Sarah Buchner

From Daily Planet Staff Reports

A film, “Rethink Afghanistan: Part 1,” was shown on Sept. 29 night on campus to prepare members of the UNC Asheville chapter of Students for a Democratic Society — and their supporters — for an upcoming war protest rally.
The SDS planned to hold a discussion of the film at its regular monthly meeting on Sept. 30, when it would further plan for its protest.

The rally, “U.S. Out of Afghanistan: End the War Now!!” is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 7 on UNCA’s Quad. The protest will feature about an hour of speeches by students, Asheville community members and, possibly, some of the university’s faculty members, UNCA SDS Chair Sarah Buchner told the Daily Planet later Sept. 29.

The UNCA rally will be part of a series of simultaneous SDS protests on campuses across the United States “from coast to coast,” marking the eighth anniversary of the launch of the war in Afghanistan, Buchner said.

The documentary, which juxtaposed U.S. and other analysts and Afghanis, suggested that, by waging the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. is doing more damage than good — and draining America’s wealth, too. About 15 people attended the Sept. 29 film showing.
The UNCA SDS chapter has about 15 “core” people in its membership, with a mailing list of around 200 enthusiasts, Buchner noted.

At the rally, “We’re demanding troops out now,” referring to a demand to remove U.S. and its allies’ troops from the war in Afghanistan, she said.

Rather than spend U.S. money on the war, Buchner asserted, “We’re demanding the money be used for housing, jobs and education.”

She added, “We’d certainly like to send a message of ‘Get out now!’”

So does the rally signify a criticism of President Obama?

No, Buchner said, noting that the criticism is not intended to single out Obama, who now is pondering what to do about the war in Afghanistan, but rather, of the administation in Washington in general.

In a telephone interview, Buchner repeatedly referred to the situation in Afghanistan as the “U.S. war of occupation.”

The UNCA SDS chief also said that she senses that “there’s a growing sentiment among people of the U.S.” in favor of withdrawing immediately from Aghanistan.

She cited a recent CNN-TV poll reporting that 39 percent of Americans favor continuing the war, while 58 percent favor withdrawal.
In her evaluation of the eight-year effort in Afghanistan, Buchner summarized her view as: “A total waste, accomplishing nothing.”

She added, “There’s be less of a terrorism problem if the United States wasn’t over there” killing and wounding people and blowing things up.

A flier distributed at the Sept. 29 film-showing — from the national SDS Anti-War Working Group — stated that “we are calling for students across the country to protest the eighth anniversary of war with Afghanistan by taking action and demanding that the U.S. get out of Afghanistan now.”

Further, the SDS flier says the action occurred “under the auspice of fighting ‘the war on terror.’ In eight years under occupation, tens of thousands of Aghans have been killed by U.S. air strikes, bombs and bullets, and the Afghani infrastructure has been devastated...