Rohan Pearce
Many liberal commentators have spent their time since the November 2 US presidential election bemoaning the "stupidity" of US people for "re"-electing President George Bush, instead of voting for John Kerry, the alternative pro-war candidate favoured by the supposed peaceniks of the "Anyone but Bush" campaign.
But while the self-appointed brains trust of the peace movement predicts imminent apocalypse under the second Bush junior administration, anti-war activists in the countries of the US-British-Australian "coalition of the willing" have continued to organise against the US-led occupation of Iraq. In response to the brutal US assault on Fallujah, activists have stepped up their campaign of solidarity with the Iraqi people.
On November 7, the US anti-war coalition International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) issued a call for protests against the Fallujah assault. The statement explained: "This is no time for anti-war and progressive people in the US to 'mourn', dwell and lament on the failure of the Democratic Party candidate to defeat the Republican Party candidate, at least not those who are really committed to ending this criminal war and securing justice at home.
"If nothing else, we all know that if Kerry was President-elect, nothing would be different for the people of Iraq right now. Kerry has not condemned the bombings of Fallujah at any point, nor the attacks on the Iraqi people, nor the use of US soldiers as cannon fodder in this war of aggression and conquest. Now the people of Fallujah wait for the next attack, and the US soldiers wait for their orders to carry out actions that they will have to reconcile for the rest of their lives, if they survive."
The US anti-war movement has already held a string of demonstrations that show, while the movement hasn't reached the level of the historic February 2003 protests prior to the invasion of Iraq, activists aren't taking the November 2 election result as a signal to give up.
On November 3, some 1000 people took part in an anti-occupation protest in Chicago, condemning the US presence in Iraq, as well as in Haiti and Afghanistan and Israel's occupation of Palestine. The protest, called by Iraq Peace Pledge, was intended to be a candlelight vigil, but, according to activist reports, the angry and defiant mood led to a spontaneous march. Marchers joined a protest organised by the Chicago City College Student Strike Solidarity Committee in support of striking teachers.
According to a November 4 report by NBC5.com, "Cook County College Teachers Union president Perry Buckley spoke in Millennium Park and thanked the anti-war protestors for joining in. 'You are fighting for dignity and what's right,' Buckley said."
An anti-war activist in Portland, Oregon, posted a report on Indymedia of a similar sized anti-war protest held the same day — "I was out in the streets tonight. About 1000 people showed up to protest Bush, the war in Iraq, and the election results. The spirit was good, and so was the turnout."
In Seattle, the November 12 US Socialist Worker weekly reported, 1000 people gathered in the city centre on November 10, chanting "No more blood for oil, US off Iraqi soil!"
In Los Angeles at least 1000 people attended an ANSWER-initiated protest on November 10. According to ANSWER's report of the event, the protest was attended by activists and leaders from a wide variety of groups including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Coalition for World Peace, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Free Palestine Alliance, Not in Our Name, US Labor Against the War and Women in Black. Protesters chanted "George Bush, we say no — the occupation has got to go!" and "The people of Fallujah are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!"
ANSWER reported: "As the demonstration was winding up, two large US military tanks drove past the protestors on Wilshire Boulevard two times. The second time, the tanks stopped directly in front of a group of about 50 protesters for nearly five minutes. Police attempted to provoke a confrontation with the crowd, but the people resisted. Instead, they chanted 'Bring the Troops Home Now!'
"We do not know where the tanks came from, where they were going or why they drove past the demonstration. It is an outrage to see military tanks rolling through the streets of Los Angeles."
In Britain, protests were held in some 30 towns and cities on November 8. Protests ranged from anti-war street theatre to candlelight vigils.
Anti-war activists in the US, Britain and other countries are organising further protests in late November and December. One of the next major nationwide protests in the US will be a January 20 anti-war "counter-inaugural" demonstration in Washington, DC, marking the inauguration of Bush's second term, with solidarity protests being organised in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities.
The European Social Forum, held October 15-17 in London, called for Europe-wide protests to mark the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2005. A central protest will be held in Brussels on March 19 against the meeting of the European Council.
The ESF's call stated: "Today war represents the harshest and most real face of neoliberalism. The war and the occupation of Iraq, the occupation of Palestine, the massacre in Chechnya, and the hidden wars in Africa are crushing the future of humanity. The war in Iraq was justified by lies. Today Iraq is humiliated and destroyed. Iraqis are prisoners of war and terror. The occupation brought neither freedom, nor better conditions of life. On the contrary, today the supporters of the thesis of 'clash of civilisation' are stronger.
"We are fighting for the withdrawal of the occupying troops in Iraq, for an immediate halt to the bombing and for the immediate restitution of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. We support the right of the Iraqi people to resist the occupation."
The call for protests on March 19 and 20 has been endorsed by anti-war groups around the world, including ANSWER in the US, where there will be protests in Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
From Green Left Weekly, November 17, 2004.
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