Very quick report from Tucson WCW:
⢠High School students walk-out, join in, kick ass.
⢠ROTC building occupied by some protesters.
We had a rally at noon at the University of Arizona campus. We had a large sound system that we set up right in front of the admin building. Altogether, with people who stopped for a little while included, there were 3-400 there at one time or another. Quite big for UA.
One highlight was the participation of high school students. About fifty students from two high schools walked out and marched the couple miles to campus. It was so thrilling being at the rally and hearing them from hundreds of yards away, chanting ‘hey hey ho ho, the Bush Regime has got to go’! Interestingly, it was almost all girls, only a few boys. They had banners and signs they’d made, including one covered with tombstones, saying things like ‘human rights,’ ‘constitution,’ choice’ etc.
Four HS students came up on stage and read – no, yelled – the Call, particularly when the attacks on choice came up. They really got the crowd going. The high school students were the most enthusiastic, yelling affirmations to the speakers, doing chants, etc. We had different people give short presentations on the different ‘your governments’ – a biology professor on the attacks on science, a poet who talked about her experience talking with a young neo-fascist in Italy 30 years ago, etc.
The campus media was there. There’ll be a story in the paper tomorrow. Everyone I’ve talked to said it was an exciting and inspiring event.
The other great highlight is that at the end, a few dozen students, both HS and college, decided to occupy the ROTC building. So they marched across campus to it, went right in, sat in the middle of it and started chanting. Quickly police and administration officials showed up. WCW people debated some of the ROTC people about the war – until their superior officers told them to shut up, and even to not listen. WCW demanded to meet with the commanding officer, who did come out. The introduction of the Call was read to him, then the whole thing was presented to him. He was asked to read it and think seriously about it. Then they all marched out.
Now we’re planning for the evening street actions and our cultural event. A report on that – and a fuller report of the day as a whole will come later, probably tomorrow.
From the Arizona Daily Wildcat:
Sitting In On Democracy: Students protest Bush speech
By Stephanie Hall and Devin Walker
Students staged a sit-in in the ROTC building following the ‘World can’t Wait’ protest in the Alumni Plaza yesterday.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
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UA students were nearly arrested yesterday after staging a sit-in in the ROTC building to protest the war in Iraq, the military recruitment of young people and President Bush’s State of the Union address.
Students, alumni and members of The World Can’t Wait left their anti-war rally on the UA Mall to march to the ROTC building and sit on the lobby floor with their arms locked.
Gabriel Matthew Schivone, an undeclared freshmen and member of The World Can’t Wait, watched as police surrounded the building, declaring it a “crime scene.” He said he was worried his friends would be arrested.
“I understand why they’re doing it,” he said. “But I’m personally just worried about a few friends.”
University of Arizona Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eugene Mejia said the police response was necessary in case the group became violent.
“We have to anticipate the worst-case scenario,” he said. “Until we can assess the situation, we don’t know.”
No arrests were made as the protesters peacefully walked out the front of the building after about a half hour.
Mejia said the group most likely chose the ROTC building because it houses military training.
Ensign Adam Wiseman, who was in the building when the protesters arrived, said they didn’t bother him once they stopped chanting.
“They have every right to protest,” Wiseman said. “I, as a man in a uniform, will fight to protect that right.”
The group used the rally to get people more involved in the movement to protest the Bush administration and the State of the Union address, said Greg Knehans, a spokesperson for The World Can’t Wait.
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As the group reached the Alumni Plaza at noon, the chanting grew louder before anti-Bush speeches were given by UA students, high school students and members of the UA Chapter of Refuse and Resist.
“What we’re trying to do is take the next step in building a movement that transforms a political train in this country,” Knehans said. “We are opposing the whole regime and what they are doing.”
UA students involved in the rally held signs and banners criticizing Bush while listening to the protest speeches.
“A lot of people feel like they’re the only ones (against Bush) or that there are not that many people,” said Alyssa Hoyt, a studio arts freshman. “It’s nice for all of us to come together and talk about what’s going on.”
Hoyt said the sit-in was a spontaneous result of the inspiring rally, and that the protest called for an end to the war and questioned why students join the ROTC.
“The young tend to enlist because they’ll pay for your education. We want to tell them there are other ways,” Hoyt said.
The group wants to reach the people who are against Bush but are reluctant to join an organization whose goal is seemingly unattainable, Hoyt said.
David Marshall, who came from the rally and watched the sit-in from the street, said he has nothing against anyone in ROTC, but he supported the protest as a symbol “against our militaristic society.”
Although the majority of participants agreed with the rally, many bystanders did not see eye to eye with the organization.
“What are they trying to accomplish?” said Nicholas Hart, an anthropology sophomore and self-described conservative. “They have every right to do this, but if he deserved to be impeached then they’d impeach him. I just don’t see their point of view.”
During the speech, several students yelled at the speakers and booed the group’s rally.
“All students have a right to protest issues,” said Veda Kowalski, associate dean of students. “I applaud them for having passion, but not at the expense of disrupting a university.”
After the rally, the group packed up and headed to Skrappy’s, 201 E. Broadway, to design banners for a World Can’t Wait caravan that drove around Tucson.
Refuse and Resist is affiliated with The World Can’t Wait, a nationwide organization that opposes the current White House administration.
-Claire C. Laurence contributed to this report