Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)

Sweet Relief: The Marla Ruzicka Story

2006-09-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

New book about Marla due out. Amazon.com

Written by Jennifer Abrahamson, who has written for Slate from South Africa and Darfur, was collaborating with Marla Ruzicka on a book about her work.

Read Jennifer's memory of Marla in Slate

Marla: Mission Continued

2006-04-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

"Marla wanted to humanize the rising numbers of war, to give each victim back their name and face and record their story. She knew that people are moved, not by abstractions, but by the stories of real people. If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough, said photojournalist Robert Capa. Marla's pictures were all close-ups."

Alternet

Marla Ruzicka International Public Service Fellowship

2006-03-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

The Watson Institute announces the establishment of a new undergraduate fellowship named for the late Marla Ruzicka, a human rights activist who died in April 2005 during a suicide bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. This award has been made possible through the generosity of Lucinda B. Watson, a member of the Watson Institute Board of Overseers and the daughter of the late Thomas J. Watson, Jr. ’37, the namesake of the Institute.

You can find more information at The Watson Institute.

Remembering Marla on her Birthday

2006-01-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks for this.

Postcards from Marla-land

2005-12-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

This is something I wrote... At the time. I just came across your blog tonight. Thanks for that.

Commentary: Postcards from Marla-land
Published 4/19/2005 2:55 PM

WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- The news that came Saturday evening in a short phone call from a mutual friend should not have been unexpected.

Baghdad is, after all, one of the most dangerous places on Earth, and Westerners -- even those like my friend Marla Ruzicka, who was there to help ordinary Iraqis -- are targets for the Baathist insurgents and foreign jihadis.

But somehow it was impossible to believe that Marla -- bright, smiley, bouncy Marla, the Rollerblade queen of Rock Creek Park -- was dead...

more here

Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

The Girl Who Tried to Save the World - Rolling Stone

2005-06-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

"Ruzicka is perhaps the most famous American aid worker to die in any conflict of the past ten or twenty years. Though a novice in life -- she had less than four years of professional humanitarian experience -- her death resonated far beyond the tightly knit group of war junkies and policymakers who knew her. She stands as a youthful representative of a certain kind of not-yet-lost American idealism, and darkly symbolic of what has gone so tragically wrong in Iraq. And yet trying to understand her is complicated by the fact that so much of her complex, and often deeply compartmentalized life remains a mystery to even those who knew her best."

Rolling Stone

Activist recalled for her devotion to Iraqis - CNN

2005-05-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

A report from the DC tribute to Marla.

CNN International

Burlington Free Press - Editorial

2005-05-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

A friend's commitment to humanity

Marla Sightings

2005-05-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

1. Toward the end of the Enron movie, it's the summer of 2001. While Jeff Skilling is speaking before the public about the California energy crisis, he receives a pie in the face. The pie thrower is escorted from the room. In the next shot we see Marla being similarly "escorted" and saying, "Where I work, half the people come to me and say they can't pay their electric bill."

2. There is a very revealing interview with Marla beginning at page 299 of the book - Embedded: The Media War in Iraq, An Oral History - by Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson. Among other things, she talks about undergoing an identity change after consoling traumatized young reporters in Afghanistan and why she spent so much time swimming.

Just wanted to share these "sightings",

Terry Silver
Ypsilanti, Michigan

Capitol Hill Tribute to Marla Ruzicka - Saturday, May 14

2005-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

The Capitol Hill tribute to the life and work of Marla Ruzicka will be held in Washington on Saturday, May 14, from 2-4 p.m., in the Senate Caucus Room (Room 325 of the Russell Senate Building).

Entrance will be through the adjacent Dirksen Senate Building, at the corner of First and C Streets, N.E.

Marla Ruzicka, who at the age of 28 was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16, was a passionate advocate for innocent victims of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. She documented their stories and inspired congressional support for their needs. Congress responded by creating unprecedented war victims assistance programs that are now at work in Afghanistan and Iraq under legislation sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Leahy will host the tribute, and speakers will include U.S. government officials and some of Marla's many friends.

A reception will immediately follow at Perry's Restaurant, at the corner of Columbia Road and Biltmore Street, N.W., in Washington's Adams-Morgan neighborhood. The press and the public are invited to both events.

Contact: David Carle of the Office of Office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, 202-224-3693

Iraqi Civilian War Casualties Report - FINAL

2005-05-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

a note from the director of the survey...

Each one of these thousands has a life, memories, hopes. Each one had his moments of sadness, moments of joy and moments of love.

In respect to their sacred memory, I would appreciate it if you could spend some minutes reading the database file: read their names, and their personal details, and think about them as human beings, friends, and relatives -- not mere figures and numbers.

Read the report here.

Glimpses of Marla

2005-05-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

A short film shown at the activists' memorial for Marla Ruzicka in San Francisco on 5/3/05.

BBC - Afghan memorial for US activist

2005-04-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

"Many of those Ruzicka had helped or worked with came to the memorial ceremony at a guesthouse in the capital, speaking of her warmth and enthusiasm.

Esanullah, a cluster bomb victim, helps unveil the plaque
People held red tulips which were then laid beneath a plaque on a wall."

BBC NEWS

Marla's Work in Context

2005-04-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Via CNN video.

Bay Area Event for Marla May 3, 2005

2005-04-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Honoring and Celebrating the Life of Human-Rights Activist Marla Ruzicka

Tuesday, May 3rd , 7:30 PM
The Women's Building
3543 18th Street @ Valencia
San Francisco, CA
Information: (415) 255-7296

Please join us on this very special evening to honor and celebrate the life and work of Marla Ruzicka, former Bay-Area activist, friend, and colleague who was killed in Baghdad on Saturday, April 16. Marla's work in Afghanistan and Iraq with her organization Campaign for Innocent Victims In Conflict (CIVIC) brought much needed attention to the all too often overlooked civilian deaths and losses suffered during these wars. Marla will be remembered for her tireless work for justice and also for her unyielding zest for life, remarkable capacity for joy, and deep loyalty to friends and family. Her spirit will leave an indelible mark in the world.

Nationwide Vigils for Marla Ruzicka - May 3

2005-04-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

"The Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), the organization founded by Marla Ruzicka, the 28-year-old aid worker who was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq this week, is calling on people throughout the United States to honor and promote Marla and Faiz's work by commemorating their life work and taking action on behalf of civilian casualties of war."

Read the press release here.

Eulogies for Marla

2005-04-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Highlights of the eulogies for Marla Ruzicka that were delivered Saturday, April 23, 2005 in at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Lakeport, California.

Thanks to the Lake County Record-Bee

Losing a fighter for war's victims

2005-04-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

"ARMED ONLY with her humanity, Marla Ruzicka did the impossible. Virtually alone, she directed attention and resources to the invisible victims of war. She moved the military without using force, galvanized official Washington without powerful connections, and motivated the press without sensationalism -- just intimate connection to civilians whose deaths she documented and grieved. Her work was a triumph of the heart."

Boston Globe

Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Death Of Marla Ruzicka

2005-04-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

"Mr. President, in my 31 years as a United States Senator I have met lots of interesting and accomplished people from all over the world. We all have. Nobel prize winners, heads of State, people who have achieved remarkable and even heroic things in their lives.

I have never met anyone like Marla Ruzicka."

Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On The Death Of Marla Ruzicka

More than 600 mourn peace activist at service

2005-04-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

"In an emotional three-hour service St. Mary's Immaculate Church, speakers including Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and actor Sean Penn pledged to carry on Ruzicka's one-woman campaign to help compensate innocent victims of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

San Francisco Chronicle

Ruzicka Remembered - AP

2005-04-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

"Many of the more than 600 mourners, including friends, family, colleagues and journalists who traveled from around the world for her funeral, shared memories of Marla Ruzicka's boundless energy that helped her accomplish much in her 28 years."

AP /Guardian UK

Guestbook - San Jose Mercury

- It was a lovely and moving day. Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Marla's beloved home town.

Tribute from a Stranger

2005-04-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

I never met nor knew of Marla till I read the newspaper article about her tragic death.

The passing of one so young who devoted her life to helping others has taught me, her senior by many years the value of compassion and selfless devotion and a way to live that others like myself might dream of doing but which she personified and for which she gave her young life to fulfill. .

To her Family who lost a wonderful daughter and friends, I sadly mourn the lost of one so fearlessly brave.

Joseph Seubert
Kawasaki, Japan

Voice of America - TV

2005-04-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Watch the video here.

This is an extraordinary piece from America's overseas propaganda arm. It's more honest than much of the domestic news coverage. Though Marla would certainly dispute whether the US military actually keeps civilian death counts. See her USA Today editorial here.

Not only is Marla's legacy treated with dignity, you get a glimpse of her sense of humor. Speaking with a soldier Marla confesses to smoking four cigarettes to deal with the stress.

She says, "Dude, I'm from San Francisco. You're not allowed to smoke."

Beyond your courage Marla, we will miss your ability to see the funny side of everything.

Asheville NC Editorial

2005-04-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

In Marla Ruzicka, world has lost a tireless advocate for war's innocent victims

"Ruzicka faced up close and personal what most Americans would as soon not have to confront the vicious consequences of war, the collateral damage that orphans children and rips away their arms and legs. In the end, she became one of the victims in conflict she tried all her life to help. Who will be our conscience now?"

Purity of Spirit

2005-04-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

I first met Marla Ruzicka ten years ago when she arrived at my doorstep, an enthusiastic 16 or 17 year old with passion and drive to spare, to intern at the Bay Area Fifty Years is Enough Campaign. Although she considered me a mentor, I learned as much (or maybe more) from her.

While many high school teens worry about acceptance and how to obtain the latest hot fashion trend, Marla worried about development policy, loans, foreign aid and how vehicles like the World Bank and the IMF were used to foster U.S. government and corporate interests. While the eyes of many glaze over at the subject of macroeconomic policy, Marla’s lit up. While many confess ignorance regarding the politics of countries beyond our borders, Marla passionately drank in this information. Before reaching her 20th birthday Marla had traveled and learned from local residents in several global south countries.

Although I tried to understand from whence this Lakeport teen’s politics and passion sprang from, she gracefully eluded all such questions.

Marla was charismatic, bubbly and irresistible. Working with her was a blast She knew plenty about the human spirit and ensured that the driest of meetings included an opportunity for playful fun.

When, one day, Marla pulled a manuscript out of her bag and asked me to read and comment on “Marla’s Guide to Youth Organizing,” I wasn’t surprised. By that point I knew there was nothing the girl couldn’t do, if she put her heart and mind to it. And, that is the key to understanding Marla and her very personal brand of activism and humanitarian work, she did bring her whole being--- Heart and Mind--- to everything she touched. I believe that it is her wide-open and clear heart that enabled her to be as successful as she was in her work.

Marla had a great purity of spirit, and an irrepressible one at that. She was motivated by an unrelenting determination to make the world a better and more beautiful place for all its people. Sometime around 2001/ 2002 just prior to her second trip to Afghanistan out of fear for her safety, I tried to talk Marla out of going. Her commitment and determination was fierce. She wouldn’t hear of not going. I think that even then, before it became apparent the important role she would come to play in the Middle East among journalists and injured civilians, some part of me was secretly proud of the courage and drive that enabled her to ignore me and the chorus of others, as well as conventional wisdom.

In saying that Marla had a purity of spirit, I don’t mean to suggest that I think she was saintly. Marla is special because she was so deeply human. She had foibles, doubts, sadness and other very human reactions and emotions. Her openness to life allowed her to experience fully the depth and range of human experiences. At the same time, her fundamental motivations and drivers were selfless.

In thinking of Marla in the early years that I knew her, a story that keeps bubbling up to the surface of my memory is a very personal one. I am reminded of the time I visited with her in Washington DC a year or two after she’d interned with me in the Bay Area. She’d started college and was interning at the DC-based office of the Fifty Years is Enough Campaign. I met up with her one night for dinner and a movie. Marla had a gift for looking to those who’d walked a path before her in any and every aspect of life to learn what wisdom they might have to offer. She’d digest what we had to share, find what was useful in it and make her own way. At the time she was falling in love. She described for me how her whole body would tingle when this man was near. She talked about how her skin would burn for hours after, if he so much as barely brushed her in passing. Marla wanted to know what was happening to her. If it was normal. She made me remember what it was like to feel the passion of first love. For me, this memory is symbolic of the passion and open heart that Marla brought to everything she did…love, activism, humanitarian work

Marla walked her own path. Along the way she brightened the lives of many of us. She will be deeply missed. We can honor her memory every day in every action we take if we think about whether this is a humane course of action and one that will make the world a better place. That might mean looking the homeless panhandler in the eye, talking to a neighbor, lobbying an elected official, or saying hello and meaning it to the clerk who is ringing up our groceries. It might mean doing what we have always done, but being ever more attentive to doing so with an open heart, with love and with respect.

While Marla was interning with me and learning more about macroeconomic policy, open-heartness and respect are what I learned from her.

Thank you Marla.

Laura Livoti