UC Berkeley

A New Movement Emerges
Against War, Violence

Anti-War Coalitions Form
at College Campuses Across U.S.

By EVE LOTTER
Contributing Writer
Tuesday, September 18, 2001

Alarmed by President Bush's declaration that the nation is headed to a "new war" against terrorism, some students at UC Berkeley have already set up a coalition calling for an anti-war movement.

Students from UC Berkeley and at least 30 different schools across the country are organizing marches, rallies, and teach-ins to take place on Thursday as part of a "National Day of Action Against Scapegoating Arab Americans and to Stop the War," organizers said.

"I don't think more violence will solve the problem," said Brian Marsh, a Berkeley resident who has joined the anti-war coalition.

"I think if we cause violence, it's just going to snowball and get bigger and bigger. There's just too much of a possibility of creating World War III out of this," said Marsh, a photographer for a San Francisco Web site.

UC Berkeley students had already organized a meeting to gather anti-war activists last Friday, after President Bush told Americans to prepare for a long, drawn out military conflict to attack the terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon.

Organizers said 200 students met in Wheeler Hall and approved three points for the burgeoning coalition: to stop the war; to defend Arab American, Middle Eastern, and Muslim communities against racist scapegoating; and to defend civil liberties.

The UC Berkeley group, called the Stop the War Coalition, began tabling on Sproul Plaza yesterday, and had a table at the campuswide memorial service. Organizers were handing out green armbands to show support for the Muslim and Arab American communities.

Green is a traditional Muslim color for peace and unity, according to the group's literature.

Within 20 minutes of setting up their table, the coalition had collected a page of signatures.

"These green bands are not only in solidarity with Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern students, but show that we will come to the aid of and be escorts for Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern students facing harassment and attack," said UC Berkeley student Ronald Cruz, a member of the Stop the War Coalition.

Cruz said UC Berkeley has the potential to become the focus of a national peace movement.

He noted Berkeley's representative in Congress, Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, was the only lawmaker to vote against the use of force Friday, and mentioned the historical precedent set here in anti-war protests during the 1960s.

Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and San Francisco State are among the many campuses where students are organizing for peace, Cruz said.

Student activists at University of Wisconsin at Madison attended an anti-war rally last night.

Several of those in attendance reported that activists sang an Iraqi song, recited poetry, and listened to speakers who echoed the same concerns as those at UC Berkeley.

Robb McFadden, president of the Berkeley College Republicans, said that though he has not yet heard much about the anti-war movement on campus, his group and the Cal Berkeley Democrats believe those responsible for Tuesday's attacks must be punished.

Campus Democrats agreed with Republicans in saying the country must not turn against Americans of Middle Eastern descent.

"We as a country ought to be united. This has nothing to do with race, it has to do with those who have attacked our way of life," said Anka Lee, president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats. "(But) any American who discriminates against Americans of Middle Eastern background are no better than the terrorists."

A.N.S.W.E.R.
ACT NOW TO STOP WAR AND END RACISM
See and hear video

A Call to Join a New Anti-War Coalition
http://www.iacenter.org

Student Coalition for a Peaceful Justice
http://www.peacefuljustice.cjb.net/

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

Mario Savio
Sproul Hall Steps
University of California, Berkeley
December 3, 1964

***** (Audio clip of actual speech)