Students Rally Against War

The Harvard Students Against War in the Middle East (SAWME) rallied outside the Science Center yesterday, criticizing the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf.

About 100 people braved the cold weather to hear several students and a professor speak out against the war. The audience also listened to the singing and guitar strumming of Thomas Garvey '92 and the drumming of David T. Gay '91.

SAWME member Alejandro Reuss '92 told the crowd that while they should be mourning the deaths of the 12 American Marines who were killed earlier this week, they should also keep in mind that Iraqi people are also being killed.

"We should be just as angry at the loss of those lives as we are at the loss of American lives," he said. "Do we shed as many tears for the babies who are starving to death as a result of U.S. embargoes?"

People must remember the pain and suffering that American troops are causing by bombing Iraq, Reuss added.

"In the news we hear that the Iraqis 'suffer defeat,'" he said. "What do they mean by 'suffer'? They have emasculated the word."

Cyrus Bina, a visiting professor of Middle Eastern studies, spoke after Reuss, and while he offered support for the coalition troops, he questioned the motivation behind the U.S. policy in the Gulf.

"We have to support our troops, of course," Bina said. "But we have to ask why they are dying."

The war in the Gulf is being fought "for the preservation of American hegemony," he said. "We must remember what President Bush said in his State of the Union speech last week. He said, 'Next century will be an American century.'"

"Instead, next century is going to be a global century, with a rising Japan, a united Middle East, a united Africa," Bina said.

A march to MIT originally planned to follow the rally was cancelled due to the cold weather.

The group instead moved into the Science Center's Greenhouse Cafe--where SAWME had set up a "Peace Center" earlier in the day--before going to a city-wide speak-out and teach-in held yesterday at Boston University at 6 p.m.