Marla Ruzicka ( born Marla Ruzicka , December 31, 1976 - April 16, 2005) - American activist, anti-militarist. She defended the position that the governments of the belligerents bear legal and moral responsibility for compensating the families of civilians killed or wounded in military conflicts. In 2003, she founded the Center for Conflict Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), an organization that calculates civilian casualties and helps Iraqis affected by the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003 . In 2005, Marla was killed by a bomb on a road in Iraq [2] .
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Content
The early years
Born in Lakeport, California . She studied at the University of Long Island under the program "Friends of the World." Spent 4 years traveling to Costa Rica , Kenya , Cuba , Israel and Zimbabwe . After graduating from university in 1999, she became a volunteer in San Francisco-based organizations called Rainforest Action Network and Global Exchange .
Afghanistan and Iraq
Prior to the opening of the Center for Conflict Victims (CIVIC) in Iraq, she was in Peshawar , Pakistan , and later in Kabul , Afghanistan . Under the auspices of the Global Exchange, it forced the US government to establish a fund to help Afghan families affected by the Afghanistan War (2001-2014). However, she soon attempted to establish a Center for Victims of Conflict and arrived in Kabul , just a few days after the Taliban was overthrown. In Afghanistan, Marla began conducting an extensive survey of the effects of the military campaign affecting local citizens, and then to seek compensation and assistance. On April 7, 2002, she protested in front of the US Embassy in Kabul, along with several citizens who lost relatives as a result of US air strikes.
In July 2002, Ruzicka began working with the United States Agency for International Development and the US Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate funds to rebuild family homes that suffered losses as a result of hostilities. After receiving the Center’s first report for conflict survivors, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont lobbied for $ 10 million to help Iraqi civilians affected by the US military. He said: “Marla Ruzicka says from there:“ All wait. Here is what really happens. You better know about that. " We have informants in the industry. Perhaps we sometimes need informants in foreign policy. ” [3] [4] .
Marla went to Baghdad after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 . Her organization’s efforts have been featured in the Nightline news program and on CNN , The New York Times, and Elle Magazine. “With a limited budget, almost no employees, but with a charge of energy, Ruzicka has already had a greater impact on more lives than many seasoned K Street lobbyists,” wrote The Washington Post in 2004. [5]
Doom
Ruzicka and her Iraqi translator Faiz Ali Salim were killed in a car by a suicide bomber on their way to Baghdad Airport on April 16, 2005. More than 600 people attended her funeral in Lakeport. Barbara Boxer and Sean Penn were among those who took the floor during the memorial service. [6] Memorial services were also held in New York , Washington , Baghdad , Kabul , and San Francisco .
According to Rolling Stone , “Ruzhichka is perhaps the most famous American activist who has died in the conflict in the past 10 or 20 years. Although she was young — she had less than four years of professional humanitarian experience — her death echoed far beyond the narrow circles of the military and politicians who knew her. She acts as a young representative of some still not lost American idealism and gloomily symbolizes what happened so tragically wrong in Iraq. ” [7]
At the insistence of Senator Leah, May 11, 2005, US President George W. Bush signed into law a law that henceforth classified civilian victims of the war as the “Marla Ruzicka Foundation for Iraqi Victims of War”. In 2006, the total amount Congress allocated to assist Afghan and Iraqi civilians who were victims of US military operations was $ 38 million. [8] [9]
Display in films
The rights to the adaptation of the life story of Ruzhichki were acquired by Paramount Pictures . [10] The studio also bought the rights to the book, Sweet Help: The Story of Marla Ruzicka, written by Jennifer Abrahamson, who began working on the book with Ruzicka before her death. Kirsten Dunst agreed to play Ruzhichka in a film scripted by Lauren Scafaria.
The little little rusichka is mentioned in the documentary film Enron. The smartest guys in this room, ” as one of the protesters who interrupted Jeffrey Skilling’s speech at Commonwealth .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Find a Grave - 1995. - ed. size: 165000000
- ↑ Faith Complex: Sarah Holewinski on Innocent Victims in Conflict (PART ONE) . Youtube Date of treatment December 2, 2010.
- ↑ American Woman Travels Door to Door to Count Iraqi Casualties, Veterans for Peace (Archived Copy) . Date of treatment September 14, 2006. Archived September 13, 2006.
- ↑ United States Office of the Inspector General , Audit of USAID / Iraq's Management of the Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund Archived February 7, 2017 on the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Kessler, Glenn . The Washington Post August 23, 2004 - US Activist Mends Lives Torn by War , The Washington Post (August 23, 2004). Date of treatment June 9, 2012.
- ↑ Johnson, Jason B .. LAKEPORT: More than 600 mourn peace activist at service , San Francisco Chronicle (April 24, 2005).
- ↑ Reitman, Janet . The Girl Who Tried to Save the World: The heroic life and final days of Marla Ruzicka, an American martyr , Rolling Stone (Jun 2, 2005).
- ↑ Abrahamson, Jennifer. Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story, October 1, 2006, page 181-182
- ↑ Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund - Global Communities
- ↑ Philip Sherwell, Iraq aid worker's life to become Hollywood film , Telegraph , (03 July 2005)
Additional links
- Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story , Biography published by Simon & Schuster
- CIVIC website
- Iraqi Civilian War Casualties , The results of CIVIC's campaign in Iraq.
- The Globe and Mail , My friend died helping Iraqi civilians (inaccessible link) (Obituary by Mark MacKinnon)
- The Guardian , Marla Ruzicka (Obituary)
- Lake County Record-Bee , Statement in honor of Marla Ruzicka - Senator Barbara Boxer transcript 04.18.05
- Salon , Marla Ruzicka, RIP
- The Washington Post , Victims' Champion Is Killed in Iraq
- The Washington Post , US Activist Mends Lives Torn by War Compensation Sought For Victims' Families
- Alternet , Mourning Marla Intrepid humanitarian aid worker Marla Ruzicka died in Baghdad Saturday when her car was caught in an insurgent attack , Jill Carroll .
- Blogspot , Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005) in memory of a global humanitarian, lost in the line of duty , A blog of memories from Marla's friends
- IMDb , Sweet Relief on the Internet Movie Database - film about Marla's life
- Google , Glimpses of Marla. A tribute by thefullmonte.com
- Uruknet , Remembering Marla Ruzicka
- Youtube , Remembering Marla .