Experts discuss economy, foreign policy in Houston Hall

For Colia Clark, coins jingling in a change purse symbolized the relationship between economics and governmental policy.

Clark, a representative of the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations and one of four speakers in a discussion this Saturday in the Bodek Lounge of Houston Hall, waved her coin purse in the air to illustrate a main point of the event: the interconnectedness of the global economy and American foreign policy.

The discussion, entitled "Linking the War and the Economic Crisis," aimed also to bring attention to the impact social action can have on legislation at both local and national levels. The assembly hoped to raise campus awareness of a demonstration at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., planned for March 21 - the sixth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq.

The three other speakers included Katherine Black, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, Betsey Piette of the Philadelphia Action Center and Neil Peterman, a College junior majoring in physics and mathematics.

Absent from the proceedings was headliner Susan Abulhawa, author of The Scar of David and founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, a group that raises money to buy, ship and install playground equipment in Palestine.

In an e-mail, Abulhawa cited an "urgent" issue for her absence and said her remarks would have addressed recent conflicts in the Gaza Strip, specifically the history of Israeli attacks using "the most sophisticated and deadly weaponry against a defenseless civilian population with no place to run or hide."

She added that "the only thing new in [Israel's] latest wanton murder is the excuse they employed: Hamas."

An hour-long open discussion following the presentations was moderated by John Kirkland, a representative from Philadelphia Against War and member of Carpenters Local 1462.

Piette, a self-proclaimed "long-time local activist," stated during her address that Americans currently face the dilemma of "wars on two fronts: imperialism and open class-warfare."

Skeptical of the Obama's administration policies and the President's "God-like status," Piette proposed cutbacks in international aid and corporate "bailouts and welfare" in order to redress rising unemployment rates, income-gap expansion and the over-reliance on credit.

She further amplified the discussion's theme by stating that "war is terrorism with a bigger budget."

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