University of Virginia Library

Happy Anniversary

One year ago today there was a national
Moratorium. Thousands of students across the
country boycotted classes on that day, and
many professionals and workers also observed
the day and stayed home from work. The
theme of the day was to "stop business as
usual" and think about the war. It was a day
of protest against our policy in Indochina.

Except it wasn't called "Indochina" then.
It was only called Vietnam. Only after we
invaded Cambodia and publicly admitted
involvement in other Southeast Asian countries
did we start talking about Indochina.

The Moratorium was a sort of a bank
holiday. There were rallies, speeches, marches
(even President Shannon carried a candle that
night), and a lot of talk. There was even a
feeling of optimism; a hope that by demonstrating
that enough people were dissatisfied,
something would be done. But nothing was
done.

A month later hundreds of thousands
marched to Washington to demonstrate their
protest. Meanwhile the president sat watching
a football game on television.

Then is appeared that the anti-war movement
slowed down to a crawl while ecology
became the big issue. Then came Cambodia'
and the nation's campuses erupted. But this
time the protest took a different form. Less
people marched to Washington, but more
people began picking up rocks. At Kent State
and Jackson State they were picking up
bodies.

A year later, we look back and ask "What
did the Moratorium do?" Since it obviously
didn't end the war, nor affect Nixon very
much, the tendency is to say that it didn't
achieve its goals.

Since there have been no moratorium days
this year, nor no large scale marches or
demonstrations, many people conclude that
students have given up the anti-war movement
as lost. That would imply that many of them
were never really serious in the first place.

True, the day of the large-scale march is
dead, but this does not mean that
dissatisfaction with the war has lessened.
Because instead of marching, this year people
are blowing up buildings and other people.
California alone has been averaging four
bombings a week. Attacks on police are at an
all time high. The work of a few people in
blowing up a building at the University of
Wisconsin gets more coverage than a half
million people marching down Pennsylvania
Avenue.

The movement hasn't slowed up; it has
merely changed its tactics. It changed because
the concept of a large-scale march is
non-productive. The people who march to
Washington or who cut classes to listen to an
anti-war speech are already against the war.
What sense is there in people talking to other
people who agree on the basic issue. The
people who disagree stay home and watch the
football game along with Nixon. Imagine how
many people went to the "March for
Victory" who didn't already agree with Carl
McIntyre.

No matter how convincing a speech is, it
does no good if no one hears it, or if the
listeners are already convinced. The
Moratorium and the marches failed to
convince people of different persuasions. To
say that this leads to frustration is an
understatement. To say that it leads to apathy
and indifference is wrong.

Earlier in the last decade thousands of
blacks and their supporters went the same
route the student anti-war movement is going.
They marched to Washington by the
thousands. What did they get? They got a
piece of paper called the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, and some other paper promises. They
waited for a while and when the promises
didn't come through, they took matters into
their own hands, out of frustration. Ask a
Black Panther about the Civil Rights Act.

So what about students? Why aren't the
students here demanding that classes be
cancelled for two weeks so they can campaign
and "work for change through the system."
Because no one believes it will do anymore
good than last year's Moratorium.

No, there will be no more Moratorium
days, no more large scale marches, things have
changed. Instead there is an uneasy silence, a
dangerous undercurrent of frustration that
erupts occasionally in a bombing or a murder.

Remember when our troops in Vietnam
were "advisors?" Remember when it was
called a "conflict?" Remember when it was
only Vietnam?

So happy anniversary to all of you who
remember the Moratorium. It was a nice
thing. Too bad it didn't work.