Give peace a chance
St. Michael's students protest the war

Mary Cate Connors | fact checker

Five St. Michael's College students joined the ranks of 300 Vermonters in a call for an end to the war in Iraq during an Oct. 27 peace rally in Boston, Mass.

The rally was a part of a National Day of Action sponsored by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 1300 local and national anti-war groups, that brought together 100,000 activists in 11 U.S. cities.

St. Michael’s students for peace

Four St. Michael’s students and one alumna made the trip to Boston for the rally to represent the peace and justice club, says junior Dan Hock, who heard about the trip through a mass e-mail.

At the anti-war rally in Boston on Oct. 27. Photo courtesy of Kelly Bellis

“I jumped at the opportunity because I haven’t been outspoken enough about the war this year,” he says.

Hock and the others met in front of Alliot at 5 a.m. that Saturday, where they shared a cab down to the Pine Street bus station in Burlington. The bus to Boston, which was organized by the Vermont Peace and Justice Center, runs completely on biodiesel, Hock says.

“We were going [to Boston] to protest the war,” Hock says. “We weren’t going to support it that morning.”

When the group arrived at the rally, they walked through the Boston Common where they encountered tables featuring socialists, communists, animal rights activists and other assorted representatives, Hock says.

Hock and the St. Michael’s group marched with members of the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN). The group of college students carried signs and chanted demands through the streets of Boston.

“I tried to start [the chant] ‘Exxon Mobil, B.P. Shell, take your war and go to hell,’” he says.

Issues raised at the rally included pulling all of the troops out of Iraq, cutting funds for the war, and not invading Iran.

“Personally, I stand for everything that we were marching for,” Hock says.

Despite the large number of people that turned out in support for the march, opposition was present as well. But Hock’s biggest problem was with the lack of mainstream media coverage, he says.  

“I don’t even think there was an article in the Free Press,” Hock says.

Vermonters everywhere!

Wendy Coe, office manager of the Peace and Justice Center in Vermont, coordinated the biodiesel bus to Boston.

“I’ve been setting up buses for decades to go to anti-war rallies,” she says. “It’s just one of the things we do.”

To get the word out about the rally, the center sent out e-mails, action alerts and posted notices about the event on its Web site and in its newsletter, Coe says.

Author and historian Howard Zinn spoke at the rally. Click on the photo above to view a video of Zinn's speech. Photo courtesy of Kelly Bellis

The Peace and Justice Center paid for the bus and then divided the total cost by the number of seats. The Oct. 27 buses sold out in both the Burlington and central Vermont locations, each taking 57 activists.

With the University of Vermont sending three vans and other Vermont organizations taking members, Coe estimates that about 300 Vermonters were present at the rally. 

Coe says the highlights of the day were author and historian Howard Zinn, a performance group called Triiibe that stood completely still in front of thousands of people, and the large number of Vermonters that turned out.

“Vermonters have a habit of putting ‘Vermont’ on their signs or buttons, they are really good at identifying themselves,” Coe says. “Every time that I turned around, I saw Vermonters.”

A New England network

The rally in Boston was coordinated by New England United, a group of peace and anti-war organizations from around the New England area. Boston’s demonstration attracted 10,000 protesters and was part of a national mobilization.

The performance group Triiibe stands like statues of a mother, a soldier and an Iraqi civilian. Photo courtesy of Kelly Bellis

Susan Lees, one of the organizers of the Boston rally, says members of Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace and New England United had been planning the event since August and connecting with each other through weekly conference calls.

The rally featured speakers, cultural performances, and ended with the march around Copley Square.

Lees spent most of the day working at the United for Peace and Justice tent, making sure protest signs were fastened and ready to go out in the march. She did get to see Zinn’s speech, however, and considers it one of the highlights of the day, she says.

Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States,” spoke to a large crowd at the Boston Common before the march. 

“It has always been up to the people themselves whether they want to secure peace and justice to work and act and struggle for it,” Zinn says. “And that’s what we are doing today.”

While the rally evaluations from each city haven’t been published yet, Lees says that the Boston rally achieved a lot of its objectives.

Lees says that the energy of the march, the connections that were made, and the large number of protesters under 30 are the most important things gained through the event.

“One of our goals from the beginning was to put together a more solid New England network,” Lees says, “and we achieved that.”