Protestors held a rally Sunday evening outside the Neal Smith Federal building against President Donald Trump’s aggression towards Iran.
Organizers planned the event in the heart of downtown Des Moines, a short walk from the residences of many attendees.
“We want to send a message,” organizer Michaelyn Mankel said. “We don’t want to see a repeat of 2003, especially with the size of the US bombs and their capabilities.”
Among the demonstrators were locals, activists and other concerned citizens calling for repercussions.
For speaker Xavier Carrigan, the issue hits close to home. Unlike others, Carrigan has friends and family who call Iran home.
“It’s like living with invisible chains, knowing there’s nothing I can do about it,” Carrigan said. “What makes it worse is that the people of Iran are the ones suffering the most.”
Carrigan also mentioned other movements, including demonstrations in 2022 after the arrest of Mahsa Amini, that led to the burning of headscarves and hair cutting.
“The Iranian people don’t want this routine,” Carrigan said. “Going about it [Trump’s] way is absolutely, 100% the wrong way.”
Another member of the crowd, Beau Gilbert, mentioned the importance of speaking out to preserve democracy.
“The people here [today] understand that they’re at risk of getting drafted for a war that we shouldn’t be involved in,” Gilbert said. “We’re at risk of fighting a war for all of the wrong reasons.”
Gilbert, a veteran who served in Kuwait, talked about what he saw during his time in the Middle East.
“I thought Kuwait was an ally,” Gilbert said, “We ended up just helping out whoever had the most money. I thought that I was going to join and stop human traffickers, maybe deliver water to people who needed it, but none of that happened.”
According to Gilbert, that wasn’t the only thing happening during his time overseas.
“I ended up helping fascists in the [Kuwait] government who used slaves and all sorts of things. We couldn’t do anything about it.”
According to another organizer, Duncan Burnett, attendees shouldn’t be nervous to show up and support the cause.
“Watching the news and the rising global tensions of what could become a huge regional or world war has been a major source of anxiety and fear,” Burnett said. “I don’t get nervous to be here because the real fear comes from what I’m seeing on the news.”
Amid the signs and organized chants, the crowd called for empathy.
“Nobody is thinking about enjoying the shade of the tree they’ll never sit under,” Carrigan said. “The problem is that nobody is looking at the situation with an empathetic heart.”
