Student Protesters, Fighting Image of Apathy, Call for a Cohesive Movement

[cal04]

Student Protesters, Fighting Image of Apathy, Call for a Cohesive Movement
Student Activists Call for Peace, a Cohesive Movement at U.S. Colleges
As the bulk of war protesters chanted "this is what democracy looks like" on the Mall yesterday, a few hundred gathered separately on the south edge of the Mall.

Members of the College Democrats of America mingled with the more radical Students for a Democratic Society and the Communist Youth Movement. Many held signs proclaiming themselves "another future leader against the war." Some danced. Some clapped. Others passed around a joint. Disparate in their affiliations, they were united in their chants: "College, not combat."

Since the war began nearly four years ago, many Vietnam-era antiwar activists have publicly lamented what they see as apathy among today's college students. They wonder whether the absence of a draft and a culture of pop music and reality television have distracted young people from civic responsibilities.

But among the hundreds of students on the Mall yesterday, dozens of whom drove all night to get to Washington for the protest, the prevailing sentiment was that their generation had been unfairly maligned and that the antiwar movement is growing stronger every day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/27/AR2007012701215.html

[Stephanie]

1. One thing we kept remarking on today was the huge youth turnout.

It was very satifying to see so many students there. Very inspiring. I can't say I've seen this at other marches, and I've been to every one in NYC. But I saw it today. I saw kids who'd come from all over in big groups and it was thrilling to see.