From Baghdad to Washington
Helping to bring a bright, sunny day
Special to Workers
World
In January, the International Action Center's Fourth Iraq
Sanctions Challenge delivered over $1.5 million in medical aid
to the Iraqi people. The delegation was comprised of 50
delegates from seven countries and 15 states.
Ed Lewinson, Professor Emeritus of History at Seton Hall
University in New Jersey, has participated in every Iraq
Sanctions Challenge since it's inception. He has done so with
hundreds of others in protest of the deadly sanctions against
Iraq.
After his first Iraq Sanctions Challenge, Lewinson
contributed to the book "Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq Live."
In his essay, Lewinson said, "When the opportunity to join the
Iraq Sanctions Challenge arose in the spring of 1998, I felt
that learning about conditions firsthand would enable me to
bear witness more effectively.
"I have been totally blind all my life. ... In Iraq as well
as going back and forth, delegates traveled in groups. Sighted
delegates gave me vivid descriptions of conditions. ... As I
looked back on the trip, my blindness caused me no special
problems of which I was aware."
On that first trip, Lewinson "had hoped to meet with Iraqi
blind people and learn about conditions for them." While he was
unable to do so on his first trip, he finally found his way to
a school for the blind on another trip. He was able to visit
that same school a second time during the January
Challenge.
On Jan. 20, tens of thousands of demonstrators came together
in Washington to protest the inauguration of George W.
Bush.
In just a few hours after returning from Iraq, Lewinson
boarded a bus from the NYC area bound for Washington to
participate in the counter-inaugural protest. Still clad in
clothing fit for desert weather, he made his way to the heart
of the IAC protest at Freedom Plaza where he braved the hail
and cold for hours.
When WW asked Lewinson what drove him to head right to
Washington after a 14-hour plane trip, he told us, "I felt that
I should go to both." He went on to say, "It showed the
strength of the IAC that they could organize the Sanctions
Challenge and the challenge to the inauguration at the same
time."
Lewinson--and his guide dog, Hooper--is a regular volunteer
in the New York IAC office.
"I originally got involved with the IAC because I heard
about the National Peoples Campaign on the radio in the spring
of 1995," Lewinson said. "I stayed around because I am
impressed by how efficient the IAC is, what good organizers
they are and what a variety of issues they work on."
Lewinson said he will continue to take part in the Iraq
Sanctions Challenge for as long as necessary. "I feel that I
should keep going until the sanctions are repealed," Lewinson
said.
This article is copyright under a Creative
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