Where did Up in Arms go?

This is a sidebar story I wrote to supplement my story on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, included in the March 2008 issue of the InterActivist, an entirely student-run, politically progressive magazine in Athens. 

In it, I interview Kat Primeau, who performed as Rachel Corrie in the play "My Name is Rachel Corrie" as part of her thesis. Primeau was also one of the founding members of Up in Arms, a politically progressive student theater group. Since her graduation, however, the group has been inactive. I hope someone will step up and take Primeau's place, in order to continue the group. 

Up In Arms to Remember Life, Honor Death of Activist Rachel Corrie

Danny Yahini, an Israeli-born American Jew and local contractor who recently spoke with The InterActivist about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, characterized groups working to defend Palestinian human rights as “wonderful.” Among the examples Yahini gave were the Israeli human rights group Bezelem, which literally means “in the image of [God],” Peace Now, a group of self-described “Israeli pacifists for Palestinian self-determination within the 1969 borders,” and the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organization made up of Palestinians, Israelis and other activists from around the world.

In the course of their work, some of these groups’ members have suffered the same fate as many Palestinians subjected to foreign military occupation. Twenty-three-year-old American college student Rachel Corrie was one of those.

On March 16,2003, Corrie was killed by Israeli forces while working with the ISM. She was standing between a bulldozer and the house of a Palestinian family she knew, attempting to save the house from being demolished by the Israeli military. The bulldozer ran her over. 

To commemorate the 5^th anniversary of her death, the OU student group Up In Arms will present “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” a play based on the events leading up to Corrie’s death as told through Corrie’s own journal entries and emails. Created by Katherine Viner and Alan Rickman, the play was first staged in 2005 and has since won the Theatregoers Choice Awards for Best Director and Best New Play, as well as Best Solo Performance for actress Megan Dodds.

“[Corrie’s] argument wasn’t some competing ‘us versus them’ narrative,” said Up In Arms President Kat Primeau. “It was ‘all of us are in this together.’ She was a humanist.”

Hahne Theater in Kantner Hall on College St. will host the play.

Up In Arms first staged excerpts of the play in Athens last year. Primeau wanted to show it in its entirety this year because “it’s important that we keep having this dialogue.”

“It’s really inspirational for activists of all kinds,” said Primeau. “Not because [Corrie] is a martyr, but because she led a fulfilling life and acted on what she believed in.”

I searched Up in Arms' myspace and found the last login was March of last year. where has it gone? Kat Primeau graduated - but someone should continue with the group!

For a link to another story about the event, if it peaks interest, click here.