March 19: Shutting Down Marine Recruiters in Berkeley

The battle to shit down the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley continued on March 19th, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. Hundreds, including many Berkeley High school students, took part in actions during the day to shut down the recruiting station in Berkeley and to stop the war in Iraq. The students who have demonstrated have been put down in the press and by officials with the Berkeley Unified School District. They've been told that they don't know what they are talking about, that they're just into cutting class and so on. In fact, these students know a lot about the war, were willing to brave attacks by police and pro-war reactionaries and have not given up. Several students spoke powerfully to why the marine recruiters should be considered "unwelcome intruders" in Berkeley, pointing out that the marine's "freedom" to lie to people and recruit them into an immoral and unjust war is in contradiction to the freedom of the Iraqi people to be free of U.S. occupation.