By John Catalinotto, Berlin
A demonstration of over 20,000 here in Berlin on Oct. 26 was only one of about 80 in Germany and hundreds around the world during the international day of protests to “Stop the war against Iraq before it starts.”
The international action, called by the U.S.-based ANSWER coalition during the summer, gained the support of the anti-war movement in countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. These groups wanted to show solidarity with the U.S. anti-war movement at the same time they targeted the Bush government as the main threat to peace in the world.
As a result of the strong response to this first International Day of Protest, groups around the world have begun to work together on this one essential task: stopping the U.S. aggression against Iraq.
The center of the protest was the White House, which some 200,000 people surrounded Oct. 26 with the largest anti-war action since the U.S. military was defeated by a peoples army in Vietnam in 1975. Another 100,000 demonstrated in San Francisco, and thousands others in cities across the U.S. where people were unable to travel to the main protest centers.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Puerto Rican National Guard armory in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Oct. 26, 2002 to denounce possible U.S. military action in Iraq and the continued U.S. Navy use of the Vieques bombing range. Someone in a George W. Bush mask carried a placard reading: “World terrorist # 1.”
On Oct. 25, demonstrators in Manila in the Philippines protested in front of the U.S. Embassy. The demonstration also demanded that U.S. troops leave the Philippines. Washington has used the excused of alleged terrorist organizations to reintroduce U.S. military forces into the U.S.`s former Pacific colony. A day earlier in Indonesia, demonstrators rallied at the U.S. Embassy to protest a possible U.S. attack on Iraq.
Some 600 members of the leftist students` organization zengakuren and other groups marched in Tokyo for an anti-war rally on Oct. 21, with similar-sized actions in Osaka, Hiroshima and Nagasaki the same day. Their banners read: “Stop the U.S. attack on Iraq.” On Oct. 26 another demonstration of 700 people, including many non-Japanese, took place in Tokyo, organized by 14 non-government organizations.
In Ankara, Turkey on Oct. 21, students braved attacks by riot cops to protest a visit by U.S. Central Command Chief General Tommy Franks, who has been named as the regent of Iraq should the U.S. occupy that country. Their banners read: “We will not become soldiers of the USA.”
The Berlin demonstration joined the traditional anti-war activists with sections of the large Muslim community. They met in Alexanderplatz, the center of eastern Berlin, and marched to the large place near the concert hall, opera house and the cathedral called Gendarmeplatz. Since the Gerhard Schroeder regime has itself spoken against the war, German speakers emphasized the need to pull German tank units out of Kuwait and to not allow the use of the U.S. air bases like Spangdahlem and Ramstein to support the war on Iraq.
Despite heavy rains and gale-force winds in many areas, demonstrations numbering in thousands took place in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, and 350 people in Hamburg tried to demonstrate though a hurricane wouldn`t let them stand outside. Some actions targeted the air bases, as at Spangdahlem near Trier, where a few hundred anti-war activists protested and handed leaflets in English to U.S. service people.
Another group of hundreds braved heavy rains to protest the planned construction of a gigantic U.S. command center in Heidelberg. The group said that civilians from the U.S. and war-resisting GIs were welcome, but not the U.S. war machine.
On Oct. 27 there were demonstrations in the main Spanish cities — Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Oviedo, Valencia, Caceres and Sevilla . These are the capitals of almost all the Autonomous Communities of the Spanish state. There were actions in a lot of little cities and villages as well. The largest was in Barcelona with more than 30.000 people.
The banners in Barcelona read in Catalan, “Bush, Blair, Aznar: Who pulls the Trigger” and “Stop the War in Iraq.” Aznar is the Spanish premier and has supported Bush. In Madrid the slogans were “Peace, Aznar, servile. Go to your war” and “Oil war. Blood for oil.”
On Oct. 26 in Rotterdam, some 1,200 people braved torrential rain and gale winds that stopped public transportation to protest Bush`s threatened war against Iraq. The crowd chanted in Dutch, Turkish and Kurdish. In Amsterdam, also in the Netherlands, nearly 10,000 people took to the streets to say no to Bush`s war.
The same bad weather that hit all of northern Europe couldn`t keep 3,000 rain-soaked demonstrators from gathering under umbrellas near the US Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. Another 1,500 hit the streets in Stockholm, Sweden, and hundred more in Oslo, Norway. There were smaller demonstrations in other Scandinavian cities.
In Italy the Sabra and Shatila Committee, the Palestine Forum, the left wing trade unions and various prominent individuals thought it necessary to help give the ANSWER initiative a world-wide dimension. Despite recent mass mobilizations against the war and another set for Nov. 9-10 during the European Social Forum in Florence, the turnout was still 20,000. Participants cheered a live report from the Washington demonstration given by Naomi Cohen. Another march of over 2,000 took place in Turin.
In Belgium there were three actions. On Oct. 25, 150 people gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy to say no to the war against Iraq. The annual “race for peace” organised by the city of Ieper –one of the worst hit in World War I was dedicated this year to “Stop the war against Iraq” and “Solidarity with the Palestinian people,” and drew 1,000 people.
The International Camp protested at the European Union Headquarters in Brussels to protest against the list labling so many revolutionary organizations “terrorist.” Hundreds of people gathered there to defend groups like the Herri Batasuna party in the Basque Country and the Communist Party of the Philippines, the Palsetinian PFLP and the Turkish DHKC.
