Amman, Jordan, March 9, 2002
At noon sharp on Saturday 9, 2002, a human chain suddenly formed on the sidewalk between the First and Second Circle in Amman, Jordan. Every few yards a sign was raised: “Support the Intifada, No to Defeatist Initiatives”; “Lift the Official Arab Siege on Iraq”; “Palestine is ARAB”; “Sharon and Bush are Partners in Crime”; “NO to the Aggression on Iraq and the Palestinian People”; etc.. Each sign was repeated dozens of times in one sequence as if to make the point clear to whomever it may concern, and to passers-by who started gathering around like the clouds before the rain. A line of dedicated activists and citizens stood SILENTLY steadfast beneath those signs to underscore the point:
WE CANT WATCH WHAT´S GOING ON IN PALESTINE AND IRAQ IN SILENCE ANYMORE!
In fact, the previously unannounced human chain was a peaceful protest against the massacres perpetrated by Zionists against the Palestinian people, against the looming threat of aggression on Iraq, and against the incompetence of Arab regimes, if not outright facilitation, of the aggression on Iraq and Palestine.
Minutes before the protest began, a few satellite TV stations and news agencies had been told of the protest. A leaflet explaining the objectives of the protest was handed out to passers-by. It was a day not to fear the oppression of Arab regimes.
But exactly seventeen minutes into the peaceful protest, around thirty anti-riot vehicles accompanied by several police cars rushed to the scene. Public security officers tore down the signs violently from the raised hands of the peaceful protestors. The entrance to the First Circle was blocked by the Police at the Second Circle. Anti…—riot vehicles then lined up in one long row to separate the protestors from the people and the cars in the street, even though the protest remained totally on the sidewalk and didn´t obstruct traffic or pedestrians in any shape or form. Subsequently, the protestors were ordered to disband under the threat of force.
HAVING MADE THEIR POINT, the protestors began to disband, but it seems that wasn´t fast enough for civilian and police officers. Some of the protestors were pushed around. Others had their identity cards confiscated, but there were no reports of the usual arrests or beatings.
As a throng of protestors was headed away, a few of the women trying to speak about the protest to some TV crews in the area were prevented by force. Then Security personnel confiscated the tapes in all the TV cameras around. Chants erupted as a platoon of anti-riot troops closed in on the group. A security force intercepted the LEAVING protestors at the other end, and forced them to disband individually, and in different directions. In each case there were arguments and pushing, these were initiated by Security. In each case, it was very clear that the regime was most interested in clearing the Pro-Intifada protest as quickly as possible. Thus even if excessive force was not used as usual (because the protestors tried very hard not to give Security the excuse), the protest was suppressed nevertheless.
This comes as part of a pattern actually since pro-Intifada protests erupting in Al Baqaa and Al Wihdat Camps yesterday, Friday, March 8, 2002, were also contained by the iron hand of the security apparatus. At night, tear gas was used against pro-Intifada demonstrators, but there has been no reports of arrests so far.
The confiscation of the tapes of TV crews comes only a few days after the attorney general halted the distribution of two Arab Nationalist weeklies, Al Majd and Al Wihdah, after they published articles pertaining to financial corruption connected to high-ranking elements in the security apparatus.
In short then, there is no question that the Jordanian regime, just like other Arab regimes, has been falling short on both support for the Intifada and democracy. Given what´s going on in Palestine, an Arab regime has to BEYOND irrational to stifle expressions of Arab grass-roots support for the Intifada. Hence, there is no question that THIS IS THE TIME FOR THE ARAB PEOPLE TO MOVE *NOW* in spite of the Arab regimes in support of the Intifada. The Arab regimes have proven to be hopeless basket cases. If we don´t act immediately, no body else will. For this is the time to stop watching sad TV reports on Palestine and to go down to the street, COME WHAT MAY, to pressure Arab regimes to stop selling themselves wholesale to Bush and Sharon. The Palestinian people need us to act NOW. They don´t need the defeatist initiatives of those who try to pass off their vehement defense of their status and privileges at the expense of principle as …‘political realism´.
LET´S ACT NOW. PALESTINE NEEDS US MORE THAN EVER.
