A movement is born
By
Medhat El-Zahed
Some 30 million people, in 700 cities around the globe, took part in protest marches on the same day and with the same goal -- to oppose war and American attempts to impose its hegemony by force. Born on 15 February, this movement has immense potential. Unlike the anti-Vietnam protests, the current demonstrations are taking place before the bombs start falling and extend to the four corners of the world.
This new movement shows, above all, that an alternative, a better world, is possible. Nor is it strange that so many people have responded to the anti-war call raised at the World Social Forum, a partner in the international anti-war coalition, rather than fall in with the exhortations of their own governments which support the US call for war. The world is not the same place that it was before 15 February.
The US propaganda machine has relentlessly hammered home a single message, that following the collapse of the Soviet bloc the number one enemy is terrorism. But 15 February presented an alternative to American schemes to impose its will, positing a growing and democratic anti- hegemony movement as a balancing power on the world stage.
The US may or may not be able to target terrorism and isolate it while manipulating the horrors it represents to impose its own will. But the international popular movement, however, is certainly capable of confronting US policy, and of isolating its hostile, militaristic intent. The 15 February movement does not possess knives, daggers or Molotov cocktails. It possesses a more powerful weapon -- the will of the people and the conscience of the world.
This week's Soapbox speaker is a journalist with Al-Ahali newspaper.
