Bus tour protests sanctions

A group of fasting students and activists met Wednesday in Dunn Meadow to inform people of the effects of U.S.-United Nations sanctions against Iraq. The group will return to the meadow today.\nThe Bloomington Coalition for Peace is sponsoring the bus tour, "Remembering Omran," which tries to educate the public about the effects of the sanctions.\nThe tour is named after Omran Harbi Jawair, a 13-year-old boy who was killed last May when American planes bombed Iraq's southern no fly zone. The 40-foot bus is a converted school bus painted green with paintings of Iraqi children and quotes that read, "Sanctions Kill 5,000 Children Every Month" and "Stop Bombing Iraq; Stop the Sanctions." The tour is making 80 stops in 18 states.\nChicago-based Voices in the Wilderness runs the tour.\nVoices member Jean Gump, a Bloomingdale, Mich., resident, said the group would be back from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Gump, who has visited Iraq, said she has seen the effects of the sanctions.\n"The problem with the sanctions in Iraq is that (Americans) don't hear about the problems that are being experienced," Gump said.\nJunior Kadhim Shaaban, an American citizen who was born in Iraq, said three key issues are the destruction of the social and educational systems, a lack of medical supplies and the decrease in the average citizen's salary, which is now $3-6 per month.\n"I've been to the country to see the devastations of the embargo," Shaaban said.\nShaaban and others were fasting on behalf of the Iraqis, who receive small rations of rice and lentils as part of the United Nation's Food-for-Oil program with Iraq. The fast was broken at 6 p.m. with a small serving -- about one and a half cups of rice and lentils.\n"The fast dramatizes only one aspect of the oil-for-food program, which is that people are starving," senior Rima Kapitan said. "We're having a small ration of lentil soup, which an Iraqi family would be lucky to get."\nSenior Melanie Schlosser, a member of the Bloomington Coalition for Peace, said the coalition's goal was to raise awareness about the sanctions against Iraq.\n"If more people knew what was going on, they wouldn't allow it," Schlosser said.\nKapitan, Schlosser and others were stationed at the Sample Gates with literature and information about the sanctions. The protesters were passing out handbills for Wednesday's 6 p.m. Iraqi Food Basket meal in Dunn Meadow and an 8 p.m. film in Woodburn Hall, "Greetings from Missile Street," narrated by Voices member Tom Jackson.\nAt 4 p.m. today, "Greetings" will be shown in the Monroe County Public Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave., with a discussion following with Voices members. \nAlso, tonight the Stream of Hope benefit concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for nonstudents, with children admitted for free. Proceeds from the concert will go toward the purchase of a water filtration system for a needy community in Iraq as a gift from Bloomington.\nThe activists said they felt a responsibility to bring their message to the IU campus.\n"My government is actively working against human rights, so I have to protest," Gump said.