Max Elbaum, editor of War Times newspaper, will address the nation’s on-going war on terrorism tonight in a lecture in Campus Center room 168.

The talk, scheduled for 7 p.m., is entitled “Wars and Antiwar Movements: From Vietnam to Iraq” and will cover the nation’s involvement in seeking out terrorism and the potential conflict with Iraq.

Elbaum will also discuss the grassroots efforts across the country to oppose military action that has occurred during President George W. Bush’s administration and to promote a more secure, just, and peaceful world.

War Times debuted in February 2002 with the cover story, “From One Ground Zero to Another.” Since then, the nationwide, bilingual newspaper has produced five more issues aimed at exposing the darker sides of the war on terrorism.

The newspaper’s mission statement explains the purpose of the publication: “War Times is being produced to help broaden and deepen the fight against the Bush program by compiling information and analysis, and putting them into the hands of large numbers of readers.”

It is this spirit that Elbaum will bring to campus tonight.

“The main thing that we hope to accomplish with this is to bring more people into a conversation on what President Bush wants to do with the war with terror and specifically with what he wants to do with Iraq,” Mark Brenner, event organizer from the socialist group Solidarity, said.

“I feel like there’s not a lot of debate among students on the war in Iraq, and I’d like to foster more conversation on the war on campus, given the level of seriousness that I think it represents,” Brenner said.

“We really believe that there is an anti-war movement in this country,” Sonny Suchdev of the Office of ALANA Affairs said. “We want to really engage students on campus about the anti-war movement. We want to see what a successful anti-war movement looks like and what a embodies a true democracy.”

Suchdev said that Elbaum will draw parallels between the situation in Vietnam over 30 years ago and the situation in Iraq today.

“If we do believe that we’re living in a democratic country, the way that should work is a grassroots democracy,” Suchdev said. “That means mobilizing from the bottom up, going to rallies, making sure that our government represents us. We’ve seen people’s movements work. Hopefully we can do that now. Democracy is more than just voting day.”

The event is sponsored by the Office of ALANA Affairs, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Program on Social Thought and Political Economy (STEPC), Solidarity, and the Western Mass. Palestinian Action Coalition.

The event is free and open to the public.