Fadia Rafeedie

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Following is the text of Fadia Rafeedie's Cal-Berkeley convocation address
last Wednesday. For those of you who may be unaware, Madeline Albright was
the commencement speaker. Fadia, the student speaker who earned the
distinguished honor of addressing the audience, is Palestinian. Because
Secretary Albright was invited to speak, Fadia put aside her proposed
speech (which had already been read and approved by the University) and
instead spoke from her heart about her views of Albright and U.S. policy in
Iraq.

Chancellor Berdahl: Please join me in congratulating our 2000 University
Medalist, Fadia Rafeedie:

Fadia: Thank you, that was way too generous, Chancellor Berdahl. It makes
me sound, you know, a lot better than I am. I had a speech and it's right
here. It took me so long to draft it and I kept re-drafting it, and this
morning I changed it again, but I'm just going to put it to the side and
I'm going to talk from my heart because what I witnessed here today, I have
mixed feelings about.

I don't know why I'm up here articulating the viewpoints of a lot of my
comrades out there who were arrested, and not them. It's not because I got,
you know, straight A's or maybe it is. Maybe that's the way the power
structure works, but I'm very fortunate to be able to give them a voice. I
think that's what I'm going to do, so if you give me your attention, I'd
really appreciate it.

I was hoping to speak before Secretary Albright, but that was also a
reflection of the power structure, I think, to sort of change things around
and make it difficult for people who are ready to articulate their voice in
ways they don't usually get a chance to.

So I'm going to improvise, and I'm going to mention some things that she
didn't mention at all in her speech but which most of the protesters were
actually talking about. You know, I think it's really easy for us to feel
sorry for her, and I was looking at my grandmothers who are actually in the
audience - my grandmother and her sister - who weren't really happy with
all the protesters, and I think they thought that wasn't really respectful
of them, and a lot of you didn't, I don't think, because you came to hear
her speak. But I think what the protesters did was not embarrass our
university. I think they dignified it.

Because secretary Albright didn't even mention Iraq, and that's what they
were here to listen to. And I think sometimes NOT saying things not
mentioning things - is actually lying about them.

And what I was going to tell her while she was sitting on the stage with
me, I was going to remind her that four years ago from this Friday when we
were freshmen, I heard her on 60 Minutes talking to a reporter who had just
returned from Iraq.

The reporter was describing that a million children were dying [died] due
to the sanctions that this country was imposing on the people of Iraq. And
she told her, listen, "that's more.. children than have died in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. Do you think the price is worth it?" [Albright] looked into
the camera and she said, "the price is worth it.

"Since that time, 3 times that number of people have died in Iraq. And I
was going to tell her, "do you really think the price is worth it? " We are
about 5000 here today, next month, by the time we graduate, that's as many
people who are going to die in Iraq because of the sanctions. This is what
House Minority Whip David Boniors calls 'infanticide masquerading as policy.'

Now, I don't want to make the mood somber here because this is our
commencement, but commencement means beginning, and I think it's important
for us to begin where civilization itself began, and where it's now being
destroyed. [applause]

Let me talk to you a little bit a little bit more about the sanctions,
because I think it's very important. Now, I'm a Palestinian, I would really
love to talk about the struggle for the liberation of my country, and to
talk about a whole bunch of other things and I see some people maybe
rolling their eyes, and other people nodding these are controversial
issues, but I need to speak about Iraq because I think what's happening
there is a genocide. It's another holocaust.

And I'm a history major, and sometimes I look back at history and I see
things like the slave trade, the Holocaust you know, I see I see people
dropping atomic bombs and not thinking what the ramifications are, and I
don't want us to think about Iraq that way. It's already a little too late
because 2.5 million people have died and yet these sanctions continue.

For the last 10 years, you wouldn't imagine the kinds of things that aren't
being let into this country: heart machines, lung machines, needles, um
infrastructural parts to build the economy. Even cancer patients sometimes
some of the medicine will be let in, but not ALL of the medicine.

It's very strategic what's let in at what time, because what it does is it
prolongs life, but it doesn't save it.

In Iraq, the hospitals they clean the floors with gasoline because
detergent isn't even allowed in because of the sanctions.

These are all United States policies.

And Secretary Albright - I have no conflict with HER, as an individual. I
don't happen to RESPECT her, but she belongs to a larger power structure.
She's a symbol.

And when the protesters are protesting, it's not because they want to pick
a fight with the woman who you guys all happen -well, many of you - happen
to love. She was introduced as the 'greatest woman of our times.' Now see,
to me that's an insult. [applause] This woman is doing HORRIBLE things.
She's allowing innocent people to suffer and to die.

Iraq used to be the country in the Arab World that had the best medical
services and social services for its people, and NOW look at it. It's being
OBLITERATED.

And a lot of times you might hear it's because of Saddam Hussein and I'd
like to talk a little bit about that. He's a brutal dictator - I agree With
her, and I agree with many of you. But again, I'm a history major, and
history means origins. It means beginnings. We need to see who's
responsible for how strong Saddam Hussein has gotten.

When he when he was gassing the Kurds, he was gassing them using chemical
weapons that were manufactured in Rochester, New York.

And when he was fighting a long and protracted war with Iran, where 1
million people died, it was the CIA that was funding him. It was U.S.
policy that built this dictator. When they didn't NEED him, they started
imposing sanctions on his people. Sanctions - or any kind of policy -
should be directed at people's governments, not at the people.

The cancer rate in Iraq has risen by over 70 percent since the Gulf War.
The children who are dying from these malicious and diseases, weren't born
when the Gulf War happened. The reason that the cancer rate is so high is
because every other day our country is bombing Iraq STILL. We're still at
war with them. They have no nuclear capabilities. In fact, just last week,
the United Nations inspectors found [again] that Iraq has no nuclear
capabilities and yet WE are BOMBING them every other day with depleted
uranium. And what this does is it releases a gas that the people breathe.
It's making them ill, and they're dying and they don't have medicine.

I saw some of my friends, even, being arrested here today. One of them was
Lillian. Her aunt did a documentary about this depleted uranium, and it
showed that it's being MINED by Native American populations in the United
States. THEY'RE getting sick. Their children are getting sick. And that
depleted uranium is going from HERE, to our MILITARY, to Iraq, and it's
decimating populations. This is a big deal.

And I'm embarrassed that I don't even get to talk about Columbia, because I
saw a few signs about that, too. And my colleague here, Darren Noy, who's
also a Finalist, is very interested in these issues. We don't stand alone.
I'm on stage with allies, I'm looking out at allies, we need allies, my
allies have been taken away [today].

But in general, I mean, I'm speaking to a crowd that gave a standing
ovation to the woman who typifies everything against which I stand, and I'm
still telling you this because I think it's important to understand.

And I think, that if I achieve nothing else, if this makes you think a
little bit about Iraq, think a little bit about U.S. foreign policy, I've
succeeded.

I don't want to take too much of your time, but I want to end my speech
with a slogan that hangs over my bed in Arabic. It says, "La tastaw7ishu
tareeq el-7aq, min qilit es-sa'ireen fihi" and that translates into, "Fear
not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." I think our
future is going to be the future of truth, and we're going to walk on that
path, and we're going to fill it with travelers.

Thank you very much.

[Standing ovation from the stage, with the faculty members, the senior
class council, and the student award-winners. And, of course, standing
ovation from a cheering section in the crowd.]


Louis Proyect

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