JOSH WANDER
Web Site Creator
LISTEN TO WANDER'S DIARY
APRIL 3, 2003 · Josh Wander created giveitback.org, a Web site designed to protest France's position on the war with Iraq. Specifically, Wander wants to give back the Statue of Liberty to the French. The statue was a gift from France to America in 1886 and was meant to symbolize the friendship between the two countries. There are several replicas of the Statue of Liberty in France. Last week in Bordeaux, Lady Liberty was defaced by vandals. These days, the symbol of freedom and justice is under attack from both sides of the Atlantic. This is Wander's War Diary entry.
We'd like to give it back because there's been a lot of protests out there boycotting France, changing names of french fries. We basically didn't feel that was serious enough and that a stronger response needed to be made.
| "Some ideas that we've gotten were that giving back the Statue of Liberty is not enough, we should actually give back just her head and then they'll really know we're serious." |
In the first week, over 100,000 people have visited our site and we a have petition which has received over 6,000 signatures. We have different people writing in that are pro the idea, anti the idea. Some ideas that we've gotten were that giving back the Statue of Liberty is not enough, we should actually give back just her head and then they'll really know we're serious.
We've had people that have been upset, Europeans that are writing in and saying that... the United States does not deserve the Statue of Liberty because [its] position in Iraq right now is not representative of liberty or justice and therefore we should send it back.
I think I picked up on a certain rage that was going on through the American people -- not only American people but American and anti-American.
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