STATEMENT SIGNED AND DELIVERED;
YOUR HELP NEEDED TO MAKE SURE PAPERS PUBLISH THE STATEMENT!
1. Statement and Signatures
2. Where do we go from here?
3. What is the Student Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition?
1. Statement and Signatures
STUDENT CALL TO ACTION AGAINST U.S. / U.N. IMPOSED SANCTIONS UPON
IRAQ
Dear Editors and Students:
For more than a century, student movements have had an important place
among the agents of social change. Students have a history of fighting
for peace and justice. In the 1960s, students spurred debates in Congress
about the war in Vietnam and led the protests for peace. Students also
struggled against discrimination and racism -- both in the civil rights
movement in the U.S. and in the fight to end apartheid in South Africa.
Now, in the 1990s, there is another war we must end; another struggle for
peace and justice in which we, as students, must make our voices heard.
For more than eight years, our government has been waging a silent war
against the people of Iraq. This month, the US-led sanctions will kill
4,500 infants and toddlers, according to UNICEF reports. Today, this
policy will kill 250 people in Iraq, as it did yesterday... and as it will
tomorrow. Since 1991, more than one million people have died due to the
scarcity of food and medicine and the spread of water-borne diseases - all
direct consequences of the sanctions.
Since 1991, United Nations agencies and independent human-rights
organizations have been reporting on the devastating impact of the
sanctions on human life in Iraq. Four years ago, UNICEF reported that:
"Sanctions are inhibiting the importation of spare parts, chemicals,
reagents, and the means of transportation required to provide water and
sanitation services to the civilian population of Iraq. * What has become
increasingly clear is that no significant movement towards food security
can be achieved so long as the embargo remains in place."
And what is our government's response? When asked on "60 Minutes" about
the death of half a million children in Iraq - more children than died in
Hiroshima, Madeline Albright responded "we think the price is worth it."
We say NO! The death of one child is a death too many.
As Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Edward Herman, and Edward Said recently
stated, in their national call for action, "The time has come for a call
to action to people of conscience. We are past the point where silence is
passive consent -- when a crime reaches these proportions, silence is
complicity."
We refuse to be silent in the face of this war.
We denounce the trade sanctions against the people of Iraq as immoral,
illegitimate and contrary to fundamental principles of humanity and human
rights. We demand that Congress and the President immediately end the
ongoing sanctions war against the people of Iraq.
We support the University of Michigan's Student Assembly which passed a
resolution in January condemning the sanctions against the people of Iraq.
We call upon all students dedicated to peace to join the growing
movement to end the war against Iraq. Get more information on how you can
help end the war by sending an e-mail to studentinfo at leb.net
<mailto:studentinfo at leb.net >. Check our website at at
http://leb.net/iac/students.html .
It was the collective voice of the students that woke our nation to the
horror of the Vietnam War. We must once again issue the wake up call to
the conscience of our nation.
Sincerely,
(Organizations listed for identification purposes only.)
Rania Masri, rmasri at leb.net, NCSU, Raleigh, Doctoral Candidate, NC, Iraq
Action Coalition Will Youmans wyoumans at umich.edu, UMI, MI, Class of: 2000,
Michigan Student Assembly Edward Qubain edqubain at physics.utexas.edu, UTX,
Austin, TX, Graduate student Todd Williams juliancalendar at webtv.net ,
Fresno City College, CA Dennis Markatos dmarkato at email.unc.edu , UNC, NC,
Chapel Hill, SURGE Charles Michael Brown docspid at hotmail.com , Western
Washington U, Bellingham, WA Bob Witanek, bwitanek at igc.org, Cook College,
RU, NJ (Alum - 1982) Byron Philhour bjp at astro.caltech.edu , Caltech,
Pasadena, CA, Graduate Robyn Oetinger, ASENVIRONAFF at csuchico.edu , CSU,
Chico, CA, Class of: 1999 Adam Ritscher redpepper98 at hotmail.com , SFSU,
CA Osama Qasem qasem at ieor.berkeley.edu , UC, Berkeley, CA, Class of: 1999
Leila Masry ltmasry at ucdavis.edu , UC, Davis, CA, Class of: 2002, Amer
Salim Al-Yahmadi asalyahmadi at ucdavis.edu , UC, Davis, CA, Class of: 1995
Matthew Levy mlevy at orion.oac.uci.edu , UC, Irvine, CA Mohamed El Beih,
elbeih at usc.edu ,USC, Los Angeles, CA, Class of: 2000 Este Paskausky
ebp97002 at uconnvm.uconn.edu , UTC, Storrs, CT, Class: 1999 Ryan-Kate
Shanahan RYS95001 at UCONNVM.UCONN.EDU, UTC, Storrs, CT, Class: 1999 Katie
Ming Chow kchow at students.uiuc.edu, U IL, Class of: 2002 Joshua Paulson
paulsjo at cs.earlham.edu , Earlham College, Richmond, IN, Class of: 2000
Carrie Albright CarrieAlbright%8%MC at manchester.edu Manchester College,
North Manchester, IN, Class of: 2002 Gustavo Herrarte herrarte at isunet.net
, ISU, Ames, IA, Class of: 2000 Michael Gillespie thedrummer at iastate.edu,
ISU, Ames, IA, Class of: 1999 Kobi Snitz snitz at wam.umd.edu , UMD at
College Park, College Park, MD, Grad Student Sinan Antoon
antoon at fas.harvard.edu, Harvard U, Cambridge, Class of: 2002 Chris
Swartley, cswartley at hds.harvard.edu , Harvard University, Cambridge, Class
of:2000 Amanda Vogel, avogel at hsph.harvard.edu , Harvard U, School of
Public Health, Class of: 2000 Ian Burke bian at earthday.net, Lesley College,
Cambridge, Class of: 1999 Kimberly Haddad KHADDAD at WELLESLEY.EDU,
Wellesley College, MA, Class of: 2000 George Katsiaficas,
katsiaficas at wit.edu , Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston Drew W
Hempel hemp0027 at tc.umn.edu, UMN, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Jessica Marley
Curtin jcurtin at umich.edu, UMI, Ann Arbor, MI, Class of 2001 Amer Kasim
Ardati aardati at umich.edu , University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Class of:
1999 Micah Holmquist micahth at umich.edu, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Class of: 2000 Geoff Mcnamara dmorris at jlc.net , High Mowing School (High
School), Wilton, NH Sawsan Muaddi SMuaddi at afsc.org, Rutgers U., Camden, NJ
Daniella Leifer, dhl9 at cornell.edu , Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,
Class of: 2000 Jesse Alt, jma35 at cornell.edu Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York, Class of: 2001 Ethan Wells, eaw13 at cornell.edu , Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York, Class of: 1999 Yadira Torres
yt0572 at cnsvax.albany.edu , SUNY Albany, Class of: 2000 Mike Schade
schade at acsu.buffalo.edu , SUNY, Buffalo, NY, Class of 2000, Student
Assembly Fariha Samad samad at acsu.buffalo.edu , State University of New
York at Buffalo, Class of: 2001, MSA Eric Bebernitz erb4 at acsu.buffalo.edu
, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, Class of: 2000, Laila M. El-Haddad,
lme1 at acpub.duke.edu Duke University, Durham, Class of 2000 David Headman
headmanda at rascal.guilford.edu , Guilford Collge, Greensboro, NC, Class of
2001 Sarah Edith Jacobson, sjacobso at gladstone.uoregon.edu , U of Oregon,
Eugene, Class of: 2000 Karla Nyreen Solheim ksolheim at brynmawr.edu , Bryn
Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, Class of: 1999 John P. Lacny,
jplst15+ at pitt.edu , University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Class of: 2001
Neil A Chudgar nacst15+ at pitt.edu ,University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
PA, Class of: 2001 Myrna Atalla Myrna_Atalla at brown.edu , Brown
University, Providence, Class of: 2001 Livia Wick Livia_Wick at brown.edu ,
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Class of:1999 Katherine
McMorran, kem at brown.edu , Brown University, Providence, Class of: 2000
Rachel Dick rellen at mail.utexas.edu , University of Texas at Austin, Class
of: 2002 David Ferguson truth at vt.edu , Virginia Tech, Blacksburg Afifa
Ahmed ahmedaf at whitman.edu , Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, Class
of:2000 Andres Felipe Vergara avergara at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu , George
Washington University, DC, Class of 2002 Barak Epstein
bepstein at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu , George Washington University, DC, Class of:
2000 Melanie Stibick mstibick at ssc.wisc.edu , U WI, Madison, Class of:
2000 (MA), ASM Member Sarah Knopp sknopp at students.wisc.edu , University of
Wisconsin, Madison, Class of: 1999 Gary Grass senador at csd.uwm.edu ,
Manpower Business Training Institute and Kaplan Educational Centers,
Milwaukee, WI, Class of: 1999 (MBTI) Zakia Halbouni zhalbounzee at yahoo.com
, University of Western Ontario, London,Ont,CA, Class of: 2001 Noha
El-Shareif, nelshare at julian.uwo.ca , University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada, Class of:1999 Mike Zmolek, zmolek at yorku.ca , York
University, Toronto, Canada, PhD Candidate Steve Pollard
bguc7 at central.susx.ac.uk, University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex
Christopher Mitchell, cmitchell at macalester.edu Macalester College, St.
Paul, MN Class of 2001 John Hering, Humboldt State University, Arcata,
CA, Class of: 2001. Narjes Misherghi, Stanford U, CA, Class of 2001
Rebecca Berhanu, Stanford U, CA Elizabeth Ribet, UC, Irvine, CA Graduate
Student Marisa Nadolny, UTC, Storrs, CT, Class of: 1999 Jennifer Mattera,
UCT, Storrs, CT Ali Wick, Yale U, New Haven CT, Class of 2002 Stefanie
Dion, UCT, Storrs, CT, Class of: 2000 Aqsa Farooqui, Agnes Scott College,
Decatur, GA 30030 Elias L. Khalil, U of Chicago, Chicago, IL, PhD
Candidate Leslie Boby, U IL, Urbana , IL, Class of: 1999 Reuben Kirksey,
U IL, Urbana-Champaign Alex Bonick, U IL, Urbana-Champaign, Class of: 2000
Eliska Champagne-Veselka, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, Class of: 2000
Allison Michel Levinsky, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Class of
2002 Dawn Budd, Manchester College, North Manchester, Class of: 2001
Abdoulkarim Ibrahim, ISU, Ames, IA, Class of: 2001 Vanessa Lutz, ISU,
Ames, IA Sean Pelkey, BU, Boston, Class of: 2001 Christopher Vaeth,
Harvard Divinity School/Harvard University, Cambridge MA, Class of: 1999,
Nina Shapley, MIT, Cambridge, MA Nicole Wood, Roxbury Community College,
Boston, International Action Center Erin Bower, Simmons College, Boston,
Graduate Student Mazen Boriny University Of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Jennifer Perry, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI, Class of: 1999 Jenny
Schlanser, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Class of: 2000 Aiman Mackie,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Class of: 2000 Michael Mosallam,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Class of: 2001 Nancy Sundell, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY, Graduate Student Jessica Moore, Jamestown
Community College, Jamestown, New York Ellen Davidson, New School
University, New York City, Class of: 2000 Karen Gau, New York University,
NYC, Class of: 2001 Alan Lowenschuss, New York U, NYC, Graduate student
Ya-Chung Chuang, Duke University, Durham, NC Michael Leonardi, University
of Toledo, OH Joannie Tang, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, Class
of: 2001 Andy Herzing, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Class of: 2002 Joshua
Ferguson, Messiah College, Grantham, PA, Class of:2002 John Bracken,
UPENN, Annenberg School of Communication, Philadelphia, Class of: 1999
Nora Shalaby, U. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Class of: 2000 Samuel B
Williamson, Class of: 1999, Students in Solidarity Leila Khan, Brown
University, Providence, Class of: 1999 Brian Carnes, University of South
Carolina, Columbia, SC, Class of: 1999 Mono Aguilar, Our Lady of the Lake
University, San Antonio, Texas Meagan Smith, University of Washington
School of Law, Seattle, WA Class of: 2000 Jennifer Brown, Eastern
Washington University, Cheney, Washington, Class of: 2001 Adam
McConnel,Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA Tamam Barhoush,
Georgetown University, Washington DC Mark Whitaker, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Class of: 2002 Kevin Cullen, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Class of 2001, Member ASM Michael Lauer, U WI, Madison,
Class of: 1999 James Loughery, University of Northern British Columbia,
Prince George, B.C., Canada Uri Strauss, University of British Columbia,
British Columbia (Canada) Class of: 1999, UBC Graduate Student Society
(Councillor Monika Dutt, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,
Class of:1999 Yasmine Rifaat, Mcgill University, Montreal, Quebec Class
of:2001 Michele Tan, University of Leeds, UK, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Takeshi Higuchi, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, Chemical Engineering in
Graduate Student SHIGEMATSU Tomohiro, Kunitachi City,Tokyo, Japan, Student
of Hitotsubashi Univ., Member of Student Government of Hitotsubashi Univ
Michiya Kitada, Sophia University, Tokyo,Japan
2. Where do we go from here?
Thank you to all who have responded to sign the letter, offer advice,
provide e-mail addresses, etc. The above statement with the list of
signatories has been forwarded to approximately 400 campus newspapers
around the U.S. If the statement can be printed in 300 - 400 papers, it
will be read by literally several million students, faculty, staff and
community members. Of those millions, thousands will contact the Student
Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition, giving us the potential to
coordinate with you, a movement that can have national impact on this
issue.
In order for us to maximize the impact of this statement, we invite you to
continue your support in these ways: A. Get your campus organizer starter
kit by sending an e-mail to studentinfo at leb.net and visit the web site of
the Student Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition:
http://leb.net/iac/students.html . Please consider the organizing
suggestions we make therein and provide appropriate feedback. It is only
with your participation that our efforts can bear fruit. B. Help assure
that the statement appears in your campus newspapers. If nobody from your
campus has signed the statement, you can add your signature. Then
approach the editors of the various papers at your campus and request that
they print the statement. Even if you can not sign the statement or if
students at your campus have already signed, you can still urge the
editors to print the statement. Be encouraged to visit your newspaper
offices with the statement and / or to forward a copy of the statement to
them. You can also request that we forward the statement to your paper by
filling out this coupon and sending it to us at bwitanek at igc.org : = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = Newspaper Name:
University.: City / State of College: E-Mail of paper: Your name:
University / City / State: Do you wish to add
your name to the statement: Yes _______ If so, then provide: University /
Town / State: Town / State of residency: Class of: Student Government /
Other student organization affiliation: Phone Number: Can we list you as a
contact person for activities on your campus? = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = C. If
the newspaper requires confirmation information about signatories, please
provide the following information to us at bwitanek at igc.org . You can also
urge the newspaper editors to contact us at this address. = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = Newspaper Name: University.:
City / State of College: E-Mail of paper: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = D.
Volunteers are needed to approach the issue of pressuring papers to
publish the statement in a more organized way. Please e-mail us at
bwitanek at igc.org and wyoumans at umich.edu if you can volunteer. E. Please
send a message to bwitanek at igc.org and wyoumans at umich.edu to report any
success you have had with this effort and in which papers you have seen
the statement printed. F. Forward this message within your various
networks and discussions. G. You can feel free to print the following line
in your publications or include in your e-mail messages as often as you
would like:
For more information about the student effort to end the sanctions on
Iraq, send an e-mail message to studentinfo at igc.org and visit
http://leb.net/iac/students.html .
3. What is the Student Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition?
The Iraq Action Coalition (IAC) is an independent grassroots
clearinghouse dedicated to ending the war on the people of Iraq. IAC
provides information and analysis on the devastating effects of the
continuing war. IAC supports an immediate lifting of the illegitimate
blockade on the people of Iraq.
IAC is not affiliated with any government, political party, or religious
institution.
Information on the impact of the sanctions war, and on the voices of
peace working to end the war, is available on the IAC website
http://leb.net/IAC The website also provides fact-sheets, pictures,
action alerts, and additional resources for activists.
The Student Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition aims to follow suit,
providing networking services for campus anti-sanctions organizers and the
means to communicate and coordinate the student movement around this
issue. For this purpose, we have set up http://leb.net/iac/students.html
. The web site includes a wide range of suggested activities for campus
organizers as well as a directory of campus organizers and committees on
this topic. You can help us make the directory more comprehensive by
adding your organization. The directory will also advertise the various
activities of organizations on this topic. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO ADD LINKS
TO THIS URL at your locations!
Ideally, signers of the statement and other interested students would form
an initial steering committee of the Student Committee of the Iraq Action
Coalition. Proposals for nationally and regionally coordinated action
would be fielded through that body. A discussion group for that purpose is
being devised. Please contact us at bwitanek at igc.org or
wyoumans at umich.edu to become part of that discussion. As well, feedback
can be sent to those addresses.
Meanwhile, we recommend that you subscribe to the ADC-ITF, a discussion
group sponsored by the Iraq Task Force of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee. To do so, send this message: Subscribe
adc-itf To this address: majordomo at leb.net . Traffic on this group is
about 5 messages per day.
We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for supporting this
project.
- Bob Witanek
- Will Youmans
- Rania Masri
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