Protesters take to the Green

Armed with speakers, signs and a microphone, about two dozen anti-war protesters held their second rally in as many days yesterday on College Green. The activists filled the afternoon air with calls for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, increased racial sensitivity and an increase in aid for various health and human services. In a much calmer atmosphere than Wednesday night's march around campus and through Center City, the protest group, which does not have a name for its organization, voiced their concerns that the Persian Gulf war may drive the United States into economic and political ruin. Among the speakers was a representative from the Uhuru Solidarity Party, who called for an end to the "hypocrisy" of the Bush administration. She said Bush practices injustice against black Americans, but preaches about the morality of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Members of one student peace group distributed fliers calling the war a fight for "Bush's friends - playboys, gamblers and sheiks." Students walking past the green had mixed reactions to the rally. "These people don't understand that there's only one way to deal with an assassin," Wharton freshman Brian Gustason said. "You have to force him out." Several students said they felt that the protestors were merely putting on a show, rather than voicing a political agenda. "It seems they're doing this more as radicals than to present any political agenda . . . it's a far too simplistic view," added passer-by sophomore Seth Notes. Anti-war protest organizer Nancy Brooks said she just wanted to "bring as many students as possible into the peace movement." "We're happy at the turnout," she added. Uhuru Solidarity Party representative Judith Weinacht added that "we understand that the United States is in the Middle East to protect their oil, when it should be returned to the Arabs." The rally, held between noon and about 1:30, featured an open microphone with which members of the audience voiced their objections to the war. "This [rally] is relatively small and it won't stop the war, but had we not been out here it would have been making a bigger statement," said poster-carrying College senior Dean Campbell. Students promised to continue their vocal opposition to the war and dispersed after almost two hours of speeches, leaving local dancer Kathy Chang performing outside Van Pelt Library. Clad in a tie-dye shirt, Chang carried a flag proclaiming "Peace, Liberty, Ecology, Democracy, and Justice." "I'm trying to persuade these students to take the tools they have in their hands to start building a whole new society," she said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.