UC Berkeley's Anti-War Stance Likely to Persist With Conflict

As President Bush continues to increase his rhetoric promising military action against those behind last Tuesday's terrorist attacks, the pacifist voices in Berkeley likewise grow louder and louder.

At yesterday's memorial service on the UC Berkeley campus, signs calling for peace and denouncing war were evident, prompting the question: In a war against an invisible enemy who killed so many Americans, will Berkeley give rise to an anti-war movement like the one that accompanied the Gulf War, or even the Vietnam War?

A decade ago, President Bush's father was ridiculed on campus for sending U.S. troops into Kuwait. On Jan. 23, 1991, 1,000 students rallied on Sproul Plaza, protesting U.S. involvement in the Gulf War.

"Come, poor, huddled masses and die for oil," read one picket sign. "We the people will decide when to go to war."

Some protesters argued the war effort was racist by sending blacks and Latinos overseas to fight. Others complained that the United States was acting as the world's policeman.

In the following days, military uniforms were burned in effigy and faculty members conducted classes outside to protest the war. Seventy-six UC Berkeley professors joined 100 other academics and placed an advertisement in the New York Times, calling the war "unacceptable."

Bush could face the same storm of criticism that his father did, said UC Berkeley political science professor Bruce Cain, director of the Institute for Govermental Studies.

Cain said that if the United States takes innocent lives in the process of attacking the terrorists who killed thousands of Americans last Tuesday, a strong anti-war sentiment will surely arise. If, on the other hand, Bush apprehends without civilian casualties Osama bin Laden and others responsible for last week's attacks, the pacifist voice will be muted, he said.

Cain said a draft would "definitely" cause massive protests like those that rocked the campus and the city during the Vietnam War. He added, though, that the prospect of a draft is unlikely.

A protracted campaign against terrorism that includes the invasion of Afghanistan and other countries by U.S. ground troops could result in a draft, he said.

"When you face the prospect of being drafted, the whole scenario becomes very real," Cain said.

During the Vietnam War, protests were commonplace in Berkeley.

On Friday, June 30, 1967, 20 people protesting the Vietnam War were arrested for blocking entrances to federal buildings. Along with 500 picketers, those arrested opposed the draft that was sending students overseas to fight. More than 30 people hesitantly enlisted that day.

At the demonstration outside the enlistment office, protesters chanted, "Let the G.I.s vote on war," and "Why die for Premier Ky."

Quirino Paris, a UC Davis professor, was a student at UC Berkeley during the beginning of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

With the exception of a Republican minority, there was no collective voice in support of the war, even in the early days, Paris said.

He said he routinely drove to Berkeley after he graduated and began work at UC Davis. He called UC Davis the "golden ghetto where the conservatives sent their kids." Berkeley, however, erupted against the war after the draft began and "incredible political rallies" were frequent, he said.

At one such rally, tear gas hovered around the campus after police tried to break-up a student blockade of the Navy ROTC office, which Paris and others wanted moved off campus.

"It was a very scary moment, with police gassing and chasing students," Paris said.

Five years later, on April 21, 1972, 3,000 UC Berkeley students went on strike protesting the draft.

On May 10, 1972, 1,000 protesters took to the streets, setting trash cans on fire, looting stores and damaging property. Protests occurred on college campuses across the country in those days.

Paris said it is because UC Berkeley students and faculty have knowledge of the past and because the students are the ones sent overseas to fight, that Berkeley is home to pacifists. If the United States goes to war, Paris said Berkeley is likely to see an anti-war movement because the war would be against an unknown enemy, just like Vietnam.

UC Berkeley political science professor Laura Stoker, however, said this war will be different. She said people usually follow the direction of politicians and other opinion leaders when they stand united.

Last Friday, Congress nearly unanimously approved giving President Bush sweeping authority to "use all appropriate and necessary force" against those responsible for last week's attack.

If this unanimity carries through when and if the United States invades Afghanistan, the public and campus community are likely to support military response, Stoker said.

Other academics caution against attaching a pacifist label to the university.

UC Berkeley history professor Reginald Zelnik said the university has "a tradition of protest and activism that takes many forms."

"Berkeley's tradition is not completely pacifist," Zelnik said. "It has a radical revolutionary tradition; it usually always ends with sharp divisions."

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