Students join protest in D.C.

By Lauren Dake

Between 75,000 and 100,000 people, including eight Santa Clara students, came together last weekend in Washington, D.C., for a large-scale mobilization protesting several aspects of United States foreign policy.

The students joined protestors from diverse backgrounds, with similar ideological values. The protestors marched to the Capitol to demonstrate their opposition to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank policies, U.S. government aid to Colombia and to show support for closing the School of the Americas (SOA) and obtaining justice in Palestine.

"You had elderly, you had families, different ethnicities, people from different religious backgrounds, just a convergence of people who are mobilizing for global justice," senior Liana Molina said.

Campus Ministry and Santa Clarans for Social Justice sponsored the group of eight students. They received partial funds from the President's Office, the Provost, Arrupe Center, the Bannan Institute and several people from the Jesuit community. The rest came out of their own pockets.

After taking a red-eye flight to Washington, they arrived Friday morning and went immediately to a rally where they danced to political folk music and listened to speakers on U.S.-Columbia relations. From there they each had personal meetings with aides to their representatives or senators.

"That was the hardcore democracy part of it where we were just flexing our political muscles and doing that aspect of it," senior Patty Adams said.

Meeting with the congressperson's aid and, "sharing what a college person thinks of the world - not many people get that opportunity and it was a valuable one," sophomore Jake David, who organized the trip, said.

From there they went to Georgetown where the Georgetown Solidarity Committee allowed them to stay in their residence halls for the remainder of the weekend. Saturday morning they began the actual protesting.

"Saturday morning was the huge mobilization, with a number of different groups," Adams said. "They all eventually blended together because we all had the same eventual goal at the capital."

Although there were several groups marching for different causes, the Santa Clara students were united on many issues. Shutting down the School of the Americas was a high priority. The SOA trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics. Graduates of the school are linked to numerous human rights atrocities.

The group also felt strongly about denouncing U.S. aid to Colombia. The aid is going to Colombia's government under the Plan Colombia, which is a counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics program. The plan has not yet slowed the use of cocaine and heroin in the U.S. and has exacerbated the civil war in Colombia, increasing human rights crimes.

"It's a responsibility that I have to be a voice within my government and within my country, a voice for these people that don't have a voice when our government is funding a war (referring to Colombia) and not actively pursuing a peaceful solution. We have to be voices for these people," junior Evan Hughes said.

Adams felt strongly about global financial issues.

"The IMF and World Bank was also definitely an issue for me," Adams said. "Their policies that are implicit in the aid they give to countries result in less aid for social services, less money to health care and education and things that support true infrastructure development within a country," Adams said.

Most of the students who participated in the Washington protest are either affiliated with the Santa Clara Community Action Program (SCCAP), Santa Clarans for Social Justice, or both. It was an opportunity for them to be surrounded by other people across the nation who are working toward similar goals.

"To be with this huge group of people who took the time to do this was rejuvenating. It's difficult work, especially at Santa Clara University which doesn't necessarily have a strong political consciousness in general among the student body and faculty," Molina said.

The unification of the people mobilizing around several different causes struck sophomore Kristin Niedermeyer as something special that could possibly be brought back to Santa Clara.

"Not everyone agreed 100 percent with all the issues. Yet at the same time we were all able to come together. I would like to see this campus do something like that," Niedermeyer said.