NATO bombing triggers instant response
By John
Catalinotto
After just five days, NATO bombings have stirred up massive
protests in nearly 100 cities across the world.
Governments representing one-third of humanity have demanded
the bombings stop. Even the governments of a few European NATO
countries have been shaken enough to raise demands for a
cease-fire and new negotiations.
In both Europe and North America, there is little to no
active public support for the war. A CNN-Time poll found 74
percent of the U.S. population, for example, unwilling to lose
a single U.S. serviceperson for Washington's objectives in
Kosovo.
However, Washington and the Pentagon have strategic control
of the war and appear insistent on using their superior wea
ponry to impose an occupation of Serbia.
The big question is whether the initial protests against
this war can grow to truly powerful mass actions and perhaps
political strikes that can force Clinton and the generals to
stop their aggression.
Mass actions
The most dramatic actions came in the countries closest to
the bombing.
Inside Yugoslavia itself, thousands of workers have
demonstrated at their plants. At the Vastava auto and gun
plant, 25,000 workers are sitting in as a human shield against
the bombers. A rock concert in Belgrade drew thousands of youth
who defied NATO's threats to bomb the city. In Montenegro,
another Yugoslav province that has been bombed.
In Macedonia--where there are 12,000 NATO troops
waiting to occupy Kosovo--thousands of people besieged the U.S.
Embassy. Macedonia is a former republic of Yugoslavia, and many
in its population identify with those under attack, although
its government is a NATO stooge.
Next door in Greece, tens of thousands protested the
war. Led by the Communist Youth, demonstrators fought pitched
battles with the police.
There were demonstrations in Hungary, Poland
and the Serb section of Bosnia, and a demonstration of
10,000 in Bucharest, Romania. In Vienna, Austria,
some 13,000 demonstrated March 28, many from the Serb
community.
There were demonstrations in almost every European country.
Italians demon strated in over 20 cities, the largest
action taking place in Rome, where 8,000 march ed. Teachers and
metalworkers plan symbolic general strikes March 30, and there
will be a national demonstration in Rome April 3. Some 15,000
marched in Paris.
In France the Communist Party, and in Italy the
Refoundation Communist Party, played a leading role in the
actions, along with other anti-war and anti-imperialist
organizations.
In Brussels, Belgium, the seat of NATO, there will be
a Europe-wide protest on April 3. It was originally called
weeks ago to protest NATO expansion on the military alliance's
50th anniversary.
In Germany there were demonstrations in a half-dozen
major cities. The largest was in Berlin, where the sponsoring
Party of Democratic Socialism said 20,000 came. The PDS is the
only party in the German Bundestag, or parliament, that has
spoken out and voted against the bombing.
In Germany, the Social Democratic-Green coalition government
has been the leading warmonger group. Many among the Greens
have demanded a special party congress to protest the leaders'
pro-war positions.
The strong opposition in Italy has forced the D'Alema
government to ask NATO to halt the attack and reopen
negotiations. To no avail.
In Ontario, Canada, 2,000 demonstrated at the U.S.
Consulate in Toronto and another 2,000 at the U.S. Embassy in
Ottawa. In Australia, 6,000 took to the streets in
Sydney and another 1,500 in Perth.
Government protests
The governments of Iraq, Libya, India,
China and even Indonesia protested the bombing.
Together these governments represent over one-third of
humanity.
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine also
demanded that NATO stop bombing Yugoslavia, and the Ukrainian
parliament voted in favor of bringing back to its territory
nuclear missiles that it had earlier asked Russia to remove.
Hundreds of people in Russia have volunteered to fight on the
side of Yugoslavia against NATO.
The Russian government has also withdrawn its
representatives from NATO in a show of protest, and officials
have warned of a revival of the Cold War. However, the current
Russian capitalist government just went hat in hand to get a
loan from the International Monetary Fund. A strong reply to
NATO is unlikely from the Yeltsin grouping.
The more important question may well be how NATO's war on
Yugoslavia will affect developments within Russia and the rest
of the former USSR, as well as Eastern Europe. Will the masses
of workers there see the war on Yugoslavia as a threat to
themselves?
Even with the vastly superior NATO weapons, there is a
powerful political component to this war. NATO's general staff
has unleashed a battle whose end they can't control. And the
masses of people in the streets around the world will have
their say in its outcome.
Protests across United States
The bombing immediately aroused passionate anti-war protests
throughout the United States.
In the anti-war movement, the International Action Center
took the initiative, being politically prepared to counter a
U.S. aggression it had been expecting. It began demonstrating
the day the bombs started to fall--March 24.
The vicious bombing raids and the demonization of Serbs
aroused the biggest response from people of a Balkans
background, including a spectrum of political elements in the
Serb-American community. Many have heard first-hand of the
bombing from relatives back home.
Where the anti-war movement was able to come out strong, the
slogans were the most class conscious and internationalist.
The pro-war, pro-government media did their best to minimize
these actions. In some areas, even demonstrations of thousands
were ignored. Where they were reported, however, they had an
impact on the general population. They immediately raised
doubts about the media's biased presentation of the events in
the Balkans.
California was a center for protests. In Los Angeles,
500 people rallied March 24 and called for an end to the
bombing. Ron Kovic, a famous disabled Vietnam veteran, author
of "Born on the Fourth of July," declared, "This is the start
of what will be a massive anti-war movement." As if to answer
him, three days later 2,000 people demonstrated.
In San Francisco, 2,000 people came out March 27 to chant,
"Stop the bombing of Yugoslavia! Money for jobs and education,
not war!" San Diego, an area with many U.S. military personnel,
saw 500 turn out. There was also a demonstration in
Sacramento.
In New York state , the largest demonstrations were
in New York City. On March 27, some 7,000 people marched from
Grand Central Station to Union Square chanting, "Hey, hey,
Uncle Sam, Kosovo is Vietnam" and "Clinton, Clinton, what do
you say, how many kids did you kill today?" This action was
called jointly by the IAC and Serb groups.
The International Action Center in Rochester held
demonstrations at the Federal Building March 24 and March 27.
They held signs reading, "North Atlantic Terrorist
Organization."
The Mid-Hudson National People's Campaign rallied in
Kingston on March 27. Some 60 local residents carried home-made
signs against the bombing. A large number of cars honked in
support.
In Syracuse, a high-school student spark ed the local Peace
Council to hold an action.
The Serbian community of Northeast Ohio came out in
large numbers to protest the bombing, called out by leaders of
the Serbian and Russian orthodox churches. As the bombing
began, over 100 marched in downtown Cleveland. By the next day,
the number marching had grown to 500, with people coming from
many area cities.
Anti-war groups held separate protests in Cleveland. There
were also many demonstrations in Columbus--where Ohio State
University is--and a moment of silence in Toledo.
In St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida, about a dozen
anti-war activists protested the bombing of Yugoslavia and the
continued bombing and sanctions against Iraq at the entrance to
MacDill Air Force Base March 25. They greeted traffic on and
off the base with signs that read, "Say no to NATO," the
bombing, stop the lies" and "Bombs and sanctions both kill."
There were also protests organized by the Serbian Orthodox
Church in Miami.
In Washington, D.C., on March 28, some 2,000 people
gathered outside the White House in an action called jointly by
the IAC and the Serbian community to protest the bombing.
In Wisconsin, about 200 people turned out March 26 in
Milwaukee. The protest was swelled by members of the Serb
community, which numbers about 30,000. Seventy-five Serbs
picketed the home of U.S. Rep. James Barrett on March 24.
Barrett voted to support the bombing.
In Massachusetts, local groups in Northhampton
holding a protest of sanctions on Iraq also spoke out against
the bombing of Yugoslavia. Organizer Nick Camerota was
broadcast hourly on local radio answering Clinton's lies about
the war with the truth.
In Michigan, people from the Serbian, Macedonian and
Greek communities plus other anti-war activists rallied at
Detroit's Federal Building on March 29 and 30. The second
protest swelled to 1,000 people.
On the IAC web site, people reported actions or planned
actions in Kansas, Minnesota, Connecticut, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, Georgia and other parts of the country.
Reports from Martha Grevatt, Nick Camerota, Bob McCubbin,
Sharon Black, Phil Wilayto, Dave Sole, Jack Smith and from the
IAC web site at www.iacenter.org.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page