Protesting for Peace

This Saturday, more than 50 Harvard students joined thousands of others in New York City to protest against an impending U.S. war in Iraq. The New York protest coincided with dozens of others around the world in an international demand for peace. We commend the Harvard students who, despite the cold, took to the streets to voice their opinions. This demonstration—the largest since the war in Vietnam—signals the rebirth of a strong and vibrant new anti-war movement.

These protests came at a critical time, the day after Dr. Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission reported to the U.N. that he needed more time for inspections, which he said were going well. An armed Iraq poses a threat to U.S. national security, and forcibly disarming Iraq may become necessary, but without the backing of the U.N.—and without giving inspections a fair chance to deter and contain the threat of Iraqi arms under Saddam Hussein’s control—it would be misguided and counterproductive for the U.S. to go to war.

The White House’s drive to war has been challenged prominently by France and Germany, but the Feb. 15 protests also show dissent for war within the U.S. and Britain—whose leaders are the most aggressive in pushing for war. Some American politicians have ignored or underplayed the considerable public opposition to war, thus thousands of people decided that they were unable to simply rely on their representatives—instead they traveled to New York, braved the weather and maneuvered around the police in order to directly voice their opinions in a public way.

The international protest was organized principally by United for Peace and Justice—coalition including a wide range of groups opposed to war—and reflected the growing diversity of voices, both radical and more mainstream, against the war. The large showing on Feb. 15 demonstrates the power that a democratic coalition with a wide range of people can have in making a unified statement. This growing anti-war movement could pose a real challenge to those moving us into war.

The New York rally included a broad mix of groups—from Ivy-League college students to organized labor, the anarchist Black Bloc to the American-flag-toting Veterans for Peace. We are glad to see Harvard students active in this new movement, leaving their insular campus to declare their opposition to war. As students in positions of extreme privilege, we should not retreat to an ivory tower but stay vocal and involved in the broader political world—if not through our government, then in the streets.

Dissent:Standing up for Tyranny

The Staff, in praising students for expressing their opposition to war this Saturday, ignores the fact that United for Peace and Justice (UPJ) demands peace at any cost, ruling out the possibility of a peaceful resolution in the Middle East to the machinations of murderous dictators like Saddam Hussein. UPJ would have our government respond to real threats in the world with irresponsible pacifism, which allows terrorists to pursue their objectives without repercussions from the United States. Harvard’s courageous crusaders for peace are complicit in this foolish construction of world peace.

UPJ can insist it has brought together a moderate coalition of anti-war voices, but a look at the protests worldwide reveals more subversive groups at work. One needs only to consider the London protests, filled with anti-Israeli rhetoric from the Muslim Association of Great Britain, to find transparent agendas of hatred and violence, agendas that undermine the Harvard protesters’ calls for peace.

—Travis R. Kavulla ’06 and Luke Smith ’04