250 cities across U.S. tell gov't:
Stop the wars & occupations
Global day of protest
NEW YORK
More than 250 U.S. cities took part in the March 20 Global
Day of Action protesting Pentagon wars and occupations. The
biggest demonstration was in New York, where 100,000 people
marched and rallied.
They came from as far away as Alaska and the Azores,
marching with the power of a unified anti-war movement. Crowds
filled 40 blocks in midtown Manhattan, chanting, "Occupation is
a crime, from Iraq to Palestine!" and "Bring the troops home
now!"
The event was initiated by the International ANSWER--Act Now
to Stop War and End Racism--Coalition, and United for Peace and
Justice.
During the ANSWER segment of the rallies, Brian Becker, a
co-director of the International Action Center and member of
the ANSWER Steering Committee, applauded the courage of the
Muslim community in turning out for the march, given the
current repression, surveillance and raids.
Palestinian flags flew, and speakers in this segment
included Ihab Darwish, Free Palestine Alliance; Lamis Deek,
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Imam Asharaf Uz
Zaman, Islamic Circle of North America; Ismail Kamal, Muslim
Students Association; Mahdi Bray, Muslim American Society and
Freedom Foundation; and Waleed Bader, Arab Muslim American
Federation/National Council of Arab Americans.
Speakers also called for determined opposition to U.S.
imperialism's role in Haiti, Venezuela, the Philippines and
Korea. Attorney Leonard Weinglass called for support for the
Cuban Five, convicted and imprisoned in the United States for
protecting Cuba against imperialist-financed aggression. Teresa
Gutierrez of the International Action Center appealed to the
crowd to boycott Coca-Cola, implicated in the assassination of
workers unionizing its Colombian plants.
Brenda Stokely, chair of New York City Labor Against the War
and president of AFSCME District Council 1707, vowed, "We're
going to bring down the imperialist powers who think they have
the right to slaughter our children!" Larry Holmes of the
International Action Center spoke and a taped message from
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal urged resistance to racist
oppression, police occupation and imperialist oppression.
In the UFPJ segment of the rallies, speakers included Suheir
Hamma of Def Poetry Jam; Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi filmmaker;
David Cline, national president of Veterans for Peace; and Todd
Ensign of Citizen Soldier. Fernando Suarez del Solar of
Military Families Speak Out said: "Bush lied. Who died? My
son."
Also featured were Tony Benn, former member of the British
Parliament, representing Stop the War UK; New York City
Councilmember Bill Perkins; and U.S. Rep. Major Owens. Rep.
Dennis Kucinich, currently running for president, asked the
crowd to "heal the heart of the world" through peace. The John
Kerry campaign, unlike Kucinich's, did not bring signs or
banners to the march.
Dorothy Zellner, a Jewish activist, advocated an end to
Israeli occupation, and Ziad Abu Rish of SUSTAIN--Stop U.S. Tax
Aid to Israel Now--supported Palestinian
self-determination.
On the march, many carried rainbow peace flags as well as
homemade signs with slogans like: "Capitalism is terrorism,"
"Halliburton is not my government," "My taxes are not venture
capital," and "Bush cares about troops like Perdue cares about
chickens."
International solidarity was visible: There were contingents
of Haitians and Venezuelans, Zapatistas from Mexico, and
Irish-Americans Against the War. Members of the 1930s Abraham
Lincoln Brigade that fought against fascism in Spain marched.
Labor unionists included Labor Against the War, United
University Professions of SUNY, and a huge force from the
Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, representatives of Service
Employees/1199, and Communications Workers Local 1180, New York
administrative employees.
The Stonewall Warriors from Boston chanted, "Come out
against war and racism," and the women of the Inter national
Action Center of New York carried "Fight back!" signs
emblazoned with the upraised fist of women's liberation.
--Minnie Bruce Pratt
SAN FRANCISCO
More than 50,000 people took to the streets in San
Francisco. The front of the march was filled with banners and
signs in English, Spanish and Arabic. Many young Palestinians
were on the lead banner.
Unions also turned out in force, including a big contingent
from International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 and
the local's famed drill team. The ILWU shut down the port of
Oakland/San Francisco for the day to oppose the occupation of
Iraq.
Students, facing drastic cuts in education and tuition
increases, mobilized from all over northern California.
Contingents included many veterans and veterans' groups,
activists for same-sex marriage equality, a large and vocal
group of Asians and Pacific Islanders Against the War, and a
group of Koreans carrying a banner reading "No war on
Korea."
The march and rally were initiated by ANSWER, San
Francisco's main anti-war group. Other sponsoring organizations
included the Free Palestine Alliance, Vanguard Foundation, ILWU
Local 10, Bay Area United Against War and Muslim Student
Association.
Speakers covered a range of struggles. Pierre Labossiere of
the Haiti Action Committee described the dangerous situation
caused by the U.S. abduction of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide. Alicia Jrapko of the International Action Center
spoke in Spanish about the U.S. government's efforts to topple
the elected leaders of Haiti and Venezuela.
Gloria La Riva of the National Committee to Free the Cuban
Five pointed to Cuba as an example of how the world can be when
the people take power and run society for themselves. "It's an
example to embattled Haiti, to Venezuela, to Mexico, to
countries all over the world," she said.
ANSWER steering committee member Richard Becker described
the expansion of the U.S. empire even as "they are gutting
every social program, attacking affirmative action and women's
rights, attacking civil rights and civil liberties, proposing a
constitutional amendment to tell people what kind of
relationships they must and must not live in."
Other speakers included ILWU Local 10 President Henry
Graham, actor Woody Harrelson, United Farm Workers co-founder
Dolores Huerta, San Francisco Bay View Editor Willie Ratcliff,
and war resister Stephen Funk.
LeiLani Dowell, a member of Workers World Party who is
running for Congress on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket,
told the crowd that a year ago people had marched in San
Francisco, calling this a war for empire. "A year later, the
U.S. is not only occupying Iraq and continuing to fund the
occupation in Palestine, it is now occupying Haiti, the first
Black republic, and looking towards Cuba and Venezuela."
--Brenda Sandburg and Bill Hackwell
LOS ANGELES
More than 20,000 anti-war activists flooded the streets of
Los Angeles on March 20, filling 14 blocks as the march wound
its way through busy Hollywood.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, just returned from Jamaica where
she helped return kidnapped Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide to the Caribbean, spoke at the opening and closing
rallies.
Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic and Kimberly Huff, whose husband
is a GI recently returned from Iraq, led the march. The Free
Palestine Alliance and the Coalition in Solidarity with Haiti
were also in the front.
Protesters embraced calls for solidarity with liberation
struggles in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan, Venezuela,
Korea, Colombia, the Philippines, West Papua and everywhere.
Demands for marriage rights for all and an end to attacks on
immigrants were greeted with thunderous applause. The crowd
fully supported the fight for vitally needed social services
and demanded an end to racism.
There was broad support for labor, including praise for the
strength of the grocery workers in their recent struggle here
against greedy transnational corporations.
A lively Free the Cuban Five contingent participated in the
march. Socialist Cuba's continued resistance to U.S. aggression
received enthusiastic support.
Muna Coobtee of the Free Palestine Alliance and the
International ANSWER Coalition, a principal organizer of the
March 20 demonstration here, summed up the Global Day of
Protest: "It's of such incredible significance that the demands
of these massive demonstrations are strongly anti-imperialist
and powerfully anti-discrimination."
John Parker of Los Angeles ANSWER enlivened the rally crowd:
"I want to thank the Haitian people for their slave revolution
making oppressed people everywhere, especially Black people
here in the U.S., aware of the tremendous power we can wield in
fighting injustice. Native, Black, Latino and all nationally
oppressed people here have tremendous potential power."
Joe Delaplaine received enthusiastic cheers when he said,
"Not every lesbian, gay, bi and trans person has to get married
or wants to, but we all deserve equal access and we deserve the
right to decide for ourselves."
--John Beacham
CHICAGO
Some 10,000 people marched in Chicago despite a vicious
campaign of intimidation by the city, its police and the
corporate media. Organized by the March 20 Anti-War Coalition,
a broad group of organizations and individuals, the protest
also demanded an end to racist profiling and defended civil
liberties and immigrant rights.
The organizers wanted to bring their message to the public
by marching down busy Michigan Avenue. The police refused to
grant a permit. Mayor Richard Daley put 2,000 police in full
riot gear on the street. This same Democratic administration
arrested nearly 800 demonstrators last March 20 when 15,000
turned out to protest the invasion of Iraq.
The police closed the avenue for over three hours in a
massive show of force. Jesse Jackson of PUSH stood with
demonstrators, demanding their right to march unimpeded.
In the end the march proceeded down Clark Street. Even there
the large forces of police tried to provoke and intimidate the
marchers. This demonstration had big contingents from the
immigrant communities in Chicago and surrounding areas. March
organizers made their safety, and that of the demonstrators as
a whole, a priority.
The Palestinian movement played a very prominent role in the
march and rally.
Speakers included Pearlie Stuckey of International ANSWER
and the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism, whose soldier
son was in Iraq; Luis Cardona, a Colombian trade union
organizer; Susan Nussbaum, a disabled activist from Access
Living; Congres sional Black Caucus member Danny Davis; Kathy
Kelly, Voices in the Wilderness; Bill Davis, president of
Machinists Local 701 and of Vietnam Veterans Against the War;
and Andy Thayer of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network and Equal
Marriage Now.
--Bill Massey
SAN DIEGO
Anti-war marchers, 4,000 strong, converged on Balboa Park.
The San Diego M20 Coalition sponsored the day's activities.
This coalition, formed by the San Diego Peace & Justice
Coalition and San Diego ANSWER and endorsed by over 40 local
organizations, represents an important step forward for the
progressive movement in this military town.
The coalition united around the slogans "Stop the war! End
occupation of Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan." After the
U.S.-sponsored coup, Haiti was added.
Joseph Red Bear of the American Indian Movement opened the
rally, followed by the mothers of two soldiers killed in Iraq
and Zahi Damuni of Al-Awda Palestinian Right of Return. Carl
Muhammad of San Diego ANSWER related the sorry history of
United Nations cooperation with U.S. aggression. Modest Brown
of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners and Bob
McCubbin of Workers World Party spoke on the issue of same-sex
marriage. A message from Mumia Abu-Jamal was played.
The next anti-war, anti-occupation action in San Diego will
be on April 3. San Diego ANSWER and the California Coalition
Against Poverty have called for a march on the 32nd Street
Naval Base to demand: Bring the troops home now!
--Gloria Verdieu
PHILADELPHIA
More than 3,000 people demonstrated in Philadelphia. Along
the route of march an Arab and Palestinian contingent joined
in. Many onlookers also joined the march.
At the National Constitution Center the demonstration was
welcomed by a contingent from South Jersey that had marched
over the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Rally speakers addressed the importance of building a mass
movement to oppose the war and not relying on candidate John
Kerry, with his pro-war history. Others raised the danger of
U.S. expansion in Latin America. Dr. Franz Latour of the
Haitian Community Center was the keynote speaker. The program
included labor, health-care and community activists.
--Betsey Piette
ATLANTA
Some 500 people, accompanied by a contingent of drummers,
took their anti-war message to the streets of Atlanta. The
Israeli Consulate was the starting point and the route wound
through midtown. The demonstration was led by an 18-foot
flatbed truck decorated with banners and Iraqi, Haitian,
Venezuelan and peace flags.
High school and college students were high-energy chant
leaders: "No justice? No peace! U.S. out of the Middle East!"
"From Iraq to Palestine, occupation is a crime." And "One two
three four, we won't fight your racist war!"
In the march was Patricia Roberts, the mother of Jamaal
Addison, a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq days after the invasion
started. Surrounded by a dozen family members, including her
son's child, Roberts told the attentive crowd: "I don't want
any other families to go through what I've gone through this
past year. I don't want any more bloodshed. I want the troops
to come home."
Beth Corrie spoke eloquently about her cousin Rachel
Corrie's support of the Palestinian people's struggle against
U.S.-backed occupation. Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli
bulldozer on March 16, 2003, in the Gaza Strip.
Elaine Brown, former chair of the Black Panther Party,
energized the crowd with her call to identify, organize and
mobilize against the system that produces war, exploits people,
destroys the environment and imprisons millions.
Other speakers included members of the Palestinian, Haitian
and Latino communities, and representatives of union, high
school, peace and community groups.
--Dianne Mathiowetz
Hundreds also marched and rallied in many other cities--from
Buffalo, N.Y., to Reno, Nev., Laramie, Wyo., and Milwau kee. In
North Carolina, 150 people attended the Charlotte ANSWER
chapter's rally.
Reprinted from the April 1, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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