Tufts students joined hundreds of anti-war protesters Saturday at Boston Common for a rally marking the sixth anniversary of Congress' authorization of the invasion of Iraq.
Organized by Boston's October 11th Mobilizing Committee, the rally included speakers, musical performances, booths and an open microphone. It culminated in a march through downtown Boston.
The protest was one of 21 major rallies nationwide on Saturday and was coordinated as part of a National Day of Action. Around 600 people attended the Boston rally, estimated Rebecca Batorsky, an October 11th Mobilizing Committee organizer and Tufts graduate student. Rally-goers congregated on the Boston Common Parade Ground, sitting in front of the main stage or passing through the adjacent booths and stands.
The rally was entitled "Stand Up for Peace in the Middle East." Its goal was "to revive the debate about the war," Batorksy told the Daily. She argued that the money the U.S. government spends on its military presence in the Middle East should be devoted to internal infrastructures and social programs, saying the Iraq war "is inextricably linked to the financial crisis."
The October 11th Mobilizing Committee calls for "the immediate end to the U.S. occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to an official release. The committee has not endorsed either major presidential candidate because both plan on continuing military occupations in the Middle East, according to Batorsky. "I think we need an anti-war candidate," she said.
The rally featured speeches and musical performances. Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner addressed the congregation, saying that working toward peace involves more than just bringing troops home from the Middle East. "Bring[ing] the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan is the principle action to take now," Turner said in his speech. "[But that is] just the tip of the iceberg; it is not the root of the problem.
"The roots are a foreign policy that doesn't focus on spreading peace and prosperity throughout the world," Turner continued. He said the peace movement must remain active after troops are withdrawn from the Middle East, working "to crush the military and industrial complex" and to end "foreign policy focused on business exploitation in the world."
Ashley Smith, the Northeast organizer for the International Socialist Organization, spoke at the rally about international relations. "We face the two evils of the system: war and economic crisis," Smith said. "Our government lied us into the entire war on terror … They aim to seize control of Central Asia and the Middle East and their strategic energy reserves," he said.
Carlos Arredondo, a Costa Rican immigrant and anti-war activist, told the Daily about the death of his son in Iraq. His son Alex served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marines and was killed in action on Aug. 25, 2004.
"As a father, it's my duty to honor my son," Arredondo said. "My obligation is to participate. I'm sharing my grieving — very public[ly] — for years after I lost my son."
Arredondo stressed the suffering of the troops serving in Iraq.
"Many sons and daughters [are] coming back from the battlefield with broken minds, broken bodies and broken hearts after so many years of the war going on. The number of victims caught up in this conflict is overwhelming," he said. "I want the withdrawal of the troops and I want to support the people of Afghanistan."
Boston–area college students, including some from Tufts, made up a portion of the anti-war protestors. Tufts freshman Chad Milando, who found out about the event from a flyer on campus, said he had been to several rallies before and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to speak out.
"We've lost a lot of lives, [and] millions of people have been displaced over there," Milando said of Iraq. "Everyone's losing … Even if we try to do the right thing, we're going to get pushed away."
About 15 Brandeis University students organized a delegation to the anti-war rally through Facebook.com. They represented the student groups Democracy for America, Students for a Democratic Society and Brandeis Students Against the War. Rachel Sier, a sophomore who coordinated the Brandeis group, found out about the rally from a leaflet in Cambridge. "We had a protest this year [at Brandeis] and it was kind of stupid, and we wanted to show our support in a way that would really garner attention," Sier told the Daily.
Sier said she supports Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the upcoming presidential election because he represents "not just ending the war, but real structural changes in the way society works."
She disagreed with arguments for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East. "I don't think that complete removal of troops right away is a feasible option," she said, but added that the government needs to drastically reduce the current numbers.
A spokesperson for the Boston Police Department said that there were no incidents at the rally, but declined to give a head count.
