Groups stage protest against costs of war

By Meghan Louttit, Adviser

April 7, 2005 | 10:30 a.m.

There are the costs of war that most people don't know about. These are the ones that groups like InterAct, the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network and People for Peace and Justice would like everyone to be familiar with. These costs include the following:

$64 billion in losses to states over the next 10 years
$1.4 trillion from social security funds
$160,285,000,000 cost for U.S.
$4,721,686 Athens cost
Rural Health Grants
1,540 dead U.S. troops
an estimated 100,000 dead Iraqis

These local progressive organizations, along with help from The Wire, staged an anti-war protest on April 6, 2005, a day that was chosen at random, but as protest organizer and InterAct member Elahu Gosney said, "It actually is important because it helps get the message across that the war is going on all the time, not just on the anniversary of the war."

Protest leaders set up two different displays all day to stress their messages. The first was what they called "the Cemetery of Lost Funding," which was a setting of tombstones with various financial statistics about what the war costs the United States.

The second display was the much more noticeable "die-in" held in front of College Gate. People lay on the ground to represent the casualties of war. InterAct member and protest organizer Fiona Mitchell said the people on the ground represented all dead soldiers and civilians who have died during the war.

"We wanted to point out that they are all the same," Mitchell said. "They're all dead. They're all people."

Gosney, who is also in charge of the Athens Democracy for America MeetUp group, stressed this point as well.

"I really wanted to drive home the message that the Iraqi civilians killed were people just like you and I, just like our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends," Gosney said.

Jessica Ramsay, an Ohio University senior art major, participated in the die-in between 1:15 and 2:15 in the afternoon. She said she participated because she felt it was a "really appropriate and strong way of protesting and I wanted to be a part of that."

During the die-in, various people read off the names of all the U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens that have been killed since the beginning of the war. Even though the reading went on for four hours, they were only able to get through about one-third of the names.

When her time at the die-in had ended, Ramsay said she felt saddened.

"It really put things into perspective about how many people are dead and are being killed," Ramsay said. "I felt empowered."

The die-in ended around 5 p.m. and those participating in the protest marched up Court Street, turned right onto College Street, marched into College Green and held a rally at the West Portico of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Protesters were waving signs in the air with various messages and chanting sayings like "Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Bush and Cheney go away."

One of the protesters, Carrie Harris, traveled all the way from Columbus with the Artists Coalition Against Political Corruption, to take part.

"Columbus wasn't doing anything," Harris said. "I wanted to come down here."

InterAct arranged for five speakers to take part in the demonstration. The first speaker was Andrew VanDenBergh, an Iraqi War Veteran who is a member of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and spent eight months in the Middle East, including six months in Iraq.

"We have to give Iraq back to the Iraqis," VanDenBergh said. "We removed the oppressor Saddam, but we can't let ourselves become the oppressors."

VanDenBergh said the United States should pull out of Iraq, but also recognized that it might not be as easy as that.

"We created a bigger mess, now we have to fix it," VanDenBergh said.

The rest of the rally consisted of a performance by musician David Rovies and several speeches. Peggy Gish, an Athens resident who has been working with peace organizations for many years; Keri Gunther-Seymour, an Albany, Ohio, artist whose anti-war art show "War Games," has been shown nationwide; and Christy Truly were the speakers.

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InterAct has plans to sponsor future demonstrations and protests. To attend one of their weekly meetings, go to Baker 332 on Thursday from 6-8 p.m.

Related Links:

Costofwar.com
Democracy for America
DFA Meet-Up Peggy Gish
The Wire
Article on Gish's work
InterAct