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CNN Live Today

Interview With Student Protesters

Aired March 05, 2003 - 11:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: High school and college students across this country are protesting plans for war, and they are doing it today. Students from some 230 schools are expected to take part in strikes across the country, and they've been asked to leave their classes to attend rallies.
Some others, we are told, are going to be holding teach-ins. Now, this may strike you as being uncharted territory for many of these college students, because most of them, as you've got to know, are younger than during -- maybe 10 years old or so during the first gulf war?

Well, CNN's Maria Hinojosa joins us now from Philadelphia, where she is on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, and Maria, I have to wonder, is this idea of protest really one that's catching on there or what?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, it's hard to make a generalization, but I have been talking to a lot of the students who are gathered here precisely about that, and what they say is that really the student movement took a turn pretty much after the last big rallies on February 15, that prior to that, they had been out on campuses, maybe leafleting and students walked by, maybe apathetic, maybe even a little bit angry, but now they say that there's really been a sea change in terms of the response. Students are getting involved. What they're hoping here is that for hundreds of students to walk out at 2:40. Then they are going to walk and march down to city hall, where there will be a rally there.

It is a national movement. I've just heard now that they're up to 360 schools that are officially part of this. But I wanted to give you a sense of who is involved, who are the organizers. Because as you said, Leon, they were young, they maybe haven't been to any of these kind of activities. So two people who are joining us are Ben Waxman, who is a high school student who is an activist, and Spencer Witte, who is a baseball player from the University of Pennsylvania.

Let's start with you, Ben. Why get involved? You're in high school. I'm sure kids say to you, who cares about this?

BEN WAXMAN, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Well, I want to go to college. I'm a senior in high school. I am getting ready, looking at colleges. So my big question for a lot of families -- and for a lot of families, is how are you going to pay for college? And I think that the money that we're going to spend bombing Iraq should be spent on education to invest so that everybody has access to quality education. That's one of the reasons I'm involved. HINOJOSA: Now, Spencer, you said that this is the first time you've ever been involved in any kind of activity like this. What made it come home for you, made it personal for you?

SPENCER WITTE, COLLEGE STUDENT: I think a big turning point for me was 9/11. I'm a native New Yorker. I saw a lot of families go through so much suffering, and just understanding that we might be bringing that suffering elsewhere unnecessarily really bothers me.

HINOJOSA: Now, you actually took it one step further, Spencer. You went to Iraq. There might be some people who say, Hey, the Iraqi young people probably are hoping that someone comes to get rid of Saddam Hussein. What did you hear on the street?

WITTE: I went just to be able to draw parallels with students over there, and there's many. We have very similar hopes and dreams. They don't want this war. Their feelings for the Saddam Hussein regime aside, the U.S. has very little credibility with the Iraqi people.

HINOJOSA: Now, Ben, your high school friends are saying to you, Ben, come on, the war needs to happen, let's just -- what is -- you know, what's...

WAXMAN: We have a lot of kids in my school that joined the military, and I hear every day in my school, Hey, Ben, you have got to keep on doing what you're doing, because I don't want to go and fight.

People join the military because they see it as a way to pay for college, not go and fight in a war in Iraq that they don't want. So actually, I get just the opposite. We have a lot of kids who are very, very supportive.

HINOJOSA: And in the locker room, Spencer, with your baseball buddies, what are they saying to you?

WITTE: They accept what I'm doing. I think more and more they are interested. They want to know more about the issue, and they come to me and they talk about it, and they are open to ideas -- so...

HINOJOSA: Thank you both.

That just gives you a sense of some of the people who are now part of this new student movement. They are hoping that thousands across the country actually take part in this demonstration. Here in Pennsylvania at 2:40 is when they're hoping that students stand up, walk out of their classrooms, and make their way to city hall -- Leon.

HARRIS: I have got to tell you, no matter what the view is, it's refreshing to see young folks actually getting involved in politics to begin with. Thanks, Maria.

HINOJOSA: That is right. OK.

HARRIS: Maria Hinojosa reporting live from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 5, 2003 - 11:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: High school and college students across this country are protesting plans for war, and they are doing it today. Students from some 230 schools are expected to take part in strikes across the country, and they've been asked to leave their classes to attend rallies.
Some others, we are told, are going to be holding teach-ins. Now, this may strike you as being uncharted territory for many of these college students, because most of them, as you've got to know, are younger than during -- maybe 10 years old or so during the first gulf war?

Well, CNN's Maria Hinojosa joins us now from Philadelphia, where she is on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, and Maria, I have to wonder, is this idea of protest really one that's catching on there or what?

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, it's hard to make a generalization, but I have been talking to a lot of the students who are gathered here precisely about that, and what they say is that really the student movement took a turn pretty much after the last big rallies on February 15, that prior to that, they had been out on campuses, maybe leafleting and students walked by, maybe apathetic, maybe even a little bit angry, but now they say that there's really been a sea change in terms of the response. Students are getting involved. What they're hoping here is that for hundreds of students to walk out at 2:40. Then they are going to walk and march down to city hall, where there will be a rally there.

It is a national movement. I've just heard now that they're up to 360 schools that are officially part of this. But I wanted to give you a sense of who is involved, who are the organizers. Because as you said, Leon, they were young, they maybe haven't been to any of these kind of activities. So two people who are joining us are Ben Waxman, who is a high school student who is an activist, and Spencer Witte, who is a baseball player from the University of Pennsylvania.

Let's start with you, Ben. Why get involved? You're in high school. I'm sure kids say to you, who cares about this?

BEN WAXMAN, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Well, I want to go to college. I'm a senior in high school. I am getting ready, looking at colleges. So my big question for a lot of families -- and for a lot of families, is how are you going to pay for college? And I think that the money that we're going to spend bombing Iraq should be spent on education to invest so that everybody has access to quality education. That's one of the reasons I'm involved. HINOJOSA: Now, Spencer, you said that this is the first time you've ever been involved in any kind of activity like this. What made it come home for you, made it personal for you?

SPENCER WITTE, COLLEGE STUDENT: I think a big turning point for me was 9/11. I'm a native New Yorker. I saw a lot of families go through so much suffering, and just understanding that we might be bringing that suffering elsewhere unnecessarily really bothers me.

HINOJOSA: Now, you actually took it one step further, Spencer. You went to Iraq. There might be some people who say, Hey, the Iraqi young people probably are hoping that someone comes to get rid of Saddam Hussein. What did you hear on the street?

WITTE: I went just to be able to draw parallels with students over there, and there's many. We have very similar hopes and dreams. They don't want this war. Their feelings for the Saddam Hussein regime aside, the U.S. has very little credibility with the Iraqi people.

HINOJOSA: Now, Ben, your high school friends are saying to you, Ben, come on, the war needs to happen, let's just -- what is -- you know, what's...

WAXMAN: We have a lot of kids in my school that joined the military, and I hear every day in my school, Hey, Ben, you have got to keep on doing what you're doing, because I don't want to go and fight.

People join the military because they see it as a way to pay for college, not go and fight in a war in Iraq that they don't want. So actually, I get just the opposite. We have a lot of kids who are very, very supportive.

HINOJOSA: And in the locker room, Spencer, with your baseball buddies, what are they saying to you?

WITTE: They accept what I'm doing. I think more and more they are interested. They want to know more about the issue, and they come to me and they talk about it, and they are open to ideas -- so...

HINOJOSA: Thank you both.

That just gives you a sense of some of the people who are now part of this new student movement. They are hoping that thousands across the country actually take part in this demonstration. Here in Pennsylvania at 2:40 is when they're hoping that students stand up, walk out of their classrooms, and make their way to city hall -- Leon.

HARRIS: I have got to tell you, no matter what the view is, it's refreshing to see young folks actually getting involved in politics to begin with. Thanks, Maria.

HINOJOSA: That is right. OK.

HARRIS: Maria Hinojosa reporting live from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com