------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 6, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
AROUND THE WORLD:PROTESTS CONTINUE AGAINST THE WAR By John Catalinotto After the massive demonstrations on Jan. 18, and with preparations already underway for the next coordinated day of international actions on Feb. 15, anti-war forces worldwide have kept up a continuous wave of local protests against the looming U.S. attack on Iraq. On Jan. 27, the day Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei were presenting the inspectors' report to the United Nations Security Council, tens of thousands of people were hitting the streets in Middle Eastern capital cities to protest the planned aggression. The largest actions were outside UN offices in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. There was also a rally in Morocco. An additional thousand people demonstrated in the streets of Bombay, India, where they blocked traffic in the financial capital of the Asian subcontinent. Thousands of demonstrators in Damascus called Bush a "criminal and a butcher" and demanded he dump his plans to attack Iraq. "We sacrifice our souls and blood for Iraq," chanted young people in the Damascus streets. Most of the protesters believed the U.S. planned to weaken the Arab world and destroy Iraq "to control its oil," a student there told the media. In the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, both government and opposition parties took the leadership of the demonstration. Tens of thousands of Yemenis marched from a main square to the UN office to deliver a message demanding the UN prevent the war. "No to an attack on Iraq. No to American arrogance," one banner read. There, too, a major point of the talks was that the U.S. was after Iraq's oil. In the Bahraini capital of Manama, some hundreds of young demonstrators also demanded that the UN prevent the United States from launching a war on Iraq. Wielding banners saying "No to war in Iraq" and "Death to America," they delivered a letter asking the United Nations to fight poverty and illiteracy rather than provide authorization for a war on Iraq. "If the United Nations doesn't have the power [to stop the war], then there is no reason for it to exist," one of the youth told the media. In Baghdad, Iraq itself, close to 10,000 demonstrators marched past UN offices protesting U.S. plans to invade. They pledged to defend their country and burned a U.S. flag. WORLD SOCIAL FORUM HITS U.S. ON IRAQ Just as the European Social Forum in Florence, Italy, last November became a magnet for those protesting Wash ington's plans to invade and occupy Iraq, so did the World Social Forum meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil. With the forum's location in South America, it was natural that the 100,000 participants would focus on vital regional issues like Washington's plans to dominate the hemisphere's economy through the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). But many contingents in a march to open the forum's activities on Jan. 23 and in a later demonstration on Jan. 27 to protest the FTAA also raised solidarity with Iraq against U.S. aggression. The Pentagon already has a large number of "advisers" in Colombia to help the oligarchy there fight the successful guerrilla movements of the FARC-EP and the ELN. Washington has openly supported opponents of the elected government of Hugo Ch�vez in Venezuela. Those in the southern Brazilian city to attend the forum had ample reason to be concerned about stopping U.S. militarism on all continents. Protests spread also to cities in the U.S. Some 3,000 people marched in Denver and another 5,000 to 10,000 in Pittsburgh on Jan. 25 against the planned war. Even a small protest can be significant. In Gainesville, Fla., on Jan. 17, three people set up a protest action in a busy crossroads. In a region where anti-militarist protest is rare, three people felt they had enough passive support to go public with their political position against the war. The large national demonstrations have changed the political climate and encouraged the widespread feelings against this war to come out into the open. MILITARY TARGETS The struggle continued on other continents, too. In Germany on Jan. 25 the movement reached a high point for this year in the North-Rhine Westphalia state. Some 400 demonstrators blocked access to a NATO base in Geilenkirchen for an hour. In Bochum the Peace Plenum held a protest. Also, some 5,000 people marched in Aachen near the Belgian border and some 10,000 marched through the inner city of Cologne, which had been severely damaged by bombing in World War II. The demonstrators in Geilenkirchen called upon the German troops to refuse participation in a war against Iraq. There were smaller demonstrations in other cities. Also in Germany, the anti-globalization organization Attac-Germany is holding a 10-day whirlwind tour of 14 universities with speakers from the anti-war movements of Italy, Britain and the United States. Law student Julie Fry, who helped organize student outreach for the ANSWER coalition's Oct. 26 and Jan. 18 demonstrations in Washington, D.C., is representing the U.S. movement. The meetings have attracted from 100 to 500 people at each stop, where dozens of bus tickets for the upcoming Feb. 15 action in Berlin are sold each night. British demonstrators are also focusing on military bases. They hit Northwood UK Armed Forces Command Center on Jan. 18, and aimed at Fairford on Jan. 26. At Fairford, it is expected that U.S. B-2 bombers will take off to carpet bomb Iraq. The protesters plan actions to disrupt the military machine. In Japan, too, one focus has been the U.S. military, both on land and sea. The U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk landed at Yokosuka, Japan, where it was to leave for the Gulf and the war theater. After countrywide protests on Jan. 18 and 19, people demonstrated again in Yokosuka on Jan. 20 as the USS Kitty Hawk was setting sail. It left for Iou Island but then returned, only to depart again on Jan. 23. On both days the demonstrators appealed not only to passersby but also to U.S. service people. According to one report from a demonstrator, "A GI, one of the Kitty Hawk crew, told us that 20 percent of the crew members of the Kitty Hawk won't go to Iraq and another 60 percent are undecided and feel uneasy." Many U.S. sailors showed their anti-war feelings to the demonstrators. The experience of the Japanese movement again shows the potential of organizing among the U.S. troops as a direct way of stopping the war. The Japanese movement plans actions on Feb. 14 and 15 and again on Feb. 23. Regarding the Jan. 18 coordinated action itself, WW has received more accurate information with more details than were available in our last article. According to a release from the France "Not in Our Name" group, the total number of people demonstrating throughout some 40 cities in France that day was 200,000. They said, "No war on Iraq." In Canada, about the same number must have been in the streets as in France. Reports from the main student group, SASWI, put "almost 20,000 in Toronto, 25,000 in Montreal, 20,000 in Vancouver, and lots more in about 32 other cities." More than 1,000 people protested against U.S. plans to attack Iraq in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Jan. 18. The entire population of Reykjavik and surroundings is 180,000 people. There are also plans for a demonstration in Iceland on Feb. 15. Further reports from Germany show that 500 demonstrated in Bonn on Jan. 18 and another 2,000 in the Bavarian city of Munich. - 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]>
