A rally, march and candlelight vigil in opposition to U.S./UN sanctions against Iraq took place Oct. 26 in the Hudson Valley town of Kingston, N.Y..
Over 65 sign-carrying local residents, including 35 students from Bard and Vassar colleges and the State University of New York at New Paltz took part in the protest at Academy Green Park, calling for an immediate end to the murderous decade-old sanctions.
The action was called by the newly-formed Mid-Hudson Coalition to End the Sanctions on Iraq, representing several local student and community groups.
Speakers at the brief rally included students Michael Chameides of Bard and Matthew Kavanagh of Vassar, Bard professor Joel Kovel, and Jack A. Smith of the Mid-Hudson National People’s Campaign and International Action Center.
The event included a march to the nearby senatorial campaign headquarters of Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio. A letter left at the offices insisted that the candidates join some 70 members of Congress who have opposed the sanctions, which were an outgrowth of the Persian Gulf war.
In a statement, the local coalition declared: “The sanctions on Iraq...have been responsible for the deaths of over 1.8 million people, about half of them children. In addition they have destroyed one of the most comprehensive and effective healthcare and education systems in the Middle-East, ensuring that Iraqis will be incapacitated for generations to come....[Nothing] justifies consigning 22 million people to poverty, anguish and death.”
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