By Alice Woodward, Chicago World Can’t Wait
On October 5th the
presence of students and younger generations was strong. I talked with many of the high school and
college students that attended the Chicago demonstration and march; a University
Chicago Laboratory students, which is a progressive private high school, a
student from the Depaul Theater conservatory, youth from Cabrini Green who
attends Chicago state, and was at the front of the march with some friends
playing drums and calling on others to join in. There are voices of a Graduate
student in International Law at University
of London and a youth from Humboldt Park that joined hundreds of students
representing dozens of schools.
People spoke earnestly about what’s compelling them to act
and what’s holding others back. They
were assessing who was there and who wasn’t. Like many others out on the 5th,
they were thinking about what’s needed here and in the world, to stop where the
Bush Regime is taking things.
“It seems like a lot
of people are really upset about the Bush Regime themselves, they talk about it
in their homes and stuff, but no one’s actually coming out and really showing
the government and the other public how upset we are with the government at
this point and how we need change and that its not acceptable. And this
whole like trying to wait out Bush, until he’s done, because ya know “after his
eight years are up,” is not okay. Because we have to show people that
when presidents come in and try and take away civil liberties and commit
travesties on our American people we need to show them that its not okay, and
we really, really care a lot about this, and we’re going to try and stop it,
and being complacent is the most dangerous thing in the government. “Depaul University
Student
“I mean personally
we’re just disgusted with everything going on, specifically with torture and
everything that’s already been mentioned. And we just think it’s
completely outrageous that its going on without being noticed and we want to
change this, and we just feel like we’re doing our part.” Student from
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
“My parents didn’t
want me to go because they didn’t want me to miss classes, but I felt that I
didn’t have a choice. I feel like, especially my parents, my parents are
very liberal, that if their going to send me to a school that preaches
democracy and then not let me actually participate in something that I really
stand for… If they hadn’t given me permission, which they ended up
doing, I would have came anyway.” High School student from University
of Chicago Laboratory Schools
“I feel like the
things that we stress about every day are nothing compared to what’s going on
in Iraq and what’s going on overseas, and for me to be selfish and say, oh I
have to take this test, is unreasonable, and we should be here protesting.
” High School Student from University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
“We wanted to support
the Drive Bush Out Campaign, we wanted to ya know do whatever we could by
getting him out of office, we did it with Nixon, we can do it with Bush, I’m
one number, ya know If numbers mean power, than so be it, I came ya know.” Chicago State student from Cabrini Green
Some of the students who’d taken responsibility to build for
the 5th and organize and struggle with others, shared
their experience.
“I got a flier maybe
a week ago, I looked it up on line, and I went to the Hyde park area to find
where they gave out fliers and stickers and I brought 500 to our school and I
distributed them and we just told everyone to put it on our face book, we put
it on our away messages, I put them on the wind shields of cars, I brought them
into my parents work, we handed them out.” University of Chicago Laboratory
Schools
“I struggled with a
lot of people because I asked them to come and a lot of people didn’t want to
walk out on school or their work or anything, they didn’t think that this was
more important than that, they didn’t want to really show that and a lot of
people saying that they feel like they just want to wait Bush out now.
Its not that the world can’t wait its that the world is waiting, and that’s
what a lot of people are doing, they’re waiting for Bush to leave.” Depaul University
Student
“We have a lot of
people that came, but we also have a lot of people that didn’t come, and the
people are saying they wanna see Bush out ya know. We got the police over
there every day [in Cabrini Green]. Like the police you see down here
crowded, we see this everyday. And I know if Bush wasn’t in office it
wouldn’t happen. Ya know every time I turn on the news I’m seeing
somebody from Illinois
that died in the war, and its time for it to stop. He had no business
going over there in the first place, he’s a bully, its all about oil, its all
about him, he doesn’t care if people die, he just wanna send as many troops as
he can. Its time to stop and this could be the beginning of it. The
beginning of a new movement.” Chicago
State Student from
Cabrini Green
I asked some of them to talk about what’s needed to have a
movement that can actually Drive Out the Regime, and to address those who have
not yet come out into the streets.
“The way I interpret the message is Bush is a symbol
for continued institutionalization of certain values that are against America
history and the constitution, and my personal opinions for one, and its that we
have to force out so what I think will be necessary to drive that institutionalized
negative self interested value out of government in America is popular
resistance but also a dramatic change in the way that academics, and legal
professionals and a lot of students and the baby boomer generation in
particular in the ways they speak out. Ya know if they can get their voices
heard and not just watch it on tv that would be the ultimate goal,
especially if they can get into the media, and sort of break that “police
line” break the “picket line” of the media, I think would be
important. We need more wealthy people, we need more educated people, we need more
black people out here, why am I holding up this like, Spanish sign? I think we
should say Si se peude, it would be great to get the immigration movement out
here. “-Graduate student in International Law at University of London,
who decided on the 5th to come out, when
someone handed her a flier at the CTA stop.
“I would just say that its unacceptable to just like
watch MTV and not care what’s going on in the world and joke about not voting and not really knowing anything about
politics because basically, even though its sort of a cliché, people say it all
the time- we are the future.” Student from University of Chicago Laboratory
Schools
“Well, my name’s
Antonio, and I just want to say that there should be more of us supporting
this, because all of us are the force and all of us are the power to change
things or to get anything started. That’s it, thanks.” Latino youth from Humboldt Park