Wednesday Buzz
Anti-war groups converge on Pentagon to protest growing military

Protestors from Code Pink hold a banner as they lead an anti-war march towards the Pentagon on Sunday.
By Santiago Rivera Barbosa
WASHINGTON – A group of diverse ideological organizations marched towards the Pentagon Sunday morning to denounce what they perceived as a “perpetual warfare state.”
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The march, titled the “Women’s March on the Pentagon,” was meant to “reinvigorate the anti-war movement which has been really missing since the Bush years,” according to lead organizer Cindy Sheehan.
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Sheehan, who led many rallies during the height of the Iraq War, said that among many of the reasons to be against more military expenditure was the fact that thousands of innocent lives - both American and foreign - had been lost to conflicts abroad.
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“Money that is currently going to the Pentagon could be going towards education,” she said.
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“Education should be free for everyone like it is in most of the world,” she added.
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The protest was organized in part by Code Pink, a women-run grassroots organization that was formed in response to the Iraq War.
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Groups from across the ideological spectrum were present. A contingent from the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party was present, clad in matching black-and-gold outfits. Members from the Party for Socialism and Liberation were also there, complete with their typical yellow-and-black signs denouncing capitalism.
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Answer Coalition, a group ideologically aligned with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and also created in response to the Iraq War, was also present.
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National Director Brian Becker said that the protest was meant to keep the “visibility of the antiwar movement.”
“Young people are always sent to fight the wars of the old and rich,” he said. “People who are genuinely anti-war cannot be aligned with the Democratic Party,” he added.
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“Democrats help fund the needless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
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“I am sure there are many people here who are going to vote Democratic in November, but we see Democrats as equally pro-war as Republicans,” said Sheehan.
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Protesters came from all over the country. Tito Mesa, an immigrant from Honduras, came down on a bus from Massachusetts. “The people of Honduras have felt deep poverty and violence as a consequence of American imperialism,” he said.
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He mentioned the caravan of Hondurans crossing Mexico on their way to the U.S. as another example of American militarism. “Those people are refugees, fleeing from a state that is supported by the U.S.,” he added.
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“Students and the youth are the future of this country, and right now the future is tragic,” he said.
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Malachy Kilbride, another organizer of the rally, said that the protest was evidence of “dissent being silenced.”
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“There is not one member of any major corporate news network present here,” he said.
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At one point, Sheehan asked the female members of Code Pink to head towards the front of the line to help lead the march. “This is a women’s march, we should have women lead,” she said over her megaphone.
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“We’d like to thank all the men who came out today in solidarity,” she later said.
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