Seanson
September 25th, 2008, 01:07 AM
Our local college is home to a number of unique local sculptures, each from a different artist and each with a different meaning. I thought it would be fun to change the meaning of one.
In the front of the college is a sculpture that was installed a few years back by a former student, who now has disappeared into obscurity. The piece contains a number of stucco covered wire mesh human-like figures, about 10 in total, all varying in size from infant like to giant sized. I`m not sure if anyone here has heard of Omar Khadr, but he is a Canadian citizen who was arrested in Afghanistan after American troops raided his village and killed his father, along with everyone else in the village. During the raid an American soldier was killed by a grenade, a number of troops have testified that it was Khadr who threw the grenade. Omar, who was only 15 at the time of the incident, was detained and sent to Gitmo. He has now been there for almost 6 years, without rights and without a trial. The Canadian government, under Steven `Douchebag`Harper have abandoned him and left him at the discretion of the American military.
As of now, a number of soldiers in the unit that attacked the village have come forward and said that Khadr did not throw the grenade, but because he was the only survivor they used him as a scapegoat. If Khadr is convicted of his alleged crime he will most likely be executed. But because of his age at the time he should be classified as a child-soldier at the most. The UN has declared that child-soldiers are to be rehabilitated not executed. Yet the USA has repeatedly refused to try him as a child-soldier or allow him to return to Canada to be tried.
A large majority of Canadians in my region have little to no knowledge of the Khadr story, so in the spirit of injecting a dose of humanity into the city i used this as inspiration for this demonstration.
After spending a large amount of time pretending to be a Fine Arts student measuring the statues for a scale model project, I went and purchased a large amount of bright orange hunting fabric and a large amount of black fabric. With which i spent almost 3 weeks cutting and sewing the pieces together to to resemble the suits worn by Gitmo detainees. Each sized to each of the sculpture pieces. After the hard work of sewing a friend and I visited the college at 430 am, during shift change of the rent-an-RCMP, and placed all the pieces on each of the sculptures. Along with the new duds I placed a sign that my friend had made which read, BRING KHADR HOME, that we staked into the ground five feet from the nearest sculpture facing the main parking lot.
The next morning was a gong-show, the local RCMP had shown up by the time I ventured to class and had begun interviewing the security guards. In all the prep work I, and my friend, had done we had neglected to check for cameras pointing into the back parking lot of the college, where we deployed all of our gear from. The camera clearly showed me and my friend pulling tons of material from the back of a 1991 Toyota Tercel, and untying a large sign from the roof, which clearly read, BRING KHADR HOME. We were busted, The RCMP threatened to charge me, but due to the fact there was no actual damage to the sculpture, only two stake holes, they were content with with leaving us at the mercy of the Dean. He assured us that our stunt would get us expelled, but luckily my GPA was good enough, and the fact that my father is a professor at the college he agreed with the RCMP officer that just making us give speeches at the local elementary schools about the dangers of vandalism would be enough punishment for the both of us.
It`s been almost 6 months since the prank and we`re still doing lectures. But this hasn`t stopped me from planning and executing various jams across the city. In fact it has only strengthened my resolve to bring this and similar issues to light. I`m still getting props for the prank now, even from my father who, turns out, had an activist youth. Because of the support given to me by various people and students, i`ve begun involving them into larger more elaborate demostrations. These still remain in the planning phases but there is hope for them.
Because of the Gitmo Statues, the local newspaper ran an article outlining his current condition and the response was astounding. Many were outraged that it had not been in the forefront of politicians minds. But since My local MP is a fascist, as seen in his campaign signs, he refused to comment on the issue. But it is my hope that someone saw this and said, `Wow they look like POWs`.
If I find the photos I`ll post them.
In the front of the college is a sculpture that was installed a few years back by a former student, who now has disappeared into obscurity. The piece contains a number of stucco covered wire mesh human-like figures, about 10 in total, all varying in size from infant like to giant sized. I`m not sure if anyone here has heard of Omar Khadr, but he is a Canadian citizen who was arrested in Afghanistan after American troops raided his village and killed his father, along with everyone else in the village. During the raid an American soldier was killed by a grenade, a number of troops have testified that it was Khadr who threw the grenade. Omar, who was only 15 at the time of the incident, was detained and sent to Gitmo. He has now been there for almost 6 years, without rights and without a trial. The Canadian government, under Steven `Douchebag`Harper have abandoned him and left him at the discretion of the American military.
As of now, a number of soldiers in the unit that attacked the village have come forward and said that Khadr did not throw the grenade, but because he was the only survivor they used him as a scapegoat. If Khadr is convicted of his alleged crime he will most likely be executed. But because of his age at the time he should be classified as a child-soldier at the most. The UN has declared that child-soldiers are to be rehabilitated not executed. Yet the USA has repeatedly refused to try him as a child-soldier or allow him to return to Canada to be tried.
A large majority of Canadians in my region have little to no knowledge of the Khadr story, so in the spirit of injecting a dose of humanity into the city i used this as inspiration for this demonstration.
After spending a large amount of time pretending to be a Fine Arts student measuring the statues for a scale model project, I went and purchased a large amount of bright orange hunting fabric and a large amount of black fabric. With which i spent almost 3 weeks cutting and sewing the pieces together to to resemble the suits worn by Gitmo detainees. Each sized to each of the sculpture pieces. After the hard work of sewing a friend and I visited the college at 430 am, during shift change of the rent-an-RCMP, and placed all the pieces on each of the sculptures. Along with the new duds I placed a sign that my friend had made which read, BRING KHADR HOME, that we staked into the ground five feet from the nearest sculpture facing the main parking lot.
The next morning was a gong-show, the local RCMP had shown up by the time I ventured to class and had begun interviewing the security guards. In all the prep work I, and my friend, had done we had neglected to check for cameras pointing into the back parking lot of the college, where we deployed all of our gear from. The camera clearly showed me and my friend pulling tons of material from the back of a 1991 Toyota Tercel, and untying a large sign from the roof, which clearly read, BRING KHADR HOME. We were busted, The RCMP threatened to charge me, but due to the fact there was no actual damage to the sculpture, only two stake holes, they were content with with leaving us at the mercy of the Dean. He assured us that our stunt would get us expelled, but luckily my GPA was good enough, and the fact that my father is a professor at the college he agreed with the RCMP officer that just making us give speeches at the local elementary schools about the dangers of vandalism would be enough punishment for the both of us.
It`s been almost 6 months since the prank and we`re still doing lectures. But this hasn`t stopped me from planning and executing various jams across the city. In fact it has only strengthened my resolve to bring this and similar issues to light. I`m still getting props for the prank now, even from my father who, turns out, had an activist youth. Because of the support given to me by various people and students, i`ve begun involving them into larger more elaborate demostrations. These still remain in the planning phases but there is hope for them.
Because of the Gitmo Statues, the local newspaper ran an article outlining his current condition and the response was astounding. Many were outraged that it had not been in the forefront of politicians minds. But since My local MP is a fascist, as seen in his campaign signs, he refused to comment on the issue. But it is my hope that someone saw this and said, `Wow they look like POWs`.
If I find the photos I`ll post them.