March in Washington Brings Mix of Anti-War Protests
Lara Ramsey
Features Editor
"Draft beer, not people," read one of the
zillions of anti-war posters, bobbing up
and down in the midst of 300,000 march
ers. With the wide range of opinions
represented at the march, I found few
containing such humor. "The cost of war
for one day could pay 91,000 teachers'
salaries for a year," another one said. "Oil
Schmoil" read yet another, created and
carried by Guilford students.
I was impressed by the different inter
pretations of 'anti-war' which the chants
and posters presented. However, on the
same side of the issue as myself, I found I
disagreed with some of the responses.
"Send in Bush, send in Quayle, send in
Neil when he gets out of jail," for example,
did not not strike me as a non-violent
solution.
Neither did the comparative caricatures
between Bush and Hitler strike me as
substantial, in light of the larger picture.
Bush took his share of personal slams,
"Mr. President, please stop thinking with
your missile," one sign offered. And the
flag burnings, of course... I' ve never under
stood why someone would do that. Sure it
should be constitutional, but where is the
intelligence, the information, the convinc
ing quality to such a 'protest'? It has the
shock effect of slapping someone in the
face, and a severely similar lack of educa
tion and respect to back it.
These protests were not the majority that
I observed. Most people held flags, held
heads, held hands... "Peace is Patriotic"
claimed several signs. "Support our coun
try and bring them home," pleaded others.
Although the radical statements stand out
THE GUILFORDIAN
Editor-in-Chief Jacob Stohler
Managing Editor Peter Smith
News Editor Courtney Roberts
Assistant News Editor Justin Cohen
Features Editor Lara Ramsey
Editorials Editor Lisa Pope
Sports Editor Butch Maier
Layout Editor ; Bruce James
Assistant Layout Editor Jennifer Watts
Photo Editor George Brand
Copy Editor Suzanne Moore
Business Manager Lesley Funk
Advertising Manager David Putzel
Faculty Advisor Jeff Jeske
The Guilfordian is the student newspaper of Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C.
Submitted articles are welcome. Opinions expressed in editorials and letters to the
editor do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and editorial board. The
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2
THE GUILFORDIAN ..February 4, .1991
PERSPECTIVES
in my mind, the atmosphere altogether
preserved a feeling of protest out of caring,
not despairing. Some people sang "Give
Peace a Chance" incessantly, refusing to
be disturbed or distracted by the rallying
cries from either within or outside the
parade.
Why is the U.S. in the Gulf?
Badi Ali
Guest Writer
The governments in Kuwait, Iraq and
Saudi Arabia were not established on the
basis of Islamic rules, nor do they imple
ment the rules of Islam in their systems. In
particular, the economic and political sys
tems in these countries are derivations of
western capitalistic and democratic ide
ologies. It is true that most of the criminal
laws are based on the Islamic Code, but
Islam does not consider a state to be Is
lamic unless all laws from the Islamic
Code are followed. Therefore, Kuwait,
Iraq and Saudi Arabia arc not Islamic states,
whereas Iran, based on the Shiite Muslim
Code, is an Islamic government.
Removing the border between Iraq and
Kuwait complies and is consistent with
Islamic law. After the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire (which was an Islamic
state), Britain and France took control of
the Middle East. In 1916, they divided the
Muslim world into 50 countries and the
Arab Nation into 22 countries. Before
division of the area by the British and
French, Kuwait did not exist. This area of
land was a part of Al-bassra, a city in
southern Iraq.
At times, the magnificent puppets and
marching bands and Greenpeace's helium
balloons really did add an element of fes
tivity. Korean dancers demonstrated on
the grass in Lafayette Park, where all the
people funneled in from the streets, and
where speakers such as Jesse Jackson and
The West divided the Muslim world in a
way that distributed the wealth into the
hands of a small population and left the
masses in poverty. The division of land
into many small countries created a lot of
border disputes between the Muslim coun
tries; actually, there is a border dispute
between all countries in the Middle East...
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and
Iraq, Iraq and Turkey, Turkey and Iran,
Iran and Iraq, Turkey and Syria, Syria and
Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Egypt and
Sudan, Egypt and Libya, etc. The borders
were designed by British to keep Arab and
Muslim countries fighting each other.
Therefore, the act of removing borders
between Kuwait and Iraq is seen as unify
ing the area and returning it to its original
boundaries. Unifying the area is consis
tent with Islamic ruling.
The Kuwaiti government is not demo
cratic. The ruling family in Kuwait was
chosen by the British because they were
the only family willing to cooperate with
the foreign force at the time. The leaders
of the other small countries were also
chosen because of their sympathy for the
western governments that had created them.
President Sadat wondered during an ad
dress why all the small countries were
formed and how they continued to exist. A
Japanese scholar, Toymo Kto, believes
that the world will need another century to
correct the damage done by British actions
and American intervention in the Middle
CO Support Group
Brian Yacono
Staff Writer
Do you believe that all wars are wrong?
If you answered yes you might be a consci
entious objector (CO). According to cur-
Correction
In last week's issue, we accidentally
said that Hank Ketchum, the creator
of "Dennis the Menace," had been
appointed the new head coach of
Guilford football. Of course, Mike
Ketchum is that team's new coach.
(who knows why?) Susan Sarandon
charged the crowd with anti-war perspec
tives. From the bank in front of the Wash
ington monument, the crowd looked col
orful, like a million mixed-up crayons, and
energized, as people awake to imminent
issues often do. n '' "
East.
Ironically, the governments of Kuwait
and the other small countries in the gulf
wrote in their constitutions that they would
consult with the British government be
fore making any decisions concerning the
oil in their countries. I feel strongly that
we, as Americans, are in a terrible situation
now in the Middle East because of the
British. We are fighting to uphold British
policy in the Middle East; we are sending
our young men to fight for British Petro
leum.
This war is not our problem. Since
Americans invaded the Gulf, the problem
became an American vs. Arab problem; it
was actually an Arab vs. Arab problem,
Kuwait vs. Iraq. Now it is only an Ameri
can vs. Arab problem—where is the Brit
ish army?
1 feel the U.S. has made a terrible mis
take by starting this war. Due to pro-Israeli
and pro-British positions by the govern
ment and media, Americans do not under
stand the Muslim positions and politics.
The American military involvement will
cost us many innocent lives, will damage
trust between the west and the Muslim
world and will damage future work toward
peace in the Middle East.
• • •
The writer works for the Islamic Commit
tee For Palestine/N.C.
rent laws someone who is opposed to the
participation in an form of organized, large
scale killing is not required to serve in the
military, "if they hold deep-rooted moral,
religious, and ethical views that would
prevent them from doing so," said Max
Carter.
Carter suggests that anyone who be
lieves that they may be a CO should begin
to build a case that will support these views
in front of a draft board. One can do this by
collecting letters from people who know
of your convictions and by gathering wit
nesses of instances where you displayed
your beliefs. But most importantly Carter
said," Even though there isn't a draft, COs
see SUPPORT on page 4>*