More than 25 students fasted on Wednesday and Thursday last week in an effort to enhance political and social awareness in the campus community that the war of suffering is still not over in Iraq.

“Since Iraq is no longer in the headlines, we are trying to get it back there,” said Shenaaz Janmohamed, member and future president of Campus Peace Action. “We just want to keep people aware the situation is not over. Bombing a country does not liberate them,” she said.

Students were encouraged to fast or donate to feed the hungry in Campus Peace Action’s fundraiser event, which was held in the library quad last week.

Fasting students, including Peace Action member and activist Lisa Faulkner, wore black armbands that read “I’m fasting for Peace” for the two-day event.

“It reminds people of the meals people live without, but we’re here to primarily build awareness,” Faulkner said. She said that students were quite receptive when she told them she was fasting for peace.

Faulkner went without food or water for 48 hours, but many students could not go that long, she said. The students who did join the fast still went to classes, and many of the students who chose not to fast donated money from skipped meals to help out.

The proceeds benefit Oxfam, a British humanitarian organization that aids starving people in Iraq and other countries suffering from the devastation of war.

Visual displays of black refugee tents and tombstones in the grass helped draw students’ attention to the cause. Members actively talked with students, which also increased levels of awareness in the campus community.

“We want Sac State to start thinking, to be aware and politically involved,” Janmohamed said. People think that the war and suffering of the Iraqi people is over, but she said that it is not. The purpose for the explicit visuals is to make a statement, Janmohamed said.

“We’re trying to get through the propaganda of the media,” she said.

Campus Peace Action is an on-campus organization that started in early February. They have over 300 members. They signed up several new members last week and have plans to grow even larger with awareness events in store for summer and fall.

The Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine co-sponsored the event.

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