CHAPEL HILL — Students, parents and concerned community members met at UNC-Chapel Hill Monday afternoon in an anti-war protest demonstration.
About 40 members from Students for a Democratic Society, along with other political groups, marched from the “Quad” on the UNC-CH campus to the new Army Recruiting Center, located 1502 E. Franklin St.
The group joined together in shouting anti-war chants as it made its way two miles down Chapel Hill’s main road. “Out of Iraq, out of our schools,” and “No blood for oil, U.S. out of Iraqi soil” were two of the group’s main messages.
Two N.C. State students were there to protest with SDS. John Anagnost, a senior in political science, and Dante Strobino, a graduate student in electrical engineering, were among the many voices.
“Modern military recruiting is racist,” Strobino said. “They prey on economically disadvantaged people to join the military.”
According to Anagnost, campus organizations like SDS are losing interest among students. While neither Anagnost or Strobino think NCSU could maintain its own chapter, they said they feel someone will speak up.
“The message is, no matter how many recruiting stations they build, there will always be an opposition,” Anagnost said.
Ben Carrol, the Chapter Secretary of the newly-formed SDS, led the group in speeches given in front of the Army Recruiting Center.
The group wasn’t without resistance, though. A local group of veterans were waiting in front of the recruiting center to show their support of the U.S. military and recruiting efforts.
“I guess these kids have nothing else better to do than be anti-establishment,” Jesse Torres, a Vietnam veteran, said.
Torres, who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967, joined five other veterans and one citizen in the counter-demonstration.
One of the counter-demonstrators was escorted away from the group when he shouted profanities and screamed at peace supporters. Police officers on-site declined to comment.
However, not all of the protesters were students. One local businessman and 15-year resident of Chapel Hill, Robin Helweg-Larson, joined in the anti-war demonstration.
“More pressure is good,” Helweg-Larson said. “If people constantly show up and voice that they are dissatisfied with certain policies, eventually change is inevitable.”
The Chapel Hill chapter of the SDS is one of several across the country. The program is known for supporting peaceful anti-war movements and participatory democracy. Founded in 1905 as the League for Industrial Society, SDS has seen a fair share of political history.
Many veteran protesters who participated in SDS in the 1960s are helping restart the organization, which has been dormant since the civil rights and anti-war movements of that decade.
The futures of the Iraq war and SDS are uncertain. According to Anagnost, if history repeats its course, there will always be war, and there will always be a movement against it.
