October 4, 2005
The
antiwar movement is back. The quarter-million marching past the White
House on September 24 heralded its reemergence, and none too soon. For
those of us on campuses, it was particularly gratifying to see evidence
of the national student movement that is beginning to cohere -- with
"College Not Combat, Relief Not War" contingents organized by the
Campus Antiwar Network bringing together 2,000 students at the DC march
and hundreds in San Francisco.
This
student movement is significant, because it is students who are
targeted daily by military recruiters asking us to leave school and
become the next round of cannon fodder in a war most of us oppose. And
it is the rising opposition to war among young people, and the
grassroots counter-recruitment movement that began to take shape on
campuses last spring, that has put the Army in its worst recruiting
slump since 1979.
And
yet events of the last week make it clear that students' right to
dissent from the war, and from the recruitment taking place on our
campuses, remains in question. At three different colleges in the last
week -- Holyoke Community College, George Mason University, and
UW-Madison -- students engaging in peaceful counter-recruitment were
met with police repression. At Holyoke and George Mason, students face
ongoing charges from the school or the state. The ability of the
student movement to grow, and to continue to challenge our schools'
role in recruiting for the war, will depend on our defending our own
right to dissent.
Holyoke Community College
On
Thursday, September 29, 30 Holyoke Community College (HCC) students
engaged in a peaceful picket of the Army National Guard recruiting
table in the school's cafeteria, organized by the HCC Anti-War
Coalition, a chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network.
The
police assault began after Peter Mascaro, the head of campus security,
snatched a homemade sign reading "Cops are hypocrites" from a student's
hands, calling it "inappropriate." Officer Scott Landry then grabbed
the student and, joined by three other officers, lifted him off the
ground and assaulted him. When other students came to his defense,
Landry then grabbed another student, Charles Peterson -- who witnesses
describe as playing a moderating role throughout the protest -- put him
in a headlock, and sprayed mace in his face. Around 20 state police
armed in riot gear and gas masks then arrived in the cafeteria. When
one student tried to leave, he found 10 to 15 police officers pointing
their guns at him. Only with difficulty were the protesters able to
peaceably disperse. (Pictures of this protest are available at Campus Antiwar Network)
The
next day, Charles Peterson was visited at home by two members of the
state police, who informed him that he is indefinitely banned from
campus, and will be arrested for trespassing if he sets foot on HCC. In
violation of the school's own rules, Charles has been denied any due
process, and has not even been given the ability to speak to
administrators about the charges against him. Since Charles -- in
addition to being a model student at HCC, holding the James Taylor
Award for Excellence in Philosophy and serving as the Vice President
for Academic Affairs on the Student Senate -- is also employed at the
school, this creates a financial hardship for him as well.
The
assault on student protesters and the administration's banning of
Charles Peterson occurs in the context of an organized and confident
right wing on the extremely polarized HCC campus. Officer Scott Landry,
who led the assault on the students, is also the advisor to the College
Republicans. While the assault was taking place, those College
Republicans lined up behind the police to cheer on the attack. Last
year, the same group led a campaign of harassment and sexist
intimidation against then-president of the HCC Student Senate, Angela
Greany, after she passed a resolution opposing military recruitment on
campus. In the climate created by this group, many students who had
participated in Thursday's protest decided not to attend their classes
on Friday for fear of harassment from right-wing students.
George Mason University
On
the same day as the assault on HCC's protesters -- Thursday, September
29 -- Tariq Khan was assaulted and arrested by police at his school,
George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia. Tariq, a Pakistani-American
who himself served in the U.S. Air Force, stood near a Marine
recruiting table at his school wearing signs that said "Recruiters tell
lies. Don't be fooled" and "U.S. out of Iraq, Israel out of Palestine,
U.S. out of North America."
Three
right-wing students quickly surrounded Tariq, yelling at him and
ripping one of the signs from his shirt. One of them, who claimed to be
a veteran of the Iraq war, said he could not wait to return and kill
more Iraqis. School administrators then arrived to question Tariq,
followed by officer T.L. Reynolds, who threw Tariq on the ground and
put him in a choke-hold.
According
to GMU student David Curtis, who witnessed the entire sequence of
events, as Tariq's eyes were watering and his face turning red, he
struggled to keep saying that he was not being violent and was being
attacked for no reason. Officer Reynolds picked him up from behind,
slammed him into a stage (cutting his face), and threw him back on the
ground, choking him once again. Two students (including one who had
been harassing Tariq) and a non-security campus employee then assisted
Reynolds in violently handcuffing Tariq. Police dragged him to a police
car and threatened him with pepper spray. Throughout this experience,
Tariq Khan repeatedly stated his own non-violence and innocence. (David
Curtis's detailed account is available at Campus Antiwar Network)
Despite
requests for medical treatment and a lawyer, Tariq received neither,
and was taken to the Fairfax Adult Detention Center, where he was
charged with trespassing (on his own campus), resisting arrest, and
disorderly conduct. His treatment throughout echoes the racism of the
U.S. treatment of Arab prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. As Tariq
relayed to me, Officer Reynolds justified handcuffing Tariq by telling
him, "I didn't know who you were, and what with 9/11 and everything,
there's no telling what you would do." Another officer chimed in, "You
people are the most violent people in the world. You're passive
aggressive!" Officer Reynolds then warned Tariq to keep his mouth shut
and avoid looking at anyone, because if he so much as looked at an
officer wrong, they would "hang you from the ceiling by your feet."
We will not be intimidated
The
day before the assaults at HCC and GMU, 25 students at the University
of Wisconsin at Madison were threatened with arrest if they continued
to peacefully protest military and CIA recruiters at their school's
career fair -- even though no police officer or administrator was able
to show them a campus rule they were violating. It is clear that HCC
and GMU are not anomalies. Campus administrators and right-wing forces
on campus watched the counter-recruitment movement take off last
spring, and they are determined not to allow their schools to become
the sites of the new movement against military recruiters.
But
no amount of repression can disguise a fundamental shift that has taken
place in U.S. politics over the past few months. Cindy Sheehan's stand
in Crawford ignited a sense among the antiwar majority that something
can be done -- and the callousness of the government's response to
Hurricane Katrina helped show why it must be. As hundreds of thousands
marched in DC, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that 23% of Americans
consider themselves part of the antiwar movement. For the first time in
years, it is supporters of the war, not its opponents, who are on the
defensive.
Our
movement needs to defend students whose academic status, financial
security, and physical safety are threatened by campus administrators
and police. The HCC and GMU administrations were banking that no one
would care what they did to their students. The over 700 phone calls of
complaint HCC has already received -- and the statements of support
that have poured in, from people ranging from Cindy Sheehan to other
students who have faced similar repression -- show how wrong they were.
This is the time to stand up for our freedom of dissent -- because
we're right to oppose the war, right to oppose recruitment in our
schools, and now, most people know it.
Call the HCC, GMU and UW-Madison administrations and let them know what you think:
HCC President William Messner: (413) 552-2222
HCC Campus Police Officer/College Republicans Advisor Scott Landry: (413) 552-2048
GMU President Alan Merton: (703) 993-8700
UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley: (608) 262-9946
For more information or updates on the defense campaigns at all three schools, see Campus Antiwar Network
_____________________________________
Elizabeth
Wrigley-Field is a student at NYU and a member of the Campus Antiwar
Network who writes frequently on counter-recruitment. Email her at wrigleyfield@nyu.edu