Among countless counter-inaugural actions held nationwide on January 20, 2005, the feistiest one took place in Seattle. Look at the photograph of Seattle Central Community College students forcing Army recruiters off campus:
Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Due, right, a U.S. Army recruiter, is surrounded by protesters at Seattle Central Community College, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005, in Seattle. After about a 10-minute standoff during which protesters tore up U.S Army literature, the protesters were successful in getting Due and another recruiter to leave their table under escort by campus security officers. Several hundred students walked out of classes at several Seattle colleges and universities to protest the inauguration of President Bush. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Naturally, no national media carried the photograph except
Yahoo! News.
What makes this action especially promising? The class and race of the students who organized it.
According to Andrew Goldstein's profile of Seattle Central students, "
everyone at Seattle Central lives off campus, and
80% hold full-time or part-time jobs" (emphasis added, "Seattle Central,"
Time,
2001) -- normally a condition that makes it difficult for students to organize themselves, for the simple reason that such students have less time to socialize together, to cultivate peer-to-peer networks, and to develop social and political bonds that unite them than rich students at prestigious institutions do. But Seattle Central students showed that they could organize despite their material disadvantage.
FULL TEXT:
http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/01/seattle-central-community-college.html.