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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2004Protests mark anniversary of Bush's warNew York--An unexpectedly large group of about 100,000 people rallied and marched on March 20 with the general theme "The World Still Says No To War." The demonstration was organized by ANSWER (Act Now To End War And Racism) and United For Peace And Justice. The marchers, who filled 45 city blocks, were a good mix of people both young and old from New York. Many traveled to New York just for this protest. There were many groups marching together projecting their politics, notable among them the New York based Haitian and Zapatista delegations. The rich and colorful diversity of signs, banners and displays by the marchers went, in some ways, well beyond the more limited anti-imperialism politics of the rally speakers and organizers but, overall, the vision of a new human society has yet to become as prominent as the anti-Bush message. The New York demonstration was one in a world-wide protest of approximately two million people aimed at the war and occupation of Iraq. In the U.S. there were marches in San Francisco and 250 other cities including Fayetteville, North Carolina, located only five miles from Ft. Bragg. In Fayetteville, the wife of a truck driver in the military in Iraq commented, "Ending this war and bringing them home safely would be the best form of support that I can see." There were coordinated protests in more than 45 countries including the capitals of many European and South American countries. According to Reuters, "More than a million anti-war protesters poured into the streets of cities around the globe...to demand the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops." A million people streamed through Rome in probably the biggest single protest. "This is a gigantic demonstration," Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo said as a sea of rainbow-colored peace flags bobbed above protesters marching to a rally in the Circus Maximus. In Japan 120,000 people protested. A Japanese woman expressed fear that the presence of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces in Iraq might make her country a target. --Participants Memphis--Joining hundreds of thousands around the world in protest, around 200 women, men and children gathered in Overton Park to hear protest songs and talks by local activists and those from the Wheels of Justice Tour--a spectacular turnout for Memphis. The protest’s main sponsor was the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. The day started slowly with drummers accompanying the reading of 550 names of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq in the last year. It was stressed that if we knew their names, we would also have honored the over 10,000 Iraqi civilians and countless Iraqi soldiers who have been killed in the same period. Over a half dozen religious leaders gave prayers that all lasted longer than their allotted five minutes. One young Black woman wondered: With all these church leaders here, why were so few from their congregations present? Homemade signs read: "Stop mad cowboy disease," "Fund schools, not war," "Our grief is not a cry for war," and "More trees, less Bush!" The speakers were, for the most part, excellent, capturing the spirit of the crowd and our desire to stop Bush in his tracks. Notable was a young man, Kyle, who let us know how different are the challenges that face youth than older people. He said that growing up he learned about how the president selects the Supreme Court, but in his lifetime the Supreme Court selected the president. He admonished us to "Kill the TV and read a book." Terry Moon from News and Letters Committees gave the only talk on women, which emphasized that women in Iraq and Afghanistan challenge the peace movement’s narrow idea of solidarity. What ended the day was Black poet J’malo whose last poem was about how Haitian refugees are jailed and discriminated against. He brought the war home by reminding us of what is going on with African-Americans right here in inner-city Memphis. --Participants Los Angeles--Thousands of demonstrators from all walks of life participated in the grassroots protest on the anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Iraq, in Hollywood. 574 American soldiers and between 5,000 to 7,000 Iraqi people have been killed in this senseless war based on the errors and lies of Bush and his cabinet members at the cost of $117 billion so far. The protest was against the war, Bush’s policies in Iraq, the ties of Halliburton and Cheney, the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians, the U.S. stand on the international scene, and for the return of the soldiers now. The demonstration was a coalition of many groups of young and old, Asian, Black, brown, and white; men and women. The variety of slogans indicated how this war has galvanized such diverse participants. Many demonstrators were questioning the senselessness of going to war to stop terrorism and how war has effected our security. There were numerous cops and riot police with one armored vehicle spotted in an alley. The heavy presence of police choppers above, and the arrest of seven demonstrators indicate the concern of the ruling class by a show of force. A picket sign with the pictures of Aznar, Blair, and Bush showed an awareness of the international dimension of the war. With the crossed-out picture of Aznar, the message the demonstrator wrote was, "one down, two to go." Another banner summing up the event said, "Regime Change in 2004." --Manel Lansing, Mich.--About 200 people appeared in Lansing on March 20 for a march, rally and workshops directed against the occupation of Iraq. The sponsor was the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice. Rallies also took place in Flint, Ann Arbor, Detroit and Grand Rapids. The event began with a short march from Riverside Park to the Michigan state capitol. While there was a good range of ages and several African-American speakers, there were unfortunately few African Americans otherwise present. An ambitious set of workshops was scheduled that included such topics as "Reflection and Action as Practice," "Domestic Costs of the 'War on Terrorism'," "Global [trade and monetary] ‘Agreements,’" "Global Strategies of U.S. Domination," "War on the Inside: Witnesses to Military Invasion and Occupation," and two separate workshops on the PATRIOT Act. The format of this rally was more open and participatory than some have been, but there is clearly a need to reach beyond the traditional anti-war constituency to the African American, Latino, and working class communities. --Dan B. San Francisco--Anti-war protesters filled the parks, streets and the Civic Center on March 20. An estimated 50,000 came to show that, one year after Bush launched a war against Iraq, the opposition to war is not abating. Many issues were raised: from the "weapons of mass distraction," to Bush gutting protection for the environment, to the job-loss recovery, to exercising your political muscle in the upcoming election. Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers said the most important day for you this year is not your birthday, it’s Nov. 7. She especially encouraged young people not to give up on having a voice. The previous day, the longshoremen, some of whom are still on trial for the police riot at an anti-war demonstration on the Oakland docks on April 7, 2003, held a rally at the Oakland courthouse where they announced that nothing would move through the Oakland port on the day of the national and international demonstrations against the war. In fact, nothing did and longshoremen, as well as other unions, had sizable contingents in the march. Youth, especially students, talked about the impact of the war budget on their lives. Stephen Funk, the first conscientious objector to go public just before the war, was just released from military prison. He urged solidarity with the new objectors, notably Camilo Mejia, who is the first Iraq veteran to go public with his conscientious objector status. A challenge to Bush’s war mongering included a challenge to his playing to the prejudice against gay/lesbian marriage, which is very popular here. Speakers both from Haiti and from the U.S. condemned the coup against the elected leader of Haiti, Aristide. Some worried that Venezuela might be next on Bush’s agenda. --Participants Chicago--A large march and rally took place here to protest Bush’s wars and the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Anti-war organizers had planned to begin the march at the site where mass arrests halted the spontaneous demonstration of March 20, 2003, which had managed to shut down Lake Shore Drive during rush hour. Almost all of those arrests were subsequently thrown out of court as baseless. The city refused to issue a permit for the anniversary march to proceed down the Michigan Avenue shopping district and police forced the organizers to accept an alternate and less visible route at the last moment. While uncertainty about the legal status of the march overwhelmed the political content of the protest and may have convinced some not to participate, the large number that did take part did so despite an intimidating and disproportionate show of strength by the police department. The march ended with a rally and speeches at Federal Plaza. Jesse Jackson of Rainbow/PUSH and U.S. Representative Danny Davis were among the speakers. --Kevin Michaels |
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