Issue date: 11/4/02 Section: Opinion

[Jarrod Ballou/The Daily Pennsylvanian] [Click to enlarge]

Two weeks ago, on Oct. 26, over 150,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., in what is being called the biggest anti-war demonstration since Vietnam.

Busloads of people were mobilized from cities up and down the East Coast -- 22 from Philadelphia alone -- with thousands more coming in from all over the country. Susan Sarandon, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Rep. Cynthia McKinney, among others, spoke earnestly and eloquently, demanding that the Bush administration rethink its plans for a pre-emptive war against Iraq.

It was a monumental event by anyone's standards, even more so for those who were present. Curious, then, that The New York Times, one of the nation's leading newspapers, barely made mention of it in the next day's paper.

The Times has been upholding the Bush administration's stance throughout the "war on terrorism," and this demonstration was no exception. While it is unlikely that an attack on Iraq would do anything but provoke more terrorism, it is still promoted as a part of this larger "war." As such, the most adequate response to an anti-war protest flying in the face of the present administration would be to ignore it. People look to the news to know what's happening in the world. If it isn't reported, it must be insignificant and unworthy of mention.

What happened that Saturday meant something. In fact, it meant so much that one of the most widely-read newspapers in the world didn't have the courage to admit it and so chose not to acknowledge its importance. While this is bad journalism, a newspaper is within its rights to publish -- or not to publish -- what it wants.

Arguably, the fact that the news coverage -- television as well as print -- did not do it justice simply reinforced the impact of the rally. It proved that there is a significant group of people who openly oppose President Bush's pre-emptive war aims, enough to put everything on hold to get on a bus voice their opinions. It is reassuring to me that there are that many people so strongly opposed to war, sanctions, imperialism, military displays of power and political diversion.

I had never been to a rally or a protest before. Like many others, I had assumed this position of helplessness -- not apathy, but just a feeling that nothing I could do would realistically make a difference. That day, those 150,000 people changed my mind.

I was also hesitant to go as a non-American, feeling that it was not necessarily my place to be protesting a government action in a country where I was not a citizen. But there was actually quite a large international contingent present -- even Brazilian! The administration's decisions will affect citizens and non-citizens alike. The point is that, ultimately, people living in the United States have the right to express their opinions if they feel something is wrong.

What struck me as so powerful was that the people who were there couldn't know what kind of an impact their presence would have. The senior citizens or the handicapped, for whom it must have been quite the struggle to get to the protest, were there simply to show support for change.

The Village Voice, which actually published a very informative article about the rally, quoted one 72-year-old woman who had never been to a protest before: "if the U.S. were economically okay, there wouldn't be a call for war," and that "whether we'll survive as a democratic nation" is questionable.

The rally was a strike against complacency. There is something to be done. If you believe that war against Iraq is wrong, don't just talk about it -- make your opinion known.

Ignoring popular dissent is a superficial defense mechanism, but while the news may try to downplay the impact of this sort of dissent, that in itself is proof that it has not gone unnoticed.

Ultimately, politicians care what the public thinks, and with enough protests like last month's, they will notice.

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Channtal Fleischfresser is a junior History major from São Paulo, Brazil.

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