[Marxism] Inauguration protests

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chronicle of Higher Education, Friday, January 21, 2005
College Students Jeer and Cheer at President Bush's Inaugural Parade
By ELIZABETH F. FARRELL

Washington

Hats, gloves, and pocketfuls of PowerBars kept college students from across
the country warm and sustained along the route of the presidential
inaugural parade on Thursday, as they waited for up to five hours to either
cheer or heckle President Bush's motorcade.

Despite 30-degree weather and long lines at metal detectors at entrances to
the parade route, a crowd that the event announcer estimated at one million
lined the double barricades along Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues.

Sporadic chants of "Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! George Bush has got to go!" and small
antiwar or anti-Bush pins were the most obvious indications of the
protesters' presence, until vehicles filled with political figures began to
drive past.

When Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, drove by with his wife, a
group of college antiwar protesters, including veterans of the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, booed loudly.

"We've got to get the lungs warmed up," joked Alex Ryabov, a 22-year-old
veteran of the Iraq war who will begin his freshman year next week at
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His group, Iraq
Veterans Against the War, drew people from as far away as California to
protest the president's second term.

One busload of students, from Ursinus College, northwest of Philadelphia,
departed from their campus at 6 a.m. to travel here as part of the "Turn
Your Back on Bush" campaign.

Using instructions they received through a coordinated text-messaging
system on their cellphones, members of the Ursinus crew joined students
from about 40 other campuses in turning their backs when the presidential
motorcade passed by. They were silent, and many raised arms and flashed the
peace sign.

Meanwhile, Bush fans seated in bleachers a few feet away cheered and waved
when they saw the first lady, Laura Bush, smile at them through the tinted
window of the limousine she shared with her husband.

"We were scattered throughout the crowd, but I think our statement was
great," said Sarah Kauffman, a senior at Ursinus. "Towards the end of our
action, it got really quiet, which I think showed how powerful our message
was."

Students who support Mr. Bush also undertook long journeys for the event.
Martha Elbrecht, a senior at John Brown University, in Arkansas, made her
first trip here with her parents to demonstrate her support for the president.

"I agree with most of his policies and think he has the capability to lead
this country," Ms. Elbrecht said. "He understands the importance of
security, and I also agree with his morals."

A group of four women from George Washington University came to the event
together as friends, even though two described themselves as Republicans
and the other two voted for Sen. John Kerry. They said that their views
rarely caused disagreement between them, and that the event was worth it
because it was part of the experience of being in Washington.

Jessica, a senior in the group who asked that her last name not be used,
summed up her reason for coming in one sentence: "Hey, I pay $46,000 a year
to go to school in this town -- I might as well get something for it."

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