Students and staff from Syracuse University and SUNY ESF gathered on the Quad at 1 p.m. Saturday to protest possible war on Iraq.

Armed with signs that read, “No More Wars” and “War Didn’t Work Last Time Either,” the crowd of about 70 left campus around 1:30 p.m. and walked to East Genesee Street, where it joined another strand of walkers. The group continued downtown to Armory Lawn to join a city-wide peace rally.

“War is definitely a last resort and we need to explore other avenues before we take any military action,” explained protestor Lauren Shields, a sophomore history major.

Wearing a sign that read, “Thou shalt not kill….sound familiar?”, Elisabeth Johnson, a freshman public relations major said, “We got varied responses, ranging from people saying ‘Yeah, we hear ya,’ to one guy telling his son that what we were saying ‘is poison’.”

The students from the Quad felt war with Iraq would not solve terrorism.

“Terrorism is an ideology; it’s a state of mind,” said Gabriel Luber, a sophomore environmental studies major, who helped organize campus participation. “It won’t go away with just bombing. We have to go to the source, find out why these people have such gripes with the United States of America.”

A number of SU and Environmental Science and Forestry students traveled to Washington D.C. Friday night for a national demonstration Saturday.

Waverly deBruijn, a sophomore sociology major, planned to travel to Washington D.C. but changed her mind.

“Although it’s really important to suppose a mass-mobilization in our nation’s capital, it’s equally important to act locally and to let the people in your hometown know that there is a contingency who is opposed to the war,” she said.

Representatives from the Green Party, the Syracuse Peace Council, Veterans for Peace, SU and ESF attended the rally on Armory Lawn that began at 3 p.m. Several members of each group made speeches that sparked applause.

Emily Moeller, a sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, said the Bush administration’s “disregard for human life” upsets her the most.

Moeller said she would “never accept that death is a necessary” method of dealing with Iraq.

“I refuse to allow the American government to sacrifice life in my name,” she said.

Many felt the government primarily wanted to maintain international oil-relations.

Speakers discussed plans to abolish nuclear weapons and to pursue peaceful alternatives to conflict with Iraq. They also encouraged concerned citizens to use first amendment rights to voice their opposition to government officials.

“Government needs to hear our speech,” speaker Bill Cross stated, a Vietnam War veteran. “Congressional leaders have not been listening.”

Change only comes when people speak out, whoever and wherever they are, Cross said. “Regime change starts at home.”

Before and after the speeches, participants read poetry and performed songs such as Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing” and the Beatles’ “Revolution 1.” Others set up tables for participants to write letters to local government representatives to vote for legislation against the war.

Organizers and demonstrators hope the rally proves to government officials that many Americans oppose the war.

“I feel that it’s important that any people in power know that there is a significant population opposed to violence,” said Vlad Wormwood, a freshman film and drama major.

Published on October 27, 2002 at 12:00 pm