Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Opinion

Rachel Hare

Last month marked the end of the fifth year of America's involvement in the Iraq war. The conflict has lasted longer than the Civil War, World War I and the United States' involvement in World War II. Only the Revolutionary War, which lasted about eight years, and the Vietnam War, which lasted more than 10 years, were longer. And yet, the March anniversary passed rather quietly at the university.

Recently, college students, known for our brazen voices, have come under fire for our lack of dissension toward the Iraq war.

I will admit that like many other students, I do not agree with the Iraq war, yet I am not out in the streets protesting its existence.

Perhaps we are wondering whether anyone can make a difference. Perhaps history has taught us nothing.

"Your education is not going to mean anything if you have to go to Cambodia and get shot," a university student told The Washington Post in May 1970. That month, the campus hosted a series of impassioned protests against the Vietnam War. During a six-day rash of demonstrations, students blocked Route 1, ransacked an ROTC office and participated in a nationwide student strike against the war.

May 1, university students held a protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The rally began at McKeldin Library and moved to the Armory, where students broke into ROTC offices, ransacked them and burned uniforms. The crowd then moved to Route 1, where students were confronted by local police and the National Guard. During the standoff, protesters hurled bottles and rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. The Washington Post called it "the largest and most violent [demonstration] in the university's history."

The National Guard was again summoned May 4 to subdue a crowd of protesters, and a two day curfew was implemented to stop the rallies. As the guard withdrew from the campus on May 6, students were peaceful but hardly passive. In support of the nationwide student strike proposed May 5, many students avoided classes, and the word "strike" was displayed on the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house in silent dissent.

This university was not alone in rebellion. Across the country, college protests continued, and the Vietnam War ended five years later in 1975. There is no direct evidence to prove student protests brought the troops home, but they brought the war home.

Almost 40 years later, a new generation is being summoned to pay the dearest price and bear the heaviest burden. Although we may not agree with our country's mission, much of our dissenting has been done in silence.

I am certainly not advocating violent student protests; rather, I am denouncing apathy. It is important that we do not forget the sacrifices being made in Iraq every day. Perhaps we are not more vocal because there is no draft as there was during the Vietnam War and most of us feel no immediate threat from the action in Iraq. However, the war is affecting young college students, said freshman government and politics major Jon Berger of Students for a Democratic Society.

According to Berger, the current administration has not been responsive to the demands of the people, but students have a responsibility to push our government to do the right thing.

Ending the war will require a mass grassroots movement that is creative, decentralized and serious about changing policy, no matter who is president, he said. Even Barack Obama, who has the most practical plan for ending the war, will need a mass movement to overcome the influence of special interest groups profiting from the war, Berger said.

For five years, many of us have been silently questioning the war, clinging to the hope that the fighting will soon end and that U.S. soldiers will return. And still, we wait with no end in sight. Still, our nation's sons and daughters are sent off in a gallant parade of red, white and blue, some only to return in a somber march of black.

For five years, our soldiers have fought for the United States; it is time the U.S. fought for our soldiers. Peaceful voices and calm, controlled protests can have a momentous impact.

Patriotism is allegiance to a country, not allegiance to a government.

Rachel Hare is a sophomore French and journalism major. She can be reached at rhare1@umd.edu.

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