Next Monday, March 9th 2020, student activists from “Stanford Students Against War” and “The Multo Collective” will conduct a performance art piece to protest the recent appointment of Condoleezza Rice as the next director of the Hoover Institution.
In order to “condemn Condoleezza Rice’s appointment as director of the Hoover [Institution] and to commemorate the imperial dead,” activists plan to tie themselves up with rope and invite spectators to smear red paint on them, symbolizing the blood of “victims of American imperialism.”
Others will periodically read “curses” against Condoleezza Rice throughout the performance, which is currently scheduled to last for four hours.
Dr. Rice is a longtime Stanford professor, a former university provost, a Hoover fellow, an accomplished political scientist and author, a former National Security Advisor, and the first and only black woman to be U.S. Secretary of State. Dr. Rice served in the latter two roles under President George W. Bush.
The activists’ piece is entitled “Ghosts of Balangiga, Ghosts of Baghdad,'' a reference to both the Phillipine-American War, which took place from 1899-1902, and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, which deposed the dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Review learned of the event through an email which was widely circulated on several Stanford email lists. An extended Review investigation ensued.
According to the organizing email, an “art build” would take place on February 28th at a student residence on campus. The Review obtained an exclusive look at the event’s signs and banners.
While we don’t want to spoil all of the creativity that went into their artwork by revealing all details at this time, The Review can confirm that the activists organizing the protest do not know how to spell “Condoleezza” and did misspell Dr. Rice’s name on a painted bedsheet.
The spectacle will be this coming Monday, March 9th, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Review has been unable to confirm the exact location of the event due to ambiguity in the organizing documents, which simply say “outside the Hoover Institute.”
The Review believes that this likely refers to outside the David and Joan Traitel Building, facing the Quad next to Green Library, but could also include Hoover Tower or the Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover Memorial Buildings.
Regardless, the Review will be there to cover the event and bring you more details as they unfold. According to internal emails shared with participants, organizers expect “around 20 people” in attendance.
