SERBS, CHINESE, NEW YORKERS
Building a bridge of solidarity
By
Deirdre Griswold
New York
In the most painful way imaginable, the U.S./NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia is building a bridge among peoples from many parts
of the world.
To symbolize their resistance to this vicious war, thousands
of New Yorkers of many backgrounds--including many Serbs,
Chinese, Greeks, Iranians, African Americans and Puerto
Ricans--took their protest against the war to the Brooklyn
Bridge on May 15.
The demonstration had intended to focus on the many heroic
people in Yugoslavia who have been trying to protect their
bridges from the bombers by standing on the spans all night
linking arms. NATO has bombed the bridges anyway.
"Like the people in Yugoslavia, we wore NATO target signs on
the bridge," said Brian Becker of the International Action
Center. "When the people of Yugoslavia march onto these bridges
it's an act of great heroism because they could be killed by
NATO bombs, just as auto workers at the Yugo plant were killed
several weeks ago when their plant was bombed."
Adding a new dimension to the protest was the bombing of the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and the storm of anger that
produced in China. The demonstrators first tried to march to
Chatham Square in Chinatown, but were stopped by a wall of
cops. However, many Chinese participated in the march and the
rally on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The demonstration was called by the newly formed Emergency
Mobilization to Stop the War, which is planning a large
national protest at the Pentagon on June 5.
Actions were held in several other cities, including a vigil
and rally of 136 people in Kingston, N.Y., organized by the
Mid-Hudson National People's Campaign. Some 25 high school
students participated in black tee shirts with the word "No" on
the front showing their opposition to the war.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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