TCOWI plans day-after-war walkout

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Class Moratorium Against the War on Iraq



We, the undersigned faculty, resolve that on the school day following the beginning of an unnecessary and unjustified bombing campaign or land invasion of Iraq*, we will hold a one-day class moratorium. During this time, teach-ins debating the war and related foreign policy issues will be held**. Through our actions, we will create a space for dialogue and discussion for our Tufts community, deeply skeptical of the necessity or justice of such a war.



*Should this occur on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, the moratorium will be held on a Monday.

**All who are participating in the event will gather in Goddard Chapel for discussion, debate, or other forms of expression.





The day after the seemingly inevitable war in Iraq begins, members of the Tufts community who oppose the war will hold a day-long moratorium on classes. The protest, which is sponsored by the Tufts Coalition to Oppose the War on Iraq (TCOWI), asks students and professors to suspend their regular classes and join a teach-in at Goddard Chapel.

The pledge to suspend classes, included in an e-mail to TCOWI members, calls for a campus-wide discussion on the necessity of war. Other students and professors are expected to receive the pledge either via e-mail or through table tents in the dining halls.

"Through this action, we hope to create a space for dialogue and discussion for all of the Tufts community who are united in skepticism of the necessity of such a war," read the e-mail, which was sent by Physics and Astronomy professor Gary Goldstein, one of the leading faculty members in TCOWI.

If war materializes, the walk-out will take place the day after a ground invasion or intensified bombing campaign begins. The teach-in will address the war with Iraq, the war on terrorism, and the Bush administration's foreign policy in general.

Many organizations are planning protests, but no nationwide action is planned for the day after any war begins. United for Justice with Peace (UJP) is planning a vigil in Boston's Government Center, and several Boston-area groups will coordinate a march from Copley Square.

Due to the difficulties inherent in holding a demonstration with one day's notice, some anti-war groups have chosen other methods of protest and chosen specific days to demonstrate.

Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), which organizes most of the national anti-war protests, has chosen Feb. 21, the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, for its "coordinated day of resistance."

The moratorium on attending classes coincides with a month of TCOWI events leading up to George H.W. Bush's Feb. 26 address as the 2003 Fares lecturer. In response to Tufts' invitation to Bush, TCOWI will hold a "die-in" on the Tisch Library patio to commemorate the 1991 bombing of the Amariyah Bomb Shelter in Baghdad, which killed hundreds of civilians. TCOWI will also show the movie "Three Kings" and hold a rally and march before Bush's speech.

TCOWI members have been concerned that their events have drawn primarily other TCOWI members, instead of members of the entire Tufts community. The only way to avoid preaching to the choir, TCOWI member Rebecca Batchelder said, is to "just try and get better advertising."

By observing national movements, though, Goldstein is optimistic that on-campus activism will increase. Anti-war sentiment, Goldstein said, has become "much more broad-based over the last month."

Opposition to war is gaining strength, despite some discomfort with the far-left political leanings of the leaders of anti-war movements. A recent article in LA Weekly identified the leaders of ANSWER and other large anti-war groups as members of the Workers World Party (WWP), a socialist political group. According to another graduate student and TCOWI member, Carl Martin, the anti-war movement "has a tradition of being led by the [extreme] left."

But TCOWI members do not feel this affects their activism. Some 20 members attended an ANSWER-led march in Washington on Jan. 18. "It's really the issue that's bringing people there, and not who's sponsoring it," Batchelder said.

At the Jan. 18 protest, "there was no fighting amongst the groups," said Joe Ramsey, a member of TCOWI and a graduate student in English. "[Everyone was] focused enough on the common opponent. Although ANSWER chose the speakers at the rally, the group did not control the thoughts of the protesters, he said.