------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 10, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQ: PROTESTS SPAN MIDDLE EAST, LATIN AMERICA & ASIA
By John Catalinotto
During the first weekend after the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq, the major sentiment around the world was revulsion at the imperialist crime. By the second weekend another element was also present: solidarity with the heroic resistance of the Iraqis.
This was certainly true in protests in mostly Muslim areas and in other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. And while protests continued at a high level in Western Europe, the hot spots were south and east. In many of the countries, protesters braved heavy police repression to demonstrate.
Here are reports on just some of the many demonstrations that took place on March 29-30.
In Rabat, Morocco, 200,000 people rallied--the largest of the almost daily protests since the invasion began. They pledged their support to the Iraqis. Some demonstrators threw stones, burned U.S. flags and tore down posters advertising U.S. products.
An estimated 100,000 people demonstrated in Peshawar, Pakistan, and some 250,000 protested in Jakarta, Indonesia. Though the regimes in both countries have been lined up with the U.S., they have also both distanced themselves from Washing ton's policy regarding Iraq.
Smaller but quite militant demonstrations took place in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and the Palestinian West Bank. Some 15,000 marched in Alexandria in Egypt, and students in Cairo demanded a holy war to defend Iraq. Pro testers also demanded that the Egyptian government close the Suez Canal to U.S. warships.
The first mass government-backed anti-war demonstration took place in Tehran, Iran, on March 28. Some 15,000 took part. Students tried to attack the British Embassy. Although the Iranian government has considered the Iraqi regime an enemy, opposition to a U.S.-British takeover is even stronger. On March 31, someone in Tehran drove a small truck into the wall of the British Embassy.
Some 30,000 workers demonstrated in Seoul, South Korea. They forced the National Assembly to postpone authorizing the participation of 600 military engineers and 100 medics in the U.S.-British invasion.
Protests also took place in the Philip pines, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Perhaps the largest protest on March 30 was a six-mile-long march of 300,000 people in Calcutta, India, organized by 18 mostly left-wing political parties. U.S. flags and effigies were burned.
LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Demonstrations spread throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Five thousand people in Sao Paolo, Brazil, marched on March 29. Many carried posters of George Bush with a Hitler-like moustache. Another 3,000 pro tested in Santiago, Chile.
Demonstrations also took place March 29-30 at U.S. embassies and consulates in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; La Paz, Bolivia; Lima, Peru; Caracas, Venezuela; Bogot�, Colombia; Mexico City; Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and other places in Central America. Ten thousand protested in Havana, Cuba.
Much political activity in this region has been directed at the U.S. policies of imposing further economic domination through the Free Trade Area of the Americas, military intervention against the people's struggle in Colombia and attempts to subvert the Venezuelan government.
The progressive movement in this region has joined the worldwide struggle against the U.S. invasion of Iraq at the same time that they are combating U.S. imperialism on their own fronts.
EASTERN EUROPE
Called by the Communist Party, some 6,000 people protested at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Waving red banners, they called on the Russian government to form an international coalition to oppose the U.S.-led strikes and to help Iraq.
Another 6,000 protested in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government backs Washington.
In the largest demonstration there to date, 2,000 mostly young people marched to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, banging drums and chanting, "No blood for oil." Another 700 demonstrated in Prague.
The Polish regime has committed up to 200 soldiers to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, despite mass opposition. The resistance shows that support for Washing ton's policies in "the new Europe" comes from a narrow, pro- imperialistelite.
WESTERN EUROPE: FOCUS ON MILITARY BASES
In Western Europe there has been an almost continuous mobilization against the war, especially in Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany. Actions have included strikes by workers and massive walkouts by high school and university students.
On March 29-30, many protests focused on U.S. and British military bases- -support areas for the war crimes being committed by U.S. and British forces in Iraq.
More than 5,000 people marched on the British air force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus.
In the Spanish state, some 50,000 people holding banners that read "No to war" and "Not in our name" marched to the Rota Naval and Air Base, which is shared with U.S. forces. Thousands more marched to military bases in Torrejon, near Madrid, and to the Moron, Zaragoza and Albacete bases.
In Stuttgart, Germany, about 6,000 protesters encircled the Pentagon's European Command. Police arrested 100 demonstrators at a sit-down protest outside the main gate of the Rhine-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, a key transit point for U.S. military traffic to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
More than 100,000 demonstrated throughout Germany, where the movement is criticizing the Schroeder government for talking peace while allowing the U.S. to use its German bases for logistical support for the war.
Tens of thousands also marched in France, Britain and other West European countries.
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