by Vincent J. Narducci
Daily Lobo
Fourteen organizations are encouraging UNM students to walk out of class today as part of a national student strike over the impending war in Iraq.
The demonstration, which begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Duck Pond, will feature speakers, information and music by local reggae band Mystic Vision. The rally will culminate in a march around campus at 1:30 p.m. and end at the UNM bookstore.
The walk out is part of a nationwide campaign aimed at disrupting normal operations in the United States. In addition to student rallies, antiwar groups are asking people to demonstrate opposition to the war by calling in sick to work or closing their businesses for the day.
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By coordinating campus strike efforts around the country organizers are hoping to bring national attention to an antiwar movement that locally sanctioned protests would not receive. In the past, President George Bush has said that neither the size of the protests, nor the demonstrator's message, would sway him on Iraqi policy.
Former UNM professor Bob Anderson, a member of the Committee to Stop the War Machine, said he believes that enough disruption of everyday U.S. economic activity could alter the economy in a way that would force Bush to reconsider his foreign policy.
Additionally, student-led associations such as the Albuquerque Student Alliance for Progress, the Student Peace Action Network and the College Greens are also backing the rally.
The protests arrive in the wake of increasing pressure from Washington on the United Nations Security Council. Speaking from the White House yesterday, Bush said that his job was to protect Americans and that the "risk of doing nothing outweighs the risks of dealing with Saddam Hussein."
