Met Event Committee
We invite artists and
others around the world to gather
on Moratorium
Day, March 5, in their local museums which exhibit ancient near eastern
art. In New York, this action will take place from 9:30 to 5:30 in the
Assyrian gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We will respectfully draw with pencil on paper the art around
us, which was created as early as five thousand years ago in the land
now
known as Iraq, where urban life and the written word originated.
Our goal is to call attention to all of the civilizations which have
flourished in Mesopotamia under so many names and
cultures: Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, the Arab/Muslim Abbasid Empire
and contemporary Iraq.
This is a peaceful vigil, made in protest against US foreign policy
under
George W. Bush. If someone asks what we are doing, we will speak quietly
with them and explain our position, then continue to draw. We will keep
in
mind the intention: to pay homage to this land, culture and
people, which
our government is planning to destroy. We are deeply concerned about an
imminent threat to human life, and to the memory and history embedded
in all of Mesopotamia, modern Iraq.
Please spread the word to everyone you know anywhere who is an artist
or a lover of art! If this action takes place in other cities, please
let us know all about it, and if you have pictures, we
would love to see them.
Met Event Committee,
Artists Against the War
aawnion@hotmail.com
