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Berkeley WAR Protests
Amid a myriad of protests across the nation, Berkeley's movement against the war proved to be smaller than its reputation predicts. But early this spring they did manage to kick off a "Walk Out On War" protest on Sproul Plaza. This one preceded massive demonstrations that took place in San Francisco and up and down Telegraph a few days later. We walked up to watch the action, as speakers pumped up the crowd on their loudspeakers. The event cumulated when students stormed Sproul Hall, resulting in 119 arrests. . I always had mixed feelings about initiating wars. Clearly in some cases war is justified, as when Hitler's quest for world domination and slaughter of his own people threatened freedom as we knew it, where pre-emptive disarmament of Germany could have saved countless millions of lives. WWII clearly demonstrated "Peace at all costs" can sometimes bear too heavy a burden. On the other hand, the cost of war with Iraq could potentially devastate the region... who knows for sure that any following government will be any better? Overthrowing Mossadeq in Iran, the assassination of Allende in Chile... the list goes on. We don't exactly carry the best track record in regards to overthrowing regimes.
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I suppose before the war began
I was against taking drastic military steps in Iraq. I wish the
antiwar movement focused on supplying realistic alternatives. I
noticed over the years there were protests to end economic sanctions,
protests against no-fly-zone bombings, claims of hundreds of thousands
of deaths since the gulf war due to US containment policies. Yet
Saddam is clearly a murderous dictator, one who killed hundreds of
thousands of his own people to prop up a minority power (HRW.org).
Sometimes, I wondered if a war might in the long run prevent more
suffering than it would cause, while not implicitly supporting Saddam by
letting him continue with his ways.
My other major problem with the way the anti-war movement was conducted was it often appeared to be fueled by ulterior motives. If you walked through the crowd that day, there were just as many anti-bush signs (such as, "at least Saddam was elected") as genuine anti-war signs, which disturbed me. It scares me when it comes down to hatred dictating politics, because that can have a blinding influence to what really is best for the people of the world.
It pains me that I've become so apathetic to these world events, that I am unable to passionately make up my own mind. I feel like I've been let down by a war-hungry conservative party as well as an blindly angry liberal party running our government. Maybe I like going to protests just to remind myself that it's the fight against apathy that these people have that is our strongest defense against evil in this world. | ||
