Anti-war students motivated to march

Christine Carrillo

Students on Wednesday waved picket signs bearing such anti-war

sentiments as “Social Welfare Not Warfare” and “Drop Bush, Not Bombs”

to express disgust with the U.S. government’s stance against Iraq.

They did so not to impede the educational process at UC Irvine,

but to educate the university’s students about the controversial

issue, organizers said.

With the words of President Bush’s State of the Union and the

United Nations address given by Secretary of State Colin Powell on

Wednesday morning still lingering in their minds, various groups at

UCI felt the timing to express their sentiments was perfect.

“The idea is to get the people a little more motivated ... and

right now the ideas are fresh in their heads,” said senior Fareeha

Kibriya, one of the organizers of the afternoon protest. “There’s a

very apathetic atmosphere here, but people need to know that what

they hear from the press ... and good old Bush isn’t always true.

There’s always a motive behind it.”

As a woman of Pakistani descent, Kibriya said she has developed an

interest in such international issues because of personal

experiences. In a post-Sept. 11 world, Kibriya felt the negative

effects of racial profiling against the Middle Eastern community and

decided that the best recourse was education.

“Anytime you take a strong stance on anything, you’re going to get

the backlash from it,” said the member of the Muslim Student Union

and the Campus Progressive Alliance, two of the groups that helped

organize the event. “These are students and they are here to learn.”

Most student’s believe that the university has allowed them that

opportunity by neither hindering nor aiding students’ right to free

speech and their choice to use the campus as a platform to express

their opinions.

“It affects everyone. It affects every single person,” said senior

Q Bao Ngyen, who incited the “War on Iraq, not in our name” chant and

led an enthusiastic march through an administration building on

campus. “We’re trying to bring students together and create dialogue

on campus. We do not support our government on this ... and our

university can’t censor our dissent.”

Even those students that disagree with the sentiment being

expressed appreciate their right to do so.

“It’s their right to protest ... and it’s fine as long as they

don’t impede my education,” said senior Mike Truex, who supports the

possibility of a war on Iraq. “For the last 12 years, Iraq has defied

U.N. resolutions. In not complying, [Saddam Hussein] is obviously

accruing weapons of mass destruction. It’s just gotten out of hand.”

Although groups of students gathered to show their support against

a war on Iraq, many others, who refused to take a stance either way,

decided to walk on by and spend their time away from class listening

to the music of a band performing just feet away.

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.