JAN. 18 PROTEST TELLS BUSH: NO WAR, NO WAY
D.C.: Largest U.S. protest yet against Iraq war
By Leslie Feinberg
The power of the people. You could see it, filling the broad
avenues in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18, stretching for miles.
You could hear its thunder: "No war on Iraq!" And as marchers
reached the crest of Capitol Hill, looked back and roared in
reaction to their own sheer strength, a mass of half a million,
you could even taste it.
What a spectrum: all ages and nationalities, ethnicities,
religious beliefs or lack of them, sexes, abilities, genders,
sexualities, political viewpoints, occupations and walks of
life. They came from diverse regions--from inner city
neighborhoods to dairy farms; towns, campuses and
reservations.
Homeowners and apartment dwellers marched with the homeless;
working people walked shoulder to shoulder with the jobless and
under-employed. Some weathered the day fortified by a good
meal, others marched with growling stomachs. Retirees chanted
alongside those too young to work.
The mercury hovered around 20 degrees. But even though an
arctic front had swept down across the continental United
States the day before the massive mobilization, it didn't stop
people of all ages from braving the trip to make their voices
heard.
They came from as far away as Texas, Florida, Alabama,
Colorado, Vermont, Wisconsin and Minnesota--many traveling an
18-30 hour bus trip in each direction. At least one bus drove
all the way down from Nova Scotia.
Students from University of Wisconsin-Madison filled five
buses. Another 10 buses brought people from around the state. A
fleet of 22 buses came from Minneapolis/St. Paul and 35 from
North Carolina, including 20 from Winston-Salem.
Just some of the cities in New York State: A minimum of
2,000 people from New York State's Hudson Valley. People packed
10 buses from Syracuse, eight from Rochester, five from Albany,
four from Callicoon, six from Westchester, two from Rockland
County, two from Warwick, and three buses and a van from
Buffalo.
An armada of more than 100 buses convoyed from New York
City, including 20 from New York's 1199/SEIU Health and
Hospital Workers Union that brought many African American and
Latino workers.
The Chicago Teachers Union brought six buses.
The 15 buses--with no empty seats--that pulled out of
Boston's Roxbury Community College at midnight en route to D.C.
were joined on the road by dozens of buses, vans and car
caravans from throughout New England.
At least 80 percent of those coming from Boston reported
that they were going to their first national protest. The labor
bus was filled with workers and union leaders from hotels,
school bus yards, government and university offices, the
Roxbury Workers Association and electrical workers hot off the
picket line at General Electric's Lynn, Mass., plant.
Latino youth, fresh from marching against a racist attack on
bilingual education, helped organize another bus.
Three buses from Manchester, N.H., were packed with AIDS
educators and civil rights veterans, Palestinian leaders, union
organizers, lesbian, gay, bi and trans community activists,
environmentalists and others. Trans youth led a bus; leaders of
the local Women's Fightback Network captained another.
One woman carried a sign on a pole that read simply:
Mississippi.
Caravans of cars and buses clogged the highways and byways
of D.C.; the bus station, Metro stops and cavernous Union train
station were teeming with thousands of people wearing anti-war
buttons and carrying hand-made signs. Any large stream of
people in D.C. that day led to the National Mall.
Many people brought with them the sentiments of those who
could not make the long journey. A woman from Fargo, N.D.,
carried a placard with the signatures of all her family and
friends, neighbors and townspeople, who were against the war.
Next to their names they'd written what they do for a living:
nurse, librarian, teacher, auto mechanic.
One man carried a sign with 150 signatures. He said, "These
are all the people against the war that I know who couldn't
come. And I got them all in 24 hours." Representatives of the
Brooklyn-based Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition for Peace were
there.
Equally impressive rallies
This sea of progressive humanity--from anti-imperialists to
those cautious about the wisdom of this war--had answered a
call issued last fall by the International ANSWER coalition,
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism.
A sister protest of 200,000 was taking place simultaneously
in San Francisco. There were also local protests. In all,
including 38 countries around the world, millions marched to
protest Bush and his generals' drive towards war against
Iraq.
Speakers from organizations that make up the ANSWER
leadership addressed the rally. They are Partnership for Civil
Justice, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the Free Palestine
Alliance-U.S., Nicaragua Network, Bayan-USA/International,
Korea Truth Commission, International Action Center, Muslim
Student Association of the U.S./Canada, Kensington Welfare
Rights Union, Mexico Solidarity Network and the Middle East
Children's Alliance.
ANSWER brought together an impressive array of speakers at
two rallies--one that began at 11 a.m. in the sprawling
National Mall, and a concluding rally at the Washington
Shipyard. The early rally was seen by millions in the United
States and around the world on C-Span broadcasts.
Moonanum James, co-chair of United American Indians of New
England and a Vietnam-era veteran, opened the rally by
connecting the U.S. government's ongoing racist war against
Native peoples with their preparations for a racist war against
Iraq.
Actors Jessica Lange and Tyne Daly addressed the crowd. So
did political figures, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton; former-U.S. Congressperson Cynthia McKinney and Rep.
John Conyers. The Rev. Lucius Walker read an anti-war statement
from Rep. Charles Rangel.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark got a rousing cheer
when he called on those listening to "impeach Bush." Blase
Bonpane, from the Office of the Americas, traveled from Los
Angeles to bring greetings.
International representation included Ashraf El-Bayoumi from
the Cairo Conference against U.S. Aggression on Iraq and Jeremy
Corbyn from the Stop the War Coalition and a member of the
British Parliament. They linked the Jan. 18 mass turnout with
the call for worldwide demonstrations on Feb. 15. Abe Tomoko
spoke as a representative of the Lower House of the Japanese
Parliament.
Struggles around the world against U.S. domination were
articulated by Teresa Gutierrez and Sara Flounders from the
IAC; Hector Castro, director of education, Central Unitaria de
Trabajadores, Colombia; Francisco Rivera, Committee for the
Rescue and Development of Vieques; Marie Hilao Enriquez from
BAYAN, a mass organization in the Philippines; and Yoomi Jeong
from the Korea Truth Commission.
At a time when the Bush administration is carrying out mass
roundups and demonization of Arab, Muslim and South Asian
people in the United States, the ANSWER rally demonstrated
solidarity in deed and in word. Speakers included Mahdi Bray,
Muslim American Society; Ismael Kamal, Muslim Student
Association; Ihab Darwish, Free Palestine Alliance; Ghazi Khan
Kan, Council on American Islamic Relations; Imam Mousa, Masjid
Al-Islam; and Dr. Mansoon Khan from Peace TV.
The Revs. Herbert Daughtry, national pastor of House of the
Lord Church; Graylan Haglar, pastor of Plymouth Congregational
Church, and Jesuit priest John Dear addressed the audience.
Anti-war speakers included Charley Richardson and Nancy
Lessen from Military Families Speak Out and Liz McAlister,
partner and widow of the late peace activist Phil Berrigan. "No
blood for oil!" demanded disabled Vietnam War veteran Ron
Kovic, author of "Born on the Fourth of July."
Speaking out for labor against the war: Brenda Stokely,
president of AFSCME 1707 and Local 215 as well as a co-convener
of New York City Labor Against the War; Fred Mason, president
of statewide Maryland and D.C. AFL-CIO; Michael Letwin from
U.S. Labor Against War and Dr. Nadia Marsh from Doctors and
Nurses Against the War.
ANSWER speakers included Youth and Student Coordinator Peta
Lindsay, Elias Rashmawi from the Free Palestine Alliance.
Jennifer Wager from IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Mara
Verheyden-Hilliard from PCJ and Larry Holmes and Brian Becker,
both from the International Action Center.
Speakers representing other anti-war coalitions included
Bill Fletcher, co-chair of United for Peace and Justice; Damu
Smith from Black Voices for Peace; Medea Benjamin from Global
Exchange, and Miles Solay from Not In Our Name.
Speakers reminded the crowd about the war on the domestic
front to free political prisoners Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard
Peltier, Jamil Al-Amin, and the Cuban Five. Jesse Heiwa, from
Queers for Peace and Justice, New York, pointed to the growing
coalition of lesbian, gay, bi and trans organizations against
the war. Brooklyn-based activists Viola Plummer from the
December 12th Movement and City Councilman Charles Barron
raised the need for anti-racist solidarity, including fighting
for reparations.
British pop group Chumbawamba, singer Patti Smith and D.C.
cultural artists Pam Parker and Lucy Murphy performed.
The first marchers stepped off close to 1 p.m. Accompanied
by drumming, chanting and singing, they brought their message
"No blood for oil!" to workers and passersby along a two-mile
route to the military shipyard.
An hour later, when the head of the march reached the Navy
Yard, tens of thousands had not yet left the rally site. The
second rally took place from atop a truck because the D.C.
police reneged on sound and stage permits. Brian Becker
concluded that the powerful protest with its huge turnout was
due to "a growing disenchantment with the Bush administration
and an urgent situation, because Jan. 27 could be a deadline
for war."
Reprinted from the Jan. 30, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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