Coalition
rallies campus against war with Iraq
By Toby Lewis
On-line Forty-Niner
Protesters
shouted, “No blood for oil!” as they marched
from The Pyramid to the Speaker’s Platform
across from the University Bookstore Thursday,
in a rally against the potential war in
Iraq.
 The
march, which was organized by the Campus
Coalition Against the War in Iraq, was followed
by a staged protest where guest speakers
spoke out against the Bush administration’s
current foreign policy regarding Iraq.
“The
most important thing is that people learn
why this war is going to happen,” Jon Hillson,
who spoke at the protest, said.
Approximately
500 people participated in the protest.
“We
were expecting about 300,” Usama Kahf, one
of the organizers, said.
Among
the speakers was Sonali Kolhatkar, host
of the morning show on Los Angeles-based
radio station KPFK, Pacifica Radio.
Kolhatkar
said that the United States is responsible
for supplying Saddam Hussein with the means
for developing weapons of mass destruction
since it has been a major supplier of arms
to Iraq in the past.
Saddam’s
refusal to obey U.N. resolutions is not
a good enough reason to go to war against
him, Kolhatkar said. She said that Israel
has also been in violation of U.N. resolutions,
refusing to withdraw from the West Bank,
as well as many other countries that are
U.S. allies.
Ali
Azad, a Cal State Long Beach graduate who
attended the protest, said a war against
Iraq would be over oil.
“The
southern part of Iraq has the largest oil
reserve in the world and it is easier to
extract and refine,” Azad said. “They call
it sweet oil.”
Azad
also commented on the need for a regime
change in Iraq.
They
talk about how regime change is needed in
Iraq, Azad said. There are a lot of other
countries around the world that need regime
change who are our allies, he said.
Police
were on hand at the protest but no disturbances
were reported. Some police were equipped
with riot gear.
“Always
be prepared, that’s my motto. It’s also
the motto of the Boy Scouts,” Officer Daniel
Valdez of the University Police said.
One
man was escorted by police away from the
protest when he spoke out in favor of a
political candidate.
“I’ve
been against this war ever since I heard
about it,” said Ken Yankelevitz, a retired
aerospace engineer and Cal State Long Beach
graduate who participated in the march and
protest.
Kahf
said that the Coalition Against the War
in Iraq hopes to eventually get Associated
Students Inc. to pass a resolution condemning
the coming war in Iraq. A similar measure
was recently passed at UCLA, Kahf said.
“[A
resolution] means that we are taking a stance
[against the war] as a campus, as a student
body,” Kahf said.
When
asked about the fact that CSULB is not well
known for its political activism, Kahf responded,
“We’ve hopefully built up a lot of momentum.”
More
organizations on campus are more politically
active compared with previous semesters,
Kahf said.
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