Students lend a hand to end genocide
11/9/2009
By Laura Podgornik
Staff Writer
Students passing through the Rothwell Student Center on Friday, Nov. 6 created permanent memorials to past genocides. The event, Handprint Banners against Genocide, which attracted the palms of hundreds, was part of the third annual Peacebuilding Conference: Working for Peace with Justice.
Not only were students immersing their hands in paint to place on the banners, many also signed the Pledge to Protect petition.
The event was coordinated by UWS Political Science Professor Haji Dokhanchi and students of his freshman seminar course. Freshman student Mallory Engen was at the table encouraging students to dip their hands in paint for the cause.
“Our class agreed that this was an appropriate way to honor the genocides of the past,” said Engen.
Dokhanchi says this is the first year the conference encompassed this aspect.
“I presented the idea to my students to create these banners so that we may hang them during the conference every year,” said Dokhanchi. “We will also make them available to anyone who wants to use them for other events.”
The six banners each honor past genocides. The words Rwanda, Holocaust, Darfur, Armenian, Bosnia, and Cambodia are drawn in black with the number of those lost adorning the bottom of the banners.
In order to make the words stand out, students were asked to put black handprints inside the letters and colorful ones outside. Nearly all the banners had reached completion by the close of the event.
Dokhanchi says the event was funded by a grant from the Genocide Intervention Network.
Not only were students immersing their hands in paint to place on the banners, many also signed the Pledge to Protect petition.
The event was coordinated by UWS Political Science Professor Haji Dokhanchi and students of his freshman seminar course. Freshman student Mallory Engen was at the table encouraging students to dip their hands in paint for the cause.
“Our class agreed that this was an appropriate way to honor the genocides of the past,” said Engen.
Dokhanchi says this is the first year the conference encompassed this aspect.
“I presented the idea to my students to create these banners so that we may hang them during the conference every year,” said Dokhanchi. “We will also make them available to anyone who wants to use them for other events.”
The six banners each honor past genocides. The words Rwanda, Holocaust, Darfur, Armenian, Bosnia, and Cambodia are drawn in black with the number of those lost adorning the bottom of the banners.
In order to make the words stand out, students were asked to put black handprints inside the letters and colorful ones outside. Nearly all the banners had reached completion by the close of the event.
Dokhanchi says the event was funded by a grant from the Genocide Intervention Network.
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Art in the park. Photo by Alyssa Palmer
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