Five Years Later

Written by: Julia Marden on Mar 19, 2008 9:00 PM EDT

Last March, thousands of college students around the country protested on the day after the fourth anniversary of the year in Iraq. At UNC Chapel Hill, hundreds of students walked out of class at 12 noon and rallied against the many injustices underlying the occupation in Iraq. At the time I was feeling a little discouraged, and I didn't see how a drum circle was going to bring home the troops.

Looking back, the UNC walkout and the other rallies that day did not end the war. They probably didn't raise a single brow in Washington. But they did raise many discussions about the state of student activism, the efficacy of a protest, and what issues matter most as we struggle to build a grassroots movement that can bring our troops home. The walkout reminded the community that we needed to regroup, examine our strategy and find a way to move forward in the struggle to end the Iraq War.

One year later, we're stronger. We're bringing people into the movement. We're voting in record high numbers. We're forcing our elected officials to talk about the war and talk about ways to end it. Some of our DFA-List candidates are even taking the lead: www.responsibleplan.com

So as we reflect this week on five years of antiwar activism, I offer up the questions that many of us were pondering a year ago.

You can listen for yourself, here.

It's been a frustrating few years. We've marched, lobbied, and called upon our officials to end the war and still the violence continues. But we can't give up yet. The people in this documentary talk about marches, sit-ins, economic activism, and lessons from past grassroots movements. I want to challenge each and every blogger and reader at BFA. What will you do to end the war this year?

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