There will be a Genocide Awareness Project display at Carleton University this Monday. I understand most Canadians prefer to put their head in the sand on this issue, pretending it’s empowering or that the injustice simply doesn’t exist. I’m glad these students won’t let that be an option this Monday.
Here’s their press release:
byCONTROVERSIAL ABORTION EXHIBIT SPREADS TO OTTAWA
Students at Carleton University Get Eye-FullOTTAWA. This October, 4, Carleton Lifeline will re-open the abortion debate—and it will be hard to ignore them. The students will display six 4×8 foot bloody images from the controversial Genocide Awareness Project (GAP: www.unmaskingchoice.ca/gap.html). The GAP graphically compares abortion to historical atrocities, such as the Holocaust, and has been met with resistance most particularly at the University of Calgary. This Monday from 10am to 4pm, their exhibit will be displayed in the Quad at Carleton University. With students passing through that area on their way to and from class, heads are expected to turn. “A university is the marketplace of ideas and we want to use that platform to show that abortion is an act of violence that kills a baby,” said club president Ruth Lobo, a Human Rights major. “We know this exhibit is effective at changing peoples’ minds because they’ve said so.”
The students said they hope to achieve debate about abortion, and they hope their message won’t be censored. Their exhibit comes on the heels of the University of Calgary Campus Pro-Life (CPL) club’s GAP display. Out west, the students have faced censorship attempts from U of C — from the university having them charged with trespassing (the charges were eventually stayed) to charging them with non-academic student misconduct.
“We hope Carleton upholds our rights to free speech and academic freedom and encourages healthy discussion,” said history major James Shaw. “And if people are bothered by the pictures, I ask them to consider, if there’s nothing wrong with abortion, why would a picture of it bother someone so much?” A press conference will be held on campus in the Quad at 9 am on Monday October 4th 2010.
Jennifer says
They came to my school last year. They were great!!
Honest says
Dear pro-lifers,
These displays don’t work. They make people think that the pro-choice, pro-life debate is a joke. Scare tactics are not the way to accomplish a social change. If I remeber correctly that is what genocide is attempting… perhaps your displays should show members faces compared to the haulocaust.
Irregardless of what the images show, the people tending these images seem to be unwilling to discuss the issues and rather just return hateful comments. At least that was the atmoshpere at the U of C.
I suggest that rather than “making a statement” that people will dismiss you consider making an arguement that people will consider. These displays are hurtful to your cause, and the slight publicity you gain is not worth the great deal of PR you have lost.