Marchers tell Bush & Congress: 'End the war now'

Tens of thousands of mostly youthful protesters marched from the White House to the Capitol on Sept. 15, opening up a period of weeks of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., against the U.S. occupation of Iraq, now in its fifth year. The protest was timed as a response to Gen. David Petraeus’s Sept. 10 report to Congress aimed at winning support for continuing the U.S. occupation indefinitely.

WW photo: John Catalinotto

The overarching umbrella theme of the protest could be summed up in the slogan of the thousands of yellow signs signed by the protest’s main organizer, the ANSWER Coalition, which read, “End the war now.” Another theme, less visible in the signs, was the demand that President George W. Bush be impeached.

During the pre-march rally, speakers from many progressive struggles—including the liberation of Palestine and Puerto Rico, funds for rebuilding New Orleans, and freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Cuban 5—raised their issues. Keynote speakers from the organizing groups and well-known figures like Ramsey Clark and Ralph Nader focused on ending the war and impeaching Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and castigated the Democratic Party.

Dozens of members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, many wearing fatigues over their IVAW shirts, led the march to the Capitol. Members of Military Families Speak Out also played a featured role in the day’s events.

Hundreds of the protesters sat down in the street near the Capitol to hold a “die-in,” simulating the casualties among Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops in the occupied country. At one point, some of the demonstrators tried to climb a fence to get closer to the Capitol.

Police then arrested 197 people, including 10 veterans and some of the demonstration organizers, according to an ANSWER release that also estimated the crowd’s size at “nearly 100,000.” Police used pepper gas or Mace against some of those present. Organizer Gloria La Riva said in a Sept. 17 radio interview that the demonstrators in custody were uninjured except for problems with handcuffs applied too tightly.

Often past anti-war protests in Washington have been made up largely of people who live in the densely populated Northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, with as many as half coming from New York. This one, in contrast, seemed to attract fewer people from the cities of the Northeast and more from private and state universities within a few hours of Washington. A large group of students came from George Washington University, which is four blocks from the White House.

A youthful section of the march that included a contingent from the Students for a Democratic Society helped build the march’s spirit with their enthusiasm. Even those from student Democratic Party clubs shared a strong hostility to the Democratic Party leadership.

People of all nationalities were on the march, but there were no large concentrated gatherings of people by their nationality, as are sometimes present. While union members were on the march, no labor union raised its own banner.

The World Can’t Wait organization had a contingent, which promoted the call to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Members of the Troops Out Now Coalition passed out protest signs and stickers and leaflets advertising its upcoming encampment Sept. 22-28 and mass demonstration Sept. 29 at the Capitol. TONC will emphasize “the war abroad and the war at home” and will likely have more focus on combating racism, fighting for jobs and health care, and defending immigrant rights.

Speakers at the anti-war rally included Cindy Sheehan; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective, New Orleans; the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of Hip Hop Caucus; Brian Becker of ANSWER and others.

A pro-war, pro-Bush group calling itself a “Gathering of Eagles” set up a counter-demonstration between 7th and 10th Streets along Pennsylvania Avenue to harass the demonstrators and provide the corporate media with a pro-war opinion. Many in this rightist gang are retired military officers or other professional soldiers.

Last March, this same group had physically harassed some of the anti-war crowd, with the obvious cooperation of the police. This time a security squad was organized to defend the marchers, and police changed their own tactics and set up barricades between the demonstration and the fascist-like GoE.