Students travel to New York demonstration

Weekend anti-war protests were global in nature and massive in participation, mandating a precarious road for the Bush administration and allied governments who want to disarm the Iraqi government by military force. \nIn the U.S., an estimated 300,000 people spread out over 20 city blocks turned out in New York City despite terror warnings and a heightened security presence on the streets. Like other parts of the world, the large protest in New York punctuated a day of organizing against the war across the country in large cities and smaller towns. \n"We went to the public library and marched doing chants like 'Drop Bush Not Bombs' and 'Money For Education Not War,'" said Megan Selby, an IU junior who traveled to New York to participate in the demonstrations Saturday. "At 51st and 3rd Avenue, all the marches met up -- and 3rd Avenue was totally full from 51st to 72nd street."\nSelby also said that 1st Avenue in New York in front of the United Nations was full of demonstrators. She characterized the message of the New York protest as being anti-violence and anti-oppression and for a more compassionate world. \nAccording to United for Peace and Justice, a national umbrella group of anti-war organizations that coordinated demonstrations in the U.S., protests were held in 603 cities on Saturday, including London, Berlin, Oslo, Rome, Athens and other European small towns and capitals. There were demonstrations in Cape Town, South Africa and Nairobi, Kenya; in Bombay, Tokyo, Seoul and Karachi; in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia; in Rio de Janiero, Mexico City and Buenos Aires and in scores of other locations across the globe. Most estimates put the total number of protesters above 10 million. \nAccording to several IU students studying abroad this semester, the anti-war sentiment is impossible to avoid in their temporary countries of residence. The Overseas Study program sends IU students to 74 countries around the world for single semesters, academic years and summer programs. \n"The Italians in general are very clear about their hesitancy to get involved in this war," said Tyler Poniatowski, a senior currently studying in Italy. "Everything cries out loud and clear -- from the graffiti on the walls to the leftist newspapers -- that this is not an Italian war."\nBut he said that war is far from what students on his program are thinking and talking about right now, a situation somewhat at odds with their environs in the Tuscany region of Italy, where, according to Poniatowski, politics are discussed passionately and "almost as much as food." \nOn the forefront of opposition to a war in Iraq are Germany and France. While the latter country has made headlines recently for direct opposition to the Bush administration's war plan in the United Nations Security Council, French citizens also joined the international day of protest on Saturday. \nSenior Kyra Busch, who is studying in France this semester, said many students find the possible war against Iraq is the first thing that people will ask them about in a bar or while on the metro. \n"Some of my friends recounted a story of getting on the metro early in the morning and sharing the car with a crowd of drunks. Upon hearing English, one guy gave them big pats on the shoulder and told them how much he liked Americans," Busch said. "Then he told them how much he disliked Bush and proceeded to start an (anti-Bush shout) throughout the car."\nAmanda Skinner, an IU senior finishing her degree in Cuernavaca, Mexico, attended a march of 50,000 on Saturday. She said the message of the march was one of international solidarity as the global protests were frequently mentioned by speakers. Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, a former presidential candidate in Mexico and Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu were among those who addressed the crowd, Skinner said.\n"It was a very diverse crowd. I felt comfortable being there," she said. "One powerful part of the rally was when the entire crowd laid down on the ground to represent the possible dead (people) of Iraq if there is a U.S. attack. It felt like we were in the middle of a bomb raid or massacre"