As students walked to and from class yesterday afternoon, they were forced to detour around the ten or so bodies of their fellow students lying “dead” in Red Square. Every 15 minutes, another student would “fall dead,” clutching a sign proclaiming: “I am not Saddam Hussein” or “Lift the economic sanction NOW.”
The “die-in” protesting the U.S. economic sanctions placed on Iraq was organized by members of the Muslim Students Association, the Young Arab Leadership Alliance and the Georgetown Solidarity Committee. By lying prostrate on the ground, organizers hoped to present a visual image of the vast numbers of Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of the economic sanctions.
“Basically, we want to show how over one million civilians have died because of the sanctions,” MSA member Younus Mirza (SFS ‘04) said. “We are trying to bring it home to [Georgetown students] that this is happening over there.”
Mirza said that each new “death” every 15 minutes signified the deaths that occur every 15 minutes in Iraq due to the sanctions.
“We’re protesting that the United States should stop at least the economic sanctions [against Iraq]. The people who are dying have no role in the politics,” Rami Turayhi (CAS ‘04) said. “The people didn’t do anything and they’re suffering.”
YALA President Jumana Salem (SFS ‘03) said that the organizers of the demonstration felt that it was important to educate the campus community about the Iraqi civilian situation.
“We felt that we needed to do something, especially now after [President Bush’s statement about] ‘the axis of evil’,” Salem said. “Saddam Hussein does not represent what the people want … we want to draw awareness to how horrible it is over there.”
Salem said that she did not agree with the idea that weakening U.S. intervention in Iraq would indirectly support Saddam Hussein.
“Sanctions have proven to be an ineffective way of countering Saddam Hussein’s evil. Sanctions make Saddam more powerful because it makes his people weaker,” she said.
