Outside the Democratic Convention
1,000 demand: ‘End Iraq sanctions’
By Nancy Mitchell
Los Angeles
On Aug. 15 a rally was held outside the Democratic
National Convention in Los Angeles to demand an end to the
U.S./ United Nations war and sanctions against Iraq.
More than 1,000 people participated in the protest, which
was co-chaired by American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Western Regional Director Michel Shehadeh and International
Action Center Los Angeles Co-coordinator Preston Wood.
Shehadeh and Wood co-chair the Save the Iraqi Children
Coalition, which sponsored the rally.
During a moment of silence, participants held up 250 small
coffins, each with the name and picture of an Iraqi child on
it. The coffins dramatically symbolized the number of Iraqi
children who die each day as a result of the sanctions.
More than 1.5 million people have died as a result of the
sanctions since 1990. President Bill Clinton's administration
has blocked every effort in the UN to lift the sanctions.
U.S. and British air strikes against civilian targets in
Iraq continue almost daily.
As the rally ended at sundown, hundreds of demonstrators
carrying coffins and signs lined the 12-foot-high fence
directly across the street from the Staples Center, site of
the Democratic Party gathering. The protesters chanted
anti-sanctions slogans at the delegates.
Later, protestors lined a narrow sidewalk through which
the thousands of delegates had to pass to return to their
hotels. The demonstrators lining this gauntlet chanted
slogans denouncing Democratic Party presidential candidate Al
Gore and his Republican counterpart, George W. Bush, for
being guilty of genocide in Iraq and racist executions in the
United States.
The demonstration received extensive media coverage. The
Associated Press and Reuters news services filed stories and
photos that appeared in many newspapers across the United
States and abroad. Arabic-language television stations also
covered the rally. It was widely seen in the Middle East and
in Arab American communities.
Speakers at the rally included radio and television
personality Casey Kasem; IAC Western Regional Co-director
Richard Becker; high-school student Meghan Flynn Perrault
Lafayette, who traveled to Iraq last February; the Rev. James
Lawson, pastor emeritus of Holman United Methodist Church;
Jasser Hathout of the Islamic Center of Southern California;
Sonia Tuma of the American Friends Service Committee; Office
of the Americas Co-director Blase Bonpane; and Workers World
Party presidential candidate Monica Moorehead.
Also: Alicia Jrapko of the U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment
Caravan; National Lawyers Guild Executive Director James
Lafferty; Linda Tubach and Bob McCloskey of the Save the
Iraqi Children Coalition and Fellowship of Reconciliation;
Middle East Children's Alliance Executive Director Barbara
Lubin; Ghaith Mahmoud of the Muslim Student Association West
at UCLA; and Don White of the Committee in Solidarity with
the People of El Salvador.
Magda Miller of the Iraq Sanctions Challenge introduced a
group of young people who defied sanctions by taking medicine
to Iraq. They included Forrest Schmidt, Sarah Sloan and this
writer.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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