Activists Pitch Camp In Opposition To War

Polk Place became the campus's newest construction site Monday.

But instead of a parking lot or a new residence hall, the construction resulted in crude cardboard shelters and canvas tents that will become home to a group of about a dozen anti-war protesters over the next week.

Members of the Campaign to End the Cycle of Violence, a UNC organization that grew out of the responses to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will be camping out on the quad until Friday evening to rally support for their movement against the potential war with Iraq.

Freshman Liz Mason-Deese, a member of CECV, said the group decided last semester to host this event.

"We want to help build a movement and get the students involved," she said

"A lot of students disagree with this war, but many may not know there are other students that agree with them."

Mason-Deese said CECV expects at least 10 students to spend the night each night.

"We are hoping for a large turnout and for people to come and get involved."

This week's encampment will include several events designed to spread the message of nonviolence and civil disobedience in opposition to the war.

"We want to reach out to the on-campus community and have a dialogue with them," said freshman Anna Carson-Dewitt, a member of CECV.

Tonight the campaign will host a singalong at the site, and Wednesday night participants will hold a drum circle.

Later in the week, members of the campaign also plan to hold an interfaith prayer service and activities for children such as arts and crafts.

They also will serve meals to participants and will have a table set up to inform passing students of the group's goals and to elicit support from them.

"We want to explain why we feel the way we do, and we encourage people to stop by," Carson-Dewitt said.

She said she was happy with the number of passing students who already had shown interest in the encampment project.

The encampment is part of a series of meetings aimed at preventing a war with Iraq.

The meetings will culminate with an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

CECV also hosted an anti-war workshop at a church last weekend.

The organization plans to send members to attend the protest in Washington on Saturday and another protest in Raleigh on Jan. 21.

"We wanted to create a more visible presence on campus," Mason-Deese said.

"This is all leading up to January 27, because that is when a decision about the war might be made (by the Bush administration)."

CECV has sponsored several events and demonstrations since the possibility of war with Iraq surfaced.

On Thursday, the group hosted a well-attended anti-war teach-in on campus titled "Are We Ready for War? Are We Ready to Stop it?"

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.