At Sonoma State University outside San Fransisco, students organized a 5-day “encampment for peace,” which culminated in a 5-hour protest and strike which drew upwards of 300 students on February 15th. The “Mission of a Generation: Stop the War, Drive Out the Bush Regime” speaking tour had been to this campus a couple weeks before the strike, and the character of what happened at SSU on February 15th was influenced by it: banners and signs calling for impeachment and calling out the crimes of the Bush regime dotted the landscape, and a mellow but strong spirit of defiance permeated the air.
There was a festive atmosphere and sunny, warm weather, as “hoola-hoopers for peace” mingled with students dropping by to check out the scene and those who held signs or banners, tired after spending several nights in the tents and lean-to’s that dotted the scene of the protest. As speakers spoke mostly about the war, there was an atmosphere in the air of talking about what to do about the war and the Bush regime, and the question of whether Bush could or should be impeached came up in discussions going on among participants at the rally, with some saying they didn’t think it would be possible, and a challenge coming back to them from others that we are complicit in these crimes if we don’t take meaningful action to stop them, and that they can only be stopped if we step out and challenge people to act to drive out the regime.