5 Years of Occupation: 5 Days of Action

5 Years of Occupation: 5 Days of Action
Columbia University
April 21st – April 25th, 2008
MISSION STATEMENT
A very broad coalition of graduate and undergraduate students and
student groups (see members of coalition below) has come together around the 5th
anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, an anniversary which has been marked, most
glaringly, by silence. We are planning a week-long series of events on the Columbia
University Campus addressing the upcoming five - year anniversary of the US led invasion and occupation of Iraq. This series of events is meant to address what we see as a selective silence about the violence in Iraq. The scale of Iraqi death, injury and displacement is absent in accounts of the war by US military officials, US government spokespersons, mainstream media, and even within our own Columbia community. We are all entangled in the occupation of Iraq on various levels; as residents and citizens of the United States, as taxpayers, voters, and consumers.
As students we are abrogating our responsibility to bring the occupation of Iraq to the forefront of critical public debate. As students of Columbia University, we have not been holding our university accountable for its financial investment in this war. The five days we are organizing are meant to symbolize the past five years of
escalating violence in Iraq and to interrupt the apathy pervasive on this campus and in this country.
These five days are meant to include members of the Columbia community
in a series of events aimed at raising awareness about the situation in Iraq and to
call attention to our own responsibilities to address the US led occupation in a responsible manner. Events include a week-long public relay reading of the documented
names of the deceased Iraqis and US soldiers in Iraq since 2003; a documentary film
festival, teachins, a walk-out, a mourn-in, and a T-shirt making campaign intended to
publicly circulate information about this war. Our goal is to transform Columbia
University into a space where for five days, the fact that there has been a evastating war in Iraq for five years now will be impossible to ignore.

5 Years of Occupation: 5 Days of Action
Columbia University
April 21st – April 25th, 2008
Calendar of Events

Monday April 21
9am-10pm: Name Reading at the Sundial
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm: T-shirt Making at the Sundial
3:00pm-5:00pm: Raging Grannies/Code Pink Action- College Walk
7:30 pm: Film Screening and Panel, “Baghdad Hospital” with Director
David Trilling in IAB 707

Tuesday April 22
9am-10pm: Name Reading at the Sundial
10:00 am -1:00 pm: Flag Washing Event-Butler Library Entrance
(sponsored by the CU Democrats)
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm: T-shirt Making at the Sundial
6:30pm Film Screening “Turtles Can Fly.” 101 Jerome Green Hall
(sponsored by Qanun)
8:00 pm -10:00pm: Teach In- Refugee Crisis in Iraq in 717 Hamilton

Wednesday April 23
9am-10pm: Name Reading at the Sundial
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm: T-shirt Making at the Sundial
8pm-10pm: Film Screening "Sari's Mother" with Filmmaker James Longley
in 717 Hamilton

Thursday April 24
9am-10pm: Name Reading at the Sundial
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm:
WALK OUT AND RALLY with Scheduled Speakers
(Pending Confirmation): Rashid Khalidi, Brinkely Messick, Bruce
Robbins, Gil Anidjar & Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)
8pm-10pm: Panel Discussion, “The Surge In The News” With Dr. Sinan Antoon, New York
University 517 Hamilton

Friday April 25
9am-10pm: Name Reading at the Sundial
12pm-2pm:
Mourn In - Low Steps
5 Years of Occupation: 5 Days of Action
Columbia University
April 21st – April 25th, 2008
2:00 - 4:00 pm: T-shirt Making at the Sundial
6pm-8pm: Film Screening, “About Baghdad” with Filmmakers Sinan Antoon, Bassam Haddad, Maya Mikdashi 614-Schermerhorn

Columbia University Faculty who will be Reading Names Throughout the
Week.
We are still collecting names.
Please Sign Up HERE:www.mybookingcalendar.com/5y5d
Nadia Abu El-Haj
Lila Abu-Lughod
Zainab Bahrani
Akhil Bilgrami
Partha Chatterjee
Hamid Dabashi
Rashid Khalidi
Brian Larkin
Manning Marable
Brinkley Messick
Rosalind Morris
Sheldon Pollack
Elizabeth Povinelli
Anupama Rao
Sanjay Reddy
Bruce Robbins
Michael Taussig
5 Years of Occupation: 5 Days of Action
Columbia University
April 21st – April 25th, 2008