While pro-war and “support the troops” demonstrations were largely outnumbered and overshadowed by anti-war protests, vocal groups both on and off college campuses still managed to bring their message of support to Boston’s streets in the months leading up to and during the war in Iraq.
Organizers said they organized marches, rallies and vigils around the city specifically to show a different perspective from the anti-war protesters, who generally held much larger demonstrations that dominated the media coverage.
“We want to demonstrate to everyone who is watching that the anti-war protesters do not represent mainstream collegiate America,” said David Carl, a School of Management junior and the former chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans. Carl said his group participated in several demonstrations and sponsored two, including one in February in front of the French consulate to protest that nation’s refusal to support the war in Iraq as part the United Nations.
The statewide group has 36 chapters with a total of 4,700 members, according to Carl, who estimated that they held between 30 and 40 demonstrations in recent months. In the rally outside the French Consulate, which drew about 50 supporters, Carl and others held signs saying “Don’t appease Saddam” and “France – whose side are you on?”
Boston University students were not alone in showing support for the troops. In early March, a group of Harvard Law School students formed Students for Protecting America, which identifies itself as “a bipartisan organization that supports the efforts to defend America and defeat terrorism,” according to its website.
“One of the things we were really trying to do was to participate in the debate on the law school campus,” said Avigael Cymrot, a Harvard law student and spokeswoman for the group. “At the time we were feeling there was a one-sidedness of how the views of students were covered,” she added.
The group, which drew about 100 members from the law school and other area colleges, held a “support our troops” rally in Harvard Square on Sunday, April 5. About 20 people came out in the rain to join the rally, Cymrot recalled.
Connie Irwin, former chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Women, organized a vigil for that rainy Sunday on the steps of the State House. At the vigil, which was modeled on a similar one Irwin had organized during the Gulf War, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and British Consulate General George Fergusson read the names of troops who were killed, captured or missing in Iraq.
Irwin said she held the vigil because she believed most people who supported the war were afraid to express their views.
“I think people are afraid to stand alone on their beliefs if they think it will make them unpopular with their friends,” Irwin said, noting Boston’s reputation as a particularly liberal city.
She said many who supported the war were also afraid to demonstrate because they did not want to be confused with anti-war protesters.
“There’s always a tendency to have the anti-war people act on their beliefs,” Irwin said. “Most people who support the troops are wary about marching in any parades” because they associate marches with Vietnam-era anti-war protests, she added. Irwin said she hoped her vigil would change that perception.
Because of the bad weather, Irwin said, between 30 and 50 people came to the State House vigil. The members of the Harvard group arrived late due to a miscommunication, but Irwin accompanied them to their demonstration in Harvard Square.
“It was the first time I had ever seen anyone with any conservative placard stand in the square,” she said. When one observer told the demonstrator that they were in “enemy territory,” referring to the area’s liberal reputation, a student replied, “If our troops can go into enemy territory, so can we,” according to Irwin.
Irwin said she was impressed by students who demonstrated in support of the war, while many of their parents’ generations remained silent.
“The older people are afraid to stand alone, especially in this war,” she said.
Because the pro-war demonstrations were largely organized in reaction to the anti-war protesters, organizers said they often had less time and fewer resources to use.
“A lot of them had better organizational tactics,” said Harvard’s Cymrot, of anti-war demonstrators. He also said they were “more experienced at getting media coverage.”
Carl said his protest at the French Consulate was organized only two days beforehand. Large anti-war rallies, however, were sometimes planned months in advance.
And even though most of the fighting in Iraq is over, groups who demonstrated in favor of war said they plan to continue showing support for troops abroad. The College Republicans plan to send letters of support to troops that remain in Iraq as well as give away flags and yellow ribbons on the home front, Carl said. Irwin said people need to give more attention to those who are still missing in action.
