As protests against the Libyan government continue to gain momentum, some MSU students are voicing public support for the people involved and the principles for which they’re fighting.
About 30 students gathered Wednesday evening at the rock on Farm Lane to hold a candlelight vigil for the protesters in Libya and to repaint the rock with the slogan, “Peace in the Middle East.”
The vigil was hosted by the Muslim Students’ Association, or MSA, and was held in light of the current Libyan protests and of recent protests across the Middle East and North Africa, said Dana Elian, the MSA education chair and international relations and Arabic junior.
Elian said many of the protests going on in the Middle East of late take place in predominately Muslim countries, and said MSA members felt it was important to make the group’s support of the protests public.
“We’re doing this to commemorate the protest — those who have struggled, those who have passed and those who are struggling right now for freedom,” Elian said.
Although the current protests are going on miles away from East Lansing, the issues still are relevant to students and all Americans, said Angelina Mosher, a comparative cultures and policies and Arabic junior.
Mosher said the human rights Libyan protesters are fighting for are rights Americans generally expect, and said those who value their freedoms should support the cause of those who still have to fight for them.
“If we think we’re a country that upholds freedom of speech and freedom of expression, we can’t sit by and do nothing,” Mosher said. “As Americans, we have a responsibility to be here.”
On the same day of the MSU vigil, President Barack Obama issued a statement officially condemning recent violent actions of the Libyan government and supporting the Libyan peoples’ human rights.
“The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable,” Obama said in his statement. “(Human rights)
are not negotiable — they must be respected in every country, and they cannot be denied through violence or suppression.”
Bryant Anderson, an international studies and political science senior who attended the vigil said he highly disapproves of the Libyan government and their recent actions.
“(The situation in Libya) is insane to imagine,” Anderson said.
“When your government is shooting peaceful protesters, something is definitely wrong.”
Elian said she hoped more exposure from the vigil would help inform MSU students who might not be fully aware of the issue and inspire them to become more informed of the political unrest going on across the globe.
“At the end of the day, we’re all human, and we all have the right to freedom,” Elian said.
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