Elon Students for Peace and Justice were joined by other members of the community Monday, March 17 at Fonville Fountain to show their support for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Iraq. Details...
Students, faculty and staff stopped by to sign their name to a declaration promoting a peaceful end to the situation in Iraq. The students displayed cutouts in the shape of humans, each with a bullseye on them, to symbolize the people who will be affected by military action in Iraq.
“We wanted to bring something here to campus to raise awareness that a peaceful solution is possible,” says Alice Dull, a senior from Winston-Salem, N.C., and a member of Students for Peace and Justice. “I hear people grumbling that they don’t want the war, so we wanted to hold this event to let them know that there are others who share their views.”
Dull said the idea to use the cardboard sillhouettes of humans came from a rally in Europe. “We made most of them small, to reflect the number of children who will be affected.”
Visitors to the vigil in front of Fonville Fountain were encouraged to sign a declaration supporting peace. The declaration reads:
“We are here today in the spirit of nonviolence to protest the unnecessary injustice and destruction that an intensified war on Iraq will cause. We choose not to submit to the will of destructive people as we fight violence and its roots of fear, ignorance, apathy, and greed.
“We will behave nonviolently and respectfully to all as we express our message for peace and justice. We stand with the people in Iraq, the US and British servicemen stationed in the Middle East, and the millions of people around the world who will be seriously and negatively affected by this war.
“May we soon see a brighter day.”