Students Decry the War

Published April 1, 2008

The following is a speech made by Renna Temple on the five-year anniversary of the war.

Hi everyone. My name is Renna Temple and I speak today as a concerned second-year student here at UVM. On March 19, I participated in a protest to shut down the General Dynamics (GD) armament and technology headquarters situated right here in Burlington. Who knew that the sixth largest war profiteer in the nation was merely miles from multiple downtown Burlington playgrounds? Who knew that my wonderful, social-justice bent University of Vermont has over half a million dollars invested in a corporation that designs and manufactures lethal weapons fueling illegal wars and genocides worldwide? Who knew that there would be a FIVE years later, five years of blood, violence, misery, displacement, and debt which have translated into billions in revenue for GD and their war-profiteering counterparts? I, of course, didn’t know—though I should have—that GREED possesses an endless imagination for lies and subterfuge. Where the dollar sign rises ethics do not follow.

This day is not just about ending the war; today is about bringing students and community members together, and to carry on building an inclusive movement which continues to fight for and celebrate the victories we have already won. Here on campus there are students who care about several overlapping issues, livable wages, divestment, environmental awareness and sustainability, gender/transgender rights and more. It seems clearer as time goes by that it is the students and their allies in the Burlington community who are bearing the brunt of actualizing the public University of Vermont’s social justice brand campaign.

When you pay taxes in Vermont they go towards UVM and we should be holding UVM and its president, Daniel Mark Fogel, accountable to OUR dollars, even if they pale in quantitative comparison to the millions collected on the interest of human lives from investiture in companies such as Halliburton ($512,256), Raytheon ($335, 693), GD ($619, 165), DynCorp ($407, 198), and others, such as Northrup Grumman, invested amount undisclosed. Our Vermont politicians, Representative Peter Welch and Senator Pat Leahy are complicit with President Fogel in their allowance and encouragement of corporate-state fundraising through tax breaks (standing at $3.1 million for General Dynamics) and their “yes-man” votes. Past and ongoing campaigns for the state and University to divest should have made it clear to our representatives that they have the support to take a stand against these kill-for-cash corporations—if only self-interest were not a factor.

Holding the University, a microcosm of the state, and their policy of social justice for all up to transparency standards is a fight worth fighting for, not only because we can win, but because our local solidarity network must be strong before we can preparedly move on to ripping the core rot out of our society and others worldwide.

Print This Article

Comments