PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Students ride the fence for Afghan refugees
by Andy Mulkerin Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 1:10 PM

The Pittsburgh Anti-War Coalition held a �Refugee Camp� of their own, on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 150,00 new refugees have fled Afghanistan since September 11. This is in addition to the millions already fleeing before the American attacks began. And while this number is surprising, most Americans pay little attention to the plight of the displaced peoples. For this reason, the Pittsburgh Anti-War Coalition (http://www.endthiswar.org) held a �Refugee Camp� of their own, on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland.

The coalition worked with student activists on the campus to collect and make comforters and blankets for the Mennonite Central Committee�s relief efforts for the refugees, while camping out in the middle of the campus to call attention to the plight of the refugees. They set up their tents near �the Fence,� a campus landmark, which they painted with phrases like �this is not a victimless war� and �1,500,000 new refugees since 9/11.� The camp-out placed experienced activists alongside first-time demonstrators, squatters alongside college students.

The tents were pitched Saturday, December 1 and the event officially closed the following Wednesday afternoon. It ultimately brought in 53 blankets and comforters to be sent to the Afghan refugees by the Mennonite Central Committee (one of only six organizations working directly with the Afghan refugees), as well as a good bit of non-perishable food, to be donated to local food banks. In addition to these tangible gains, the participants took with them new knowledge and a new appreciation for the troubles of the less fortunate.

�One interesting thing about the experience was being outside in the cold at night; on Sunday night we had frost. It gives you a real gut-level appreciation for what homeless people go through every day. We could all be a whole lot kinder to the less fortunate,� explained Mary Alice Shemo, a representative of the Mennonite Church and a board member at the Thomas Merton Center.

Student participant Matt Toups said, �Just the experience of learning how to make a comforter was really rewarding.�

The idea of a refugee camp originated in a meeting of the Pittsburgh Anti-War Coalition after the last Coalition action, an all-day rally at the University of Pittsburgh. Toups explained that the University of Pennsylvania had staged a similar event in mid-November, in which they established a tent city on campus to call attention to the victims, in Afghanistan and here in the United States, of the American reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11.

The Anti-War Coalition held two major meetings to plan the event, but according to Toups the event came together mostly �within the last four or five days before it began.�

Shemo said that she originally wanted to call attention to the plight of the refugees by staging a sort of refugee flight in Pittsburgh, but the logistics of such an operation would be too complicated. �Also, staying in one place left us accessible for dialogue, which was another reason we held the event. We wanted to gently challenge people to question what is going on. There are forces out there that want to squash all that. We can call ourselves a �democracy� until we�re blue in the face, but if no one can question what our leaders are doing, we don�t really have a democracy,� explained Shemo.

The reaction of students on campus was described as being mixed. �There�s always some cynicism, some heckling, some apathy,� admitted Shemo. But there were also cases in which students who knew nothing of the action saw the tents and decided to join. �We had some really great cases where someone would approach us and say �What�s this?� and the next thing you knew they were helping out, making comforters,� explained Toups.

Many students, however, questioned why the activists appeared to be spending a great deal of money on supplies to call attention to themselves instead of using it to support the refugees. In an open e-mail response, student organizer Mark Egerman replied that �these tents were generously provided by the CMU outdoors club free of charge. We have been operating this camp here on campus with a budget of 0$. People have been supportive by giving us leftover food from catered meetings or have stopped by with day-old bagels and the like to feed us.�

The campers received visits from local activists and interested individuals throughout the five-day action. The support of the Thomas Merton Center, the largest progressive organization in the city, gave the campus event a community aspect. �It just goes to show what an openhearted town Pittsburgh is; people came out to support us and donate the whole way through,� said Toups.

The University was essentially neutral regarding the action; the �Fence� is famous for being the subject of fraternity wars, and the camp-out was similar in nature to when the fraternities �claim� the Fence and paint it for themselves. �I think this was more overt than the Fence tradition, being activists and not frats, but the idea was the same,� explained Toups.

The event received some mainstream media coverage, including a live remote by KDKA-TV on the first night. The Tribune-Review also showed interest in the event. The CMU campus newspaper, The Tartan, ran a photo on the front page along with a short description of the action.

Within the camp-out the students and activists held several smaller events. The first night, the demonstrators held a kick-off with music and several speakers. On the Monday evening, a group from the Mennonite Church came to sing and hold a candlelight prayer vigil. On Tuesday night the activists held a �drum jam� and Wednesday afternoon the group held a wrap-up in which members of the Mennonite Church arrived to pick up the blankets that had been made and collected.

The church is still accepting donations of blankets and comforters or money to help with shipping costs. �Money is needed for shipping. We understand that not everyone can get a blanket to donate, but every couple dollars helps,� explained Shemo. Donations can be sent to the Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, 4005 Murray Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217, or to the Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. Checks should be made to the order of "MCC" and should be earmarked "blankets for refugees." The goal of the Pittsburgh Mennonite Church is to add 500 blankets and comforters to the 40,000 that the Mennonite Central Committee hopes to send directly to Afghanistan.

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