CSF hosts memorial on Iraq war anniversary.
Tim Origer is standing in the line of fire.
Well, technically he's sitting. But it's his voice of reason that is nevertheless bridging the chasm between dozens of heated liberals and Santa Fe New Mexican columnist and former Time correspondent Bill Stewart.
The capacity crowd packed inside the theater at the Center for Contemporary Arts has reason to be agitated. They've
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just witnessed a screening of the subtly scathing war documentary Why We Fight. Now they're ready to pick one. Stewart represents the more conservative end of a five-person panel assembled by Veterans For Peace to discuss the movie, war in general and the spiraling Iraqi conflict in particular.
Stewart is trying to express his opinion that a strong United Nations requires the removal of tyrants like Saddam Hussein but the crowd isn't buying it. They drown out Stewart with catcalls about removing Bush instead. After several interruptions, VFP members Origer and Daniel Craig step in to shush the audience.
As the discussion rages anew, Origer limps out of the theater to help prepare for the reception that will follow. The 57-year-old Origer is a Vietnam veteran and vice president of the Santa Fe VFP chapter. He wears a Vets For Peace hat, a tan sweater and camouflage fatigues that cover an artificial limb where his left leg used to be before the Tet Offensive.
"It's extremely important to have different perspectives," Origer says. "Otherwise…you become exactly what it is that you're fighting against."
The March 11 event at CCA is just a minor skirmish in the efforts of activists like Origer to keep Iraq at the forefront of the national consciousness. March 18 will begin an even more expansive effort when VFP plans to mark the third anniversary of the war with "2 Days at Arlington West" on the College of Santa Fe campus.
The event is an extension of a project that originated on the beaches of California and has since expanded throughout the country. The San Diego VFP chapter will be on hand to orchestrate the installation of more than 1,000 crosses on the CSF campus to memorialize casualties of the Iraq war. The two-day event will include all-night vigils, interfaith memorial services, the screening of a documentary on the Arlington West project and a panel discussion with Iraq veterans.
"The college's role is traditionally to provide a setting for this kind of dialogue to happen," says Rick Fisher, a professor in CSF's arts department. "In my view, it's a very positive, very informative thing."
According to Richard Bank, a CSF professor of politics, the event is intended to bring the everyday realities of Iraq back into the spotlight after being shrouded by detached media coverage and an extensive propaganda campaign disguised in patriotism. The current atmosphere is a far cry, he says, from the revelations of Vietnam.
"The media coverage of that war was realistic," Bank says. "There was blood on the screen. There were bodies. There was terror in people's eyes. You saw that on television. You saw it in magazines and on front pages of newspapers. We don't get that kind of coverage. We hear an accounting but I don't think it has a real visceral effect on people. It's sort of numbing. You just pass over it after awhile."
Bank is hopeful that "2 Days at Arlington West" will help open a dialogue while underscoring the gruesome realities of war for people entrenched on both sides of the Iraq debate.
"This kind of installation is palatable even to people who may support the war," Bank says. "At a minimum it will raise consciousness among anyone who sees it. That's the great thing about this project. It can reach people across ideological lines."
Some critics undoubtedly will see the memorial as an appropriation of tragedy for political means. But if nothing else, Farrell Udell-team leader at the Santa Fe Veterans' Center-agrees the event will likely provoke healthy discourse.
"In my position I need to remain fairly neutral because I deal with both camps," Udell says. "But my initial thought is that it's a free country and people can do whatever they want to do within the law and within reason. I encourage any American to follow their conscience and do what they think contributes to the world and their community."
In addition to the installation of grave markers, Origer says the Santa Fe VFP chapter also will display banners affixed with the photos and biographies of fallen soldiers. But he says "2 Days at Arlington West" is intended to be a reminder of citizens and soldiers, Iraqi and American, who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Besides, Origer says, the project speaks for itself about the toll of war.
"There isn't really a need to protest," Origer says. "The loss of these individuals is its own political statement."
