------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 30, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
PEOPLE WORLDWIDE RISE UP AGAINST BUSH By John Catalinotto Demonstrators in at least 38 countries demanded "No war on Iraq" on Jan. 18 in response to a call for international solidarity actions to coincide with mass rallies and marches in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco organized by the International ANSWER coalition. The Dec. 18-19 Cairo Conference supported this initiative and the Asian Peace Forum, the Stop the War Committee in England and other anti-war organizations spread the call. The tremendous response of solidarity actions worldwide, with the massive turnouts in Washington and San Fran cisco, dealt a major blow to the Pentagon war machine. Canada had demonstrations in 30 cities from coast to coast: 15,000 were reported in Vancouver, 25,000 in Mon treal, 5,000 in Toronto, 7,000 in Saska toon and smaller actions elsewhere. In Mexico, mobilizations against the war and the embargo on Iraq took place in Mexico City and at the international bridge near Ciudad Ju�rez and Chihuahua, where U.S. groups met Mexican protesters. In Argentina, a thousand people led by the Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo marched to the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires on Jan. 16. Mobilizations in other Latin American countries included Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala and Brazil. MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH ASIA The main demonstration in Turkey took place in Ankara, where demonstrators gathered in front of a theater showing the latest James Bond film. There was also a demonstration in Istanbul. In most of the Middle East, as in Turkey, protesters faced an army of heavily armed riot police. Thousands of demonstrators in Beirut, Lebanon, carried Palestinian and Iraqi flags. Tens of thousands of Syrians marched through the streets of Dam ascus, blocking traffic for hours, shouting, "Down with the United States!" The Damascus march ers carried banners reading: "Iraq: a history and a civilization, not an oil well." About 1,000 demonstrators protested in central Cairo, Egypt, against any U.S.-led strike on Iraq. The demonstrators called on the Egyptian government to prevent U.S. and British warships from using the Suez Canal en route for a possible assault on Iraq. Others in the Arab world joined the international effort by demonstrating in Gaza and Nablus in Palestine, in Amman, Jordan and in Bahrain. In Amman, hundreds of protesters in the mostly Palestinian Nuzha district burned U.S., British and Israeli flags. A protest in Baghdad, Iraq, commemorated the beginning of the Gulf War 12 years ago. Demonstrators in Lahore, Pakistan, had to face soldiers and police as they tried to march to the U.S. Embassy. Young students and human rights activists marched in the eastern city of Lahore, while others gathered in the southern city of Karachi and in Rawalpindi. Near Islamabad, hundreds of children, women and men formed a human chain and chanted slogans. In India, workers were called out by communist organizations in demonstrations against the Iraq war. Protesters burned an effigy of George W. Bush. EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS A series of demonstrations in the Philippines protested both the war on Iraq and Washington's attempt to reoccupy Philippine military bases. In Japan, thousands demonstrated in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Okinawa and other cities on Jan. 18-19. Carry ing toy guns stuffed with flowers and holding banners aloft, anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Tokyo's central shopping district. "We want to unite with people all over the world on the same issue," said Takashi Uchiyama. Some 400 protesters turned out in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. In Hong Kong, China, about 60 people chanted, "Inspections, yes! War, no!" and "Yankee, go home!" as they marched through the financial district to the U.S. and British consulates. Demonstrations were also scheduled in Indonesia, Switzerland, Hungary and South Korea. EUROPE In Spain on Jan. 19, 30,000 people marched from Madrid to the nearby Torrej�n military base. They demanded, "Stop the war against Iraq," and "NATO no, bases out," and protested Spanish government participation in the war. In Paris, France, 20,000 people joined in a united march of diverse social, political and union organizations on Jan. 18. They marched under the slogans: "No to war against Iraq. Justice, peace and democracy in the Middle East and in the world." In Marseille, 10,000 chanted, "Bush, Blair, Chirac, we don't want your dirty war!" In Italy, Jan. 18 protests took place in Perugia, Bologna, Genoa, Naples- -and in Florence, where U.S. and Iraqi residents led a human chain of 5,000 people marching along the Arno river and surrounding the U.S. consulate. A march of 1,000 people to the U.S. airbase Camp Ederle, near Vicenza, was followed by a march of 3,000 to 5,000 through the city. In Britain the biggest demonstrations took place in London. On the outskirts of London, demonstrators surrounded the British Army headquarters to protest British participation in aggression against Iraq. In Scotland on Jan. 19, the Scottish Anglican Episcopal Church joined the international initiatives by holding religious meetings against the war in its 50,000 parishes in more than 320 cities and towns. In Ireland, Jan. 18 actions targeted Shannon airport, which the British Army has used in recent months to transport U.S. troops to military bases in the Gulf region. In the Netherlands there were anti-war actions Jan. 18 in Rotterdam, Nijmegen and Leiden. In Uden, the Dutch police arrested 90 people who tried to approach the Volkel military airbase, housing U.S. and German troops, to "carry out an inspection of U.S. arms of mass destruction." The group demanded that the Dutch and U.S. governments follow their own advice for Iraq and publicize details of their nuclear programs. Anti-war protesters marched 10,000 strong in Brussels, Belgium, demanding, "Stop the war against Iraq before it starts." The Stop USA! (United States of Aggres sion) Coalition organized the united demonstration whose march route passed the headquarters of NATO and the Euro pean Union. They raised their voices to say "10,000 times NO" to the 10,000 U.S. soldiers scheduled to be transported through the port of Antwerp. In Vienna, Austria, some 1,000 people, mostly university and high-school students, marched Jan. 17 from the university in the center of town to the U.S. Embassy, where they burned a U.S. flag and chanted, "Stop the war." On Jan. 18 in Russia, several thousand people protested at the diplomatic offices of the United States in Moscow and Leningrad, in response to a call by the Communist Party. A banner outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow declared: "Iraq isn't your ranch, Mr. Bush." Slogans included: "[President Vladimir] Putin, stop kowtowing to Bush." In Sweden, more than 6,000 people marched through the streets of Gothen burg, called out by working-class organizations. In Oslo, Norway, 1,000 activists focused on the Parliament, where a cabinet member and a member of Parliament spoke at the rally. In Germany, 2,000 people gathered Jan. 18 near the U.S. military headquarters in Heidelberg. Protests also took place in Cologne and Rostock. More than 5,000 turned out in the small southwestern city of Tuebingen. There were vigils and public meetings all over the country. At the poles of the Earth there were protests. In Nunavut, in Arctic Canada, 500 of the 20,000 people in the town of Iqualuit held the new Inuit-governed territory's first-ever anti-war demonstration. And even in uninhabited Antarctica, people from the scientific team at the McMurdo Station joined with the millions of others around the world by forming a peace symbol with their bodies in the snow. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
