A group of about 100 students marched through the icy rain last Wednesday on a path lined with 390 miniature American flags, each representing 10 American soldiers dead in Iraq, during a protest of the Iraq war on the fifth anniversary of its launch. The protest was planned by a coalition of campus clubs, including Amnesty International, Brandeis Democrats, Students for a Democratic Society, Democracy for America and Democracy Matters.

"It's not enough to just have a protest. You have to use that energy to then actually take action," said Brandeis Democrat Lev Hirschhorn '11, a major force behind planning and leading the protest. Throughout the day, he said, clubs ran booths in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium, encouraging students to write letters to Congress, sending bars of soap to help "clean up Congress" and sending packages to local residents who are currently serving for the U.S. military in Iraq.

During the march, students expressed anti-war sentiments with posters, face paint and chants. Students yelled: "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" and "Support the troops! End the war!"

Students also sang the protest song "Give Peace a Chance," by John Lennon.

"It is an unnecessary loss of life. Human life is a very valuable and precious thin. . It is a crime against humanity." Hirschhorn said about why he was protesting the war.

After the march, the participants formed a large circle in the Atrium for a vigil led by Hirschhorn and Ben Serby '10. The vigil was organized for all protesters to share their thoughts.

During the protest students sang another protest song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Pete Seeger.

The students, including those who did not know the lyrics, showed their support by swaying arm-in-arm to the tune. Catholic chaplain Father Walter Cuenin and Protestant chaplain Alexander Kern also spoke at the vigil.

On the day of the protest, "Brandeis has said we are not silent." Kern said. "We are against this war."

Brandeis Democrats president David Emer '09 said, "Let us remember the evil of inaction and substitute it with action" by electing a Democrat as President to get the U.S. out of Iraq.

Serby chose to speak in support of student activism, encouraging those in attendance to continue making their voices heard.

The organizers had hoped for a nicer day to hold the vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the war and the lives lost as a result of the conflict outside Goldfarb Plaza, but due to the inclement weather, the vigil was held in the Atrium, Hirshorn said. Holding the vigil in the Atrium posed problems during the moment of silence because the noise of daily activities around the Shapiro Campus Center continued while the protesters closed their eyes and reflected in silence.

The U.S. death toll in Iraq reached 4,000 last Sunday, MSNBC reported.

Students took turns reading the names of soldiers who were killed in Iraq in both the Usdan Student Center and the Atrium.

The Rabb steps also hosted an "apathy couch," a white couch with the word apathy painted on it in red letters, to protest against apathetic attitudes regarding the war.

The protest planners were optimistic for the day's turnout. "How many people show up will really be a testament to how much people at Brandeis care about the war," DFA member Liza Behrendt '11 said.

Editor's note: Ben Serby '10 is a staff writer for the Justice.