Round-up of protest actions against U.S.-British bombing of Baghdad
The U.S. and British bombing of targets near Baghdad on Feb. 16 has aroused world-wide condemnation. Governments--including those of usual U.S. allies--criticized the bombings and mass demonstrations protested U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people. Demonstrations called by the International Action Center took place in many U.S. cities protesting the raid.
The following is a listing of some of the positions and actions taken against the bombing both outside and inside the U.S. and Britain.
The French imperialist government questioned the purpose of the attack. Even Turkey, a NATO member and U.S. client state, noted that no U.S. planes had left from bases in Turkey and complained it hadn’t been consulted. NATO members Germany, Spain and Italy made critical statements.
Russia, China, Cuba and many Arab nations denounced the attack. The Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 19 advised President Vladimir Putin to unilaterally lift sanctions on Iraq.
Egypt, which had backed the U.S.-led “coalition” in the 1991 war on Iraq, denounced the attack.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the raid was "a serious negative step that we cannot accept, nor understand its reasons, which run counter to Iraq's safety and sovereignty." Vietnam and Yemen were among the governments to condemn or criticize the air strikes. Vietnam joined those defying the air embargo on Iraq to send a planeload of medical and other humanitarian goods to Baghdad.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Baghdad itself in the days following the raid, chanting, "Yes to Jihad," or holy war, "no to submission." There were also mass demonstrations in Lebanon and Palestine.
The Russian Center for Cooperation with Iraq in Moscow issued a statement condemning “the superpower’s desire to demolish the whole fabric of Iraqi society, to destroy its ancient monuments and thus its culture, to murder its people in the greatest numbers and to send the nation in disarray.”
The Socialist Unity Center of India held a massive procession Feb. 19 in Calcutta with effigies and banners, denouncing the bombing. The march started from Raja Subodh Mallick Square on Lenin Sarani and marched to the American Center, raising slogans against imperialist barbarity toward sovereign Iraq. The demonstrators burnt an effigy of George Bush in front of the American Center as a mark of their protest.
In Britain many Labor Party members of parliament spoke out against the Labor government’s role in the attack. A 24-hour, all-week vigil is set to begin Feb. 22 in London.
IAC actions in the United States
Less than five hours after the bombs hit near Baghdad, over 100 people came out to protest at Powell and Market in downtown San Francisco. This location has seen scores of actions over the last 10 years protesting aggression against Iraq. Many came without notification, knowing that the International Action Center would mobilize there as it has every time in the past.
Even the corporate media, including Spanish-language stations, knew where to go. Laura Marquez, a reporter from ABC affiliate Channel 7 in San Francisco, came to the IAC office with a camera crew soon after the bombs began to fall and told organizers, "As soon as the bombing started, I knew where to come."
The next morning, demonstrators stood before the Westwood Federal Building in Los Angeles, holding signs and banners, and chanting "No Bombing! No sanctions! No Blood For Oil!"
Anti-war and anti-capitalist activists held a protest he morning after the bombing in downtown Buffalo, N.Y., opposite the Army Recruiting Station. Despite atemperature of 15° F and high winds, they held a banner demanding "No more blood for big oil profits.
A protest in downtown Baltimore was held Feb. 19 by the All Peoples Congress, Baltimore Emergency Response Network and the International Action Center to demand the2U.S. stop the bombing. It condemned Bush and the Pentagon. One of the most popular signs for those passing by on foot was "Fight racism, not the Iraqi people."
Metro Detroit Against Sanctions called out over 100 people on Feb. 19 to protest the bombing. A spirited picket line carried signsand chanted at the busy Woodward Avenue/Warren Avenue intersection, bringing their message to rush-hour commuters driving by. 2
In New York on Feb. 19, as some 200 people marched around the U.S. Army Recruiting Booth in Times Square, a news marquee on the side of a nearby building reported on worldwide protests against the U.S.-British bombing, including the New York protest. The action drew much more than the usual media attention, with CNN reporting it every half hour. The IAC national office was inundated with media calls the following day.
In Washington on Feb. 19, the IAC and the DC Coalition to Stop the U.S. War on Iraq demonstrated in front of the White House. In Richmond, Va., the same day, people called out by Little Flower Catholic Worker organization or brought by the Richmond Anti-Globalization Network and the Richmond Action Center/IAC, among others, protested the bombing. 2
There were similar protests in Philadelphia and a dozen other cities by Feb. 20, according to IAC spokesperson Sara Flounders. She added that she and Richard Becker from the San Francisco office of the IAC had been debating government spokespeople on media outlets, including NPR.
IAC organizers in Washington, New York, Buffalo, N.Y., Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Richmond, Va. contributed to this report.
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