On August 25, Cornell University students began a "Fast Relay" in memory of the estimated 100,000 Iraqi lives lost since the March 2003 invasion and in protest of the US occupation of Iraq. In 48-hour shifts, the students will fast one minute for every dead Iraqi, the relay totaling 70 days. While this demonstration began at Cornell, it has found participants from neighboring Ithaca College and from the Ithaca community at large.
Organized by Cornell for Peace and Justice, students designed the Fast Relay as a quiet, reflective demonstration. One of its objectives is to allow its participants to contemplate the loss of life in Iraq and around the world. Cornell graduate student, Bekah Ward, called this anti-war action "quiet and contemplative" and explained the appropriateness of an action of this kind. "It’s a time for introspection and a time to really think about those mothers and families in Iraq who have lost loved ones," Ward said.
Sarah Pearlstein ‘07, whose remarks can be accessed at blogger.com ("Fast Relay: 100,000 Minutes), wrote that fasting enabled her to "reflect upon and call others’ attention to the oft-ignored Iraqi casualties of this unjust and imperialistic war."
Raising consciousness on campus about the occupation is another of the group’s objectives. Phillip Kim ’06 spoke to the need to educate fellow students about the costs of war, saying, "we want to make students realize how many people have died for this totally unnecessary war." To do this, the students have adopted the color orange as their identifying symbol, and each person who fasts wears an orange tee-shirt that reads, "Fast Relay: One Minute for Every Dead Iraqi."
Beyond the Fast Relay, orange has become the color of the anti-war persuasion at Cornell and in Ithaca. Recently, students and residents organized an event called "Orange Friday," which was a day-long series of simultaneous teach-ins and demonstrations at three locations in Ithaca—on Cornell’s campus, on Ithaca’s campus, and on the Commons in Downtown Ithaca.
Students hope for the Fast Relay to also memorialize the American lives lost as a result of the war. Pearlstein writes, "that number of fallen American soldiers should also weigh heavily on our collective conscience, as well as those from other countries who have chosen to engage in either side… and are now unfortunately caught in the crossfire." Pearlstein went on to say that her fast helped her understand her relationship to the lost Americans, Iraqis, and the blossoming American anti-war movement. She wrote, "I felt throughout my fast the potential and the urgency needed to put a stop to this war."
In his blog-post, Kim expressed similar sentiments, writing, "I fast, here in the safety and Ivy League affluence of the seat of the empire, not only to help foreign victims of US corporate imperialism, but also to save the Republic." The fast is scheduled to end on November 1 but may be extended as casualties, American and Iraqi alike, mount by the day.
