Momentum grows for Oct. 26 marches
Skepticism over Bush's war finds voice in streets
By Greg Butterfield
During the last weekend of September, anti-war protests took
to the streets in cities across the United States and around
the world, giving voice to growing skepticism over the Bush
administration's hell-bent plan to invade Iraq.
Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and
Flagstaff, Ariz., were among the cities that were host to
important manifestations against the war Sept. 27-29. Overseas,
massive demonstrations were seen in London, Rome and
Madrid.
And on the heels of that weekend of protest, two anti-war
coalitions based in the U.S. made an important contribution to
the unity of the movement against war, racism and
repression.
On Sept. 30 the International ANSWER coalition--Act Now to
Stop War and End Racism--and the Not In Our Name Project issued
a joint statement. They called on all opponents of Bush's war
on Iraq to mobilize for both Oct. 6 regional protests in New
York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities, and for the
Oct. 26 national march on Washington and the West Coast march
in San Francisco.
"We have the potential for a large, strong demonstration on
Oct. 26 that can really show the deep opposition to this plan
for war, invasion and occupation," said Deirdre Sinnott, an
organizer for the International Action Center, one of the
organizations on the ANSWER coalition steering committee.
Sinnott spoke with Workers World Oct. 1.
"Whenever we get out on the street with flyers, we get a lot
of interest. So far there are 70 organizing centers across the
country, and half are on campuses," Sinnott explained. "Every
day we hear about new buses that are being planned and groups
that want to have buses."
She said organizers expect the response to grow when new
literature emphasizing the connection between budget cuts and
layoffs at home and the $200 billion budget for war in Iraq
hits the streets.
A visitor to the IAC's New York office--a local organizing
hub for Oct. 26--found it bustling with volunteers who
scrambled to answer busy phones and give out bus information,
while others met in small groups to plan local outreach
efforts, including flyering and postering.
'Deep skepticism' over war
"There have been very important anti-war demonstrations in
Washington, Denver and other cities in recent days," Sinnott
told WW. "This shows that, contrary to the public opinion polls
being hyped by the corporate media, there is deep skepticism
about Bushwar plans and his attempts to justify them. There's
deep skepticism that this war has anything whatsoever to do
with the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The administration doesn't have the trust it claims to
have. Part of the importance of these demonstrations is to show
everyone that they don't have to feel isolated in opposing the
war," she said.
Last year the movement against capitalist globalization was
thrown into disarray by the Sept. 11, 2001, events. But the
threat of war infused it with a new surge of activism during a
three-day mobilization coinciding with the annual meeting of
the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington
Sept. 27-29.
Protesters were confronted by a large and aggressive police
presence. D.C. police beefed up their ranks with cops from as
far away as Chicago, brought in to guard plate-glass windows at
Starbucks, McDonald's restaurants and banks.
A march by thousands of anti-capitalist protesters Sept. 27
was met with brutal police repression. At least 649 people were
rounded up in violent pre-emptive arrests. Journalists,
tourists and bystanders were arrested along with activists.
Many were brutalized. Most were charged with "parading without
a permit" and released the next day.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice
denounced the pre-emptive arrests as illegal and a political
move to chill the turnout for larger, permitted demonstrations
planned on the weekend.
While the stated aim of the anti-capitalist protest was to
block traffic and disrupt access to the IMF/World Bank site,
the D.C. and national media joined the police in
violence-baiting the demonstrators.
Up to 15,000 people turned out Sept. 28 for a demonstration
against IMF/World Bank policies sponsored by the Mobilization
for Global Justice. Again, police tried to repress the legal,
permitted march by boxing in protesters. Seven were
arrested.
Unfortunately, organizers of this event blocked anti-war
speakers from the podium. But signs held by many in the crowd
showed that they knew that stopping the war on Iraq is the
cutting edge of fighting capitalist globalization.
Baltimore community organizer Sharon Black told WW that
leaflets for the Oct. 26 anti-war march got a warm reception
from the crowd. ANSWER activists got out 6,000 flyers.
On Sept. 28, over 5,000 people marched through Washington's
Embassy Row to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. They
chanted, "No blood for oil" and "Stop the war against
Iraq!"
Bush runs, but can't hide
President George W. Bush made himself conveniently absent
from the White House while the IMF/World Bank protests were
underway. But even as he toured Western states raising money
for Republican candidates, he couldn't hide from anti-war
protests.
In Denver Sept. 27, some 3,000 people turned out to protest
the "all war, all the time" president. They marched from the
Denver City and County Building to the Adam's Mark Hotel, where
Bush was speaking at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser. They chanted,
"No war for oil! No war for votes!"
Organizers pointed out that the Adam's Mark Hotel is the
subject of an NAACP boycott because of the management's racist
policies.
Hundreds of protesters met Bush later that day in Phoenix
and Flagstaff, some yelling, "Warmonger go home."
Joe Herzog, a 51-year-old worker who described himself to
the Arizona Daily Star as a "former Republican," came to the
Phoenix protest. Herzog said, "My 401(k) has continued to drop
and I want to know what these candidates facing election will
do for me, but this war has taken so many important issues off
the front page, it's all I hear about."
Opposition to war with Iraq was also visible at
demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Palestine in
San Francisco Sept. 28 and Chicago Sept. 29. (See separate
article in this issue.)
Sinnott told WW that the Oct. 26 march in Washington will
begin at Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial. "We chose this location because we want to show that
this is another war that the U.S. government is lying to us
about, just like in Vietnam. If we stand by and allow it to
happen, then there could be another memorial for another 50,000
dead U.S. troops, not to mention hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis.
"We want to show that the answer isn't to depend on Congress
or the UN, which is under the U.S. government's thumb." She
concluded, "We have to build a strong people's movement that
can take on the war propaganda coming from the White
House."
For more information on the Oct. 26 demonstrations, visit
www.internationalanswer.org.
Reprinted from the Oct. 10, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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