Heads bowed in concentration as a phone carried a faint voice from Baghdad to Northwestern on Wednesday night.
About 70 students and Evanston residents gathered in Harris Hall for “Live from Baghdad,” a Peace Project event held as part of Northwestern Opposing War and Racism’s Peace Week.
The voice on the other end belonged to Kathy Kelly, the founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a Chicago-based organization that wants to end economic sanctions on Iraq. Citizens in Baghdad feel that war is only a matter of time, Kelly said.
“People are wondering, ‘Why must we continually be punished for crimes we have never committed?'” Kelly said. “I would say people here want change after these long, grueling years.”
Kelly related the story of an Iraqi school teacher who sings to her students when air raid sirens go off to try to calm them. If Iraq is attacked, Kelly said civilians will not have access to oil, clean water or electricity.
Despite the dangers, Kelly will stay in Iraq indefinitely to witness the events and conditions and to convey the information accurately to people outside the country.
Three members of Voices in the Wilderness, who visited Iraq within the last year, talked about living conditions there.
Much of Iraq’s poverty is caused by the economic sanctions that have been in place for more than 12 years, suspending all trade with the rest of the world, said panelist Gabe Huck.
“These kinds of sanctions themselves are weapons of mass destruction,” Huck said. “Sanctions were the perfect tool to devastate this country.”
Bitta Mostofi said poverty and a lack of education are the roots of terrorism.
“We are fueling that fire” through sanctions, she said.
She encouraged the audience to question everything they hear about the situation in Iraq and said a war will greatly affect civilians.
“It will be a human catastrophe,” Mostofi said. “That’s undeniable.”
NOWAR member Naureen Shah said the purpose of the event was to put a human face on the conflict in Iraq.
“We wanted to take something that’s happening far away and bring it home to our campus,” said Shah, a Medill junior.
Communication senior Amanda Burr said she opposes a war with Iraq. She added she thought there would be more anti-war activitism on campus if the draft were re-instated.
“We feel like we are exempt from it because it doesn’t directly affect us,” Burr said.
Music senior Rachel Hertzberg said she was shocked by some of the human atrocities the panelists said the United States has committed in Iraq.
“I think the fact that there is an American over there willing to remain indefinitely to show her support of the Iraqi people and her opposition to the war is amazing,” Hertzberg said. “She is doing it to make a statement and it should be heard.”
