March 20 is the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and in conjunction with the five-year mark is a boost of political activity in Ithaca throughout the spring. To kick it off a rally will be held on The Commons on March 15, as well as sit-ins, art exhibits, films and speakers on the Cornell campus and a 10-day walk to Fort Drum, N.Y., in May. There are dozens of local and student groups active in working locally to end the war. Some remain more active, some less so. It has been a trying five years. Now, some local activists look back at these war years, and look ahead toward peaceful hopes for the future.
The local peace movement was mobilizing even before the war started. Six months prior, with President George Bush's war talk, 300 to 400 residents gathered at Ithaca High School to discuss what they would to do if the U.S. bombed Iraq and how to oppose a war.
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Bob Nape, a Finger Lakes for Peace organizer, believes there is more to it than that. He remembers the peace movement during Vietnam: "The draft fueled war resistance. That was a lot of fuel that isn't here right now. With Vietnam, the movement grew and grew until it was a monster. With Iraq, it started as a monster, and now it seems like a mouse."
Why the apparent decline in support of the peace movement? Eighteen, 19- and 20-year-olds are not being drafted, which has led to extended tours for active soldiers and has lent a feeling of disconnection to the majority of youth, as there are few signs at home of the war. Many people don't know a single soldier. Many people do, of course, but for a lot of people, they are not sure what they can do about because they can hardly tell it is happening.
American young people demonstrate a general sense of helplessness. Andrea Levine, organizer of Ithaca College's Students for a Just Peace, believes that most students just don't think much about the war. They can listen to their iPods, chat online, hang out on Facebook and text message each other, without having much face-to-face conversation. It has been a whole cultural shift.
~ from 5 years later: Inside Ithaca's Peace Movement ~
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