Anti-war march draws soccer moms as well as students

by Stephanie V. Siek
Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — As many as 150,000 protesters, about 60 of them Athens residents and Ohio University students, marched around the White House to protest military strikes against Iraq.

The march, organized by the group International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) began with a three-hour rally at Constitution Gardens near the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and wound through downtown Washington for hours. Marchers nearing the end of the route could look behind them to see the street filled with marchers to the horizon.

The preceding rally featured Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark who served in the Johnson administration, actress Susan Sarandon, recording artist Patti Smith, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), Jesse Jackson and representatives of more than two dozen nonprofit and labor organizations.

Washington police did not provide a crowd estimate, but said the turnout exceeded that of another anti-war march in April that drew 75,000 protesters. The peaceful march brought no significant confrontations between protesters and police.

Other marches and peace rallies took place around the U.S. and the world, including one in Athens.

The march, which had been described by organizers as the largest anti-war gathering since the Vietnam War, attracted a cross section of the United States, with most of the 50 states represented.

Just as diverse were the perspectives offered.

“I think that some people, they write off people in these movements as jobless, way left,” said Terri Howells, who brought her husband and children straight from the children’s soccer game that morning in Silver Springs, Md. “I’m not the 20-year-old college student. I’m a mom, and I think people in the suburbs need to know.”

“Great sign!” interrupted a marcher in dreadlocks, pointing to her sign, “Soccer Moms Against the War.”

“I couldn’t justify sitting at home,” said Roger Hill, an OU senior majoring in sociology who said this was his fifth major demonstration. “I hope this awakens the international community, and more importantly the American community, that we’re not all for a war on Iraq.”

Karmi James drove all night from Athens to attend the march, which was her first.

“I really support peace,” said James, an OU freshman. “I need to be one more body in the mass that shows we’re against the war.”

Erin Senff, who organized at least four carpools of OU students attending the march, said that she was most impressed by the number and diversity of the marchers.

“In protests in the past against our government, movements have been seen as a specific demographic, and this movement is every demographic,” the OU senior said.

There were “West Point Grads Against U.S. Abuse of Power” and “Clergy Opposed to the War.” There were Muslim students and Jewish grandmothers. Opinions ranged from those opposed to any U.S. military action against Iraq to those who would only support such action with the support of the United Nations.

Jonathon Maffay drove six hours with five other Athens residents to attend the march.

“The average rank-and-file people, they don’t want this war,” said Maffay, holding a large orange sign that said, “Say NO to CEO Bush’s More War Plan.” “But you don’t get a sense of that in the media. From now on, it just seems like a never-ending war.”