Four days into their protest in front of Kirtland Air Force Base, anti-war protesters say they have met their goal of triggering debate on the base.
Protesters assembled the anti-war encampment on the corner of Gibson Boulevard and Truman Road on May 1, the first anniversary of President Bush's announcement that the war in Iraq had ended. Bob Anderson, a member of the Committee to Stop the War Machine, and an organizer of the encampment, said more than 60 people have passed through the round-the-clock protest, and about 20 people have slept there overnight.
"A couple days ago, some guy was jogging up this path and stopped in and said, 'I'm an active-duty captain over here at Kirtland, and I want to let you all know that what you're doing here is being (discussed) by everybody inside the base, and I think you're right. Keep on doing it,'" said Anderson, a former professor at UNM. "That's what we're trying to do - raise the issues."
Protest organizers said they chose Kirtland to generate military opposition to the war in Iraq.
"During the Vietnam War, when the veterans and the military began to oppose the war and speak out against it, that was what really made a final blow against the empire, and brought about a stronger anti-war movement," Anderson said. "We know that there's a lot of resistance in the military. We're trying to show them there's a space that they can come out and speak out against it."
Kirtland Barbershop owner Peter LeSage said his clients have not discussed the protest encampment, or the war itself.
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"The protesters get ignored, basically," he said. "It's ironic. You really don't hear a lot. They (soldiers) go about it matter-of-factly. It's their job."
Anderson and his colleague Alan Cooper said responses from Kirtland's military personnel and passing civilian motorists have been more positive than a year ago when they helped organize a similar protest.
Cooper, a KUNM programmer and member of Stop the War Machine, said he credits the change in mood to increasing opposition to the war in Iraq. Anderson said motorists have responded in two ways to the protest.
"Some are really upset that we're out here with our message," he said. "They don't want us raising any political questions."
Others have expressed solidarity with the protest, donating food and coffee to the camp, Anderson said.
"Somebody yelled to me, 'go home,'" Cooper said. "I said, 'I am home; I was born in Martineztown."
Camille Kiegel and her granddaughter visited the camp to show support for the protest. Kiegel, a widow of a World War II veteran, said she is opposed to the war.
"Pre-emptive war on top of that makes it worse," she said.
The protesters said they encourage reticent soldiers who are opposed to the occupation of Iraq to involve themselves with war-resistance groups, including The GI Rights Hotline, a nonprofit group that, among other services, helps soldiers opposed to the war in Iraq postpone their military service during war.
Anderson said the City of Albuquerque has not ordered the removal of the encampment, which rests on a strip of gravel landscaping among Xeriscaped plants. He said the city police told him the protest is legal.
Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman Trish Ahrensfield said unless protesters block traffic, the protest, including the few tents and umbrellas the protesters sleep under at night, is legal.
"As long as they're not on anything that say's 'no encamping,' then they're fine," she said.
