Anti-war groups build mock tombstones to represent death toll in Iraq
The Daily Pennsylvanian, 1/8/07, Article by Heather Schwedel, photo by Alex Small
Across
from the Button sculpture on College Green, a simple white placard
bears a somber message: “In Loving Memory of Lena Ali Hera. She died in
Al Rashiddia on 7 Apr. 2003, age 5. Tank Attack.”
The signpost
is one of some 500 that will dot the Green for the next week as part of
a symbolic graveyard that Penn anti-war groups have installed to draw
attention to the large number of Iraq War civilian deaths.
Each
placard that was put up yesterday afternoon represents 1,000 deaths
from the war in Iraq. While three signposts stand for the 3,000
American soldiers that have died, the rest are supposed to represent an
estimated 500,000 Iraqi deaths.
Student members of Penn Against
War, Penn Faculty & Staff Against War on Iraq and the Philadelphia
chapter of leftist group World Can’t Wait worked together to set up the
installation, which will stay on College Green until next Tuesday.
Though
estimates of the Iraqi death toll have varied from 100,000 to about
600,000, depending on the source, group organizers said they decided on
500,000 because several anti-war groups have agreed that it is a
realistic figure.
History Ph.D. candidate and Penn Against War
member Rob Goldberg said the protest’s goal is to emphasize Iraqi
casualties, which he said often go unnoticed in American mainstream
media.
“Most of what we talk about is ‘our,’ and we say little about ‘their,'” Goldberg said.
As students passed by the new installation yesterday evening, some kept a brisk pace while others stopped to take a closer look.
Wharton
freshman Nikhil Kumar said, “I think people will stop and look at least
once. They did for the Jesus tent, so I hope they stop to look at this.”
He
said he could imagine some people being unhappy with the installation’s
prominent placement on Penn’s campus, but added that, “if nothing else,
this will spur some conversation.”
The group organizers arranged
to use the space through the staff of Perelman Quadrangle, which allots
space to Penn student groups upon request.
No University funding
was used to set up the protest, said Felicity Paxton, an organizer of
the installation and a faculty fellow in the Contemporary Writing and
Women’s Studies programs.
She said it cost about $400.
Organizers said they came up with the idea to set up a symbolic graveyard during a student-sponsored teach-in in November.
Paxton said she had seen and heard of similar graveyards throughout the nation – and even nearby in downtown Philadelphia.
In
setting up the installation, Paxton said the group chose to focus on
Iraqi children in order to give the death-toll estimates a more human
quality.
She added that she hopes the installation will be
visually arresting enough to grab the attention of many members of the
Penn community.
“You cannot walk past it without stopping and thinking,” she said.