A pair of anti-war events on campus Thursday highlighted the
United States’ involvement in the Middle East and attempted
to generate support for the movement against the war.
In the first event, titled “MisEducation and
MisInformation: Breaking the Silence on Campus About the War in
Iraq,” a panel of speakers addressed approximately 60
students and community members on the ways the organizers felt
people are being deceived about the current war in Iraq.
As a projector displayed a slide show of images of soldiers and
scenes from the Middle East, Douglas Kellner, a UCLA education
professor, spoke about what he called the “misinformation on
the war in Iraq.”
“The tragedy of our democracy is the people only get the
images from the American media,” Kellner said.
He and other panel members discussed the ways in which they say
the media in the United States give a one-sided view of social
issues and said people need to look to other sources to get their
news.
Rosa Furumoto, a professor of Chicana/o Studies at California
State University, Northridge, addressed the more specific topic of
increasing militarism in Latino communities through the
proliferation of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps recruitment
programs.
She said armed forces recruiters target high school students
from low-income communities, and the students suffer because of
this.
“We can’t forget what’s going on in our
communities,” she said. “That’s where
they’re recruiting.”
Furumoto said section 9528 in the No Child Left Behind Act,
which requires public schools to give the contact information of
students to armed forces recruiters, was responsible for this
increased military presence.
Furumoto’s presentation was temporarily derailed due to
technical difficulties when a computer would not work properly.
During this lull, Arlene Inouye, an audience member, stood up to
speak out against the No Child Left Behind Act. She said the
militarizing effects of the act could be clearly seen in the
“poor, working-class” high school in which she
works.
Preston Wood, the Los Angeles coordinator of Act Now to Stop War
and End Racism Coalition, gave an inflammatory speech deriding the
U.S. presence in Iraq.
Toning down the mood of the event, the soft-spoken Karen
Brodkin, a UCLA anthropology professor, discussed the need for
people to get involved in political causes. She said she was
spurred by the anti-war protests that took place last year to begin
talking openly with her colleagues about their political
beliefs.
When the audience was given the floor, a man who said he flew a
B-29 Bomber in Korea when he was 19 called out to war veterans to
speak out against war. He said he later served in the Vietnam
War.
“Aren’t there any servicemen who will tell the
truth?” asked the 72-year- old veteran-turned-activist, who
declined to give his name.
Kellner elaborated on the veteran’s statements, saying all
citizens, not just those who fought in wars, should take on the
responsibility for the actions of their government.
“We should feel a responsibility and a burden because it
is our country which has done terrible things,” he said.
The event was sponsored by Educators Against the War in
Iraq.
Later in the day, the second event, titled “Iraq and
Palestine Under Occupation: State Sponsored Terror and
Torture,” compared the U.S. presence in Iraq to the Israeli
presence in the Palestinian territories.
“They are one people fighting for justice and peace.
“¦ We must do more for the people of Iraq and Palestine who
are suffering as a direct result of our tax dollars,” said
Marwan Abderrazzaq, a member of the Al-AWDA Right to Return
Coalition.
Elias Rashmaui, a member and co-founder of the Free Palestine
Alliance, spoke at the event, saying the current political
situation in the Middle East is due to the vital role this region
plays in the economic development of the United States.
The Middle East, with its airspace and waterways, links the
United States to the Asian countries, where large numbers of
consumers and producers are located, Rashmaui said.
In addition, eight of the 20 largest oil reserves lie in Arab
countries, which makes the Middle East a vital source of energy for
economic development, he added.
The event was a teach-in that offered a perspective on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a painful struggle for the
Palestinian people. A film shown at the end of the event, called
“Dispatches: The Killing Zone,” further conveyed this
message.
Any unified strength in the Middle East presents a challenge to
the United States, Rashmaui said.
The Palestinian movement for liberation represents a unified
force, which the United States tries to control through the Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories, he added.
In addition, the United States’ occupation of Iraq serves
as a means to secure further control of the Middle East and to
prevent the unification of the Arab countries, Rashmaui said.