Protestors at Wesleyan Challenge
Albright Over Sanctions On Iraq
Saturday, February 6
Middletown, CT
Brian
Edwards-Tiekert
At Wesleyan University, 200 people gathered to protest the UN
sanctions on Iraq outside of a conference on foreign policy where
Secretary
of State Madeline Albright was the keynote speaker. Chants of
'Drop
Sanctions, not Bombs,' and 'Hey, Madeline, what do you say? How
many kids
did you kill today' echoed into the concert hall while activists
leafletted
the audience members lined up outside. A second group of students
that had
gathered to protest Wesleyan's minority faculty hiring and
retention
practices joined the protest as well.
Inside, hecklers not affiliated with the university interrupted
the
beginning of Albright's speech and were promptly removed by
security. "I
would be happy," Albright said, "to meet with you after
my speech." When
one woman stood up and accused her of genocide Albright snapped,
"Don't talk
to me about genocide."
After the speech, Albright retreated to university president
Douglas
Bennet's house; protestors crowded the exit street and demanded
that
Albright meet with them. Albright's aids contacted three
organizers of the
protest, and escorted them in. The three spoke with Albright for
25 minutes.
"She asked us to explain our position. Then she explained
her position. Then
we talked, and nobody changed their position," said Brian
Edwards-Tiekert.
"It was a good political gesture--now she can say she
listened to us."
It is estimated that over 1 million people have died in Iraq as a
result of
the UN sanctions; children under the age of 5 continue to die of
famine and
preventable disease at the rate of 4,000 a month.