accomplishing anything, I'm not really sure," said Seattle Central Community College student Nick Zarnecki. "But Bush needs to go. The guy's a clown, a puppet."
The U.S. military and its recruiting practices took a hefty share of the criticism, especially on the subject of in-school recruiting. Heidi Wickersham, a UW junior and National Guard member who wants to be classified as a conscientious objector, said she signed up for military service expecting to serve as a linguist. Instead, Wickersham ended up working as an interrogator.
"Had I not applied for conscientious objector status, I would have been deployed [to Iraq] last week," she said.
Wickersham signed a contract with the military right after she graduated from high school in 2002, but said she quickly learned its recruiting promises were exaggerations at best.
"They prop up whatever they want to sell to the kids," Wickersham said.
Students made up the bulk of the crowd, but weren't the only ones on hand to protest Bush's policies.
"I think it's wonderful," said former state Senator Gene Lux. "All my adult life I've been involved in peace movements such as the Vietnam protests. It's awfully nice to see so many young people out here."
Lux said he feels the protest could be a first step toward changing what he sees as unjust laws and policies.
"If a law is indecent or immoral, it must be stopped," he said.
The crowd eventually drew its own spectators in the form of shoppers, who watched the demonstration unfold from Westlake Center's second-floor concourse.
The number of American soldiers killed in Iraq reached 2,000 last week, a concern of many who turned out to march yesterday.
"So many people hear about the number of U.S. soldiers killed," said Scott Swaner, an assistant professor in the UW's Asian languages department. "What people need to realize is that it's quickly hiking up to the same amount as 9/11 -- it's crazy."
Despite the overall size of the protest, some UW protesters said they were disappointed by the University's relatively low turnout.
This archive consists of a topically organized selection of
articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen
material relevant to the work of