Antiwar protests sweep country—next step is Oct.
26!
By Leslie Feinberg
Sloughing off the weight of media and government assurances
that the population of the United States is solidly behind Bush
and his generals in their war frenzy to invade Iraq, people
resisting the Pentagon plans are rising up, tall and
strong.
And if bus tickets, email and word of mouth are any
indication, the national march against the war slated for
Washington, D.C., on Oct. 26, along with the West Coast
regional march in San Francisco, will be a high-water mark in
the movement to put an end to Bush's self-declared endless
war.
A successful call for National Days of Resistance to War and
Repression brought out tens of thousands across the country
Oct. 6-7, "to pledge their resistance to endless war,
detentions and roundups of Arab, Muslim and South Asian
immigrant, attacks on civil liberties and war on Iraq," reports
the Not In Our Name coalition Web site.
Over 25,000 came out in New York City; 12,000 in
San Francisco; 10,000 in Los Angeles; 10,000 in
Seattle; and thousands in Chicago.
Demonstrations were also held over that two-day period in
Denver; Houston; Minneapolis; Salt Lake City; Anchor age,
Alaska; Fresno, Calif.; New Haven, Conn.; Fort Wayne, Ind.;
Kansas City, Mo.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Buffalo,
N.Y.; Yellow Springs, Ohio; Corvallis, Eugene and
Portland, Ore.; Westerly, R.I.; Nash ville, Tenn.;
Charlottesville, Va.; Bellingham, Wash.; Kickapoo and
LaCrosse, Wis.; and other cities.
In Italy on Oct. 5, an estimated 1.5 million people in 120
cities demonstrated against the growing threat of a U.S.
invasion of Iraq. In some cities there were two demonstrations,
one in the morning and one in the evening. The largest were a
morning demonstration in the northern industrial and financial
center, Milan, and an evening march of 200,000 in
Rome.
Not In Our Name events
The Oct. 6 gathering in New York's Central Park was the
largest antiwar demonstration held in the U.S. so far. New
Yorkers were joined by people from all over the Northeast,
including many students, who came from as far away as Ohio.
Speakers included Masuda Sultan, who lost 19 family members to
the U.S. bombing of Afghan istan, and people who lost family
members at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Celebrities Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Martin Sheen and David
Byrne spoke.
The coalition organizing national anti-war marches on Oct.
26 and the Not In Our Name coalition had agreed before the
rally to endorse each other's activities. Larry Holmes, a
national coordinator of the ANSWER coalition, was cheered when
he said, "Only the people can stop this war," and called on the
Central Park crowd to come to D.C. later in the month.
Feeder marches from many Bay Area communities swelled the
San Francisco demonstration that packed Union Square. A group
from Marin marched all the way across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Speakers included musician Bonnie Raitt, American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee San Francisco Chapter President
Osama Qasem and Richard Becker of the International ANSWER
coalition.
Youths in Los Angeles kept marchers' spirits high with
powerful chants as they passed the U.S. Army Training Center,
led by members of the Filipino organization Bayan. Seattle's
10,000-strong march was believed to be the largest there since
the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization.
Almost a thousand people gathered in front of the Horton
Plaza shopping complex in downtown San Diego with
antiwar signs and banners. There was almost constant beeping of
car horns as many motorists, bus and truck drivers, sounded
their agreement with the antiwar, anti-Bush protestors. After a
rally, protestors marched to the harbor where the local
military establishment was holding Fleet Week activities.
Even as local activists geared up for the Oct. 6-7 events,
other picket lines, rallies, marches and vigils against the war
are taking place--largely without coverage in the monopoly
media--in towns and on campuses across the country.
'Free Palestine, no war on Iraq!'
Atlanta is humming with antiwar activity. Some 400
people packed the sidewalk and spilled into the street in front
of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee national summit
meeting in one of the city's largest shopping areas Oct. 6. The
diverse crowd included many youths, members of the Muslim, Arab
and South Asian communities, African Americans and faith-based
antiwar activists.
Whole families of Palestinians chanted together and held
protest signs demanding "Free Palestine, no war on Iraq" and
"Stop U.S. funding for Israeli occupation!" The protest,
organized by Atlanta Palestine Solidarity, International Action
Center, Al-Awda and Students Organizing for Justice, was
endorsed by many groups.
Shortly afterward, more than 100 people took part in a
colorful and spirited rally at a nearby park as part of the Not
In Our Name regional protests. Many women of all ages--the
majority young--took part. The crowd cheered as passing cars
"honked for peace."
On Oct. 5, Atlanta activists protested at the governor's
mansion where Gov. Roy Barnes hosted a dinner for AIPAC. The
demonstration was called by Concerned Black Clergy to address
the role of this ruling-class-dominated group in the defeat of
progressive political candidates Cynthia McKinney and Earl
Hilliard in recent primary elections.
Union workers swelled the ranks of protest against Vice
President Dick Cheney's Oct. 4 appearance at a breakfast
fundraiser for Republican candidates at the Galleria Mall in
Cobb County, Ga. The main demand focused on corporate
crime and the loss of workers' retirement funds. Later that
day, when Cheney traveled to Augusta, activists gathered
outside a downtown hotel to demand no military aggression
against Iraq.
Weekly protests in front of Sen. Zell Miller's office are
growing and the street response is overwhelmingly supportive.
Atlanta antiwar activists are organizing to confront Bush
during his planned visit to the city on Oct. 17.
'We won't die for Big Oil!'
Hundreds gathered near the downtown Hyatt Hotel in
Baltimore on Oct. 2 to protest President George W.
Bush's visit for a fundraising dinner for Republican
gubernatorial candidate Bob Erlich. Activists held signs aloft
and chanted "We won't die for Big Oil" and "Stop the war
against Iraq!" The protest, initiated by the All Peoples
Congress, continued until Bush's motorcade had pulled away from
the hotel.
Fourteen antiwar protesters were arrested during a vigil at
Sen. Hillary Rodham-Clinton's office in New York on Oct. 7.
More than 40 people demonstrated in Utica, N.Y., on Oct.
8. Activists in Utica, Syracuse, Rochester,
Buffalo, Cananda igua, Kingston and other
cities around the state are already planning buses to take
people to the Oct. 26 march and rally.
More than 350 people--from elders to infants, professors to
elementary students, anti-racist activists to
lesbian/gay/bi/trans activists--came out to a demonstration in
Brattleboro, Vt., on Oct. 5, to demand "No war on
Iraq!"
The Brattleboro Area Peace and Justice Group, made up of
individuals in southeastern Vermont and southwestern New
Hampshire, sponsored the protest. They marched from Living
Memorial Park through downtown, chanting "War is not the
answer." They hoisted placards such as "Got milk? With
sanctions Iraqi children don't" and "It's about oil."
Grandmothers Call to End War
An Iowa newspaper--the Des Moines Register--noted in
its Sept. 30 edition that several hundred grandmothers had
traveled to the State Capitol to register their demand for no
war with Iraq.
Carmen Zeitler is not a grandmother. But she was drawn to
the event called by Grandmothers Call to End War. She told the
media, "War is not the answer. Those who have called us here
are powerful witnesses to that truth. Their fathers went to
World War I, the first war to end all wars; their husbands went
to World War II, the second war to end all wars; their
brothers, their friends went to Korea; their sons to Vietnam.
It is absurd to do the same thing over and over again,
expecting different results."
Includes reports from Sharon Ceci, Bev Hiestand, Marge
Maloney, Dianne Mathiowetz, Bob McCubbin, Bryan G. Pfeiffer and
Minnie Bruce Pratt.
Reprinted from the Oct. 17, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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