Americans’ ignorance and antiwar sentiments were just a few of the topics that flew back and forth between 15 students who gathered to express their opinions at an open mic event Tuesday night in Annenberg Hall.
The event was sponsored by the Northwestern University Council of Religions and hosted by the Rev. Ken Leech, visiting from St. Botolph’s Church in London. Leech, a member of Stop the War Coalition in London, said he has been opposed to war since before it began.
“There is greater opposition to the war in Britain than in the United States,” Leech said. “There is considerable opposition from a range of unusual sources such as certain newspapers and former military people. You cannot predict precisely who will support the war and who will be opposed.”
The first three students to take the microphone performed a piece titled “Imperialism.” Accompanied by bongo drums, one of the students rapped about global effects of materialism and capitalism.
Media portrayal of the war was another hot topic of discussion. “It seems to me the British daily newspapers are presenting both sides of the dispute in ways U.S. papers are not,” Leech said.
Weinberg freshman Marta Flory, a member of the council, discussed the distinction between reading about war and actually experiencing it.
“No matter how much you think you know about the war, everything you know is heresay,” Flory said. “It’s only a reality for the people experiencing it in Iraq. We really have no place to say what’s better for them, we don’t really know what it feels like to live under Sadaam.”
Leech also prompted discussion on the perceived Americans’ ignorance of Middle East geography and politics.
“Americans don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world because they don’t care about the rest of the world,” Weinberg senior Jeremy Kohn said in response. “Why don’t we ask the Iraqis what they want? Why don’t we ask them whether they’d prefer freedom or Sadaam?”
Weinberg freshman Afeefa Ismail said she thought Americans were not looking at the root causes of Iraqi problems.
“We named it Operation Freedom,” she said, “but I wonder if it’s our vision of freedom, their vision of freedom or even freedom at all.”
