by Marc LaPointe

   Seven Wesleyan students who were arrested during the Hartford anti-war protest last Thursday now face extensive legal and financial problems, according to representatives from Students for Peaceful Justice. Barring a plea bargain or a full drop of the charges against them, the seven students along with 11 others arrested, face trial sometime in late November. Four students were already sent to a community court and were given two days of community service as punishment.

   The charges against the students include both misdemeanor and felony counts of disorderly conduct, inciting to riot, inciting to injure personal property and interference with a police officer.

   “Of all the charges, none of them were disturbing the peace or marching without a permit which are the only two things they could have legitimately charged us with,” said member of Students for Peaceful Justice Joe Berman ’04. “We are concerned that serious charges were filed for minor transgressions for the sole purpose of stifling our freedom of speech and association.”

   The students must also raise money for both the benefactors who fronted bail money last week and for their lawyers, when the cases go to trial.

   “The main thing we have to concentrate on right now is fundraising efforts,” said Abe Walker ’03, one of the protesters facing charges. “We have to reimburse the people who helped us out with our bails. Even though this is a high profile case and we have great lawyers, legal services aren’t free.”

   The fundraising effort is being planned on a large scale, with events in the works at Wesleyan as well as other Connecticut universities. The protesters hope to include anyone who sympathizes with those arrested, in the fundraising cause.

   “We’re just starting the process of fundraising,” said Sarah Norr ’03. “We sent a letter to the faculty, and people have posted messages on listserves and independent media [web]sites around the country. Also, some radio stations, like Pacifica have run stories on us and included the address where donations should be sent.”

   Protesters suspect that the highly politically charged circumstances of the protest and arrests prompted police and prosecutors to set extraordinarily high bails for the arrested.

   “The bails were astronomical, the highest being $50,000 and others at $35,000,” said Adam Hurter, a protester and former Wesleyan student. “This was a very powerful and strong demonstration against this terrible war, which is also being used as an excuse to destroy civil liberties in the United States in unprecedented fashion.”

   The protest in Hartford coincided with the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the U.S. Senate, which grants law enforcement agencies greater power in order to fight seditious elements domestically. Although they were not charged under the bill’s provisions, many of the student protesters see a direct connection.

   “It’s clear that the bill and the police actions are part of the same pattern,” Norr said. “The government is using the fear generated by the Sept. 11 attacks to crack down on dissent, particularly protest against the war or US policy in the Middle East.”

   Walker concurred with these sentiments.

   “I don’t think that we would have seen a crackdown like this on a peaceful protest before the events of Sept. 11 took place,” Walker said.

   Students involved in last Thursday’s events, however, vow to maintain their fight against what they see as an unjust war despite the forces against them.

   “In the future we will make sure that everyone is aware of the arrest potential,” Berman said. “We’ll make sure that there are risk and no risk activities for everyone who wants to get involved with an action like this.”

   Hurter already has plans for a week-long series of educational events starting on November 11 that will target issues on the war including bioterrorism, women’s’ struggles in Afghanistan, and other related topics. He also plans to mobilize students for a protest against the School of the Americas meeting in Georgia at the end of that week. The U.S. government uses this school to train foreign military operatives.

   “We need to clearly point out the hypocrisy of the U.S. not only in their bombing of other countries, but also in their training of others within our own borders,” Hurter said.

   Many see last Thursday’s protest and arrest as a valuable lesson for the anti-war movement as a whole.

   “The biggest thing is that the movement can’t dissolve,” Walker said. “We can’t afford to retreat. We may have to change our tactics, but we can’t retreat.”