A YOUTHFUL MOVEMENT: OUTCRY AGAINST WAR GROWS LOUDER
By Gery Armsby
As the news came that U.S. bombs were falling on Afghanistan, people all over the world who oppose a new war made their way to the streets and main squares of countless cities, towns and school campuses.
In the United States, a tidal wave of pro-war and national- chauvinistic propaganda from the corporate media failed to stop many thousands, who came out in emergency protests against the bombing of Afghan cities and the massive police repression at home that has led to the detention of over 600 Arab people.
Marches, vigils, rallies, walk-outs, sit-ins and student strikes across the country urged an end to bombings, condemned the racist attacks and incidences of profiling, and expressed solidarity with the millions of besieged Afghan people.
In New York, just three miles from the "ground zero" of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, thousands gathered in Union Square on Oct. 7 within hours of the announcement of strikes against Afghanistan. A local coalition, "New York Not in Our Name," had already been planning a Sunday afternoon memorial prayer service and peace march.
This became a gathering point for New Yorkers who wanted to show opposition to U.S. retaliation. Speakers addressed the crowd demanding that no more innocent people be killed in the name of New Yorkers who suffered the brunt of the terrorist attack.
After a rally, the crowd of thousands poured into the streets and marched up Sixth Avenue to Times Square. Manhattan traffic was snarled for hours as anti-war, pro- peace messages echoed through the air in chants ranging from "Salaam, shalom, peace" to "U.S. hands off Afghanistan!"
On Monday, Oct. 8, about 700 people assembled in Times Square and marched to NBC's Rockefeller Plaza headquarters. Signs and banners proclaimed, "Stop bombing Afghanistan" and "No more war--no more racist attacks." The demonstration was organized on one day's notice by the International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) coalition, which had issued a call for emergency protests on the day after the first U.S.-led strike.
In Washington, D.C., protesters met in front of the White House on Oct. 7 and again on Oct. 8, growing to about 100. They were mostly high school and university students from School Without Walls, George Washington University, American University and other D.C. area schools.
The very multinational crowd of youths formed a picket line, waved signs and chanted, "George Bush, we want peace; U.S. out of the Middle East," "We remember Vietnam, U.S. hands off Afghanistan," and "No more tanks, no more bombs, no more unjust Vietnams."Ten were arrested Monday by D.C. cops for standing while they sang anti-war songs in front of the White House. Their crime? Police claim they violated a federal regulation that requires protesters to remain in motion on the sidewalk.
Two days of protests in Boston brought hundreds into Government Center plaza against war on Oct. 7 and 8. Fifty people assembled on Sunday, including students from Massachusetts College of Art, Lesbian Avengers, MIT, Emerson College, and Harvard University. Several hundred made it out on Monday. Protesters and rally speakers included Amer Jubran of the Al-Awda Palestine Right of Return Coalition, Harvard's Living Wage Campaign, the Boston Campus Anti-war Coalition and the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP). Mass Art students made banners and protest props.
ACROSS U.S.: DOZENS OF PROTESTS
Chanting "One world, no war," some 75 Princeton University students, staff members and Princeton, N.J., town residents marched together. "We're asking for the bombing to stop," said Zia Mian, a representative of the Princeton Peace Network that organized the protest.
One hundred or more protesters loosely organized by a pro- peace working group of the Vassar College Student Activist Union assembled at the college chapel in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and marched two-by-two through surrounding neighborhoods voicing opposition to U.S. military attacks on Afghanistan. They encouraged community members to join them along the way.
In Buffalo, N.Y., 50 people came out in Bidwell Park in the middle of driving wind and freezing sleet. A large banner stood out in street lights: "War is not the answer."
Protesters from the Northeast Ohio Radical Action Network at Public Square rallied in downtown Cleveland on Oct. 8 against the bombing. "One, two, three, four, our grief is not a cry for war," they shouted while carrying signs indicating that U.S. military action is not the answer. The group plans to continue speaking out against war until the military action stops.
Fifty protesters gathered in front of the University of Michigan library in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Oct. 8 armed with leaflets, petitions and information to share with each other about what the big media is leaving out. The protest and information session was organized by Students for a Peaceful Alternative.
On Oct. 7, 80-100 protesters in Atlanta held an emergency rally and vigil in Woodruff Park as bombs began to drop in Afghanistan. The event was coordinated by Georgians For Peace.
The Houston chapter of the International ANSWER coalition rallied against the U.S. attack on Central Asia. The group picketed in front of the Mickey Leland Federal Building on Monday afternoon.
Wesleyan University students in Middleton, Conn., walked out of their morning classes Monday, Oct. 8. Protesters showed solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and opposition to U.S. military retaliation.
Over 150 people marched against war in Denver Oct. 7, after President Bush announced "Operation Enduring Freedom." A vigil of almost as many people was held in nearby Boulder, Colo.
WEST COAST ACTIONS VS. U.S. WAR
Some 5,000 people assembled at Powell and Market streets in San Francisco Oct. 7 to denounce the U.S. bombs that began raining on Afghanistan that day. The gathering spot has become known as a site where demonstrations take place in response to U.S. aggression, going back to the U.S. bombing of Iraq in 1991.
The demonstration was organized by International ANSWER. The crowd marched behind a huge banner that read, "Stop bombing Afghanistan," and was carried by Afghan women and African American youths. Many students and youths attended from UC Berkeley, San Francisco State and San Jose State, including members of Berkeley's Students for Justice in Palestine and San Jose's Students for Justice, and the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee.
A diverse collection of photos posted to San Francisco's independent media center Web site show people reacting to the protesters as they marched by stores and residential areas. People came to their doors and windows and cheered for the anti-war message, most making the peace sign.
A final rally was held at the Mission High School, where an anti-war teach-in was being held.
The demonstration filled the surrounding streets and spilled into nearby Dolores Park, where it concluded with messages of determination to continue building an anti-war struggle and solidarity for the people of Afghanistan.
Significant demonstrations of several hundred to over a thousand were also held in Berkeley, Oakland and in Palo Alto. In the Westwood area of Los Angeles, 200-300 protesters picketed at the Federal Building during an emergency demonstration called jointly by CISPES, the Office of the Americas and the International Action Center.
Protests were held in other California cities and towns such as Fairfax, Huntington Beach, Irvine, San Diego, Sebastopol, Ukiah and Willits.
More small and large actions, protests, vigils, walk-outs, strikes and rallies were held in: Chicago; Detroit; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Seattle; Albuquerque, N.M.; Amherst, Andover and Northampton, Mass.; Dearborn and Marquette, Mich.; Roch ester, N.Y.; Charlotte, N.C.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Concord, Dover, Plymouth and Salem, N.H.; Des Moines, Iowa; Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; Gainesville, Pensacola and Tampa, Fla.; Greensboro, N.C.; Hartford, Conn.; Jersey City, N.J.; Lewisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Milwaukee, Wi.; Norfolk and Richmond, Va.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis, Mo.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Yellow Springs, Ohio.
A listing of recent and upcoming anti-war protests is updated daily at www.internationalanswer.org .
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