"Peace mom" Cindy Sheehan urged Americans last Friday night to overcome apathy and demand an end to the war in Iraq.
"When are we going to force them to stop killing?" she asked the overflowing crowd of over 1,000 students and community members in the Student Union Ballroom at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
A leading peace activist and founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace, Sheehan rocketed into international prominence when she demanded an audience with President George W. Bush and set up "Camp Casey" outside of his Texas ranch for four weeks in August after her son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in action in Iraq during April 2004.
"We as a country have to stop the war machine from eating our children, from eating them and spitting them out," she said, "We need to stop this so people don't have to pay the price I paid."
Sheehan called the war "illegal and immoral" and attacked the Bush administration's "rhetoric" as hollow and ambiguous.
"He won't tell us what 'complete victory' is," Sheehan said. "Is it when every citizen of Iraq is dead?"
Until her son was killed, Sheehan said, she had not marched in a protest or written a letter against the war. Now, her outlook has changed.
"How can we as Americans let this government continue?" she asked the crowd. "If you're not [calling for the immediate removal of troops], you're pro-war."
She dismissed criticism against her reputedly brazen and unapologetic rhetoric.
"So George Bush says we're unpatriotic. At least we're not war criminals," she said. "We are doing exactly what our constitution gives us the right to do. What we're doing is the very essence of being American."
Sheehan urged the crowd to call out their elected officials, particularly to support a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) that would prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to deploy U.S. Armed Forces to Iraq.
She also emphasized the need to support the troops so that returned soldiers do not have to fight for benefits.
Sheehan was the featured guest at a two-and-a-half hour anti-war forum. The event was a highlight of the "Week on the War," which was put on by the UMass Antiwar Coalition, the UMass group Students Against the War and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization devoted to service, development, social justice and peace.
Prior to Sheehan's speech, several professors, artists, veterans and military families spoke out against the Iraq war.
Princeton University physicist Zia Mann, an activist who has devoted much of his life to working for global nuclear disarmament, stressed the importance of addressing the underlying causes of war and the "institutionalization of violence."
Sut Jhally, a professor of communications at UMass and executive director of the Media Education Foundation, shared a 12-minute clip of his new film, "Hijacking Democracy: American Extremism and the Politics of Fear," which examines the dangerous impact of fundamentalist forces in America. The film drew several rounds of applause, especially when it criticized Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's failure to take a firm anti-war stance.
Several local military parents shared their experiences, urging support for the troops and anti-war activism and drawing standing ovations. Laura Strandlund, a member of Military Families Speak Out whose son served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Cindy Sheehan's activism has made her feel safe to speak up.
"Supporting our troops means more than a magnetic sticker on the back of your car. It means speaking for them because they are not safe to speak themselves," Gamber said.
Kevin and Joyce Lucey, whose son Jeffrey hung himself a year after returning from war, criticized the administration's insistence on "staying the course."
"I see no logic in honoring one's death by adding to its numbers," Joyce said.
UMass student veteran Jon Zagami reminded the audience of the hundreds of other veterans on the UMass campus and emphasized that supporting the troops doesn't necessitate supporting the war.
Several artists also performed throughout the evening, including local high school student and aspiring dancer Mike "Onion" Kim, who danced to Edwin Starr's anti-war anthem "War"; Springfield poet Magdalena Gomez, who likened the current administration's tactics to the behavior of a pedophile; and peace educator Sarah Pirtle, who performed "Home for Dinner," a song she wrote about Cindy Sheehan.
Evelyn Maria Harris, formerly of the black female group "Sweet Honey and the Rock," drew the crowd to their feet in a sing-along chorus of "Down by the Riverside." Her powerful voice projected the lyrics, "I ain't gonna study war no more" through the ballroom.
The event was part of Eyes Wide Open, a traveling exhibit created by the American Friends Service Committee. The exhibit also featured 2,000 pairs of combat boots tagged with the names of U.S. soldiers who have died in the Iraq war, which were on display from Thursday to Saturday.
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