Students Keep Peace Vigil for Iraq

Every Wednesday at noon, in sun, rain or heavy snow, about 30 people congregate at the John Harvard statue for a few minutes, but they are not tourists. They have gathered to discuss the war in Iraq.

Their meetings, commonly known as the Harvard-Cambridge Walk for Peace, generally begin with five to 15 minutes of discussion about the most recent events in the war: attacks in Fallujah, uproar over the first elections, handing over authority to a provisional Iraqi government, or the latest bit of American reporting on the subject. Afterwards, the group walks silently around Harvard Yard, single file, each person holding up a sign with the name of someone who has been killed in Iraq.

And since last May, the Walk for Peace has attracted high-profile liberal speakers like Howard Zinn, James Carroll, and Noam Chomsky. Most recently, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in Memorial Church Peter J. Gomes offered a pacifistic plea despite the January snow.

Steven B. Bloomfield ’77, associate director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, decided to organize the weekly walk nine months ago as a response to the Abu Ghraib scandals.

“I had a moment of conscience in which I was reacting to the Abu Ghraib prison torture and abuse that Americans were perpetrating,” Bloomfield says. “I came to think it was a behavior that needed to be recognized, there needed to be a public coming together of people, and the awareness that the people of Arab nations were not being served by these acts.”

Bloomfield contacted his colleagues and friends. News of the group has since spread by word of mouth and e-mails over house lists. Soon, participants as diverse as Harvard undergraduates, members of Veterans for Peace, and Harvard faculty and staff began to show up.

The meetings are not loud, but rather a moment for students and other members of the Harvard community to contemplate the events overseas, and share their thoughts with like-minded people.

“Each little step might not make much of a difference, but its the cumulative effect that does. If nothing’s done, then the war will never stop,” says Eva S. Moseley, a Cantabrigian who has been a regular participant in the walk for peace since last summer.

“It reminds anyone who sees us and gets the message that not all Americans are behind whats happening in Iraq. I hope that it helps to give people the courage to speak out,” she adds.

Daphne Abeel, a reporter for the Armenian Mirror-Spectator and a parishioner of Reverend Gomes, attended her first Walk for Peace on Jan. 26 to hear him speak.

“I opposed the war from the very beginning and I took part in much larger protests prior to what I call ‘the invasion,’” she says.

While Abeel says that she has noticed fewer students than she would have expected, and has been surprised by the lack of involvement by many undergraduates, Bloomfield commented that certain speakers drew a larger turnout.

When Zinn spoke last June, Bloomfield estimated that at least 90 people came to listen and walk. Zinn was delivering an address about the transference of power to Iraqi authorities, as well as the historical significance of student movements, according to Bloomfield.

On the whole, however, Bloomfield feels that undergraduate participation is an area where we need to grow.

Participation by Harvard students has been low, says Henry G. Walters 06, adding that only about two or three Harvard undergraduates come regularly, despite weekly e-mail announcements.

“I know a lot of students were critical of the war in Iraq, or willing to be critical during a dinner conversation, but I wish that more of them would carry their opinions outside the safety of their houses,” he says. “We can deplore suffering and we can deplore the loss of a life, but I think that we have to keep this as a part of our everyday consciousness.”

Walters says that the weekly walk is ultimately more contemplative than political for him. He does not consider himself a pacifist in general, but says that these vigils allow him a moment of contemplation about the suffering occurring overseas.

“I think its very easy to get caught up in the bubble of school and not ever have time to think seriously, and I think this offers a chance to do that,” Walters says.

Bloomfield says that he hopes that his walk for peace will spread more widely throughout the Boston-Cambridge area. He has no plan to stop the gatherings in the foreseeable future.

He says that the seeds are already planted for similar gatherings at Boston University, Boston College, and Suffolk University, where vigils are also held likewise every Wednesday at noon.