Peace rally demonstrations on Saturday drew thousands to the capitol in Sacramento to protest war against Iraq.

Some of the peace advocates included students and student organizations from Sac State.

Nick Bianchi, a senior, protested the war. “I feel that it is my duty in democracy to get my voice heard,” he said. He believes the current conflict is purely a “colonization for American Imperialism.”

“The government and the media are taking the voice out of the American people,” Bianchi said.

Members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA), two student organizations, participated at the rally.

“The country’s morale is in turmoil,” junior Basma Marmosh said. She is concerned with creating an awareness and outreach to students through the organizations.

“I’m glad to see people becoming educated, people are out here finally receiving truthful information,” Marmosh said with regard to the war efforts.

Sac State seniors Adnan Kussair and Nina Shoman also advocated peace and anti-war efforts at the event. They both are representatives of SJP and MSA as well.

Sac State Alumna Sylvia Osman was also present at the rally.

She marched around the parade of protesters wearing colorful attire and a sign around her neck that stated, “No one’s child should die for oil.” Osman received her masters in Social work in 1975 from Sac State, and has been an activist since 1943, she said.

“I’m very conscious of the effects of war,” Osman said. She has worked toward causes for peace and social justice for over 60 years and remains concerned with human needs and finding alternatives to war to handle global conflicts.

Many who attended the peace rally ate, drank and danced to the sounds of hand drummers, acoustic guitars and radios playing music from the 1960s. A variety of speakers shouted out in opposition to President Bush and spoke about the possibilities for world peace, not war.

Some protesters believe in the cause for war, however. Jaxom Ingblom, 23, held a sign that read, “Fight the enemy, not your country.” The other side read, “Retaliation is justified.” Ingblom attested that “Saddam is a dictator, not a president. The time for talking is done. It’s time to use force,” he said.

“America’s great. We love everybody, unless you blow us up,” Ingblom said. He claimed that we live in a free country and “Blood needs to be shed for freedom.”

Tom Fay, 48, also believes in the cause for war. He thinks the problem is not with war, but with socialists. His sign read “I’d rather be shooting socialists.” He made loud remarks such as “A socialist is nothing but a communist who’s gun shy.”

On the contrary, Pat Driscoll, a representative of Veterans for Peace, protested the war. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1972-75.

During the sixties, Driscoll volunteered to go to Vietnam. “I learned after I served that the cause was a lie,” he said. “We have to do something to help the Iraqi people, but war is not the answer.”

A call for world peace was demonstrated in the tens of millions across the globe Saturday. Other cities that reportedly participated include New York City, Rome, London, Madrid, Berlin, Damascus, Paris and Mexico City.