On Wednesday evening, anti-war chants, the beating of drums and honks of approval filled the hot, sunny space outside the Champaign County Courthouse. Over 50 community members gathered to protest President Donald Trump’s threats of military action and continued U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing airstrikes in Iran.
The demonstration came just hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of “irreparable damage” if the U.S. intervenes in the war.
Organized by the Central Illinois chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the rally was in response to a rapidly escalating conflict that has seen Israeli warplanes strike dozens of targets across Iran, including nuclear sites. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles into Israel in retaliation, striking several cities, including Tel Aviv.
One such protester was Dylan Blaha, U.S. Army veteran and Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 13th district congressional seat.
“More than anything else, I’m here to support a lot of the local leaders that are organizing these movements,” Blaha said.
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Blaha, who was deployed to Afghanistan and remains a member of the National Guard, maintained that he does not want to see the U.S. go to war with Iran.
“I’m here because I disagree with the mainstream media’s narrative that Iran is a threat … It’s really disheartening that whether you go to CNN or Fox News, you hear the same narrative: It’s not should we bomb Iran, but how much?” Blaha said. “The U.S. does not need to enter a war. We need to feed our hungry, we need to clothe our poor.”
Central to the conflict is the discussion of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. There are contradictory reports regarding the timeline of the program between Israeli and American intelligence.
While marching, Al Mytty, co-coordinator for the Illinois branch of a World Beyond Wars — an organization seeking to abolish wars — said he believes governments frequently lie in order to justify war.
“Here’s a scorecard of the lies our government used to justify war: in Vietnam, in Afghanistan, in Iraq,” Mytty said. “If you look through history, we used lies to justify the Spanish-American war … Truth is always the first casualty of war.”
Blaha also expressed skepticism, drawing historical parallels to previous instances of American interventionism — for example, the now-infamous claim made by the second Bush administration over 20 years ago that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction.”
“This really does resemble what happened in Iraq in 2003,” Blaha said. “There were these inflammatory claims of nuclear weapons from Benjamin Netanyahu. Right now, we only know that (Iran) has 60% (uranium) enrichment, not the 90% that’s required … Iran has no nuclear weapons at all, Israel has at least 75 to 400 — they don’t report that number.”
Unlike Iran, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and subject to regular inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Israel has never joined the NPT and does not allow IAEA oversight of its nuclear facilities.
Blaha also highlighted inconsistent reports between Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s comments of no new evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons and the claims that Iran is on the doorstep of becoming a nuclear power.
Trump, who earlier this week demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and urged the evacuation of Tehran, Iran, said Wednesday he may authorize American military involvement.
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
George K., a PSL organizer who did not share his last name, said Trump’s evacuation order is unrealistic and unreasonable, and that a large portion of Trump supporters do not want the U.S. to go to war with Iran.
“Tehran is a city that is the size of New York,” George said. “How does he think it’s going to be evacuated? It’s not. He’s posturing to the American people because he knows that he’s betraying a large part of his voter base who did not want to go to war.”
According to a YouGov/The Economist poll from last week, 63% of Trump voters think Trump should negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, and most of those polled, including 53% of Trump voters, said they do not think the U.S. should get involved militarily.
George said federal representatives should sign on to calls of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which limits the president’s authority in declaring war. The act requires the commander-in-chief to notify congress prior to launching a war and requires congressional approval to extend the war past 60 days.
“Working people in Champaign should be able to control their own destiny and say that if we don’t want to go to war with Iran, we’re not going to send our tax dollars, bombs, tanks and the young people in this country overseas to die in the pointless war,” George said.
Mytty was most concerned with the deaths of civilians overseas.
“It’s mostly civilians who die, and it’s mostly the poor, and it’s mostly black and brown people in these wars that are created by wealthy military contractors and politicians who are under the influence of the military contractors,” Mytty said.
