By Billy Manes, Orlando Weekly, 25 January 2007
Those kinda politely radical University of Central Florida students of Campus Peace Action, along with the more wily miscreants of Students for a Democratic Society, staged a phenomenal anti-war rally at high noon Jan. 18, protesting the more than 650,000 Iraqi deaths and 3,026 American deaths that have resulted from Shrub’s dogged determination to intervene in stuff he doesn’t understand. Why here? Why now?
“To bring more attention to the troops and Iraqi citizens who have died,” Campus Peace Action chair Mychel Estevez told us, quietly.
No worries, though. With the SDS in attendance, heady shenanigans were unavoidable. (For the record, we are pro-shenanigans — and we vote.) After a reading of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech justifying his civil-rights stance and his anti-war stance (in some playful updating, “Iraq” replaced “the Nam”) and a few calls of “No more war!”, a throng of punky pallbearers carried two black cardboard coffins up to the stage.
Next, students filed onstage to toss rolled-up pieces of paper resembling diplomas (duh) into the coffins while the names of the American dead were read aloud.
Meanwhile, up in the high windows of the Student Union, police officers were peering down, while more fuzz surrounded the proceedings on the ground. Eek! There would be no scuffles, though, as about 75 students marched their “Fuck this war!” funeral procession all the way across Alafaya Trail (at one point blocking traffic! Lawlessness!) to an Army recruiting center in a nearby strip mall. Arms linked, megaphones boomed and the Army … well, they locked their door for a couple of hours. (One did come out to snap a photo, though.)
“It’s a sign that the militants are rising,” said SDS member Matt De Vlieger, combat boots over his jeans. “People aren’t so afraid to get involved.”