Thousands march in West Coast protests
By
LeiLani Dowell
Published Sep 29, 2005 1:12 AM
Across the country, anti-war rallies were held
on Sept. 24 in conjunction with the massive protest held in Washington, D.C.
Protesters made the connection between the war and occupation of Iraq and the
war and occupation of the U.S. Gulf region.
In San Francisco, over 50,000
turned out to protest the wars and occupations. Some held signs that read:
“From Iraq to New Orleans, fund people’s needs, not the war
machine.” Speakers included Clarence Thomas of the Million Worker March
Movement and the mother of a Black disabled youth who had been shot and killed
by the SFPD. At the end of the march, about 50 union workers and supporters
caravaned to a picket line of hospital workers on strike at one of the
facilities in the area owned by Sutter Health.
It was high drama in San
Diego as a loud, spirited feeder march of 1,000—their lead banner reading
“Justice for Palestine! Justice for Immigrants! Justice for the Katrina
Survivors!” and with Palestinian and Mexican flags flying
high—poured out of the street and into the rally site where another 1,000
protesters were waiting.
Over 2,000 people attended the rally in Balboa
Park. The feeder march, which was initiated by the San Diego Al
Awda—Palestine Right of Return Committee, began with a rally at San Diego
City College where speakers called for an end to the occupations of Palestine,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and everywhere. Gloria Verdieu, a leader in the San
Diego movement for the Millions More March, reminded the crowd of the recent
execution of Frances Newton in Texas, tying it to racist U.S. aggression abroad
and calling on everyone to fight against “the inhuman death
machine.”
A powerful march followed through the downtown area and
then to the park. At the main rally, the International Action Center’s
Carl Muhammad told the crowd, “There are many facets of racism. We see
racism in New Orleans today. We see $14 billion that were allocated towards the
war were supposed to prevent the atrocity in New Orleans. And we believe that
was based on the race and class of those people!”
Justino
Jiménez of San Diego FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) addres sed
the struggle to defend immigrant workers: “The war and militarization of
the border are tools of the same U.S. imperialist aggression and corporate
greed.” Over 500 flyers announcing the December 1 Nationwide Strike
against Poverty, Racism and War were distributed.
In Seattle, 6,000
demonstrators mar ched through downtown opposing imperialist war. Speakers
included Esther “Little Dove” John, an African American activist and
the first person to walk solo from Seattle to the United Nations for world peace
in 1983, as well as African Amer ican County Councilperson Larry Gossett, Celso
Tolman of the Longshore Workers, and Congressperson Jim McDermott.
While
over 700 people filled 14 buses from Wisconsin and over 300 more traveled in car
and van caravans to the rally in Washington, D.C., those staying behind held
protests and other actions across the state in LaCrosse, Milwaukee, Madison and
elsewhere. Many organizations in the area are gathering signatures for a
statewide referendum to officially call for the return of U.S. troops in Iraq.
Thus far 5,000 of the 16,000 signatures needed by Nov. 4 have been
collected.
In Los Angeles an estimated 50,000 people filled the streets
in a march to the downtown Federal Building. Among the speakers were actor
Martin Sheen; Derrick Williams, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, Ron Kovic (Born
on the Fourth of July); and Vicky Castro, Gold Star Mothers for
Peace.
Contributing to this article were Bob McCubbin,
Maggie Vascasseno, Bryan Pfeiffer, Jim McMahan and Joan Marquardt.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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