BY DOUG LORIMER
Chants of "Hell no, we won't go, we won't fight for Texaco!" and "Hey Bush, we know you, your daddy was a liar, too!" echoed through the streets of downtown Washington on October 25 as around 100,000 people marched in the largest US anti-war protest since US President George Bush proclaimed on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1 that "major combat" was over in Iraq. Another 20,000 people marched in San Francisco.
Buses brought anti-war protesters, including families of soldiers serving in Iraq, from more than 145 US cities to the Washington protest, which was co-organised by the International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) coalitions, the two main US anti-war groups.
The protest marches were built around the slogans "Bring the troops home now!" and "$87 billion for jobs and education, not for war and occupation", a reference to Bush's request for extra funds to combat the growing resistance to Washington's attempts to impose pro-US puppet governments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That same weekend, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans now believe that US troops should begin to be withdrawn from Iraq. Summarising the results, the October 27 USA Today reported: "As headlines announce daily attacks against occupying forces, the American public's resolve for staying the course is fading. Fifty-seven per cent say the United States should withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq. That is up considerably from two months ago, when 46% wanted to withdraw some or all of the troops."
Diverse
"The movement has gotten a very big gust of wind in its sails at the very moment that the Bush administration is slipping in the polls", Brian Becker, an organiser with ANSWER, told the October 26 Washington Post.
"The demonstrators represented a diverse mix of dissent, from suburban high school students to grey-haired retirees, from fathers pushing their children in strollers to Muslim-American college students shouting through bullhorns", the Post reported.
"There were people from DC Poets Against the War, the Louisville Peace Action Community, Northern Virginians for Peace and Central Ohioans for Peace, among many others. Banners in Spanish, Korean, Urdu, Hebrew, Arabic and Tagalog decried the war. Smaller marches began at various locations in the city and led to the main rally, including those organized by Muslim American and by African American activists."
"No one demonstration changes US policy", Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of UFPJ told the Post. "But it's part of a process, and a demonstration like today's helps to get people recommitted."
Former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark referred to Bush's humiliating experience in Australia on October 23, when he was heckled by members of parliament as thousands demonstrated outside. Clark called for Bush's impeachment.
While many participants supported one or another of the Democratic Party presidential hopefuls, black rights activist Al Sharpton was the only Democratic presidential candidate to attend the Washington protest.
"This double talk that we must withdraw with dignity is the same double talk they used in Vietnam", Sharpton told the crowd. "You can't come out with dignity because you lost your dignity when you went in the first place. You can't get truth out of a lie. They lied to bring us in. They lied about the danger. Now they want us to believe liars on how to come out... President Bush and Tony Blair don't make a world conference. Two men in a phone booth don't speak for the world... Bring our troops home now!"
Families of US soldiers in Iraq and veterans of the US war in Vietnam and the 1991 Gulf War were prominent participants at both the Washington and San Francisco protests. Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son was killed in Iraq, received the loudest applause when he addressed the Washington rally.
"An Air Force sergeant who said the United States has misused the US troops in an 'unjustified war' in Iraq was one of thousands of people who rallied on the National Mall yesterday to demand an immediate withdrawal of US troops in Iraq", the October 26 New York Newsday reported. "I think there is a lot of sentiment inside the military that what we are doing isn't right", the unnamed sergeant was quoted as saying in Newsday's account of the Washington protest.
The San Francisco anti-war march was also co-organised by ANSWER and UFPJ. Among the speakers at the San Francisco protest were actor Danny Glover; Ron Kovic, Vietnam War veteran and author of Born on the Fourth of July; Peter Camejo, Green Party candidate in the recent California election for governor; and Walter Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council.
"We are very encouraged by the fact that people turned out across the US and in many other countries today to show the Bush administration and the world that there is a growing movement inside this country that is anti-war, anti-occupation and anti-empire, and we're not going away", said Leilani Dowell, an ANSWER youth and student organiser.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, November 5, 2003.
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