Urging motorists to “Honk for Peace,” about 100 Northwestern students and Evanston residents gathered at Fountain Square on Thursday to protest U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
Protesters held signs and candles, distributed literature and engaged passers-by in conversation. The protesters lined the entire outside of the square and received encouragement from passing motorists.
The event was co-sponsored by Neighbors for Peace of Evanston and Northwestern Opposing War and Racism.
“I think it is great,” Anya Cordell, 50, a founding member of Neighbors for Peace, said of the turnout. “It really shows that there is not unanimous support (for the war effort).”
The event attracted people of all ages. Eugene Libenson, 16, of Skokie said he came to voice his displeasure for a war fought for the benefit of big business.
“War is always fueled by those who are in power, and those who are in power in our country are large corporations and the government,” Libenson said. “If they can have meetings to globalize the economy, why can’t they have meetings to globalize peace?”
Other protesters said the U.S. military action was hypocritical.
“The bombings were not productive,” said Ivan Handler, 52, another founding member of Neighbors for Peace. “They killed innocent civilians, just like September 11.”
During the protest Cordell passed out two New York Times articles to demonstrators and others in the area.
One article was an editorial criticizing the “eroding” of civil liberties in the past two months. The other article described how the United Methodist Church, the denomination to which President Bush belongs, has opposed the war effort.
Not everyone was convinced by Cordell’s literature.
“A lot of this information, there’s not enough proof,” said Jon Stevens, 17, a senior at Evanston Township High School.
Stevens and ETHS junior Greg Langlois, 16, said they supported the military involvement in Afghanistan.
“I think they should keep doing what they’re doing,” Langlois said. “Why not go after the person who did something (first)?”
The war effort will bolster an economy that was devastated in the weeks following Sept. 11, Langlois said, adding that the United States is not specifically targeting civilians the way the terrorists did.
“They don’t have any intention to kill a little girl,” Langlois said.
Neighbors for Peace, which was founded after Sept. 11, has hosted two other events in the past three weeks: a creative-sharing event Oct. 28 and a community forum Nov. 4. The group is trying to schedule an event with U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th), Cordell said.
Thursday was not Al Kost’s first day of protesting the war. The 48-year-old Evanston resident has protested, mostly alone, at the Fountain Square and the Davis Street CTA station for four weeks.
Kost said he wanted to protest at Fountain Square as soon as he learned of the extent of the military’s involvement.
But it wasn’t until a church dinner four weeks ago that he decided to stand outside at the Fountain Square every day until the bombing ends.
“I just was feeling kind of haunted by the fact that people were being made homeless by our bombs,” he said.
Kost could hardly contain his happiness at the sight of the square lined with protesters.
“I’ve been out here for four weeks, and now there’s this mass of people,” Kost said. “It’s awesome.”