{"article":{"id":30700,"heading":"The World Says No to War in Iraq","author":"Revolutionary Worker","created":"2003-02-22 00:36:32","modified":"2005-08-15 01:12:31","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:12:31","article":"

RW ONLINE: Feb. 14-16: The World Says No to War in Iraq\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nMillions March Feb. 14-16\r\nThe World Says No to War in Iraq\r\n<\/p>

Revolutionary Worker #1188, February 23, 2003<\/i>, posted at rwor.org<\/p>\r\n<\/b>

February 15 and the surrounding days: Huge rivers of humanity poured through \r\ncities across the world. The marches were so large that precise estimates are \r\nimpossible to make--but clearly, millions of people spoke out together saying \r\n\"No to War on Iraq.\"<\/p>\r\n

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Many have remarked that these days of protests manifested one of the most \r\npowerful acts of world-wide political resistance in history. In city after city, \r\nthe crowds vastly overshot the expected turnouts--sometimes by five or ten \r\ntimes.<\/p>\r\n

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It has been estimated by march organizers that people acted together in over \r\n600 places across the world. Millions have been drawn into outraged political \r\nprotest. Many have taken special responsibilities to target their \"own\" \r\ngovernment. They have publicly and forcefully rejected the claim that this war \r\nwould be for their interests. Again and again, people raised banners, songs and \r\nslogans that insisted this attack on Iraq was motivated by oil and imperialist \r\ngeo-politics--not by any official desire to make the people \"safe.\"<\/p>\r\n

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People defied police and the war- makers, they mocked the small-minded \r\ncruelty and swagger of President George Bush. And they expressed together their \r\nprofound and moving solidarity with the besieged and threatened people of \r\nIraq.<\/p>\r\n

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These actions were especially powerful in those countries where governments \r\nare pressing for war, including the U.S., Britain, Italy, and Spain. In the U.S. \r\nclose to a million people demonstrated in one hundred cities and \r\ntowns--including major marches in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, \r\nMiami, Seattle, Portland OR, San Francisco and other cities. The days of action \r\nwere organized by United for Peace & Justice, a broad coalition of antiwar \r\nforces.<\/p>\r\n

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Across the planet, millions expressed anger--and a profound sense of betrayal \r\nand disgust--at the relentless pursuit of war by the U.S. government and allied \r\ncountries.<\/p>\r\n

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The following are sketches from this world-wide experience of protest.<\/p>\r\n

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New York City:<\/p>\r\n

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The authorities tried to forbid a march past the United Nations and denied \r\nthe people any legal permit to take to the streets of Manhattan. The response of \r\nhundreds of thousands of people was simply defiant: Over 60 different groups \r\nannounced plans for banned feeder marches, and moved in groups of hundreds and \r\nthousands through New York streets to the rally site.<\/p>\r\n

The NYPD declared the highest level security alert--using the language of \r\n\"anti- terrorism\" directly against the protests of the people. Police formed \r\nbarricades, shut off some subways, and tried to divert the marches. And \r\neverywhere, this city became a moving sea of antiwar activity. New York City, \r\nGround Zero of September 11, issued its powerful rejection of the government \r\nplans to make Baghdad a Ground Zero in 2003.<\/p>\r\n

Andrew Rice, whose brother David was killed in the World Trade Center, told \r\nthe press: \"Any idea that we should kill innocent Iraqis to avenge 9\/11 is \r\ncynical and wrong. We can't exploit our anger to murder children halfway around \r\nthe world.\"<\/p>\r\n

Over 500,000 converged toward the United Nations, packing the east side of \r\nManhattan for 30 blocks, and spilled westward across three or four major \r\navenues. They were greeted by enthusiastic speakers: Author Arundhati Roy phoned \r\nher message from India. Actors Rosie Perez, Susan Sarandon, Ossie Davis and \r\nDanny Glover rose to speak. Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, whose loved ones \r\ndied in the attacks on September 11th, opposed the war. From the podium: \r\nsinger-activist Harry Belafonte, Miles Solay of Not in Our Name, Rep. Sheila \r\nJackson-Lee; Julian Bond, Chair of the NAACP; a former Israeli Army officer who \r\nrefused to fight in occupied Palestine; Richie Perez, National Congress for \r\nPuerto Rican Rights; Rev. Al Sharpton; Bishop Desmond Tutu; and Leslie Cagan, \r\nCoordinator, United For Peace & Justice. The singer Richie Havens and poets \r\nSteve Coleman and Suheir Hammad moved the crowd with their art. Blocks from the \r\nrally site people watched on big video screens and tuned into radio WBAI.<\/p>\r\n

Blocks away, where the crowds spilled deep into Midtown Manhattan, mounted \r\npolice viciously attacked. Over 300 people were arrested.<\/p>\r\n

RW <\/i>correspondent Osage writes: \"At times, the cops on horses would \r\ncharge through, trampling crowds they had cornered as other cops pummeled them \r\nwith their clubs.\" Rebel voices from the youth feeder march chanted \"Fuck this \r\npolice state!\" and \"Whose streets? Our streets!\" And next to them, fellow \r\nmarchers, less used to conflict with the cops, added, \"You're not heroes to me \r\nanymore!\" Someone shouted: \"Get those animals off those horses!\"<\/p>\r\n

Children from the grade school P.S. 3 brought a 15-foot balloon of the earth \r\npatched up with duct tape. \"We're trying to fix the world,\" one 10-year-old girl \r\nslyly quipped.<\/p>\r\n

RW <\/i>correspondent Bill Swain interviewed one middle class woman who \r\nsaid: \"I think it's about empire. That's what really frightens me. There is \r\nreally a shift. Bush is trying to destroy the world. I think we have an \r\nextremist government that was not elected. We came because we wanted to show the \r\nrest of the world and the people in Iraq that there are many people in the U.S. \r\nwho don't support these policies. I want the people of Iraq to know that it is \r\nnot the American people.\"<\/p>\r\n<\/b>

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The heart of Hollywood in Los Angeles was packed with people as over 70,000 \r\njoined one of the most massive anti-war protests in the history of the city. \r\nHighlights included the participation of actors, writers, musicians and veteran \r\nactivists, including Gore Vidal, Ed Asner, Mike Farrell, Martin Sheen (with \r\nfellow cast members from \"West Wing\"), Alfre Woodard, Tom Morello, Anjelica \r\nHouston, David Clennon, William Baldwin, Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, Christine \r\nLahti, peoples lawyer Leonard Weinglass, James Cromwell, and Michelle \r\nShocked.<\/p>\r\n<\/i>

\"Act like it's a globe, not an empire\"-- seen on a banner created by \r\nartists.<\/p>\r\n

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A contingent organized by the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade marched \r\nunder red flags--their banner read: \"The world belongs to the youth, not the \r\nU.S. imperialist murderers.\" Their chant caught on along the march: \"Rise up \r\nwith the people of the world.\"<\/p>\r\n

The LAPD later attacked and brutalized a radical contingent that separated \r\nfrom the main march-- arresting at least seven.<\/p>\r\n<\/b>

Other cities in the U.S.<\/p>\r\n

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In city after city, broad numbers of people came together--including many who \r\nhad never protested before, with highly visible participation of radical youth, \r\nimmigrant and Arab communities and veterans of the 1960s.<\/p>\r\n