On Wednesday of this week, I, like many other University at Buffalo students, attended the "Books not Bombs" rally outside of Capen Hall. It wasn't extremely cold out, so I can't say that we all braved the blustery UB weather, although it was snowing, like usual. Fighting for this cause was not as miserable a task as it has been at other times this year. Two issues were raised at this rally that are very related. Why should we spend so much money going to war with Iraq when spending that money on the school system can solve the more domestic problem of tuition hikes in SUNY schools and across the nation? Past tuition hikes have caused dramatic decreases in student enrollment in SUNY schools, and none of these tuition hikes have been as large as 41 percent. Beyond these points, I'd rather not get into the reasons brought up by protesters to stop the coming war from starting. I'm sure that you have already heard them all, and I don't feel that it is necessary to bring them up again.
I was very pleased to see that at this protest the anti-war movement attended in large numbers and so did the opposing side. There are always at least two sides to every story, and the people who believe war is necessary voiced their opinion, as well. However, it seemed that much of what the pro-war (I don't believe that they are pro-war, I just mean to say they aren't completely against it) protesters said dealt with the peace movement's lack of support for our troops. Pro-war people tend to believe that anti-war protesters are un-American, and that our troops need our support whether we agree with the war or not. As an anti-war protester myself, I say this in response: There is no more moral or American way to support our troops than to plead with our government to allow them to come home safely, without forcing them to kill, or possibly be killed themselves.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
