Harvard Students Protest France

By Michael New
March 17, 2003

Harvard University has been the site of many anti-war demonstrations.

Rarely, however, have Harvard students assembled to demonstrate in favor of military action. Yet this is exactly what happened on Friday as students, angered by France's unwillingness to support military action against Iraq, gathered outside Harvard's science center to protest France.

Andrew Littinsky, a Harvard student who helped to organize the event, said the protestors were a group of students who were "fed up with anti-war protestors speaking against our country and our President." Littinsky went on to say, "Some people at Harvard support the war, and we want to be their voice."

During the course of the protest, the protestors played patriotic music and chanted pro-American slogans. They held up signs reading "Rumsfeld Rocks," "Support U.S. Troops" and "Boycott French Products." Another sign gave France failing grades for their inability to contain Adolph Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein.

The protestors were quickly joined by a group of counter-protestors who supported the French. Claudia Mastroianni, a Harvard employee, said she joined the counter-protest because, "This nonsense of freedom fries has gone too far." She also thought it was important for the other side to be heard.

The counter-protestors engaged in a variety of different activities during the course of the protest. One student stood in front of the protestors holding a picture of a French flag with the caption, "Vive La France" At other times the counter-protestors handed out photocopied pictures of the statue of Liberty, played La Marseillaise on trumpets and ate French bread.

Plenty of students gathered to watch and at times the number of spectators exceeded the number of protestors For the most part, the spectators did not sympathize with the protest. Some students threw snowballs, some made obscene gestures, a few even stopped to argue.

"They are lame. Who gave us the Statue of Liberty? Who gave us freedom?" said Ali, a Harvard Freshman, "Look at them, they do not even have a girl on their side."

Another student watching the protest agreed. "Just because the French are not on our side does not mean we should mock and protest them," said Aleris a freshman at Harvard.
However, not all students disagreed with the protest. "I am upset with France's behavior in the U.N. Security Council The United States should not have to go in alone," said Luke Appling, a freshman at Harvard. Appling added that he was unimpressed with the counter-protestors. "They do not seem effective They are not really making arguments. It seems like they are just supporting French culture."

Harvard junior David Fields who was involved with the protest was pleased with how well it went. "We were not expecting a huge turnout since Harvard is one of the most liberal campuses in the country, " he said.

Andrew Littinsky who helped organize the protest was pleased as well. He added that, "If France uses its veto in the UN Security Council, you can expect another protest."