Hundreds March for Peace : Protesters Hold Vigil at UCI; Cox’s Office Is Scene of Rally

IRVINE —  As tensions in the Persian Gulf neared the flash point, hundreds of people peacefully marched in a candlelight vigil across the UC Irvine campus Friday evening to protest the seemingly irreversible path toward war.

“We want to send a message to our elected officials and our fellow citizens that we are opposed to an offensive military action against Iraq,” said John H. Smith, an associate professor of German at UCI, who helped to organize the protest.

With lighted candles in hand, hundreds of students, faculty members and citizens marched for two hours in a quiet procession that lined Campus Drive for more than a quarter-mile with flickering light.

The solemn trek started at the UCI Student Center shortly after 5 p.m., proceeded past the main library and turned left on Campus Drive before stopping at University Avenue. It headed back up Campus to the Marketplace, where it looped around the shopping center before the marchers began to disperse.

The vigil was the largest of two demonstrations during the day. Earlier, more than 60 people rallied outside the district offices of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to urge a peaceful resolution to the gulf crisis.

At UCI, marchers carried placards that said, “No War,” “No Blood for Oil,” “Fight War Not Wars.” Peace signs reminiscent of the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s were on T-shirts and posters.

Ralph Leck, a student with a ponytail and spectacles, had pinned to his shirt his version of the Republican Party flag--a swatch of mottled camouflage with two $1 bills attached.

“There are so many variables and perspectives on the Middle East. Basically, I don’t want to see people coming home in body bags,” said marcher Julie Tanit, a UCI student and co-chair of the Campus Coalition for Human Rights.

Wending their way through the protesters was a contingent of students handing out invitations to a “Die In” scheduled for Monday on campus. “Please join us,” the flyer said. “This dramatic event will emphasize the human casualties of war in the Persian Gulf.”

“It is just too absurd for 400,000 people to go to war in just four days or to start carpet bombing. We talk about Iraq’s aggression. What about our aggression?” said UCI sociology professor Francesca Cancian, who helped plan the march.

To the dismay of some protesters, the march was joined by a group from Young Americans for Freedom, an arch-conservative organization with a reputation for confrontational tactics and political audacity.

“We shouldn’t be helping a dictatorship in Kuwait,” said Dean Hoekstra, a student and YAF chairman at Irvine Valley College. “It is none of our business. We should just stay home and not be a global cop. What is it they say, the best foreign policy is no foreign policy.”

Many marchers said they wanted the United States, the United Nations and Iraq to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis along with giving economic sanctions more time to work effectively.

“I think there is no reason for the U.S. to go to war--it would not be for democracy and it would not be for the economy,” said Philippe Barbier, a UCI graduate student from France. “The U.S. just wants control, and they already have it in Saudi Arabia.”

The march, which some said attracted up to 1,000 people, was organized by the Campus Coalition for Human Rights, the UCI Social Awareness Collective, the Orange County New Jewish Agenda and the UCI Orange County Coalition Against War in the Middle East.

“This really exceeded our expectations,” said Smith, who predicted earlier that only 200 to 300 people would attend. “This is a very high student turnout on what has traditionally been a very apathetic campus.”

Security was light for the vigil. Except for a few passing motorists who yelled “Commie” and “Go home,” the march went without incident.

Group organizers said the event was a prelude to further demonstrations Monday at the Student Center when a “teach-in” on the Middle East will be held at noon. Scheduled to appear are former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, local leaders from the Arab-American community and experts on Kuwait.

At the rally at Cox’s offices in Newport Beach, more than 60 members of two anti-war groups urged the congressman to vote against authorizing war in the Persian Gulf.

Members of Beyond War and Alliance for Survival gathered at Cox’s offices, then were invited inside to speak on the telephone with the congressman, who was in Washington.

“Our main plea to Cox and members of Congress is that President Bush should not be allowed to have sole discretionary power to begin this war,” said Tom Osborne, an organizer for the Orange County chapter of the Beyond War Foundation. “The public needs much more time to understand what is happening over there and more information telling them of the consequences of a war.”

But Cox held to his position that he would vote in favor of giving President Bush the power to wage war.

“President Bush needs that power to have additional leverage for dealing with Hussein,” he said. “But what is most unfortunate about this situation is that Congress has waited so long to make a decision, giving Hussein the idea that he could call America’s bluff.”

During the nearly 40-minute long question-and-answer session with Cox, several people stressed that sanctions against Iraq were working and that further negotiations with the Iraqi leader would benefit America in the long run.