Daily Trojan USC.edu

Issue date: 3/22/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Ed Ou | Daily Trojan Four years later | Reina Fukuda (l) and Meher Talib participate in a 'die-in' protest yesterday in Hahn Plaza. The protest, led by the Anti-War Coalition, took place in light of the four-year anniversary of the Iraq conflict.

Bodies are strewn across the pavement. Angry voices fill the air. This is not a battlefield in Iraq; it's a simulation of one.

Anti-war students lay like corpses yesterday on Trousdale Parkway in front of Tommy Trojan to protest the Iraq conflict's four-year anniversary, calling for U.S. troops to withdraw immediately.

But as dramatic as the "die-in" was, it did not attract the attention they had hoped it would, protesters said.

Participants, however, maintained their optimism.

"Even though there wasn't a great turnout, people see you," said USC Anti-War Coalition organizer Andy Bunting, a senior majoring in international relations.

"It was a little discouraging for me, but it's enough that we're out here with signs and flyers stating our position that the United States should withdraw from Iraq immediately."

Students from the Anti-War Coalition picked up those representing the dead by their arms and legs and placed their bodies in a row.

One student standing in front of the bodies silently held a sign reading "98,359," the alleged number of dead Iraqi civilians.

The die-in was the culmination of six weeks of planning by five people, involved about 15 to 20 active participants and attracted scattered groups of people throughout the afternoon.

One student who watched the die-in from afar said she thought the protest was a waste of time.

"It just seems kind of pointless to protest against something that is already so (prominent) in the public's mind," said Jessica Jensen, a sophomore majoring in political science. "It seems that people have decided that we need a change, and it's just trying to get that passed … and a student protest isn't necessarily the thing that's going to do it, although it is entertaining - I've enjoyed watching it."

Kent Saitoh, a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, suggested that writing one well-argued letter to an influential person would be more effective than holding picket signs.

"These people are screaming, they're yelling, but who is really listening?" Saitoh asked. "It doesn't matter if they have a thousand people; if no one is listening to them, then what's the difference?"

Yesterday's die-in was the second protest that took place this week; the first was a march to the Armed Forces Recruiting Center Monday in University Village.

Monday's protest, organized by USC MEChA, a Latino organization, gathered protestors in front of Tommy Trojan and marched down Trousdale Parkway to the University Village where they picketed.

They were quickly disbanded, however, and told to leave by DPS and other UV security guards.

One man visiting USC that day disagreed with the student protestors.

"The war will happen, whether it's here or Iraq," said Irving Vidal, 33. "But I don't know if (the protestors) would be willing to fight for freedom - the freedom that they're exercising right now, so why are they against the soldiers? If you pledge allegiance to the flag, then you can't be protesting like they are."

Although security and DPS clashed with protestors Monday, no such confrontation occurred at the die-in.

"Sometimes it's very justified to break the law, and when you do that, law enforcement does have its own role to consider and its own role to play … based on what their job is, but when you put yourself in the position of an anti-war protestor, you have a job to do as well," Bunting said.

Protestors called for awareness.

"The face of the United States is the U.S. military that is knocking down doors at night, that is torturing people, that is humiliating people in prisons," Bunting said.

The Anti-War Coalition had also planned to demonstrate water-boarding, an interrogation technique used by the military, but decided against it because they felt it would be too extreme.

"It seems innocuous, but it's terrifying," said Dru Pollini, co-organizer of the event. "It simulates death, a feeling of dying. It's mainly mental torture, which is just as damaging as physical torture. I've been water-boarded … in my bathtub. It's terrifying."

Although the protestors attracted some students passing by, Jensen was not convinced.

"(I wouldn't join a protest), not for Iraq and not now," Jensen said. "I might have done it before the elections, but things have changed so much since then with the democratically controlled Congress that I don't see much of a point anymore. Public opinion is so strongly against it, so doing something like this is like preaching to the choir."

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