March 20, 2011 - 4:35pm
Peace rally raises awareness about war in Iraq anniversary
BY WHITNEY WILD
Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq, and students from the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, local high schools and Ann Arbor residents gathered outside Ulrich’s Bookstore on South University Avenue to commemorate the anniversary.
Michigan Peaceworks, a group that includes members from the University staff, faculty and student body, co-sponsored the peace demonstration — called “What is the price of war?” — with about 100 people in attendance.
The rally aimed to raise awareness of the growing human and monetary expense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michigan Peaceworks teamed up with other University student organizations, like Progressive Alliance — a group that raises awareness about social issues — to get the word out and increase political fervor.
Veterans for Peace, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice were also co-sponsors of the event.
According to a CNN count, 4,390 American lives have been lost in Iraq as of yesterday, with an additional 1,016 American casualties from the war in Afghanistan. According to costofwar.com — part of the National Priorities Project — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost each person in the U.S. about $3,311 since 2001.
Elizabeth Entwistle, a Michigan Peaceworks member and graduate student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University, helped promote Saturday’s event by distributing flyers and contacting local media.
“(Michigan Peaceworks) is a grassroots organization committed to peace, and that’s what motivated me to get involved,” Entwistle said at the event.
Participants in the rally voiced their message with songs, poetry and speeches, urging those in attendence to become more aware of the personal effects of the war and reminding people that when one dollar is allocated to help fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, that dollar is taken away from domestic funding for local schools, renewable energy, health care, housing and help for the homeless.
Posters were on display to give attendees and passersby a visual aid. One poster invited participants to write their own ideas about where the U.S. Department of the Treasury should redirect funding that is currently used for war expenses. Participants were also encouraged to sign petitions that will be sent to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress.
Though the Michigan Peaceworks rally specifically focused on the cost of the war in Iraq, many participants raised general concerns about what they viewed as the U.S. government’s reliance on violence to resolve conflicts.
Bill Canning, Recreational Sports director and former vice president of Michigan Peaceworks, helped organize the rally. Canning said he has been involved in demonstrations like these since he was a student at the University during the height of the Vietnam War.
“This war has reminded me a lot of Vietnam in that we’re there," Canning said. "There’s no sign we’re getting out."
He added that he thinks the U.S. should pull out of the wars.
“It’s time for us to stop being the policemen of the world,” he said.
Public Policy senior Shelley Rosenberg attended and assisted in publicizing the event. Rosenberg said she is “ideologically anti-war, anti-violence” but came because her English class required her to work with a non-profit, and she was paired with Michigan Peaceworks.
“Students are much more inclined to go to an event or be involved in one that they see themselves directly engaged with,” Rosenberg said.
Some students who did not attend the event said they don’t see the war in Iraq as having a personal effect on their lives.
School of Art & Design freshman Ian Matchett, said he considers himself “politically aware” but feels that students “think they are more politically active than they actually are.”
“Whenever we talk about Ann Arbor, generally the school’s like ‘Oh, we’re in liberal Ann Arbor,’ but I mean, in reality, it’s a lot of people trying to go to business school or become doctors and earn money,” Matchett said. “There’s not a lot of people fighting for change as much as there was in the ‘60s.”
LSA sophomore Jimmy Wang, who was eating at Rendez Vous Café on South University Avenue during the demonstration and said he thought the entire event was “stupid.”
“It’s a war that’s been going on for quite a while now and, I mean, they do this kind of rally all the time and obviously this comes to little or no avail,” Wang said. “I think it’s better to just finish the job completely…do it thoroughly so that when (soldiers) come back they don’t have to go back again.”
Despite student criticism, Anne Garcia, a former professor in the University's School of Kinesiology and a current psychology professor at Washtenaw Community College who helped organize the event, said it was “very successful.” Garcia said she felt the event was “more lively and energetic” than other Michigan Peaceworks demonstrations she has been involved with.
Garcia added that the rally was not only geared toward the University community but was also intended to raise overall awareness of the growing cost of war.
“We are at the beginning of the eighth year of the war,” Garcia said, adding that the war has been going on for the much of students’ lives.
“All you’ve known is that we’ve been at war, which is horrible,” she said of students at the University. “We think World War II was a horrible experience. This is a horrible experience.”
