Take Action To Stop the War! Rally & March in Berkeley at Noon Today!

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
20 September 2001

Berkeley Students Rally Against War, Racism;
Thousands Join 150 Other Campuses in National Day of Action

Thursday, September 20th
12pm Rally and March
Sproul Plaza, U.C. Berkeley


For more information, contact:
Ronald Cruz 510-593-7489 langehaare [at] aol.com
Chris Grabill 510-845-4438 christo707 [at] hotmail.com
Yvette Felarca 510-616-2351 yfelarca [at] yahoo.com


Several thousand students and Bay Area residents will be gathering today in U.C. Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza to send three simple messages: They don’t want a war. They don’t want any racist scapegoating of Arab-American, Middle Eastern, or Muslim communities for last week’s terrorist attacks. And they don’t want any new restrictions on civil liberties.

Speakers planned for a rally at noon include members of Afghan and Muslim student associations and Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as Barbara Lubin, Executive Director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance, and noted political commentator and activist Dr. Michael Parenti. Following the rally, students will march through the streets of Berkeley, and then return to campus for more speeches by activists.

Thursday’s rally and march at U.C. Berkeley have been timed to coincide with a National Day of Action by students across the country. Approximately 150 college and university campuses will be holding vigils, teach-ins, and rallies opposing a U.S.-backed war in the Middle East, refusing increased restrictions on civil liberties, and supporting Middle Eastern communities. Across the country, there have been a large number of hate crimes against Arab Americans, Muslims, and people mistaken for them since the terrorist attacks last week. At least one Sikh man is dead as a result of this violent backlash.

Some speeches today will undoubtedly address this week’s confrontation with U.C. Berkeley’s student newspaper, the Daily Californian, which printed an editorial cartoon on Tuesday which many students have called racist and insulting to Muslims. Tuesday evening, over a hundred students occupied the offices of the Daily Californian demanding a written apology for the cartoon. After several hours, eighteen people were arrested, but as of Wednesday the editors had still refused to issue an apology.

Chris Grabill, one of the students occupying the Daily Californian’s offices on Tuesday night, reported that the editors said “the cartoon was meant to be inflammatory.” Grabill and other student activists said that the cartoon represented exactly the kind of ignorant racism that today’s rally is intended to address.

The National Day of Action started was initially proposed by student activists on the East Coast, but caught on immediately across the country, as students at many campuses had already begun organizing anti-war events by late last week. While participants do not all agree on the roots of the terrorist attacks, nor on the appropriate U.S. response, they are firmly united in opposing a U.S.-backed war in the Middle East. Most agree, in particular, that any large-scale military action will lead to the deaths of many more innocent civilians, and will be unlikely at best to protect people from terrorism. While the students have expressed their deep sympathy for the victims in New York and Washington D.C., they do not feel that justice will be served by a vengeful military response.

“This war will not make us safe,” summed up Jonah Zern, one organizer of today’s rally. “Let’s not dishonor last week’s victims with more deaths of innocent people,” added Andy Burns.

Students, U.C. faculty, and all members of the community are being asked to wear green arm bands if they oppose the war, and to show solidarity with Middle Eastern people both in the United States and abroad. The color green represents peace, unity, and purity in the Islamic faith.

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