Michael Falcone/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Throngs of
anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Westwood Saturday in
a roving protest that snaked from the Federal Building to
Westwood.
By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Reporter
Nearly 2,500 anti-war and pro-civil liberty advocates chanted
their way through Westwood Saturday.
Similar anti-war protests took place throughout the country that
day, with thousands gathering in Washington, D.C., and San
Francisco.
The Westwood rally, which ended peacefully with no arrests,
started around noon at the Federal Building, where members of
political organizations shared their views on what the U.S. actions
should be in Afghanistan.
Motorists mostly pledged their support for the anti-war
protesters by honking their horns down Wilshire Boulevard, while
others shouted for a nuclear attack on Afghanistan.
“Now is the time to build the opposition before bombs are
dropped,” said fourth-year political science student Behzad
Raghian, a spokesman for the International Socialist Organization
who is against the war.
The United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East was
under heavy scrutiny at the protest, with many citing U.S. policies
as insensitive and economically motivated.
“Avoiding bombing isn’t a solution,” Raghian
said. “I would like to see a large-scale pull-out of U.S.
forces in the Middle East. We are completely insensitive to that
area and if we keep that same mentality, things will never
change.”
The organization leading the rally was A.N.S.W.E.R. ““ Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism. Members handed out flyers
which said they are united against war, racist attacks against
Muslims and Arab Americans, loss of life anywhere and the curbing
of civil liberties.
“We are concerned with recent legislation to allow wire
tapping and surveillance. The government is curbing our civil
liberties,” said Magda Miller, spokeswoman for
A.N.S.W.E.R.
Miller said they had difficulties acquiring a permit to hold the
protest.
Some fear the civil liberties that have been curbed aren’t
just a temporary, war-time maneuver.
Computer scientist Bob Smart said President George W. Bush is
waging a war on civil liberties.
“In other incidents, the rhetoric has always been that
this is a temporary measure. This is different because Bush has
gone on television and said this is a permanent change in our way
of life,” Smart said.
The Taliban knows the location of Osama bin Laden, but they will
not release it because of security reasons. And since the United
States has made it clear the Taliban must turn over bin Laden and
all the operatives of the Al-Qaeda network, a U.S. attack is
imminent.
But defining the exact type of military action necessary was
difficult for protesters. Some advocated specific military action
directed at those who they said perpetrate terrorism, including the
Taliban and bin Laden. The anti-war protesters agreed a large-scale
war wasn’t the proper action.
Jim DeMaegt, a 58-year-old graduate of UCLA, said he was at the
protest to “fight the erosion of civil rights and maintain
the Constitution of America.”
DeMaegt supports arresting the terrorists responsible for the
Sept. 11 attacks and conducting a fair trial.
“I support following the Constitution of the United
States,” he said.
He said he believes Bush and the U.S. military will instead go
to any length to catch those responsible for the attacks, even if
it means infringing on civil liberties.
The actual march, led by a group of drummers, began at 2 p.m.
and circled through Westwood, eventually returning to the Federal
Building after an hour. Dozens of police escorted the protesters
and shut down parts of Weyburn Avenue, Westwood and Wilshire
Boulevards.
Four students of Afghan decent carried signs that read:
“Don’t kill the Afghan”. One of them said not
everyone in Afghanistan supports the Taliban, citing the two
opposing governments in that country separated by north and
south.
“The Afghan people have no news, no radio, they have no
idea what’s going on with anything in the outside
world,” said Haseena Qudrat, a fourth-year student at
California State University Northridge, who is from
Afghanistan.
“The best thing would be to help people get food and stop
people from starving and help the economy,” she said.
The United Nations dispatched 200 metric tons of food and
supplies to Afghanistan on Sunday, the first humanitarian aid there
since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Across the street from the main protest, a sign read,
“Give war a chance” as a group of roughly 30
counter-protesters were led by Bob Zirgulis of the International
Human Rights Watch. Zirgulis associated organizers of the anti-war
groups with terrorist groups.
“We’re at war right now and we’re here to call
for active measures against the Taliban,” said Zirgulis.
“I support giving military aid and using special forces to
liquidate bin Laden by any means necessary. Let’s not tie the
hands of our military,” he said.