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Tension between "pro-U.S." and anti-war groups at "teach-in"

By Matt Dulin
The Daily Cougar

Veritable battle lines were drawn in front of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library on Thursday as emotional debates on the war issue ensued at a "teach-in" organized by UH faculty and staff.

Johnny Kow/The Daily Cougar

Flash points of heated arguments popped, but eventually fizzled without great incident, when student demonstrators calling themselves not necessarily pro-war, but "pro-U.S.A.," congregated outside the anti-war gathering of professors, UH staff and students, who started organizing at 10 a.m. Thursday. 

Sarah Brantly, a public relations senior, said she walked by the large rally, listened to what they were saying and wanted to voice her own opinion.

"I went down to the U.C. and bought a posterboard," Brantly said. "I borrowed a marker and made a sign."

Her sign read, "I support our country."

Eventually, Cara Anderson, a media production junior who made her own sign in support of the troops, joined her. The pair grew to a handful of like-minded individuals who started hollering. 

When they were noticed by members of the rally, a large convoy of demonstrators, led by Cheyenne Bsaies, a creative writing junior, split from the main group, confronted the "pro-U.S.A." group and offered the microphone.

Eddie Barrera, a political science senior, took the microphone and spoke briefly, saying that the troops now in Iraq needed their support. 

Bob Buzzanco, a UH history professor and one of the architects of the rally, intervened shortly afterward. Buzzanco took the microphone and said, "They can share their views, fine, but they have their ABC, NBC and CNN, they can do it there," alluding to criticism of the media for not covering the anti-war perspective.

From that point on, the rally continued, but the crowd had split into two distinct groups -- one dedicated to the "teach-in," the other participating in debates.

An estimated crowd of 300 students were in attendance, though the number ebbed and flowed throughout the day, eventually waning when the rally broke up in the early afternoon.

The "teach-in" was largely intended to promote the anti-war point of view through informative lectures, literature readings and personal stories. Several speakers noted the lack of "true" facts about the Iraq crisis being presented to the public.

Rick Brennan, who graduated from UH in 1999 and now teaches in HISD, addressed the culpability of the mass media in the current standoff with Iraq.

"The peace movement is a global movement, yet it is largely unreported in the mass media," Brennan said, citing commonly accepted facts such as the concept of no-fly zones and Iraqis rejecting inspectors in 1998 as "falsifications used to justify aggression."

Brennan called the gathering before him a "rebirth of democracy."

Brennan blamed these grave errors on a "corporate-driven" mass media. He urged the audience to do their own research and "discover the truth about this war."

Buzzanco read selections of Allen Ginsberg, an author and poet of the 1950s, known dissident during the McCarthy era and activist against nuclear weapons.

Onlookers stayed distant from the large crowds and many of them were skeptical of the rallyis intent.

"Itis too late. Theyire wasting their time; this protest doesnit really matter," Cody Johnson, a freshman business major, said.

"It just seems too political. Itis more so anti-Bush than it is anti-war," Johnson said. 

Johnson said he saw some anti-war demonstrators get very angry and "kinda violent" when they were approached by supporters of the war. 

Brantly later said that two "pro-U.S.A." students in uniform were spit on by angry demonstrators.

"They were just angry at them, spitting, cussing, all of that," Brantly said.

One member of the "teach-in" audience received a citation for mooning several "pro-U.S.A." demonstrators, but no other major incidents were reported.

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