Pro-, Anti-War Groups Clash at Free Iraq feast
By Jenny Mertz-Shea
News Writer

Campus liberals and conservatives butted heads last week when the Conservative Union organized the Barbecue for a Free Iraq to coincide with the Fast for Peace. Both events were aimed to further interest in the potential Iraq conflict—the Barbecue was designed to support a war against Iraq while the fasters sought to promote a peaceful resolution.

As the protestors were counting down the final hours of their fast, which lasted from 9 a.m. Wednesday until 5 p.m. Friday, “pro-war” students met in the Clark V social room to fire up the grill.

The stated intent of both events was to raise awareness and rally support for their respective causes. But ultimately, each group received more attention from the opposite ideological camp than from the rest of the student body.

When fasters Caitlin Dwyer ’06 and Joseph Prows ’04 heard about the barbecue, it piqued their interest. So, said Dwyer, “a couple of fasters went,” accompanied by several of their non-fasting friends.

“I wanted to see who the conservatives on campus were,” Prows said, “we weren’t there to be disrespectful.”

However, he admitted that when the fasters “whipped out the Sharpies and started drawing big ol’ peace signs” on the free flags being handed out, they might have overstayed their welcome.

“There was some outright hostility,” he said.

Dwyer, too, said she felt “a little tension at first.” Still, she noted pointedly, “we ended up having a nice discussion with some people. It was a debate, but...it was friendly.”

David Escovitz ’06 was one of the conservative participants in the debate. He conceded that “there was a brouhaha” when the fasters made their entrance. “It got a little bit personal when a couple of conservatives asked for the flags back,” he said.

But Escovitz claimed that the tension soon subsided.

“What it ended up turning into was a fairly interesting and nuanced political debate,” Escovitz said, “much more interesting than I expected it to be.”

Less forgiving, however, was Dorothy Lam ’05, one of the barbecue’s organizers. “These people did not come over to talk, they came over to deface our flags,” she said.

Both Lam and Escovitz said they found the fasters’ artistic endeavors offensive. Lam called the fasters “self-righteous,” “irresponsible,” and “stupid.” The confrontational nature of the event may well have begun with Lam’s digester message, which referred to the fasters as “Dirty Hippies.”

For their part, fasters also expressed indignation. “I was sort of offended by [the barbecue],” said Risa Mongiello SC ’03. “I didn’t know what it was at first, and then I realized it was a barbecue to promote freedom in Iraq... and I just think that’s such a backwards view of what bombing is going to do.”

“I think it’s interesting that the Conservative Union hasn’t really planned any programming before, that it’s sort of like they’re just reacting to what we do, rather than trying to create something themselves,” said Ilana Blankman ’04, a fast organizer.

Lam readily admitted that the style and timing of her event was linked to the concurrent fast. The barbecue was designed to be “a rally to mock the hippies,” she said. She noted with some satisfaction that, among other things, “I got a lot of people angry.”

Lam said that one of her principal motives in organizing the barbecue was to demonstrate that not everyone agrees with the highly vocal anti-war protesters. “The fringe left does not run things,” she said. “They have gone unchallenged on this campus for far too long.”

Lam was pleased with the barbecue’s turnout. Thirty-five people showed up for “warburgers” despite the rain.

“If [the barbecue] had been outside, as originally intended, we could have easily doubled that,” she said.

While the barbecue was planned as a political statement, Lam said the event’s chief accomplishment was that “people had a good time.” According to her, the barbecue didn’t constitute a true pro-war rally. “If this was really a pro-war rally, we would have all dropped out of college and enlisted right away,” she explained.

There were attendees from Harvey Mudd, CMC and Scripps; but, Lam was pleased that a “big majority” was from Pomona.

Despite less-extensive catering than the pro-war barbecue, fasting attracted similar numbers of participants. According to Blankman, 40 people started the fast, and roughly 20 finished it successfully. Several fasters said they’d readily do it again.

“It’s not a real fun thing to do,” Prows admitted. “But it’s nice to get in touch with a community that feels the same way you do...when you’re constantly for 56 hours thinking, ‘Damn, I’m hungry,’ it’s a constant meditation on what you believe.”

Blankman summarized it as “a way to show a very deep commitment to promoting peace.”

She added, “By not consuming anything, it’s a symbolic gesture of not participating in a system that all sort of contributes to the military-industrial complex.”

Despite the friction between the opposing camps of pro-peace and pro-war activists, it is unclear if any opinions were changed. While Prows and Dwyer did not say whether or not they were swayed by the conservatives’ arguments, they firmly denied ever being tempted to partake in any “warburgers.”