Thousands of students braved the cold yesterday and marched through Toronto to show their opposition to the war in Iraq. The march began at Sidney Smith, where marchers walked through the hallways and called for students to walk out of their classes to show their solidarity with the anti-war movement. After winding through various U of T buildings the crowd ended up at the Munk Centre where they heard a number of speakers.
The march brought along its own opposition in the form of The War for Liberty group who waved American flags and called for war in Iraq. “America is a beacon of democracy and freedom,” said one representative. He supported the war on Iraq because “Saddam is the biggest threat to world freedom today,” and believed his group had the “silent majority on campus.”
Most others disagreed about this majority. “It’s important to show that U of T students don’t support the war on Iraq and most Canadians don’t either.” Another student commented that “you’ve got to get the people to come together if you’re going to make any difference…and even if you get a couple of people in their cars to turn their heads for just a second that may be enough to get people to think about what’s going on in the world today…that’s the goal for me.”
Some students were cautious about the range of different interest groups that were protesting the war. “When you start bringing in fees and oil it doesn’t mesh with what everyone’s view is of the war. Everybody’s view against the war is not necessarily everybody’s view against tuition fees…it’s equating too much of the war with anti-establishment views.” Another student was not satisfied with “hackneyed or clichéd comments saying that war is bad and people get hurt…instead of an informed statement as to why they shouldn’t go to war.”
A class in organic chemistry at the Medical Science building was interrupted when marchers swarmed the doors and when one participant informed the class about how “Across the world the people are rising up against them (the Americans) and letting them know that oil is not a good enough reason to massacre hundreds of thousands of people.” He invited the students to “Join us. We are going down to the Eaton Centre and we’re going to let these people know that we are going to contribute to the global campaign against the incoming massacre.” But according to one chemistry student, “this class is too hard to miss.”
Students Against the Sanctions and the War on Iraq (SASWI) were the organizers of the march. Claire, from SASWI said: “there needs to be a mechanism for Iraqis themselves to choose their own government and choose who’s going to be in control and what they’re going to do in their own country.”
Ahmar, a student who was passing by, commented, “there weren’t a lot of people but they were making a lot of noise.” He is against the war but “was not tempted to leave class today.”
The air rang out with drums and a number of slogans including some particularly catchy and unique ones like “More booty, less bombs. Peace is sexy, tell your mom.”
Marchers were frustrated in their plans to enter the Munk Centre, as they had with the other buildings, when the doors were locked on them. Access to the building’s Graham Library was also denied ,although many people showed they had their library cards with them. This lockout was ironic, said Alex Kerner, because the Centre was chosen as the meeting place due to events in “the mid 90s when Peter Munk… gave a huge donation to build this building and that played a major role in convincing this University to grant an honorary degree in 1997 to Geoge Bush,” the current U.S. President’s father. Students and faculty members had rallied in protest “to giving a degree to a murderer like George Bush.”
After hearing from student speakers and members of faculty outside the Munk Centre, the demonstration moved off campus and down University Ave. where it was joined by students from York University. The destination was Dundas Square where there was singing, dancing and more speeches. Student bodies from Ryerson and George Brown were also in attendance. The media was out in force and the demonstration also drew a large crowd of onlookers. Many motorists honked in solidarity.
The excitement and passion of commitment to peace proved more powerful than the chill of snow when a group of students lay in Nathan Phillips Square to form a giant peace symbol.
