“No More War” and “No More Torture” posters lined the walls of a Kane Hall lecture room last night as two speakers presented their opinions on the Bush administration and the Iraq War.

The event was part of the national “Mission of a Generation” tour and is associated with the Seattle chapter of The World Can’t Wait — Drive out the Bush Regime.

Sunsara Taylor, a co-founder of The World Can’t Wait, and Chanan Suarez-Diaz, an Iraq War veteran, delivered their anti-war message to about 75 people.

Their intention was to promote activism reminiscent of the Vietnam era among university students, and their opinions were often met with applause.

“Students have historically played a huge role in every successful social movement that has accomplished progress for humanity, and they have a role to play today, too,” Taylor said prior to the speech. “The problem in this country is not that too many people support the president; it’s that those that oppose him are too passive, too paralyzed and too polite.”

As the tour travels to colleges across the United States, Taylor hopes to mobilize students by illustrating Bush’s shortcomings, including the unprovoked war in Iraq and the backward strides that the administration has made against women’s reproductive rights.

She believes that America is at a pivotal point right now.

“We’re either going to be remembered as the people who accepted all of that or the people who rose up politically and drove out the regime who was doing this,” Taylor said. “Literally there are two futures colliding right now: the Bush future or the future that we fight for.”

Taylor insists that waiting until the 2008 elections to have a new leader is too far away and too much damage can be done between now and then, especially with the threat of war with Iran.

However, the solution is not simple, and impeaching Bush would only be the beginning of the battle.

“It’s going to take more radicalism than it did in Vietnam to end this war,” Suarez-Diaz said. “It’s important for students to be involved.”

Unlike in the past, there are not many student protests and young adults are not as involved in politics. Events like this may serve as an unintentional educational experience for some.

“I’m not really into politics,” said senior Eric Nelson, who attended the speech as a class assignment. “We had to come to something outside of our comfort zone.”

Opinions of this event predictably vary greatly between the Republicans and Democrats on campus.

The president of UW College Republicans, Daniel Murdock, said that although he was unaware of this speech, he was not surprised by it.

“Liberals love to engage in self-satisfying activities which do no good in the real world,” Murdock said.

On the other side, the Democrats were supportive of the event and its efforts.

“Unlike earlier generations, students today are hardly reacting to the far-reaching actions of our political leaders,” said Hannah Lommers-Johnson, the Young Democrats’ vice president of communications. “It is of vital importance that events like this occur so that students understand just how much the decisions of this president are affecting us.”

Reach reporter Abby Walker at news@thedaily.washington.edu.