IRAQ SANCTIONS CHALLENGE III: DELEGATES SAY WHY THEY SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQIS

By Sarah Sloan

[The writer is a member of the Iraq Sanctions Challenge III delegation.]

This January 14-21 the Iraq Sanctions Challenge III will defy the sanctions and continued bombing of Iraq by bringing $2 million worth of donated medicine in violation of this genocidal U.S.-imposed policy.

Led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, 60 activists from 15 states and seven countries will travel to Iraq to protest of the U.S.-led war against Iraq that has continued for nine-and-a-half years.

The delegation will be in Baghdad to participate in the annual event held in Iraq to mark the time at which, in the early morning hours of Jan. 17, 1991, the U.S. began a 43- day high-tech bombing campaign. The group also plans to visit hospitals, schools, a water-treatment plant, and other areas where the genocidal effects of the sanctions are evident.

Groups represented in the delegation include American Muslims for Global Peace and Solidarity, the Middle East Children's Alliance, San Diegans to Stop the Violence Against Iraq, the Islamic Association of Palestine, Physicians for Global Survival, and Chico Peace and Justice Center.

There will also be international delegates from anti- sanctions groups from Japan, England, Spain and Italy. Four people from Japan will join the delegation as representatives of the Japanese Arab Cultural Association.

From Italy, there will be two delegates from Bridge to Baghdad. One is a professional videographer who will be traveling with the delegation from New York to make a film that will focus on the international solidarity Iraq is receiving.

Students are joining the delegation from the College Voice at the College of Staten Island, Hunter College and the Student/Labor Coalition at Bard College, all in New York State; Wayne State University in Michigan, the University of Michigan and St. Olaf University in Minnesota.

Included among these students are leaders from many different movements, including three students from the Hunter College Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM!) in New York.

SLAM is a leading student group in organizing to demand the freedom of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. They organized eleven buses to the April 24 Millions for Mumia demonstration in Philadelphia, the largest number of buses organized from any college in the U.S.

WHY THEY'RE GOING

Sabrine Hammad, the spokesperson for the Hunter SLAM delegation, told Workers World that the group is planning to make organizing against the sanctions and continued bombing of Iraq a major campaign as they have for Mumia.

Of their reasons for going, Hammad said, "We've never done organizing around Iraq before. But now we're taking up this campaign because we think it's time for us to get involved so the movement can get stronger.

"There are always these issues that everyone should be a part of, and this is one of them. There should be no question whether or not this is an important issue to take up. The Iraq Sanctions Challenge should be taken up by every activist one hundred percent," she said.

Another student, Mark Marzolf, found out about the Iraq Sanctions Challenge while attending the Detroit hearing of the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia. He is a third-year journalism student at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Marzolf said, "As a journalism student going to Iraq for me is taking everything that I'm reading, taking that text and it's jumping out of the page and into a reality that I'm ready to grasp. It's about learning about the present, not just the past, because only action can effect what's going on right now.

"Rather than constantly reading about the movement, it's a way to get involved, jump into it, become a part of the movement," he said.

After returning from Iraq he intends to work on a multi- media presentation including photos and video. He wants to inform others about the effects of the sanctions and continued bombing. He will be working with the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee and various local groups in the metro Detroit area.

Damaso Reyes is a freelance journalist from New York who has worked for the Amsterdam News as well as other publications. He will be the official photographer of the delegation.

Reyes said, "My goal is to document through images and words the work of this Sanctions Challenge delegation. I want to tell the human stories behind the delegates who are going, why they are doing it, and the impact that the aid the delegation delivers will have on the Iraqi people.

"I want to disseminate information about what the Iraq Sanctions Challenge is doing to tell people that there are ordinary citizens doing something to make their opposition to the sanctions heard and known. I want people to know others can do things to help the Iraqi people if they disagree with the sanctions."

Magda Miller is one of three people traveling from Los Angeles. To raise donations to purchase medicine for the Challenge, she hand-delivered information about the trip to 1,000 physicians in and around Los Angeles. This included pamphlets and a personal letter she and her son wrote.

Miller told Workers World of the reaction she receives when she tells people that she will be participating in the Iraq Sanctions Challenge: "People are discouraging me but I say I'm going to go. They're telling me that it's dangerous. I'm telling them that the deaths of 250 children a day is the real danger.

"I want to send a message to the U.S. government that the people don't approve of this genocide. After I tell people why I'm going, they say that's a good mission."

The Iraq Sanctions Challenge is not the ultimate solution to the problem, but the Iraqi people see it as a major and significant act of solidarity with the Arab people.

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