Activists come to Fisher, speak out on Iraq war
By Bryn Durgin
Last Updated:3:46 PM EST 2/24/10 Section: News
Activists, bloggers, poets, musicians and concerned citizens gathered in Basil 135 on Feb. 12 for the eighth annual Poets Against the War readings.
Frank Judge, president of Rochester Poets and a St. John Fisher alum, organized the event.
The P.A.W. movement started in 2003 as a response to former President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. People channeled their outrage with the government into writing and created what is now the largest poetry anthology ever published.
Rochester is one of the few cities in the country with an unbroken record of holding P.A.W readings.
Although, after the election of President Barack Obama, Judge hoped last year's symposium would be the last.
"But here we are again," he said. "I was sadly mistaken."
The performers agreed that now is a better time than any to act. At the same time, the number of participants is dwindling.
"I'm disappointed by the small turn-out," said filmmaker and first-time performer Mara Ahmed.
"It seems like there's hardly any acknowledgement that our country's at war."
Thinking back to when the P.A.W. movement first began, Judge said he felt "this great sense of being back in the 1960s during Vietnam War protests and marches."
"Now," he says, "it's as if the movement got the wind taken out of its sails."
Poet Michael Ketchek explained this lack of momentum, saying: "You can read, you can march, you can vote. Whatever you do, it basically doesn't seem to do any good. People get discouraged."
Still, a diverse crowd gathered to perform for the eighth time; among them, a contentious objector, a man who had been drafted and a Vietnam War veteran.
Clips from a film titled "Rethink Afghanistan" were shown to highlight the civilian casualties in the war-ridden country, and Fisher alum Jeremiah Hickey performed the song "Guantanamera."
Their message was summarized in a line from a poem by fellow P.A.W. performer, Michael Frost: "We must all move if we are to advance."
This movement isn't striving to stop one specific war, but is trying to help humanity evolve beyond the desire for war.
"We don't have massive crowds and we're not marching on Washington," said Judge, "but I think it comes down to changing one person at a time."
bld09569@sjfc.edu
Frank Judge, president of Rochester Poets and a St. John Fisher alum, organized the event.
The P.A.W. movement started in 2003 as a response to former President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. People channeled their outrage with the government into writing and created what is now the largest poetry anthology ever published.
Rochester is one of the few cities in the country with an unbroken record of holding P.A.W readings.
Although, after the election of President Barack Obama, Judge hoped last year's symposium would be the last.
"But here we are again," he said. "I was sadly mistaken."
The performers agreed that now is a better time than any to act. At the same time, the number of participants is dwindling.
"I'm disappointed by the small turn-out," said filmmaker and first-time performer Mara Ahmed.
"It seems like there's hardly any acknowledgement that our country's at war."
Thinking back to when the P.A.W. movement first began, Judge said he felt "this great sense of being back in the 1960s during Vietnam War protests and marches."
"Now," he says, "it's as if the movement got the wind taken out of its sails."
Poet Michael Ketchek explained this lack of momentum, saying: "You can read, you can march, you can vote. Whatever you do, it basically doesn't seem to do any good. People get discouraged."
Still, a diverse crowd gathered to perform for the eighth time; among them, a contentious objector, a man who had been drafted and a Vietnam War veteran.
Clips from a film titled "Rethink Afghanistan" were shown to highlight the civilian casualties in the war-ridden country, and Fisher alum Jeremiah Hickey performed the song "Guantanamera."
Their message was summarized in a line from a poem by fellow P.A.W. performer, Michael Frost: "We must all move if we are to advance."
This movement isn't striving to stop one specific war, but is trying to help humanity evolve beyond the desire for war.
"We don't have massive crowds and we're not marching on Washington," said Judge, "but I think it comes down to changing one person at a time."
bld09569@sjfc.edu
Be the first to comment on this story