Riders storm city

One rider wore a hat in the form of a tank. Another wore a sign on his back that read, “No… One rider wore a hat in the form of a tank. Another wore a sign on his back that read, “No blood for oil.”

On Saturday, a group of students and Pittsburgh residents came together and rode bicycles from Bloomfield, through the Strip District and ended up in Oakland, where they joined the larger, permitted anti-war protest.

Most of the group’s estimated 50 to 60 riders choose bikes over cars every day.

“We wanted to raise our anti-war and our anti-oil, bike-loving views,” said Leeana Ninness, one of the protest’s organizers.

The bikers weren’t part of the permitted anti-war march from East Liberty to Oakland for a reason, Ninness said.

“We didn’t want to take part in the permitted protest because we feel like we don’t have to get approval to speak out about how we feel,” she said.

The anti-war feeling in Pittsburgh rose to the surface on Saturday, the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, with these protests.

Many Pitt students participated, some riding bikes and some marching. They banged drums, chanted into megaphones and carried signs alongside other Pittsburgh protesters.

As a group, Pitt’s Campus Anti-War Network, or Pitt Against the War, marched Saturday to promote both its cause and student activism.

“I think student activism has declined in recent years, particularly on Pitt’s campus,” said Sam Waite, Pitt senior and the group’s business manager. “We’re involved in the most visible progressive social struggle to college students right now, and I hope by doing that it will encourage people to get involved in activism more generally.”

PAW has 12 core members, but when they mobilize to protest – which it had done in Pittsburgh and Washington – the turnout increases. The group has also held events like speak-outs and film viewings, and it hands out fliers and information at Pitt’s federal job fair.

Waite said that PAW seeks to expose more students to the anti-war cause and mobilize them against, not only the war, but other issues.

“I think opposing the war, militarism and imperialism is generally connected to so many other issues,” he said. “For example, it’s connected to the oppression of women, macho culture and therefore homophobia. And there’s also this idea this grotesque nationalism that has strung up, particularly since 9/11.”

Sara Callan, the public relations coordinator for the College Republicans, disagrees with equating these ideologies with the war.

“We understand fully that there are so many challenges that lie ahead and that we have dealt with in the war – hostages, death and destruction and the loss of American life is devastating,” she said. “I think with all those things considered we can’t be happy about it, but I think the mission is for a noble cause.”

Protests and student activism against the war is an exercise of freedom of speech, which Callan described as “the best part of democracy.”

“When we don’t like [protesting] is when motives aren’t directed towards the government but towards the United States military,” Callan said. “These people are doing a job that they are supposed to do and a very noble one at that.”

Callan isn’t the only student who dislikes protests of the military recruiting station.

Pitt sophomore Brandon Heid said that, after spending a year and a half in Iraq, his view of the war has changed, but his thoughts on supporting the military have not.

“A lot of people don’t join to go [to Iraq],” he said. “They’re going to protect the country.”

He remembers flying home after his deployment, where about 20 people stood outside the airport in protest.

“There are a lot more people that say thank you and buy me drinks, but there are those select people that think the war is our fault,” Heid said. “It’s not an option to go.”

As for the war itself, Heid went into it with full support.

He said that after Sept. 11, 2001, it was necessary for a statement to be made against terrorism.

But going there gave him a different outlook.

“We shouldn’t be there anymore,” Heid said. “We should have gone in harder, but we’re not going to be able to pull out easily. We got in over our heads.”

But Heid said his experience in Iraq reminded him that amidst all of the protesting, the war is not without a cause.

“We’re doing good, and a vast majority of the locals are glad you’re there,” he said in reference to the children he remembered running out to greet him and the thanks he received from Iraqi people.