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.