Students walk out of class to have their voices heard.
Anyone who visits the front page of MichaelMoore.com can see just how huge of an event the Rutgers Walkout was this Thursday. I saw between 600-800 people come out to the rally/march on Voorhees Mall to show their support for the troops and their opposition to the occupation of Iraq.
At the rally Gold Star mother for peace Sue Niederer, who tragically lost her son in the war, expressed her support for presidential candidate Barrack Obama. She praised Obama for inspiring young people everywhere to get involved in activism, which is a very good thing. Iraq Veteran Against the War (IVAW) member and Iraq vet Kristofer Goldsmith also expressed the wish that students vote for Obama this year over more hawkish candidates, although he also expressed reservations about Obama’s votes to continue funding the war.
After the rally we marched around campus, going through the downtown area of George Street to eventually reach the Exxon gas station for an impromptu sit-in with the banner "Arrest Exxon" unfurled. There Rutgers student and Tent State University/Students For a Democratic Society (website: tentstate.com) member Erik Straub took the megaphone and made the excellent point that the people who start wars aren’t the ones fighting them, it’s oil companies like Exxon who help create U.S. foreign policy by contributing millions of dollars to pro-war think tanks and politicians.
Upon reaching Douglass campus a democratic decision was made about what to do next: take Route 18! Shouting "whose streets, our streets!" we marched in traffic lanes with a police escort (much appreciated) and got many peace signs and supportive honks, although you can’t make everyone happy.
We got back to the rally starting point afterwards in order to have a speak-out with participants of the march and also make announcements. Unlike many protests I have attended, the march did not end without giving people something to do afterwards. The ward campaign for democracy in New Brunswick was announced (website: empowernb.com) which if successful will give city residents neighborhood-based representation instead of the current at-large system that is designed to allow the corrupt city machine run unopposed year after year.
If I haven’t made it clear enough: everything turned out really well and a lot of kids who have never been to a protest before really felt empowered by the experience. Apathy is a myth, people care they just need the right outlet to show it.