Worldwide opposition to anti-Iraq war
United stand demonstrated in unprecedented protest actions
On February 14-16, the whole world reverberated with the condemnation and opposition of millions of people to US imperialism's belligerent and oppressive policies. It was a demonstration of renewed vigor and manifested a new peak in the international anti-imperialist movement.
The extent of unity reached by the international mass movement against US wars of aggression in general and the impending attack on Iraq in particular, has been exceptional. The movement likewise opposes other US wars of aggression: its aggression in Afghanistan, the start of aggression in the Philippines and the US' continued blessings and support for Israeli aggression against Palestine. In the key cities of Europe and North America (Canada and the US), the demonstrations on February 14-16 were the biggest and broadest in their history. They have surpassed the biggest rallies during the time of the Vietnam war.
In other parts of the globe, protest movements are gaining momentum and strength, especially against puppet states that rabidly support the US policy of aggression.
Thus, the majority puppet states have been inhibited from directly supporting aggression. In countries where protests have been most vigorous, the most rabid supporters of the war are rapidly becoming isolated from the people.
There is growing opposition even among reactionaries. The reactionary class in Turkey was split when 251 members of the country's parliament voted against a US plan to use Turkey as a base for war. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair's partymates voted massively against his proposal to blindly support US belligerency. Within the US, more than 80 local councils, including the council of the city of Los Angeles, filed a resolution against the Bush government's war plans.
The people have been tirelessly campaigning and launching various forms of mass actions. More than 5,000 poets wrote anti-war poems as their contribution to the burgeoning mass movement. Actors, athletes and other famous personalities came out with advertisements on radio and television. Plays in the UK ridiculed the US president's arrogant stance. More than 400,000 activists organized people's phone, FAX and internet brigades to flood the White House and other US government offices with millions of protest messages. In Malaysia, almost a million people signed an anti-war petition.
There have also been other creative and extraordinary forms of protest. Several groups have trooped to Iraq to serve as human shields, positioning themselves in front of US bombing targets. Hundreds of women and men protested nude on separate occasions in Australia, the US and Chile.
Some groups have launched citizen's weapons inspections in the US and its allied countries in Europe. They aim to prove that it is the US instead of Iraq that poses a big threat to world security, because it has the largest arsenal of nuclear, biological and chemical arms -� the so-called weapons of mass destruction. Others have also protested by blocking trains carrying US war mat�riel to the Middle East.
THE PROTESTS CONTINUE. Thousands of American students trooped out of their classrooms on March 5. Under the program "Books not War", they expressed their solidarity with Iraqi students who would be most affected by a war of aggression. In Turkey, 100,000 persons poured out into the streets to broadcast their opposition to members of their parliament as the latter voted on a resolution regarding the entry of additional American troops into Turkey. When the resolution failed to pass, the demonstration swelled in celebration of their victory. In Malaysia on February 24, up to 200,000 rallied in the city center. Up to 100,000 protested in Pakistan on March 4.
Significant protest actions on February 14-16
- Italy: Rome, Monza, Turin: 2.5 millon
- Spain: Madrid; Barcelona, Seville, Oviedo, Las Palmas, Cadiz, Girona: 3.68 million
- Britain: London: 1.5-2 million
- France: Paris, Montpellier, Lyon: 840,000
- US: New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Diego, Philadelphia: 910,000
- Germany: Berlin, Stuttgart: 55,000
- Australia: Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Canberra: 255,000
- Greece: Athens, Thessalonika: 240,000
- Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton: 270,000
- Ireland: Dublin, Belfast: 170,000
- Belgium: Brussels: 100,000
- Portugal: Lisbon: 100,000
- The Netherlands: Amsterdam, 80,000
- Sweden: Stockholm, Gotenborg, Malmo: 80,000
- Scotland: Glasgow: 100,000
- Norway: Oslo, Trondheim, Stavenger, Bergen: 84,000
- Mexico: Mexico City: 50,000
- Uruguay: Montevideo: 50,000
- Denmark: Copenhagen: 35-40,000
- Austria: Vienna: 30,000
- Japan: Tokyo: 25,000
- Hungary: Budapest: 20,000
- Basque Country (Spain): Irunea: 20,000
- Luxembourg: 15-20,000
- Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo: 60,000
- Finland: Helsinki, Turku: 20,000
- India: Calcutta: 10,000
- South Africa: Johannesburg, Capetown: 15,000
- Croatia: Zagreb: 10,000
- New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and others: 21,500
- Iraq: Baghdad: 100,000
- Egypt: Cairo: 2,000
- Korea: Seoul: 10,000
- Philippines: Manila: 6,000
- Palestine: Gaza: 15,000
- Switzerland: Bern: 40,000
- Syria: Damascus: 200,000
- Thailand: Bangkok, Pattani: 13,000
- Turkey: Istanbul: 5,000
- Peru: Lima: 5,000
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