You gotta fight for your right........to not fight?

Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq and soon became a anti-war leader, along with dozens of other protesters were arrested in Washington DC on Monday while protesting outside the White House. Hundreds of people participated in the march around the White House and down the two-block pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. When they returned to the White House people decided they were going to sit down in front of the White House knowing they would be arrested. To the shouts of “The whole world is watching”, Sheehan was the first one taken into custody. About 50 people were arrested within the first hour. The demonstration was part of an anti-war effort on Capitol Hill organized by United For Peace and Justice. Sheehan’s son was killed in an ambush in Sadr City, Iraq, last year. She received worldwide attention when she camped outside President Bush’s Texas Ranch for 26 days.

Wars are often met by protestors. These anti-war protests are usually nonviolent. This is the case in the anti-war protests during the Mexican War. From 1820-1860, America decided to become involved in a war against Mexico, “to bring them the benefits of democracy and liberty”, in other words to take over. This war was met with a very famous anti-war protestor, Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau protested the war by refusing to pay taxes, even though to get him out his family paid. In response to his arrest Thoreau wrote a very famous essay entitled “Civil Disobedience”, this became the basis for many future protestors, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. His ideas encompassed disrupting everyday work while remaining anti-violent. He stressed getting unity among protestors to take down the power of government. Other protestors of this war included Abraham Lincoln and a group of Americans who actually sided with the Mexicans, and fought against the Americans.