Over 20 chapters of the Campus Antiwar Network gathered at Hunter College in New York City this past weekend. Organized by students for students, “Their War. Our World: Building the Student Resistance” consisted of various educational and organizational workshops. Helping to solidify an understanding of CAN, student resistance, and the goals of US imperialism the conference also incorporated forums on GI resistance, US goals in the Middle East, building the student movement, and a history of student protest during Vietnam.

Many thanks to the Conference Coordinating Committee for making the trip to NYC worthwhile. Below’s an account of my experience. Here are some

pictures

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Friday, April 4

Leaving Rochester, NY

We left Rochester very early in the morning in order to give ourselves time to hang out in New York City. Thanks to traffic that time was cut short, but we managed to devour sinful amounts of Chinese food, let the MTA rape us with its subway fares, and I bought a Dead Kennedy’s vinyl (Bedtime for Democracy).

Registration Party

“What’s your name, again?” That was perhaps the most asked question of the night (at least it felt that way to me). For 2 good reasons: 1) Beer and 2) CAN members from around the country uniting under one roof is very rare. The party was fun and as always political discussions were going on in every corner of the house. Registration parties are always the best for catching up on what other CAN chapters have succeeded and not succeeded in doing. My chapter (RIT Antiwar) last Monday held a meeting on the truth about the surge and the only people that came to the meeting were 7 members of ROTC/military. While the surge really took a backseat, the topic of immediate withdrawal consumed discussions because they disagreed with CAN’s fundamental point of unity. Thanks to some A-game by our membership and the participation of one of our local IVAW members, we were able to defend the need for immediate withdrawal despite the Rumsfeld-reasoning of the attendees.

Saturday

Opening Plenary

The opening plenary was “Student Protest During the Vietnam War” held by Michael Letwin (NYC Labor Against the War) and Professor Franklin. It was an interesting plenary that focused on the role of resistance by students and the rest of the civilian population. Letwin in particular expressed the need for the student/civilian movement in supporting the GI resistance movement and also the Iraqi resistance. Perhaps the most interesting and simplest thing he said in regards to building the student movement was

“People are most open to change in ideas when involved in struggle.”

Educational Workshops

There were a number of workshops to attend (Afghanistan, Palestine, Immediate Withdrawal, Racism In a Time of War, and GI Resistance). I attended The Case for Immediate Withdrawal that was given by the UMASS-Amherst chapter of CAN. The presentation was good. It covered a number of questions that people usually have such as, “What do we mean by Troops Out Now?”, “Will there be civil war?”, and “Who should rebuild Iraq?” The case for immediate withdrawal was driven by debunking the lies of the justification for war. The racist portrayal of Arabs and Muslims, Al Qaeda presence, bringing democracy, regional stability, and oil. Despite a number of interruptions by the elitists members of The Internationalists (a “with us or against us” minded group that claimed to be “socialists” just because they threw around the words “bolshevik revolution” “labor strikes” and “imperialism”), discussion was able to answer many questions and sharpen arguments for new and old CAN members.

The Case of Immediate Lunch!

Delicious cream of broccoli soup! $5 for soup, but what the heck… I was only on the Upper East Side and time’s limited!

Building the Student Antiwar Movement

This forum on building the student movement was interesting because the main debate came down to what was more important, spending most of our time and resources on educating members or becoming the media. Several people were inclined to want CAN to focus more on becoming the media because they believed that selling our ideas and arguments in smart and effective ways would be the main the way of getting the movement to grow. The other side argued that setting a political foundation within each CAN member would help draw more people. Ultimately, the agreement was that an educational foundation or political confidence was essential in providing strong arguments, but that we do need to take on the role of the media and make people aware of what’s not being said. Not only that, arguments were made about “masturbation”… that we needed to start taking more action instead of talking about it and clapping at each other for saying things we already agree with. Cheers to the chair for handling an anxious bunch of students.

Organizational Workshops

The organizational workshop I attended was the Columbia/UVM/Wesleyan workshop on Divestment. Each school had their share of experience presently and in the past with trying to divest against the investments of university endowments in the military-industrial-complex. It was a really popular workshop with a third (40-45) of the conference attendees in that one classroom. Most of RIT CAN was at the Divestment workshop because our university has such strong ties with the DoD, lockheed martin, and other war profiteers. Those presenting were able to provide steps to starting a divestment campaign. While no one has been able to successfully change a university’s investment plans, each school is different in the way it’s tied to these war profiteers. The most attractive thing about a divestment campaign is the fact that its a closer to home type of struggle where as the fight to bring the troops home seems so big and sometimes out of our hands. Divestment also can work as a good way to get people who wouldn’t normally organize against the war, to organize or just be open to the idea. This workshop provided not only details on divestment, but the panelists provided a number of sources and helpful organizations that can aid a campaign.

Dinner Was Fine, But Michael Schwartz Is Better

I heart Michael Schwartz. There’s something about the way he presents thats just very welcoming. Its not hard to get lost. Things make sense the first time around and he’s constantly moving arond the podium. Schwartz has one of the best breakdowns of the US’s goals in the Middle East and especially Iraq. He incorporates historical events debating back to the late 1800’s and places them into perspective. All of the puzzle pieces come together in his lecture. By the time he’s done you have one the clearest pictures of what’s going on in Iraq. At times I could not keep track with the man as I wrote all the notes I possibly could. It wasn’t the first time I heard him speak, but I’m never able to remember everything that he said. Schwartz addressed the intentions of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the roles of Jimmy Carter, Reagan, FDR, Cheney, Bill Clinton and many other previous administrations in seeking out the supply of oil in the middle east. He linked today’s economy to other points in time which the United States was in the same situation. Schwartz also talked about the crisis within Iraq and the fight of the resistance in Basra. We all wanted a piece Schwartz’s time after the panel and our chapter might consider bringing him to speak at RIT. Everyone’s gotta hear him!

No Party Like A CAN Party

Down in the east village CAN members gathered for drinks and music. It was awesome to see so many people just busting a couple of moves on the dance floor without any reservations. Can’t complain about the variety of music. There was all sorts of music playing and even Son of Nun who attended the conference was cranking up his own tune. Sadly the party was over in the blink of an eye, but we needed to sleep if we wanted to get up in time for the last conference forum featuring members of IVAW.

Sunday

Winter Soldier

Members of IVAW spoke about the healthcare crisis, racism, sexism, and war crimes committed while in Iraq.

RIT Antiwar is a project of the RIT Social Action Group and one of the founding chapters of the Campus Antiwar Network.