‘Peace’ advocates intimidate campus

Arizona Daily WildcatBy Erik Flesch Friday March 28, 2003

What do the UA Young Socialists, Students Against Sweatshops, the Alliance for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Refuse and Resist, Beyond Tolerance, Heatwave and a motley group of campus pacifists all have in common? Contempt for the absolutism of reason, the inalienable morality of individual happiness, and the defense of intellectual and political liberty — in short, contempt for the founding principles of America’s capitalist social system.

Though the style and particular emphasis of these UA organizations vary — for example, on whether armed revolution is the means to dismantle the U.S. capitalist establishment (Heatwave), or if rallying the public around “labor rights” is sufficient (SAS) — their hatred for the war has brought these squadrons together in a united “24-hour anti-war Infoshop,” an anti-war sit-in of sorts disguised as an “information center,” here at the UA.

Members of these groups mobilized Monday and moved in to occupy three study rooms on the fourth floor of the Main Library, where they vow to squat until further notice. Security guards who intended to toss them out threw up their hands when the members threatened to call the media. (They would prefer, but have thus far been prohibited from, holding this continuous occupation on the UA Mall. Rachel Wilson of SAS revealed to me yesterday, however, that their ACLU lawyer may be able to score the location for them later this week.)

They also have received extraordinarily over-generous special permission by Vita Kowalski, our dean of students, to protest outside Speaker’s Corner — the area in the center of the Mall set aside for such public forums — with an imposingly amplified open mic right on the steps of the Administration building every day from noon to 1 p.m.

They are protesting the U.S.- and British-led campaign to topple the totalitarian regime of Saddam Hussein, a butcher who ordered munitions be concealed in heavily populated areas to deter Western forces — who Saddam knows are loath to put civilians in harm’s way — from disarming his regime and ending its reign of terror. The Arizona Daily Wildcat reported Wednesday that, according to one protester, “The original goal (of the demonstration) was to show solidarity with the people who are dying in Iraq.” But since Greg Knehans of Refuse and Resist stressed that “everyone is actively against Saddam Hussein,” I think it is fair to ask: Just exactly who, then, are these Iraqis being targeted by coalition troops with whom these protesters stand in solidarity? Erik Flesch

By default, they stand in solidarity with the Saddam Fedayeen — Iraq’s paramilitary “secret police” who torture Iraqi citizens who dare to criticize their dictator, and who dress in U.S. military uniforms only to slaughter any fellow countrymen who attempt to surrender to them or try to flee their city. Reports Thursday indicate these Fedayeen thugs are kidnapping children from their homes and holding them hostage to force their parents to fight for Saddam.

They stand in solidarity with Saddam’s Republican Guard, who are lining up women and children ahead of their units as human shields, who shoot at coalition troops while waving the white flag, and who film and release to state-owned propaganda television for broadcast throughout Arabic nations the execution and humiliation of prisoners of war.

They stand in solidarity with militant Islamic radicals whom Iraq calls brothers, and who demand the destruction of the state of Israel and the extermination of Jewish people — which they call Palestinian liberation.

They stand in solidarity with Saddam’s role model, Josef Stalin — the Soviet dictator who forced the collectivization of agriculture and industry, attempted to eradicate by force the separate identities of his nation’s minorities, invaded neighboring countries, and maintained absolute power through a powerful secret police, informers, mass deportations and executions.

They stand in solidarity against the United States with Saddam and his political allies in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Syria and other socialist nations who advocate and orchestrate the nationalization of private property — starting with foreign-owned businesses and any other money-making ventures created by productive, rational men and women — and the forced labor of its citizens according to the orders of its ruling party.

Consistent with the collective-rallying tactics of the regimes they are defending, this union of UA anti-war activists has chosen to coerce students into listening to them via a pseudo-blockade of library study rooms and the entrance to the Administration building and the brute physical intimidation of mob gatherings.

By such means, these so-called peace protesters show their contempt for the individual rational mind, which requires the freedom to weigh the evidence without such obnoxious intimidation.

And Dean Kowalski et al. have not defended the interests of students by closing their eyes to such violations of campus rules.

Erik Flesch is a geosciences junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu