Peace Activists Question Bombing War

Members of the Harvard and Cambridge communities gathered outside of the Science Center yesterday for a “Speak Out Against War” organized by the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice (HIPJ).

The event featured five scheduled speakers—one alumna, two graduate students, a clergyman and a musician—followed by an “open megaphone”session during which members of the audience shared similar viewpoints on the U.S. response to terrorism.

“The idea of going to war has not really been questioned.,” said emcee Erik A. Beach ’02, referring to U.S. military action in Afghanistan. “We want to give a voice to the voices we haven’t been hearing over the past few weeks.”

Shortly after the speakout began at 12:15 p.m., Lara Z. Jirmanus ’01 read a poem written by a Palestinian living in New York, coping with the discrimination toward Palestinians that has followed the terrorist attacks.

Father Thomas Brennan, a member of the United Ministry, provided religious support for peace.

“Nonviolence is an appropriate response to violent actions,” he said, addressing a crowd that fluctuated from 25 to 50 people during the one-hour event.

Compared to the HIPJ’s Sept. 20 peace rally, which drew a crowd of 500 people, yesterday’s speakout had a significantly lower turnout.

Faisal I. Chaudhry, a second-year law student who helped to organize the speak out, said the turnout was not relevant to the event.

“This is not for getting a huge number of people together,” he said. “People sometimes feel frustrated and alone or have doubts about their views. This helps people to think out loud.”

Yi Ping, a graduate student in philosophy, spoke about humanitarian concerns, such as hunger, drought and closed borders, that affect Afghanistan.

Ping urged the audience to donate to the Harvard Refugee Relief Fund and to contact local politicians with their objections to bombings in Afgahnistan.

Najeeb N. Khoury, a Harvard law student, addressed the issue of civil liberties.

“Americans have a tendency to value some lives over others,” he said to the crowd. “We must not privilege citizens’ lives over non-citizens’ lives.”

During the “open-megaphone” session, despite HIJP members’ invitation for people of any viewpoint to speak, the seven who participated unanimously called for peace.

HIJP members said they plan to organize more speakouts in the future.