“Occupation is not liberation,” shouts a group of 12 civilians in Red Square Wednesday. Soldiers take five civilians, tie their hands behind their backs and blindfold them as the remaining civilians demand the captives be released.

The soldiers position their empty hands as if holding guns, aiming at the unbound civilians.

An occupation is when a foreign military force controls an area.

Between April 21 and 23, 30 student actors participated in a simulation of what an occupation would look like at Western. The three-day event showed the escalation of an occupation, said Western junior Danya Rose-Merkle, co-founder of the Associated Students Guerrilla Theater Activist club.

After the simulation, people were invited to attend a panel discussion Thursday in Frasier Hall Room 4.

Students listened to people affected by the Iraq war and people who worked with affected families.

The mock occupations were not created to symbolize American occupation in Iraq, but the war in Iraq is a current example, Rose-Merkle said.

The simulation was intended to make people think about how occupations in other countries affect people, Rose-Merkle said.

“Occupation in general is not in our consciousness because it’s not a part of our daily lives,” Rose-Merkle said.

On the second day of the simulation, a woman held a sign that read “4,044 Americans soldiers dead.”

The number rose to 4,045 the next day in Iraq.

“As we go on with our daily lives and students go to school, people are dying every day in the war,” Rose-Merkle said. “When the number on the sign changed, we realized this war is very real.”

Two Iraq veterans worked with Students for a Democratic Society and the Guerrilla Theater Activist club to portray an occupation at Western, said Western sophomore Sonja Prins, co-founder of the Guerrilla Theater Activist club.

“There’s a whole world of issues beyond Western’s campus,” Prins said. “We have the power to act within our community.”

Rich Brown, Western theater professor, and Western  alumnus Matt Riggins wrote the script for the event.

Riggins said people should think about what it means to occupy another country, whether or not if they agree with the message of the simulation.

“We needed to get everyone together to create a dialogue about this instead of having two separate opposing groups,” Rose-Merkle said.

Prins said the simulation and discussion were worth the hard work because they created  an opportunity for others to re-think the occupation and how it affects others.

Students for a Democratic Society and the Guerrilla Theater Activist club co-sponsored a panel discussion. Five panelists discussed the effects of the war in Iraq.

Doris Kent, who was on the panel, said her 22-year-old son Jonathan Santos was killed in Iraq Oct. 15, 2004. A photo of Santos in uniform and his combat boots were displayed on the stage floor in front of the panel.

He was a 17-year-old student at Sehome High School when military personnel visited his school and recruited him.

“High school recruitment should be illegal,” Kent said. “They are too young to make those kind of decisions.”

Douglas Connor, one of the panelists, said he was also affected by the war in Iraq.

Connor said he was an officer on active duty for three years and served 12 months in a hospital in Iraq to help wounded soldiers and civilians. 

“I felt like I could do good and help the Iraqis and the Americans and be there as a healer,” Connor said.

Connor said he wasn’t prepared to see the types of injuries people had. He described the experience as a scene from a horror film. After seeing how people suffered in the hospital, he said he couldn’t believe how calm people were when he came back to the United States.

“Everyone was acting as though nothing is going on,” Connor said. “I understand people not wanting to deal with [the war], but we have to.”

Barbara Rofkar, a panelist and chair of the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, spoke about civilians’ and soldiers’ experiences in Iraq. People who have been affected by the war may experience insomnia, anxiety and mood swings, Rofkar said.

Western freshman Sarah Bunting attended the discussion. It was powerful to hear the stories of people who were affected by the war in Iraq, Bunting said.

“It is important to acknowledge our stated intention in Iraq to instate democracy and liberate oppressed people,” Bunting said. “But that democracy comes from people, the citizens of a country and not from outside forces.”

Ellen Murphy, a panelist and Washington State licensed counselor, said soldiers should not be forced to participate in the war.

Murphy said she hopes Bellingham can become a place where police can’t arrest soldiers who leave the military without permission.

Western freshman Nick Spring said he will make a proposal to the Bellingham County Council to make Bellingham a sanctuary city, which will stop city taxes from funding the persecution of people who illegally leave the military.

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