Hundreds of University community members disgruntled with the second inauguration
of President Bush and the ongoing war in
Iraq marched to the Eugene Federal Building
on Thursday evening, following a daylong counter-inauguration celebration in the
EMU Amphitheater.
The demonstrators chanted anti-war slogans and waved homemade signs, filling sidewalks on both sides of the street for about a block and sometimes clogging traffic as they flowed through downtown.
The march culminated at the federal building, where the crowd joined members of several local activist groups for drumming, speeches and a candlelight vigil.
Earlier in the day, demonstrators and campus Bush supporters shared a peaceful but politically charged afternoon outside the EMU.
The campus counter-celebration featured political speeches and musical performances advocating for citizens concerned with the
recently re-elected administration to rally together for change. The event was sponsored by several campus organizations, including Students for Change, the Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice and the Graduate
Teaching Fellows Federation.
Many students stopped to listen and make signs to carry later at the rally.
Junior Sara R. Taylor of Students for Peace said the 2004 election wasn’t equitable and the United States should not be the model for Iraq’s upcoming elections.
“I would say that as unfair … as our election process is, we should not be the nation to set the example,” she said, saying concerned
people need to take action.
“We want to use the next four years to mobilize people and get them together,” she said. “We want to act in ways that promote justice and peace.”
Students for Change member Colin Storz said members of his group want to peacefully express their
concerns about the government.
“We want to say we are unhappy with the way government handles foreign policy in this country,” Storz said. “We got organized. That’s
simply the bottom line on that one.”
Junior Leo Fraser, who performed at the event, said the Bush administration doesn’t reflect the will of many people.
“Obviously the direction our country is taking at this point is not what half of us want,” he said.
He said the event was peaceful.
“It’s very laid back, very chill, as what’s expected in Eugene,” he said. “Sometimes I wish people had a little more fire under their butts.”
University law professor Garrett Epps was among the speakers at the inauguration protest. Epps said government “thugs” are “building a wall of secrecy” around wrongful practices at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
“As a nation with full knowledge of what was being done, we voted to approve it,” he said.
Epps likened America to Italy during the 1920s and Germany during the 1930s, admonishing the members of the crowd to ask themselves what they will do to counter wrongful practices.
Associate geology professor Shaul Cohen also spoke, comparing the war in Iraq to the Vietnam War and saying the United States hasn’t learned from past mistakes.
Cohen said the “world will be there waiting” when ordinary citizens decide to create political change.
“In the next four years, we can’t leave the fate of America to the administration,” he said. “If we act, I fully believe the world is ready to support us.”
Meanwhile, members of the College Republicans celebrated the President’s re-election from a nearby booth, displaying pro-Bush signs and occasionally chanting “four more years” at the people below.
College Republicans Chairwoman Laura Jenkins said members of her group turned out to show support for the president.
“It’s inauguration day. We’re
excited,” she said.
Jenkins said although demonstrators have the right to protest, their
actions on inauguration day were inappropriate.
“Protesting democracy seems a little much,” she said. “It’s one thing to let your feelings be heard; it’s another to (try to) stop the inauguration of a fairly elected candidate.”
College Republicans member Jarrett White said counter-inauguration displays send the wrong message to people in Iraq.
“It shows bad signals to the world to protest a legal election,” he said.
Jarrett White said Bush’s inauguration speech showed optimism for not just America but the world. He added that the president will face difficulties during the upcoming term, but will abide by his principles.
“When you’re morally in the right, there’s really nothing else you have to do,” he said.
Junior Samuel Macke unfurled a large banner featuring a picture of Bush with a Hitler mustache, which read “Campus Fascists for Bush” among the Bush supporters’ signs.
Macke said he created the banner with friends to exercise their right to free speech and to make a statement against the “direction the government is taking” toward too much
corporate influence.
“I just want to wake some people up,” he said.
Graduate teaching fellow Paul Tucker said the inauguration was a day to celebrate.
“It gives those of us who are
magnanimous in victory a chance
to chide those who are not so
magnanimous in defeat,” he said.
The march left the amphitheater at about 3:30 p.m. Marchers swarmed down East 13th Avenue and worked their way to the courthouse.
The vocal marchers blocked traffic temporarily several times during
the parade, although most of the demonstrators stuck to the sidewalks.
The demonstration drew shouts of encouragement and honks from passing motorists. But some witnesses
expressed outrage at the display.
Community Service Center Office Coordinator Linda White said the march upset her because her son served in Iraq.
“It makes me angry,” she said. “They don’t know what they’re
talking about.”
Linda White said the nation needs to “finish the job” in Iraq, saying young people need to become better informed about the true meaning of the war.
“We need to stop playing around,” she said. “It makes me so angry when I see these people.”
Yet Eugene resident Ron Unger said he protested the second inauguration of President Nixon and was pleased to see the march.
“I’m happy they’re doing it,” he said, adding that he hopes Bush’s second term will also be abbreviated.
