At least some people will be escaping the Dartmouth bubble this weekend with at least 60 Dartmouth students expected to participate in a massive anti-war protest to be held in the nation's capital on Saturday.
The rally -- which some have estimated will attract as many as 40,000 protesters --is being organized by International ANSWER, an organization devoted to combating war and racism, and will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the National Mall. After marching in front of several government buildings and through a number of impoverished D.C. neighborhoods, the rally will culminate with a peace conference held at a nearby church, organizers said.
Dartmouth students will travel to Washington on a bus chartered by the campus Why War? campaign and partly funded by grants from multiple College sources --including the Spanish and sociology departments, the Committee on Student Organizations and possibly the Dean of the College office. The remainder of the cost will be covered by a $30 participation fee charged to each student.
Event organizers, most of them members of the Why War? campaign and the Campus Greens, said they hope their efforts will encourage more students to participate in the rally than ordinarily would.
"The College is partly underwriting the cost of this, so it's a great chance for students to get out there and speak their minds." Clinton Hendler '05 said. "Up here in Hanover sometimes we seem very far away from where the decisions are being made and where the news is happening but this is to give students a chance to have their voice,"
According to organizer Alex Kirigin '06, though, at least one student took issue with ANSWER's ideology and withdrew the participation fee after learning that the organization supports disarmament. But the focus of organizers' efforts is on preserving human rights, not political quibbling, Kirigin said.
"Potentially, hundreds of thousands of people could die, and if that's not the ultimate human rights violation then I don't know what is," he said.
In trying to stir up student support for the movement, campus organizers have stressed the importance of activism and likened the potential war with Iraq to the Vietnam War -- explaining that this time around, students have the power to prevent a mistake before too much blood is shed.
"Political activism is really important -- especially among students," Why War? organizer Natalie Allan '06 said. "Students were the biggest force in stopping the Vietnam War, and I think they will be the biggest force in leading this anti-war movement."
Organizers also stressed that the rally is part of a larger campus peace movement that they intend to continue as long as the possibility of war with Iraq exists.
"This isn't just a trip to D.C.," Hendler said. "It's just one event in a series of events that we have been doing and will be doing to keep this in students' minds."
A protest is planned to take place on both banks of the Connecticut River on Jan. 20, Hendler added. On Jan. 30, after United Nations weapons inspectors make their report to the U.N. about Iraq's nuclear weapons, Why War? will hold a campus rally and a "teach-in" similar to the one held last term.
Last term, approximately 60 students also participated in a similar anti-war protest in Washington.
