Teach In

[purezero]

My art teacher planned a teach in for today (Wednesday, March 5th) about the war and stuff. She has different speakers with different points of view coming in and talking about their positions about the war. I will keep you guys updated on what goes down.

[kitty]

Books not Bombs strike today! Don't go to class! Protest the war!

[purezero]

The walk-out is at 10 AM.

[purezero]

Alright, the first session is over. I'm about to head over to the second one. I should have brought a notebook and took notes. But in the end, I do not think that the panel was very diverse. All were of European descent (no other types of people up there). And only two people on the panel are pro-war. They bring up interesting points, but they talk about the same things. One of the speakers talks on the radio. So... naturally, he knew how to sway the crowd. I hope that I can get a video of it, somehow upload it online for you guys.

[purezero]

Not many AHS students walked out because they were at the teach-in, but there were many EHS students protesting in front of city hall. Some AHS students joined them during lunch, holding up signs saying things like "Honk for Peace" and "Make Bush Think."

‘Books, not bombs,’ students say. (http://msnbc.com/news/881151.asp)

Alright, I'm just going to post about what I heard. I went to three of the four sessions today. I didn't go to the last one mostly because they all seemed to repeat themselves and the first two sessions, I think, were the better of the three I saw.

As the second session rolled around, the points of views became more diverse (but I still would have liked to see other ethnic reps up there). And the format of the sessions should have been more debates than statements followed by a question and answer session. Seeing these people debate over this sensitive subject, providing proof and getting just plain passionate about the topic would have really made a larger impact on the students.

Be it, that these are not verbatim, but they are pretty much what was said. Some are really short because they read a lot of stuff and were just telling stories about their past or because during that first session, I didn't have my notebook with me. Sorry about that. And there were a few people at the fourth session I didn't go to.

I'll add in my responses about what they said at the end.

Jenni Carter - Chemical and Environmental Engineer - PRO-WAR
There are only two alternatives to this situation. One is that Saddam Hussein open up to disarm, eliminating his "weapons of mass destruction," however he is not going to disarm, and only reacts when the US shows force. Which leads to the second option of going to war. US should be the one to do this because the condition of ceasefire was not followed and the inspections were ineffective. It's like a giant Easter egg hunt. Telling 100 people to search for the eggs while 300 other people keep moving them around. Since 1998, the US was aware of what was going on, but did not do anything until now. All the US did was talk. It would be selfish to not take a stand.

Sandra Schwartz - American Friends Committee - ANTI-WAR
War is a sign of desperation. War is a dangerous idea. If we go to war, the rules of engagement are not followed. This is against international law. The US was not attacked and therefore does not need to take a stance of defense. Iraq has been disarmed. There was nothing found because there was nothing there. The whole world is against this war. If we do go to war, we are attacking an already devastated civilian country.

Gary Green - Worked in Desert Storm, currently an Airline pilot - PRO-WAR
We need to understand history to approach any decision. Everyone should read Why Don't We Learn From History by BH Liddell Hart. The object of history is to understand truth, about what happened and why it happened. There's also the negatives about history, the mistakes and the things we need to avoid. We should learn from the mistakes of others. Look at the past and apply our knowledge to future decisions.

Uda Walker - Middle East Children's Alliance - ANTI-WAR
This is a dangerous situation. Our president is for pre-emptive attack. Iraq is a country whose population consists of children, about half of the population is children. We need to understand that the US has opted for war 277 times in 200 years. The country would be violating international law with the use of "weapons of mass destruction." The US always points fingers at others but is not willing to allow the finger to be pointed at itself. "Weapons of mass destruction" destroys the infrastructure of the world. Chemicals exist in the air, in the water, in the land, and still exist there today from when the US bombed Iraq in '98. Education is necessary. We need to educate people about what is going on and how to make decisions.

Pete Hagberg - Attourney - PRO-WAR
We are in this situation today because of what happened on 9/11. Lessons of history show us the way. After WWI, the US did not join the League Of Nations. Around the mid-1930's, Hitler was in power and against the Versailles Treaty. The other countries did not do anything because the threat was not great enough. In the end, the threat was great enough, and what resulted was WWII. Saddam Hussein is in violation of the ceasefire, and it is up to the US to enforce it.

Reverend David Borglum - Christian Church in Alameda - ANTI-WAR
Rabbi Bennet - Temple Israel of Alameda - ANTI-WAR
This is not a choice between violence and non-violence. This is the choice between non-violence and non-existence. Since we were young, we have been taught that it is "good guys" versus "bad guys." Everyone is on a crusade. But in the end, war is bad. Bloodshed is bad. Pacifists believe that it is not right to kill. If war was an answer, the only type that would be okay is the "just-war approach." There are some occasions when war is necessary, but it should always be a last resort. These wars exclude civilians. 90% of people killed in wars are civilians.

Karl Schroth - Vietnam Veteran - PRO-WAR
I am pro-liberty and pro-getting things done. I'm against totalitarianism, procrastination, and slavery. Iraq is a safe haven of terrorism. I would gladly follow Colin Powell over Saddam Hussein, France, Germany, China, Jimmy Carter, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Joan Baez, Martin Sheen and other celebrities living in a land of play-pretend. War is illegal, but not immoral. Sending back Dred Scott was legal. Sending back Anne Frank was legal. Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad was illegal. There were other issues that were not address in the same way as Iraq, like Panama and Guatemala. We have sat back long enough and need to get something done.

Marshall Windmiller - Retired Professor, San Francisco State - ANTI-WAR
As of right now, US is considered as the superpower. But what really is a superpower? There are four kinds of power in international relations: military, take and control areas, economic, buy cooperation, sometimes the best way, persuasive, persuade leaders for support, clandestine, secret power for agencies to go covert. The military of US is strong, however our economic situation is weak reflected in our budget cuts. If Colin Powell cannot appeal to the UN, our persuasive power is not powerful. But we were able to eliminate a great terrorist threat. War is described as a horrible process. But war is not against an enemy. We must realize that.

Dennis Bernstein - KPFA, Flashpoints Producer - ANTI-WAR
What they're doing is "shock and awe." Drop 300,000 bombs on civilians not Saddam Hussein. You shock the civilians, and the political leaders are left in awe of such destruction. All at the cost of innocent civilian lives.

Lorin Peters - Teacher of Non-Violent Alternatives - ANTI-WAR
If we want peace, we need to replace hatred with love. Hatred leads to war and destruction. War has no mercy.

[purezero]

Wow. That took me forever to type up. Anyway, MY RESPONSE!

I think that the whole "weapons of mass destruction" thing is overused. It rubs the wrong way.

Gary Green - This guy was talking about the truth of history. History is not about truth, it's about interpreting it in a way that it makes sense to you.

Uda Walker - She gave good reasons why the war shouldn't happen, but she didn't talk about what SHOULD happen.

Dennis Bernstein - This guy was great to listen to, but that's only because he works for radio. It did get our attention though.

Reverend David Borglum & Rabbi Bennet - I know both of them from services I've attended in the past (the 9/11 interfaith service and the Thanksgiving interfaith service). They're both really nice people. I liked what the reverend said about how it is a choice between non-violence and non-existence, because that's true. War causes many problems. Not good. And Rabbi Bennet is a cool guy. He provides comic relief and believes that laughter heals.

Karl Schroth - This guy... I don't know. He was reading from his paper both times I heard him. The first time, when he said something about the Chinese, the whole room let out an disagreeing groan. It was interesting, but some of what he was saying rubbed me the wrong way.

Marshall Windmiller - This guy was great. He was a professor of political science and just the way that he talked and presented himself made you believe everything he said, that everything he said was right. It was amazing how it affected everyone. I thought that it was great he was up there. Anyway, he brought up an interesting solution, one of the few besides going to war. He said that we should send the inspectors over there, maybe forever, or however long it takes, and use them as virtual peace keepers. As long as they remain there, Saddam Hussein can't make or use any of his "weapons of mass destruction."

All in all, even though I was falling asleep at times, it was an interesting experience.

Peace. :luv: . :D

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Yea our Asian American studies prof talked about doing the same thing but on the day we officially declare war.

[purezero]

Lt. Colonel Rocky Morrison - USMC Fellow, Hoover Institute, Standford University - PRO-WAR

I guess he didn't understand that he was able to give a little schpeal about his pro-war views. So he kind of passed on it, and they followed him with Uda Walker, with a 4-page speech that went right over everyone's heads. He left after the first session because he felt that the panel was aimed more anti-war.

[ism]

Thank you for that excellent summary!