For years, Jim Quinn has held the belief that the United Nations is a socialist organization aiming to limit the rights of United States citizens. But it wasn’t until last February that he took his beliefs to the street, right in front of Macalester.

What started as a one-man counter-demonstration to anti-war protesters during the Iraqi war has developed into a number of weekly demonstrations against the United Nations. This includes a Tuesday afternoon stop at Macalester College, which he believes symbolic of the values held by the international organization.

Quinn, who occasionally is joined in his protests by his family and several sympathizers, said his goal is to warn people of the dangers he perceives from the U.N., educate those willing to listen to his beliefs and organize into action people who agree with him.

“For the United States to belong to the United Nations, hoping to bring about world peace, makes about as much sense as for the local police chief, [to join] the Mafia to accomplish this,” Quinn said.

Sovereign nations are like mature adults, he said, and they are capable of dictating their own foreign policy without any help from a foreign entity.

“That would be like a married couple having a live-in negotiator one hundred percent of the time at their home,” Quinn said. “The fact of the matter is that any method that takes away from other countries’ sovereignty is not correct. Peace at the end of a barrel of a gun—that’s what they’re promoting.”

History Professor Emily Rosenberg, who specializes in U.S. foreign relations, has a different opinion about the U.N.

“I see little merit in the argument that the United States promotes socialism,” Rosenberg said. “In my view, [these protesters] vastly exaggerate the amount of power that this entity is going to exercise. These groups believe that internationalism is anti-nationalist, whereas those who call themselves internationalist see internationalism as one more way to carry out the national interest.”

Alireza Javaheri ’01, who returned to campus for the Women and Gender Studies conference, questioned Quinn and his fellow protesters’ reasoning.

“This is so crazy. Who are these people?” Javaheri asked. “It’s despicable. It’s awful. It’s disgusting. For me, the U.N. is an organization for all different countries in the world, almost every country in the world. To say that you should go against the U.N. to liberate America means that you are stepping over every other country in order to liberate America, whatever liberate is, and that’s really problematic.”

Despite his unpopularity around Macalester, Quinn remains determined to continue his demonstrations.

“The fact that very few people join me just strengthens my resolve,” Quinn said. “I look out on the streets and I see that nobody is standing up for my position. I hear them on the radio, I read their books, I know they get together in groups and support one another, but I don’t see anybody reaching out to the other side.”

Quinn said that apathy is the most common response to his view of the U.N. as a “one-world global socialist tyranny.” Of those who do respond to his message, it’s an even split between supporters and detractors. While he spoke, a few drivers honked their horns in encouragement while other drivers jeered at him.

“I’ve had some professors here who’ve identified themselves as such, agree with my point of view. They say I’m a refreshing breath of air,” Quinn said.

Other times, the reaction to Quinn is far less supportive. On one occasion, a driver passing by threw a soda cup that hit Quinn in the chest. Elsewhere, an assistant high school principal tried to kick him off school grounds by calling the police.

Quinn learned his method of high profile campaigning while participating in peace activism in high school. “When I was a high school student, they sucked me in,” said Quinn, who had an anti-war stance at that time.

“This is the one compliment you’re going to hear from me for the Left: they got out and protested. I saw the power of the activist.”

When the conflict with Iraq started and the anti-war protests began, Quinn decided to take advantage of what he had learned from the peace activists by applying it to his new beliefs. He adopted the “Liberate America” slogan when the war ended, and he doesn’t plan to quit spreading this message any time soon.

“I come to Macalester because I think colleges in general, and high schools also, [are places] where the youth are searching for an education,” Quinn said. He has also taken his message to the state capital, the Peace Vigil at the Lake Street Bridge and a number of other area colleges. “Youth have the enthusiasm, higher than most other age categories and they have the desire to know the truth,” Quinn said.

Fellow protester Rob Hewitt, who joined Quinn’s movement about three months ago, praised Quinn’s courage and dedication.

“Jim’s the kind of person that comes down here in 30-below weather holding a ‘Liberate Iraq’ sign all by himself on the corner against an army of anti-war people,” Hewitt said. “You gotta give him a lot of credit for that courage.”