Posted on 04/20/2007 12:15:25 AM PDT by Dallas59
Palestinian rights advocacy organization Filasteen, the Chicano Caucus, and other student organizations assembled a human wall on Low Plaza stretching from one fountain to the next yesterday afternoon to demonstrate the injustice created by the security fence in Israel and one being built along the Mexico-U.S. border.
At the event, demonstrators chanted, and several students were given the opportunity to speak. Eventually, the human wall was unlinked, symbolizing organizers' call to take down the existing physical walls.
"It was a speak-out against walls in general, which can ruin an economy and suffocate people," Tina Musa, CC '09 and a member of Filasteen, said.
Speakers included several students from cosponsoring groups, as well as professor Noha Radwan from the Middle East and Asian languages and cultures department. Among other topics, some at the event charged that the walls in Israel's West Bank and along the U.S.-Mexican border were tools of racism.
"We talked about both walls. Even though they are two separate situations, there are a lot of parallels," Musa said of the barriers, adding that the event was a chance for the participating groups to show solidarity for each others' causes.
"It's a shared struggle for justice, and we are trying to bring light to what the walls mean and the hypocrisy of them," Karina Garcia, CC '07 and a member of Lucha, said.
The event was sponsored by Lucha, Students Promoting Empowerment and Knowledge, the Asian American Alliance, the International Socialist Organization, Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, and the Columbia Coalition Against the War, among others.
While the event occurred, the Israeli advocacy group LionPAC, led by Ari Gardner, CC '08, distributed literature on College Walk. The handouts described the wall as a mechanism for self-defense against suicide-bombers, rather than as tools of injustice.
Gardner, who also passed out advertisements about LionPAC's upcoming event regarding the place of Israel within the Middle East, described the human wall as "claiming the Israeli fence was equivalent to an apartheid wall," a comparison that he said was misleading and inaccurate.
Members of Filasteen said they will continue their efforts by organizing a larger speak-out in the fall with the construction of an actual wall on Low Plaza.
Really really stupid people.
Sheesh!!
Just came back from the Great Wall of China. Guess the Chinese were inhumane to keep the Mongols out.
I am now convinced more than ever that we need a wall all across our Southern border.
Sometimes the media forgets to censor the truth. The International Socialists...Hey, that is Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi’s parent organization!
Oh, By the way I missed the coverage of their demonstration last week against Palestinian suicide bombings and terror bombings and the Palestinian call for the complete destruction of Israel. It parallels the situation of massive influx of illegals straining our economy and sending billions out of the country. Just read the tag line.
I'll bet these idiots would be the first to duck behind Israel's wall when a leftist Palestinian nut opened fire on them thinking they were Jews holding hands.
What would be a good "protest", is if these clueless morons traveled to Israel, handcuffed themselves together and made a human wall between Israel and the Palestinians with machine guns.
It must be the effects of global warming.
AKA jihad.
Oh, yeah? Then why don't you take the doors off your home, ya schmuck?!
Jeffy: How ‘bout a “SpeakOut” against idiot students?
Let’s find something else to to talk about.
I wonder if their home has walls? they would not want to suffocate..
Have you noticed that whenever CNN or BBC issues a report they are always on the Israeli side of the Wall?
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
How nonsensical! The US economy is being ruined as is by massive illegal immigration from Mexico. And yes, it is the American people that are being "suffocated" by increased crime, and increased spending on prisons, schools and medical care as a result of the wide open border. Not to mention that a wall could hinder terrorists coming in to the US across the Mexican border, just as the wall in Israel already reduces Palestinian and other Islamic terrorism.
What wall are they protesting? The gates arount the Morningside Campus?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.