100,000 in DC, 35,000 in San Francisco
'FREE, FREE PALESTINE'
By Monica Moorehead
Washington, D.C.
Some 100,000 people made history April 20 by chanting,
"Free, free Palestine," and, "Stop U.S. aid to Israel," as the
biggest pro-Palestine rally ever here defiantly transformed
Washington into liberated territory.
While there were many issues raised at the
demonstration--including opposition to U.S. intervention in
Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines and elsewhere--the struggle in
Palestine assumed central importance.
Heroic resistance in the Occupied Territories had spread
around the world and crossed the Atlantic to the United
States.
A large majority of the people who descended upon this
political and military nerve center of U.S. imperialism were
Palestinians and other Arab and Muslim peoples. Many were
children and youths, waving the red, black, green and white
colors of the Palestinian flag and wearing their traditional
dress including the beautiful kaffiya scarves.
They along with thousands of anti-war and revolutionary
activists from the Black, Latino, Native, Asian, Jewish,
lesbian/gay/bi/ trans communities, came to protest the brutal
Bush/Sharon war against Palestine.
The size and political significance of the protest com
pelled some of the big-money media, including the Washington
Post and Los Angeles Times, to report the day's events. In
addition, C-Span and Al-Jazeera--the world's largest Arab-based
TV network--both showed live coverage of the White House
rally.
Millions of people worldwide--and especially in the Arab
world--know what happened here April 20.
Many mosques and Islamic centers as well as other sectors of
the Arab-American community organized hundreds of buses to show
support for the current phase of the Palestinian Intifada.
People in 100 U.S. cities mobilized for the actions. They used
every form of transportation to get here--including car
caravans, trains, vans and planes.
As speakers and rally literature pointed out, the Bush
administration had tried to use the attacks last Sept. 11 not
only to push the United States into new war adventures from
Afghanistan to Iraq, but also as an excuse to intimidate and
demonize the most vulnerable and marginalized sectors of U.S.
society--namely Arab, South Asian and Muslim communities.
The turnout here April 20--and the crowd's mood--showed that
the heroic Palestinian resistance to U.S./Israeli aggression in
the occupied territories has helped reverse the reactionary
tide of intimidation and paralysis that had plagued the
movement for social justice here and worldwide since Sept.
11.
Ever since the U.S.-backed Israeli terrorist killing machine
elevated its murderous assault on the Palestinians beginning on
March 29, the whole world has watched in horror as the Israeli
military destroyed whole neighborhoods in Jenin, Jerusalem,
Nablus and Ramallah.
Many at the march carried signs showing graphic images of
those who were either slaughtered or injured at the hand of the
apartheid-like Israeli regime. An estimated 1,500 Palestinians
have been massacred--500 in Jenin alone--and thousands
injured.
Besides the Washington, D.C., protest, another 35,000 people
marched in San Francisco in support of the just cause of the
Palestinian people. International solidarity protests were also
called for April 20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic; San Salvador, El Salvador; Managua,
Nicaragua; Basque Country; Madrid, Spain; the cities of
Tabasco, Oaxaca and Mexico City, Mexico; Montreal, Canada;
Belgium; Japan; and South Africa.
The International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
(ANSWER) coalition issued a call for activists to converge on
the White House to demand an end to the U.S.-backed onslaught
by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, and an
immediate end to the 54-year-old illegal Israeli occupation of
Palestine.
ANSWER leaders said they made the conscious decision to
build a pro-Palestinian demonstration to illustrate that
supporting the Palestinian people's right to self-determination
is part and parcel of the overall struggle against imperialist
war and racist repression.
Before the march began, 50,000-60,000 people gathered at the
Ellipse, behind the White House. They heard a diverse group of
speakers express solidarity with the Palestinian people, who
have put themselves on the front lines in the struggle against
President George W. Bush's declaration of war against the
peoples of the world.
Thousands of printed ANSWER signs--"Free Palestine, no war
on Iraq"--were held throughout the crowd, as well as "Stop Plan
Colombia," "Stop bombing Afghan istan" and "Money for jobs,
schools and housing, not racist war." There were also dozens of
banners and hundreds more placards hand-made by
participants.
"We are all Palestinians" theme of White House
rally
The three-hour rally included speakers of all nationalities,
all ages, and those of religious and non-religious backgrounds,
who came to declare that on April 20, "We are all
Palestinians."
Co-moderators of the rally included Jennifer Wager,
mid-Atlantic coordinator of IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Teresa
Gutierrez, a co-director of the International Action Center;
and Mehdi Bray, national political director of Muslim Public
Affairs Council.
Among the Palestinian speakers were Randa Jamal, of the Free
Palestine Alliance and the Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return
Coalition. Also speaking from Al-Awda were Samia Halaby and
Amer Jubran. Representatives from Cuba, Korea, Mexico,
Nicaragua, the Phillippines, and of issues like the struggle to
rid Vieques, Puerto Rico, of the U.S. Navy, all declared their
unwavering support for Palestinian rights. Sara Flounders,
spokesperson for the Iraq Sanctions Challenge, told the crowd
to be prepared to fight Bush's new war plans against the Iraqi
people.
Tariq Ali, a Pakistani author and political activist
representing the London Stop the War Coalition, also spoke at
the rally.
Larry Adams, president of Mailhandlers Local 300, spoke on
behalf of the New York City Labor Against the War coalition.
Hillel Cohen, a Jewish labor activist, presented a resolution
passed by his union, the 1199 Service Employees International
Union in New York. The resolution included the demands that the
occupation and U.S. aid to Israel end now, and it supported the
Palestinian people's right of return to their homeland.
There were other signs that a growing number of workers are
making the connections between the deepening economic crisis at
home and the struggle against war abroad. The April 21
Baltimore Sun reported that march participant "Rodney Ward, 36,
a former U.S. Airways flight attendant who lost his job amid
the post-Sept. 11 airline industry layoffs, held U.S. aid to
Israel partly responsible for his small unemployment checks.
'The U.S. government immediately gave billions of dollars to
corporate bailouts, war and oppressive governments like
Israel,' said Ward, of Boston. 'But it took the government six
months to find a measly 13 extra weeks of unemployment for
people like me.'"
Peta Lindsay, a 17-year-old African American organizer with
ANSWER, told the crowd: "It seems that the rest of the world is
beginning to learn what the Palestinian people have proven
through their heroic resistance: that there will never be peace
in the Middle East until there is justice for Palestine. ... I
go to a school right here in D.C. public schools ... which are
notorious for their under-funded, under-staffed classrooms, but
somehow our military budget is skyrocketing."
A delegation of Orthodox Jews Against Zionism came to the
rally, even though it was on their Sabbath, to express their
solidarity with the Palestinian people. The mostly Palestinian
and Muslim crowd gave them a warm welcome, just as they
applauded any speakers who announced that they were Jewish.
Another group of 25,000 anti-war protesters led by the
United We March coalition held a simultaneous morning rally at
the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument. Once the
ANSWER participants poured onto Pennsylvania Avenue, the two
large groups merged to march side by side past the Justice
Department.
There, the marchers demanded the repeal of the repressive
USA Patriot Act. This law, promoted by ultra-right Attorney
General John Ashcroft, has led to raids and detentions of
members of the Arab and Muslim communities within the United
States.
Unified rally at the Capitol
The march then wound its way to the Capitol for a unified
rally by the two major coalitions. Amy Goodman from
WBAI-Pacifica Radio and Randa Jamal, a Palestinian activist who
lost relatives in the Israeli assault on Ramallah, co-chaired
the rally.
Some of Jamal's relatives are still being held hostage in
Ramallah. She told the crowd, "What they are going through are
crimes against humanity."
Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Cynthia McKinney from
Georgia took up the plight of the U.S. poor: "We have not dealt
well with our diversity and too many of our citizens suffer
needlessly. Each day millions of Americans suffer poverty,
hunger, the sting of discrimination . . . arbitrary arrest,
racial profiling, and brutality from rogue police . . .
inadequate health care, drug abuse, and unemployment. For the
millions of poor Americans, ours is not a just society."
The Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors
for Peace, condemned "U.S. complicity with the genocide of the
Palestinian people." He also warned of the dangers facing Iraq
and was strong in his support for the advances of the Cuban
Revolution in the face of a 40-year-long U.S. blockade.
Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El-Saadawi said, "The
Egyptian women, men and children are with you here. All the
people of the world are exploited by the same government and by
capitalism. George Bush and Ariel Sharon should be brought to
justice as war criminals."
Fadia Rafeedi from the Free Palestine Coalition-USA, said
that "the fate of Palestine is linked to the fate of Iraq, of
Venezuela, of Colombia. We have to end the criminal partnership
between the U.S. and the state of Israel. ... We must oppose
the exclusionary character of the Israeli state."
Larry Holmes, a co-director of the International Action
Center, spoke on behalf of the ANSWER coalition. "Something
magical has happened," he said. "Finally the anti-war movement
has merged with the Palestinian and Arab and Muslim community
and embraced the Palestinian cause. ...
"This movement is anti-colonialist and anti-racist, it is
not against Jewish people. ... Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney
can't wait to send the U.S. Army in to invade Iraq. But we have
to stop that war right here, and organize here to struggle
against it. ...
"We will fight for jobs, fight for funds for education,
fight to keep Social Security, fight for all our rights at
home, but we have to make sure that while we do this we show
solidarity with the struggling people of the planet."
Two teenage Palestinian women from Jenin also addressed the
crowd, confidently assuring the U.S. demonstrators that
whatever horrors the Israeli military carried out, "We will
continue to struggle until liberation."
Ray LaForest, representative of New York City Labor Against
War, said, "I am speaking on behalf of the working people who
built this society and now we are being asked to give our blood
for these greedy bosses. ... NYCLAW demands money for displaced
workers, not corporations since 9-11. We also want an end to
the U.S./Israeli occupation of the West Bank."
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Partnership for
Civil Justice, said, "The USA Patriot Act is a vicious assault
on civil rights and civil liberties. It's an attempt to shut
down political dissent--and we're not going to let them do
it."
Julie Beatty, president of the United States Student
Association, Martin Luther King III and Phyllis Bennis of the
Institute for Policy Studies were also among those
speaking.
The ANSWER newsletter announced the group will hold a
national organizing conference in New York on June 1 to
continue the effort to build a strong, independent, anti-war,
anti-racist movement.
Bryan Pfeiffer contributed to this article.
Reprinted from the May 2, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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