Getting there

I drove down [to Washington] by car with four friends for the rally and march. We left at 3:30 in the morning, and got to DC by 11am. After parking the car at a distance, we took the metro to the rally.

No less than 200,000 people were there, and probably more. It was bitter cold, but I supplied our carload with foot warmers and handwarmers. We all wore layers of clothing, and felt more like bears than humans. But we did it, and it was wonderful to see so many people out protesting.

The police forbade a sound system at the Washington Navy Yard area where we carried out mock inspections of weapons of mass destruction. Without a sound system, it was impossible to convey what was going on to the long trail of protesters. Even so, the rally was a tremendous success.

It was especially noteworthy that the protesters represented mainstream America. My friend, Ashraf El- Bayoumi was one of the speakers. He and his wife are of Egyptian origin, and were among the organisers of the recent Cairo anti-war conference. Also present and speaking was Elias Rashmawi of the Palestine Solidarity Alliance. Some of the memorable signs and posters: one with photos of Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, with the words underneath reading "Asses of Evil". Another read "Kiss my Ashcroft". Several read, "We are sick of Bushit". Yet more called for the impeachment of the president. Another one portrayed Bush playing with nuclear weapons and read, "Bush, give up your toys". All in all, one young man summed it up by chanting "This is what democracy looks like".

We climbed back into the car around 7.15pm, and got back to the Boston area by 3.15am. While my friends could sleep a bit in the car, I was not able to do so. But even without sleep for over 24 hours, I managed, and was happy that I was able to do it.

-- Elaine Hagopian, veteran Arab-American activist and university professor

Changing the rules

The US just doesn't have the history of being able to mobilise as many people [to] get out on the streets in Europe... For the United States, these demonstrations were huge. They were the largest anti-war protests in Washington and San Francisco since the Vietnam War. They also saw a high level of participation from people who'd never been to a protest before, but are absolutely fed up with the Bush administration's obsession with war.

There has definitely been a shift in the US population away from support for a war. The more people are learning about Bush's proposed war against Iraq, the less they support a war. And since North Korea started challenging the Bush administration a few months ago, more and more people are seeing that there are alternatives to war, even when you're dealing with a country that has weapons of mass destruction and has kicked out UN weapons inspectors.

Recent polls are showing that most people want to give the weapons inspections more time and only support a war if the United Nations gives its blessing to an attack. Also, more and more "mainstream" people in the US are opposing war. The labour movement has formed an organisation called US Labour Against War to oppose an attack on Iraq.

We heard that there was a protest in Cairo this Saturday. The mainstream media played it here as very "anti-American". I don't think people in the US understand that people may pay a higher price for dissent in the Middle East than they do here. People in the US are notoriously uninformed about the rest of the world, even when it comes to countries that are receiving billions of dollars in military aid from us.

-- Andrea Buffa, coodinator of the United for Peace programme at the San Francisco-based peace group Global Exchange

What can be done

It seems the US public is increasingly uncomfortable with a "go it alone" foreign policy that relies primarily on coercion, threat and force.

Given the efforts of the Bush Administration to "market" a new war, I think the [protest] turnouts were impressive. The anti-war movement now has an opportunity to let elected representatives know that "we won't go away." We can do this by regularly contacting their offices, by engaging in non-violent civil disobedience at federal buildings, offices of congressional representatives who support the war, military bases, military recruitment centres, and places hosting Bush and his advisers for speaking events. The anti-war movement can also host regular teach-ins that will help educate the US public and continually invite the print and radio media to cover points of view presented at these events.

We can also organise demonstrations in numerous locales and give the TV networks events to cover. Voices in the Wilderness will continue to organise Iraq Peace Team delegations. We hope we are joined by many other groups intent on standing alongside ordinary Iraqi people during the critical weeks ahead.

Several intellectuals in the Arab world and in Egypt have spoken very articulately about US policy in the region and I deeply admire their courage. We've also seen some vigorous recommendations for boycotting US products. It seems to me that this is a relatively safe way to protest US policies that promote warfare.

I hope that university and secondary school students will ask their professors to address issues related to the present crisis. Likewise, I hope that adherents to various religious faiths will urge their leaders to speak clearly about how their core beliefs are affected by the current crisis. And I hope that many people will use the Internet to promote alternative sources of information and analysis.

-- Kathy Kelly, coodinator of the US-based anti-war group Voices in the Wilderness and the Iraq Peace Team