Ethan Bardoe
Contributing Writer
Wooster students and Wayne County citizens held a “Rally For Peace” on Sept. 20 along Market Street, organized by the Wooster Peace Collective (WPC) — an organization formed this January to advocate for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War and against hate.
The collective is not directly connected to The College of Wooster, but members of the campus community are active in the organization. Since its foundation, the organization has coordinated with local churches and other colleges to plan protests, teach-ins and draft resolutions.
“I believe what is going on there is a genocide,” said organizer and co-founder of the collective, Ian Burns in an interview with the Voice. He shared his reasoning as “the long-term context of Israeli occupation, the original Nakba where 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their land when Israel was born.”
Burns and the group’s other co-founders Elena Sokol, professor emerita of Russian studies at the College and Barbara Larcom, a Wooster citizen, read from a resolution they had put forward before the Wooster City Council over the summer. Other speakers included the Rev. Warren Clark who discussed the pro-peace stance of local churches and assistant professor of museum studies Beth Derderian, who described how her summer research in Jordan allowed her to see the technological isolation of Gaza.
The WPC resolution asks the city to support the ceasefire agreement approved by the UN Security Council on June 10, 2024, and also calls for the release of all hostages from Hamas and political prisoners held by Israel — at least 7,000 people, according to the Human Rights Watch Organization.
The WPC resolution has goals for the United States as well, such as resuming funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency –– a United Nations aid organization focused on Palestinians living in Gaza, which the United States suspended funding from after the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
The organization also requested that the United States stop funding Israel in accordance with the Leahy Law, a federal statute stating that the United States should not aid governments with credible accusations of human rights violations.
Though the WPC is skeptical of the chances of their proposal passing in the city government, Burns described it as “a mechanism to organize,” gather support and connect with other organizations.
Burns is concerned about the United States continuing to financially back Israel and how some of this investment came from his home, Wayne County. “We are hoping to raise the issue of the amount of money that’s being invested in Israeli war bonds. For instance, our Wayne County has invested a million dollars in Israeli bonds,” said Burns.
Burns’ appeal connects foreign policy to Wayne County, as he hopes that this money could be used to help bolster community services across Wayne County instead of supporting Israel.
“More military spending robs from communities like Wooster where half of the students in our high school are recipients of free lunch.”
The protest had a turn-out of about 50 people with home-made signs. Many of the attendees were College of Wooster students.
This event was not the first gathering where College of Wooster students were involved. Last academic year, a group of Wooster students protested with the WPC outside city hall in June. This was preceded by College of Wooster students independently organizing an occupation of Galpin Hall on May 1 of this year, with the larger goal of getting the College to address the Israel-Hamas War and for greater transparency of the school’s investments.
