Rally held from 12 Noon till 3:00 PM at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ by the central New Jersey chapter of World Can’t Wait.
Local hip-hop/rap artists, Solidarity singers, folk singers
performed as well as prerecorded music from “Hard Truth Soldier”
Paris & other artists album. Speakers from various local groups that work
on issues like the antiwar movement, poverty, education funding, &
immigration rights.
At least 300 people stopped & stood there for more than
5-10 minutes. The largest crowd we had at any one point standing at the rally
point was close to 100 people. This is not counting the people at the bus
stations within 50 yards of us, or those at the food court we were across the
street from, or students rushing past to their next class.
We gave out over 500 leaflets from the World Can’t Wait. We got
50 people to sign up for more involvement & information.
We had a really great sound system thanks to one of the
hip-hop artists “Born Wreckless”. The younger performers did a great
job. The music helped to draw a crowd. The Statement from the World Can’t Wait
was read twice, in the beginning & at the end of the rally. It was read by
Mary Zink. Leo read the WCW information on torture. Mike from Iraq Veterans Against
the War did a great job of speaking. Rita & friends from Casa Freehold also
gave great speeches on immigration issues. Carol Alan from Coalition for Peace
Action here in NJ spoke. POP was suppose to speak but their speaker got held up
so Mary Zink mentioned the good work POP was doing locally & around Katrina
victims. We also announced our next meeting & invited all to join us.
Overall it was a successful rally. We were the 3rd rally in
a row at Rutgers at Brower commons.
Considering the turn outs at the previous two rallies & my experience
working with student groups at the college this was a very successful rally.
Considering we had only 3 weeks, 7 adults (none of which were students at this
college), who had never done anything like this before it was not only
successful but empowering!
The media coverage was basically non existing. Prior to the
event the school newspaper the Targum did run a really great story on what we
were planning & why. The local Rutgers TV did come after the crowd left
& interviewed people but I do question why they waited till after the rally
ended. WBAI interviewed several participants & organizers.
The bulk of the participants were young adults. Many local
middle aged activists & members of other organizations as well as fans of
those performing also came.
Many expressed: “What’s next?” The young adults
are tired of protests & rallies that never seem to obtain the goals behind
the rallies & they seem eager to know what else can be done. They are looking
for direction & guidance.
We have set a follow up meeting in the same area for
Thursday, October 12th at the Rutgers Latino Center 122 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ at 7
PM. Hopefully there will be more student involvement.