Pressing on with the protests
With hopes of a lightning allied victory over Iraq dashed by the surprise spirited Iraqi resistance, peace activists around the world are upbeat about the global anti-war campaign, writes Gamal Nkrumah
The United States and British aggression against Iraq caused angry protests all over the globe. Hours after the first allied bombs began to pound Baghdad, demonstrations erupted in cities across the world. These protests proved that, in spite of Western media allegations, it is too soon to write off the peace activists' agenda.
In the US, the biggest American anti-war protest since the beginning of the war took place in San Francisco, California, where an estimated 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets. The impromptu protests resulted in the arrest of more than 1,800 demonstrators. Anti-war protest marches were not restricted to liberal cities such as San Francisco, but also spread to conservative metropoles such as San Diego, a major US naval and military city, where more than 3,000 protestors took to the streets. And in New York, more than 100,000 protestors marched down Manhattan's Broadway on Saturday.
European cities, too, saw vociferous protests. In England, the streets leading to the houses of Parliament in London's West End were closed to traffic as an estimated 400,000 people marched against the allied aggression against Iraq.
The anti-war demonstrations in London and elsewhere in Europe were a far cry from the huge protest marches that took place on 15 February. The ambiance was considerably altered, however.
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Anti-war demonstrations in Damascus, New York, Beirut and eastern Germany; B52 fighter jets in Fairford airbase photographed by 14-year old Kerry Mazhindu-Page who sent the photograph specially to Al-Ahram Weekly in the hope of drawing attention to the anti-war effort in England today
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"There was much anger and sadness," Kate Hudson, head of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The overwhelming view of the march was that just because an anticipated crime has been committed does not make it right. It must be opposed and condemned all the more."
The London march was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. "Saturday's demonstration was remarkable for its unity and diversity. Not only will it bring together the left and peace movements, it will also bring together faith communities -- Muslim, Christian and others opposed to war, and supporters of all political parties, young and old, and people from all walks of life," Hudson said.
"Many celebrities from music and the arts are supporting us and some polls show as many as 82 per cent of the population are against war. The main slogan of the demonstration is 'Don't Attack Iraq' and the subsidiary slogan is 'Freedom for Palestine'. We hope that it will be possible through this enormous demonstration to show Blair the extent of popular opposition and prevail on him to oppose this illegal and immoral war on Iraq."
Andrew Murray, chairman of Stop the War Coalition, concurred with Hudson. " [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair has had a year to make the case to the British people about this war being necessary and he has failed," Murray said.
British Muslims also adopted a vociferous anti-war stance. "War will make our country the focus of anger in the Muslim world -- far from improving our national security, it will worsen it," warned Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain.
War is evil. And war is not a necessary evil. British protestors vehemently objected to the US-led aggression against Iraq and the involvement of British troops, pointing to the hazards caused by even friendly fire -- in reference to the British warplane mistakenly downed by US Patriot missiles. Protesters felt that the "best way to support" British troops was to "bring them home".
"We do not want them killed or injured in an illegal war."
In Athens, Greece, 100,000 anti-war protestors took to the streets, and in Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki -- a city of one million people -- the biggest ever anti-war demonstration was staged, with the US Consulate being pelted with eggs and paint. In separate demonstrations, 50,000 protestors and 20,000 school children marched against the war in Iraq.
The participation of school children in the anti-war protests has become a salient feature of the peace movement all over the world. "The younger generation is leading the way and helping to redeem us in Britain in the face of [the British] government's criminal acts," Hudson said.
The anti-war protestors questioned the ability of the technologically-advanced US military to spare innocent civilian lives during raging battles; another pressing issue being that fact that the sheer weight of US- British aggression did not bring about the anticipated speedy collapse of the Iraqi administration.
The peace protestors campaigned even harder as the reports of combat casualties and fatalities mounted. But relations between peace activists and the media have become increasingly strained and marked by mutual suspicion and mistrust.
Media hostility contributed to the lowering of the numbers of anti-war protestors who took to the streets. "The media has tried to portray the anti-war movement as diminishing and increasingly leftist but this is not the case," Hudson said. "Although this march was smaller, it was organised in only one week. Furthermore, there were numerous demonstrations throughout the country and the movement is turning much more towards non- violent direct action and civil disobedience," Hudson said. Hudson, who was speaking at a public meeting in London's Whitehall, commemorating the start of the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, told the Weekly that many people saw the relentless bombing of Belgrade as a "tragic precursor to today's bombing of Baghdad".
Hudson, however, conceded that the anti-war movement is "facing a difficult time as the media now swings behind the government". She stressed, nevertheless, that "it is our strong conviction that our campaigning can help effect the conduct of the war and build a body of opinion against any future wars that the US administration may have in mind."
Hudson pointed out that the police and security forces played a pivotal role in curtailing the number of protestors. "Around 5,000 people protested at [the United States Air Force/Royal Air Force] base in Fairford -- the airbase from which the B52s are currently bombing Baghdad. This was in spite of the fact that the police were turning back coaches of demonstrators en route from London and refusing to let them leave the coaches."
Al-Ahram Weekly received photographs of B52 fighter jets taken by Kerry Mazhindu-Page -- a 14- year-old who demonstrated outside Fairford. He said that by sending his photographs to the paper he hoped to draw attention to the growing anti-war effort in England today.
Hudson also disclosed that 1,000 people protested at Menwith Hill base -- the use of which was recently given to the US for their National Missile Defence programme (NMD).
In Seville, Spain, there were an estimated 150,000 protestors and in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, between 80,000 and 100,000 anti-war demonstrators turned out in protest marches that rocked the Dutch city.
In Asia, too, anti-war demonstrators in countries as far afield as India and Japan took to the streets. In India, the Committee Against War on Iraq, formed on the initiative of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised a large protest march in New Delhi on 23 March. And in Japan, an estimated 50,000 protestors showed up in Tokyo's Shiba Park to protest against the war on Iraq. "If our government can't stand up to the US, then we citizens have to," a Japanese housewife was quoted as saying in the Japan Times.
In Africa, too, there is a growing anti-war movement. In South Africa two organisations -- the government-sponsored Stop the War Campaign and the independent leftist Anti-War Coalition -- have organised anti-war protest marches in the country's main cities. Both organisations closely coordinate activities.
Feroz Othman, a leading organiser of the Stop the War Campaign based in the South African capital Pretoria told the Weekly that, "a major anti-war protest march will take place in Johannesburg on Sunday 30 March." The US consulates in Cape Town and Johannesburg have been picketed and a vigil is being held outside the US Embassy in Pretoria. "Plans to structure a boycott of Israeli and US products such as Coca Cola, McDonald's and KFC are underway," Othman added. He also said that the anti-war movement in South Africa spans the race and colour lines and is not restricted to the country's two million-strong Muslim community, but includes Christian church groups, trade unionists, South African Communist Party activists and members of the ruling African National Congress.
"We will continue for as long as it takes," CND's Kate Hudson insisted. "The authority of the United Nations has been undermined. The CND calls upon the UN to restore its credibility by using the resolution uniting for peace to call for a full general assembly of the UN and to question this war." It will take determination to see it through.
