(forgive duplications - feel free to repost and/or use in whole or part in local newsletters)
When I got home at midnight Saturday from Washington I was dead tired - as were tens of thousands of others across they country.To catch the 6 a.m. bus from the War Resisters League office in lower Manhattan I had skipped sleep Friday night. But I had enough energy left when I got home that I almost typed this up last night. Almost . . .but not quite. I fell asleep with good intentions. So let me get this off this Sunday afternoon.
By now you know what we didn't know in DC, since it was almost impossible to make a crowd estimate "on the ground" - except that the demonstration was very large, much larger than we had expected or dared to hope for. (Some of the organizers privately feared we wouldn't get as many as 10,000 - the Washington Post has estimated 75,000).
We were lucky in the weather. I'd brought an umbrella, thunderstorms having been promised. But all that materialized, late in the march, was a smattering of rain, which ended long before the march did.
First - hello to the many people I met whom I knew personally over decades of marching to DC. It felt like old home week. (Or old peoples' home week. A long time ago a kid named Seth Foldy from Ohio had first made contact with the War Resisters League and gotten active. Seth's mother was there yesterday, along with Seth's son, older than Seth had been when I first met him. Seth has gone on to work for the city of Milwaukee). Venerables present included George Houser, Ralph DiGia and a host of others too numerous to name (or remember), reminding us that the current youth movement of protest and affirmation had "healthy parents" of men who served prison terms in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, fought McCarthyism in the 1950's, and worked against Jim Crow and racism before most of the Saturday marchers were born.
But what was important was not the gathering of the old clan, but the gathering of a new clan. Youth. In their thousands. War Resisters League had gotten two busloads down from New York (on one of which was Jason Schulman of DSA and a young woman friend of his from Boston - good to see some of DSA active). The Socialist Party folks were scattered through the crowd but tried to gather under the SP banner - gathering anyone was very hard!! I saw SP members from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and thanks to Greg Pason, the SP National Secretary, they did, from time to time rally around the red banner.
Other groups with which we work - Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Solidarity, etc. - were also present and had put in hard work on building the rally. However the largest political contingent was the Green Party - several hundred folks with their banners. In their numbers they dwarfed all the little sectlets with the usual leaflets trying to simplify the problems of the world in a few weary slogans.
This afternoon I saw a press release from ANSWER, largely run by Workers World (a key giveway was that the statement's main quote was from Larry Holmes, a long time activist and leader in WW, as "co-director of the International Action Center"). I mention the ANSWER release because it failed to begin to do justice to the demonstration. Under the headline "100,000 March For Palestine", it went on to speak of the demonstration as being primarily a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel demonstration.
This misrepresents what this demonstration meant. And if I discuss this bluntly, it was because Workers World, for all their enormously hard work, continues to be a problem for the broader movement because they are so determined to control or dominate a mass movement. When the April 20th rally was first called - months ago - the Middle East had not exploded. The original organizers were students, their demands were rather vague. Later, Workers World set their own date for April 27th (focused then mainly on Afghanistan, not Palestine) but when they saw their support weak and most people opposed to two rallies a week apart, they changed their date for the 20th - so in some ways there were two rallies on the same day.
By April 20th the Middle East had indeed take over as the most immediate problem. It wasn't that Afghanistan was forgotten, the danger of war with Iraq ignored, the danger of a police state (The Patriot Act) avoided. Given the horrors of Jenin, Palestine leaped to the head of the list of demands.
Yes, the Muslim community was there in a way I had never seen before. Thousands and thousands and thousands of Muslims, most young, (but some very old, helped through the long march by younger people). Mothers with their babies in carriages. The PLO flag was everywhere. On the way back, when our buses stopped for food, the Muslim men took time for their prayers to Mecca.
No one should for an instant underrate the importance of the Muslim participation. But for Workers World to term the rally only, or primarily a pro-Palestinian event, is to discredit the power of so massive a rally in protest against Bush and his backers.
This was the first loud, clear voice from a nation which had been told by the media that there was no protest. In the words of Cokie Roberts, one of those air-headed talking heads, if there were any protests against the war in Afghanistan they were not important, not from "anyone one who counted". But yesterday even she could have counted. And we DO count.
For the supporters of Israel it was a warning shot that they have lost the American Left, lock, stock and barrel. And that includes losing a great many American Jews who were there at the protest and had helped organize it. The issue of Jenin isn't one of Jews against Muslims. It is one of Sharon against the world, against the United Nations, against a very large number of American Jews and against a great many Israelis.
There were moments surreal, as when early in the march a small group of orthodox rabbis, with their fur hats and long coats, were led through our march by escorts. No problem, no shouts. and no idea where the rabbis had come from or where they were going, except that, being the Sabbath, they had to go there on foot. And there were moments of utter frustration, as when I found I had not brought down any extra rolls of film as I had thought and had to hunt down a supply from a street vender.
Some of those from the more traditional peace movement talked to me of their dissapointment that some issues seem to have vanished - Afghanistan was barely mentioned. But this misses the point - and one can be sure that Congress and the White House will not miss it. I doubt if one person in that whole vast mass of people supported Bush's illegal actions against Afghanistan, or bought into the rhetoric of his "war on terror", a war which has become a terror in itself, reminding us that war and terrorism are intimately linked and often, as in the Middle East, become one and the same thing.
What was important, in my view as an old veteran at these events, was that where the media had assumed silence, the world now saw public dissent - in far greater numbers than even we had hoped for. (It got excellent coverage on the BBC). For the "internal movement" it was noteworthy that Workers World had their bluff called, was forced to cancel their original demonstration date, and MAY (though I am skeptical) be prepared to work more honestly with the broad range of peace and justice groups. The loose coalition of peace and justice groups, from the Black Radical Congress to the War Resisters League, from the American Friends Service Committee to Peace Action, from the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism to the Greens, have shown that they can pull off a national demonstration and provide leadership.
The problems of such a coalition are enormous - it is vastly easier for a group such as Workers World, a very small Marxist/Leninist formation with strong central leadership, to set up fronts, and through those fronts to give the impression of a mass movement. (They have been greatly helped by the willingness of Ramsey Clark to give his name to their formations). The broader movement lived through such splits before, during the Vietnam War and during the Gulf War. What is important for us, internally, is to have faith in our ability to work together through the slower process of compromise, dialogue, and coalition.
What is essential for older radicals to see is that a new generation took part in the largest single peaceful protest of this century. This does NOT discount the importance of all the anti-Globalization actions, which helped build to where we are. Nor does it mean that mass peaceful civil disobedience will not be needed. But it does mean that just as Workers World is more marginal than it has seemed, the "Black Bloc" does not command the support of all the youth. Whatever is to be built will need democratic involvement of many, not the vanguard tactics or the "smash and run" tactics of the smaller groups.
June 20th was a major victory for the forces of democracy, of dissent, of the peace and justice movement, and of the possibility of broad coalitons involving black and white - and Muslim and Jew. At a very difficult time in our history, this is an enormous victory indeed.
No, I didn't hear the speakers. I don't think many did. Rarely are the speakers important. (An exception would be the great march in August of 1963 - I can always be glad that I was able to heard Martin Luther King Jr. give his great "I Have A Dream" speech). After all the usual long debates about who was to speak, in the end what mattered were the sheer numbers that turned out. I was happy War Resisters League was there with our "End War" tags - one way I got a chance to meet to so many old friends was in handing these out. The WRL tags have become so much a part of these demonstrations that almost everyone wants them and by the end of the day almost everyone seemed to be wearing one. The first ones were handed out in the harsh days of the Vietnam protest period, when some sought to provoke the police, and our tags said "Practice Nonviolence", with a now classic design by Markley Morris. We may have some tags left over - if you want one check the WRL web page, which I'll give in a moment.
Something else new, free, and important was War Times, put together by a coaliton of radicals on the West Coast, with almost half the text in Spanish.
If you want informaiton about War Times, go to: www.war-times.org
If you want one of the WRL "End War" tags (or if you are interested in an analysis of my own titled "War Without End") go to: http://warresisters.org
And if you want to know that there are many in Israel who deeply oppose Sharon, subscribe to Gush-Shalom by sending a post to: Gush-Shalom-subscribe@t...
To the many others of you who demonstrated on the West Coast, or in your own towns - we all did well. April 20th is a day which may stiffen the spine of the weak left within the Democratic Party - and give us all the strength to stop Bush's next move - his long-promised attack on Iraq.
Peace, justice, and solidarity,
David McReynolds staff emeritus,
War Resisters League member,
National Committee, Socialist Party USA
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Ed Whitfield Greensboro NC, April 20, 2002
Today, as I was standing in the middle of an incredible demonstration in Washington DC, it struck me that the law of unintended consequences had struck again. For whoever masterminded and was involved in the September 11 attacks and the opportunistic aftermath of oil-war in Afghanistan, domestic repression, declaration of war on "Terrorism" and announcement of new "Axis" of evil in the world, it could have never been their intent that these events today unfolded as they did.
Never could they have intended that just over 7 months after the "Airplane-as-Bomb" attacks, and just over 6 months after the first "bombs-from-airplane" response in Afghanistan, with the kidnapping and illegal detention of over a thousand Arab and Moslem immigrants in between, that we would today see tens of thousands of Arab and Moslem immigrants along with tens of thousands of Arab and Moslem Americans along with tens of thousands of their supporters of all races and religions marching boldly through the streets of Washington DC, clearly holding the moral high ground and denouncing US policy and the policies of their Mid-East client state of Israel.
As Don King would say, "Only in America".
With the Israel government using the USA's war on "terrorism" as a model and justification for its own continuing and worsening genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people, never was it intended that this very action so inspired by the policies eminating from DC would become the biggest obstacle to Washington's moving to the "next step" of attacking Iraq and implementing the "final solution" to the "problem" of Sadaam Hussein. Nowhere, now, in the Arab world and surrounding states can the USA find the needed support for base staging or supply areas for its planned attack.
While I was standing there at the demonstration today, I really had to feel good about seeing a group of Orthodox Jews from New York standing arm and arm with Islamic clerics and Christian clergy and make the call for the liberation of Palestine --calling for an end to the occupation and denouncing Zionism. A young palestinian jumped up on the stage with a PLO flag and he too was embraced with one of the Orthodox Jewish Rabbi's taking his flag and waving it for him.
This was indeed something to see. It was something important to be a part of. It has within it the seeds of possibility for peace, justice and stability in the middle-east although it would be extremely naiive and dangerous to assume that the path from here to a just settlement will not be difficulty and bloody.
But the USA's response to September 11's demonization of Arabs and Moslems and Palestinians of all religions has back-fired. No longer are Arabs and Moslems pushed into the back corners and demonized. Today they had a chance to stand tall. There is cause for great optimism as the struggle continues to grow.
I saw two "counter-demonstrators" standing along the side of the street being largely ignored. They held a sign that said simply "We Support Our Troops." I thought to myself "I support them too. I think they should all come home to the mothers and daddys and have a nice home-cooked meal." That would be the best "support" they could get.
Just as an aside, I also so one of the most creative protest signs I remember seeing. I couldn't see who was holding it, but I am sure it was held by some of the many gay supporters of justice in the world. The sign said "If Gays In The Military Weaken Our Fighting Strength, Sign Us Up."
washingtonpost.com
Tens of thousands converged on downtown Washington yesterday to demonstrate for a variety of causes, but it was the numbers and passion of busloads of Arab Americans and their supporters that dominated the streets.
Eager to make their presence felt and their voices heard in the nation's capital as never before, Arab and Muslim families marched and chanted for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, overwhelming the messages of those with other causes in a peaceful day of downtown rallies and marches.
Young men wore the Palestinian flag around their necks like a cape. Arabic was heard nearly as often as English, and cardboard signs held by women and children denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush. Protesters rallying against corporate wrongs and the global economy found themselves tweaking Vietnam War-era chants to the Palestinian cause, shouting, "One, two, three, four: We don't want no Mideast war!"
"The message here is we must support the Palestinian people against a military occupation and an apartheid state," said Randa Jamal, a graduate student at New York's Columbia University who joined thousands at a pro-Palestinian rally near the White House. She said her cousins were killed in Ramallah, and her 16-year- old sister has been unable to attend school because of the Israeli occupation. "What they are going through," she said, "is crimes against humanity."
Palestinian rights was the theme of two of four permitted marches that merged on Pennsylvania Avenue NW in a loud and colorful procession to the Capitol. The host of other issues – anti-corporate globalization, antiwar and anti-U.S. policies in several areas – were boiled down to an essence visible on banners, placards and T-shirts. Banners read: "Drop debt, not bombs" and "Peace treaty in Korea now." Bumper stickers on T-shirts declared: "No blank check for endless war" and "We are all Palestinian."
It was possible to stand on the Washington Monument grounds and hear simultaneous speeches from three rallies nearby – antiwar demonstrators, counter- demonstrators and pro-Palestinian activists – in a mind-boggling surround-sound mix. Protesters came from the Anti-War Committee in Minneapolis, Middlebury College in Vermont and the D.C. chapter of the International Socialist Organization. There were teenage anti-capitalists with black bandanas over their faces marching alongside Muslim mothers wrapped in traditional headdress and pushing baby strollers.
Other demonstrations are planned today and tomorrow near the Washington Monument grounds and outside the Washington Hilton, the site of a pro-Israel lobbying group's annual conference.
District police officials said the crowds were larger than they had anticipated and put the number at about 75,000. Metro transit officials said ridership increased significantly yesterday, but estimates would not be available until today. Organizers of the Palestinian-rights rally at the Ellipse said the gathering was the largest demonstration for Palestine in U.S. history.
"We are here because we want to do something, to send a message," said Amal K. David, a Palestinian American who weathered a 12-hour trip in a 21-bus caravan from the Detroit area to join the rally organized by International Answer, an antiwar, anti-racism coalition that shifted the theme of its protest as the violence in the Middle East escalated. In tears, David spoke of the destruction that U.S.-financed Israeli weapons and tanks have done to Palestinians, saying: "My beloved country is financing such death and destruction. I am so ashamed."
Many pro-Palestinian marchers said they learned of the march through their mosques. "All over the U.S., everybody got the word," said Issam Khalil of the Bronx, who traveled in a fleet of 50 buses from New York.
Several downtown blocks away, several thousand other pro-Palestinian activists took to the streets for another march to free Palestine. The group was made up mostly of Arab Americans with relatives in the occupied territories and U.S. Jews opposed to the occupation.
"The Palestinians here in the crowd look at us mistrustfully at first," said Rabbi Yisroel Weiss, 45, of New York. "But then they speak a few words with us, and they show us respect and friendship." Weiss traveled to Washington with several dozen Orthodox rabbis to join the march, which left the Washington Hilton, joined anti-globalization demonstrators outside the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and continued on the Capitol. He said his group favored dismantling Israel and returning it to the Palestinians.
Buses carried Jewish supporters from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, among other places.
Organizers at the march privately urged participants to strike swastikas from their posters, but few complied. It was a running debate among many participants, though several swastikas appeared on signs in reference to Sharon by the end of the day.
Walking down the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue near the Justice Department as thousands filled the street, D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey praised the decorum of the demonstrations. "The organizers did an outstanding job," said Ramsey, baton in hand. "If it stays this way, it will be the best one we've ever had. . . . This is really what protest ought to be."
By about 4 p.m., no major clashes had broken out between police and protesters. The events were a stark contrast to Washington demonstrations in April 2000, when protests against the World Bank and IMF led to a virtual shutdown of the downtown area and sparked clashes between police and demonstrators that ended in mass arrests.
D.C. emergency officials said only two people were transported for medical treatment, though neither case was serious. Both were falls, one involving a police officer and the other involving a civilian.
Ramsey said that in his view, yesterday's demonstrations went smoothly because organizers worked closely with police. At least three field marshals from the pro-Palestinian side negotiated with Ramsey, then barked instructions into their speaker-phones.
Hani Ahmed, 16, of the District was one of them, and he was marching with a pro-Palestinian group that swelled the ranks of the anti-globalization forces across from the World Bank and the IMF. "That kid, he was only 16 and he was working so well with us. That was one of the things that made it work so well," Ramsey said. At one point, the parade got to Dupont Circle, and marchers wanted to go around the circle rather than through the tunnel, where their permit instructed them to go.
Tashim Sallah, 45, of Buffalo told Ramsey and Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer that he was worried that people would suffocate in the tunnel. Gainer grabbed his hand and said, "We're going down with you. There's no danger."
The group followed Ramsey and Gainer into the tunnel, and delighted in the cool shade and underground echo for their chants.
That cooperation was in marked contrast to the first day of demonstrations, when more than three dozen bike-riding protesters were arrested downtown during a Friday evening protest at rush hour. All of the 41 people arrested were released, a D.C. Superior Court official said.
Yesterday, though, no incidents of that nature occurred. The only arrests came after most protesters had disbanded. Police arrested 24 adults and one juvenile who were found inside a parking garage in the 1000 block of 13th Street NW, apparently preparing to spend the night. All were charged with unlawful entry.
Earlier, the day was marked only by little dramas on street-corner stages among the tangle of protesters, tourists, police and counter-demonstrators clogging downtown on a humid, sticky afternoon. The atmosphere was mostly civil and occasionally comedic, with only brief flashes of arguments or hostility.
About 1 p.m. at H and 16th streets NW, a small scuffle broke out between members of the New Black Panther Party and one man intent on disrupting them. A couple of dozen members of the party showed up at the anti- globalization rally wearing black masks and black military-style uniforms. They had swastikas and shouted anti-Jewish slogans. The scuffle amounted only to pushing and angry remarks before members of the crowd broke them up.
A short time later, the Patriots Rally for America – a group that opposed the antiwar protesters with whom they shared the Washington Monument grounds – had heated up and was getting protection from 10 police officers on horseback and 13 more on foot.
At many points during the afternoon, D.C. police and federal authorities enveloped the marches and rallies with officers on foot and in cars, on horseback and on bicycles. But their presence was less dominating than in previous Washington demonstrations, and most officers were not outfitted in riot gear. More than a few were spotted at downtown intersections yawning or leaning on police gates.
"That's the way we like it," Ramsey said. "They ought to be low-key. People have a constitutional right to protest."
The effect of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators became evident when their smaller march joined anti- globalization forces outside the World Bank and IMF.
The emotion of the Mideast conflict appeared to overpower issues of economic fairness, and many of the signs and chants called for freedom for Palestinians and the end of U.S. sponsorship of Israel.
The Mobilization for Global Justice, which played a large part in organizing the day's activities, acknowledged that the pro-Palestinian sentiment had overtaken its economic issues. "It seems more important to the safety of the world," said Mark Rickling, a Mobilization organizer. "But we're all united on the issues of oppression. I'm just floored by the amount of people here today."
By afternoon, the more militant forces of the pro- Palestinian movement dominated, with swastikas and anti-Sharon and anti-Bush slogans and banners.
Aside from handing out signs, organizers seemed to have taken care of nearly every need of protesters, in an ad-hoc kind of way. One all-important telephone number – 202-462-9627 – was inked onto many arms; it's the number those arrested are to call.
Legal support was being provided at the number by a local law collective, the National Lawyers Guild and D.C.-based Partnership for Civil Justice.
But yesterday, there were no confrontations or trouble during the marches. There was even day care, a service offered for many activist-parents by the Anti- Authoritarian Babysitters Club.
A gentle rain started about 2:30 p.m. as marchers walked along Pennsylvania toward the Capitol, but the sun broke through about 3:15. By then, most marchers were at the east end of the Mall and many had stopped to pray on the puddled ground.
Next came speeches and music and, as the light faded, the protesters began drifting away, with only 100 or so still on the Mall as a light rain began to fall at dusk.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
Associated Press Sun April 21, 2002, 12:05 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - Marching with puppets and placards and armed with many messages, tens of thousands of protesters joined forces on a warm spring Saturday to demonstrate peacefully against everything from U.S. policy in the Mideast to globalization and corporate greed.
Protesters massed at sites across the city, then swarmed down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, in an eclectic crowd that mixed young communists, Black Panthers and "Raging Grannies." People came in busloads from around the country to show there are vibrant opposition views in the United States.
"I think the movement is beginning to wake up," said 80-year-old Valerie Mullen of Vershire, Vt., part of the "grannies" group. She said she came to protest "any war."
Six-year-old Kira Appleman of Silver Spring, Md., came with her mom and held aloft a sign that said, "Palestinian children have rights, too." Palestinian flags proliferated as demonstrators marched through downtown.
The various groups converged for a concluding rally near the Capitol and support for the Palestinians' cause was the main theme of the day. Authorities do not provide official crowd figures for demonstrations in Washington, but Police Chief Charles Ramsey gave a rough estimate of 35,000 to 50,000.
With helicopters hovering overhead, police with wooden batons and their riot gear close by kept watch around the city, standing shoulder to shoulder along the marchers' route. A brief rain shower sent some demonstrators ducking for cover but most continued their march.
"It's been very peaceful, very orderly, just the way it's supposed to be," said Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer.
While no demonstrators were arrested during the day's events, afterward 25 protesters were arrested for unlawfully entering an underground parking garage and using it as a sleeping area for the weekend demonstrations, said police spokesman Quintin Peterson.
More protests were planned for the next two days, and Ramsey said police were "going to have our hands full" on Monday, when several unauthorized rallies were expected during morning rush hour.
In San Francisco, as many as 14,000 people marched through the city's streets protesting war, racism and poverty, police said. Marchers were predominantly pro- Palestinian, and carried placards, flags and stretchers to represent Palestinians wounded or killed in the Mideast.
The daylong rally culminated with activists marching to Civic Center Plaza, snarling traffic and packing downtown streets in what police say was one of the largest peace rallies in years.
In Seattle, a rally to protest similar issues drew several hundred people. Police stopped a small crowd that broke away from the permit area, and 12 protesters were arrested on charges including property damage.
The White House had a front-row seat for a number of the protests Saturday, but President Bush missed the scene. He was spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.
It was the spring meeting of world financial powers at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that attracted the protesters to Washington, but anti- globalization forces did not seem to mind sharing the stage with many other causes.
The various protests are "all connected in the sense that it's all part of how the world economic structure works," said 24-year-old Brad Duncan of Detroit.
At the financial institutions' spring meeting two years ago, police made 1,300 arrests during the week.
This time, one of the biggest groups sought to show solidarity with the Palestinians and protest U.S. policy that demonstrators said was tilted toward Israel.
Protesters marched with two open wooden coffins bearing young sisters of Palestinian descent. When 7- year-old Philastine Mustafa was overcome by the heat, a young boy quickly took her place.
"My people back home her age are being killed," said Anwar Mustafa, 33, of Philadelphia, the father of the girls. "Me and my daughters can spend a little time in the heat to show people who don't know."
In a counterdemonstration, a few hundred people gathered on the mall to show their support of U.S. policies. Some carried signs that said "Peace through superior fire power."
Outside the barricaded buildings of the IMF and World Bank, where world financial powers were meeting, a 30- foot-tall inflated Earth bearing a "For Sale" sign and the Citibank logo was erected.
"It's becoming a global doomsday economy," said 22- year-old Rob Fish of New Jersey.
Not all the groups were in perfect agreement. When Black Panthers chanting "jihad" and "holy war" hoisted a Palestinian flag next to a picture of Osama bin Laden, a Palestinian activist urged them to take the flag down.
The American Muslim Council (AMC) Press Release April 20, 2002
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Faiz Rehman, Communications Director April 20, 2002 Tel: 202-789-2262.
Fax: 202-789-2550
(Media inquiries: 714-225-4297) media@a...
WASHINGTON, DC, April 20, 2002: Over 50,000 Americans marched in
front of the White House to support freedom for the Palestinians and to
protest against racism and Ariel Sharon's war crimes in the occupied territories.
Protesters, men, women, and children chanted slogans condemning the Israeli
occupation and the massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli army. People
carried placards sharply criticizing the US-backed Israeli aggression.
The rally was organized by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) International Coalition. It was supported by major Muslim organizations, including AMC, CAIR, and MPAC.
Ramsey Clark (former U.S. Attorney General), Mahdi Bray, Randa Jamal (Al-Awda Palestine Right of Return Coalition), Rev. Graylan Hagler (Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational Church), Magdy Mahmoud (Metropolitan Muslim Federation), Rev. Kiyul Chung (Coordinator, Korea Truth Commission, International War Crimes Tribunal),Mara Veryheyden-Hilliard (Attorney and co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice- LDEF), Peta Lindsay (Washington DC high school student, A.N.S.W.E.R. youth and student coordinator), Brian Becker and Larry Holmes (International A.N.S.W.E.R.), Marcrina Cardenas (Mexico Solidarity Network), Jennifer Wager (IFCO/Pastors for Peace), and representatives from Union of Arab Student Associations, Committee to Support the Iraqi People, and Bayan, USA.
Newsday April 21, 2002
Washington - Tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of the nation's capital yesterday using the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as backdrops to advocate ideas ranging from ending the war on terrorism to creating an independent state for Palestinians.
Of five scheduled protests, the largest supported the Palestinian people as advocates chanted phrases such as "Free, Free Palestine" while holding Palestinian flags and signs that urged peace instead of violence.
"Violence is not going to get you anywhere," said Mohamed Shariff of Long Island. "Israel wants to say they want peace. They need to come sit down and talk."
Shariff, Syed Ibrahim, also of Long Island, and many others asked those who were curious to learn more about the plight of the Palestinians.
"This is one side no one's looking at - the Palestinian side," Ibrahim said.
Those with family in the region said they are especially distressed by the lack of understanding.
"You can tell people you're a Palestinian, and they think you're a terrorist," said Arwa Hazin, who was born in Jordan to Palestinian refugees.
Hazin said it is essential that people recognize that Palestinians have claims to the land as well.
"A Moroccan Jewish family lives in our home," Hazin said of the home that her parents lived in before the creation of Israel in 1948 forced them to move.
Another demonstrator said the public needs to understand the difficulty of living in the Middle East.
"The trips people used to make in five minutes now take them four to five hours," said Hussein Ata, who lives in Chicago after emigrating from the West Bank in 1974.
World Bank President James Wolfensohn said Friday that the violence in Israel and the occupied territories has cut the $4.5 billion Palestinian economy in half.
"Today, there is virtually no one working in Israel," Wolfensohn said of the Palestinians.
Other protests were aimed at the policies of the World Bank and the IMF, which demonstrators said resemble "colonization."
"The IMF is holding whole national economies in line by saying you've really got to tow the line or you're not going to be bailed out of debt," said Cliff Alles- Curie Rodas of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Rodas carried an American flag that had corporate logos including CBS and Shell replacing the stars to convey what many demonstrators consider to be an unjust concentration of decision-making in the corporate elite.
"You can't sell your products all over the world and export all the money back to the United States," said George Brittenburg of Pittsburgh, referring to Coca- Cola, one of three corporations targeted by demonstrators.
The demonstrations began in the morning at different points throughout the city before merging at the Capitol in the afternoon. Police described the rallies as peaceful and said no one had been arrested by early afternoon. Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
Radio Havana Cuba April 20, 2002
RHC Weekend-20/21 April 2002
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - Weekend News Update - 20/21 April 2002
Early Saturday police had not blocked a protest outside the offices of the Citibank, despite having banned demonstrators from going near the financial institution. A group of about 100 chanted outside the firm "Drop debt not bombs." Leading up to the protest, representatives of dozens of nongovernmental organizations gathered late Friday to thrash the IMF and World Bank for failing to promote debt reduction for poor countries.
Marie Clarke, coordinator of the Jubilee USA Network, cited a new report by the Bank that found that debt reduction was being held up by the IMF's insistence that governments comply with structural adjustment programs to make those countries more attractive to private and foreign investment. Among other measures, they are designed to cut government spending, liberalize trade and financial regimes, privatize state-owned companies and expand exports - which numerous critics say are to the detriment of the poorest sectors of developing countries.
On Thursday, the Washington-based advocacy group Africa Action released a new report entitled "Hazardous to Health: The World Bank and IMF in Africa" which found that government budget cuts forced on African nations in the 1980s resulted in major cutbacks in health systems that had managed to sharply reduce infant mortality rates over the previous two decades.
It found that in 42 of the continent's poorest countries, spending on healthcare fell by some 50 percent during the 1980s even as the same countries were forced to greatly increase payments on their foreign debts. While the Bank claims that it has become more sensitive to the needs and vulnerabilities of the poor and modified programs accordingly, NGOs gathered in Washington say they have seen no real substantial changes in the two agencies' pro-market policies in recent years.
(c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
Reuters April 20, 2002
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chanting, singing and beating drums, tens of thousands of protesters converged on the U.S. capital on Saturday to demonstrate against the U.S.-led war on terror, Israeli military actions in the West Bank and globalization.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey unofficially estimated there were between 35,000 and 50,000 demonstrators, the force's press office said, while organizers put the figure at above 50,000, perhaps as high as 70,000.
Unlike in previous years when globalization opponents clashed with police, protesters were peaceful as they gathered in front of the White House and elsewhere in the city amid a heavy police presence.
The diverse groups later joined ranks for a mass march down Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol, waving flags, posters and street puppets, and chanting. "Down, down Israel," was one refrain.
"I think it is a tremendous success. So many different people from all over the place stood together in solidarity," said Roxanne Lawson, a national coordinator for United We March, one of the main organizers of the day's events.
Police said there had been no protest-related arrests as of early evening. "There are just large numbers of people who want to have their voices heard and that's what America is all about, so it's good for all of us," Ramsey said.
"As long as it's like this, God bless them."
In San Francisco, 15,000 or more demonstrators sprawled across the lawn in the plaza in front of city hall, chanting "Free, free Palestine", waving Palestinian flags and holding placards ranging from "Peace Not War" to wordless posters showing a swastika and a Jewish six-pointed star with an equal sign between them.
"Today is the biggest day of solidarity with the Palestinian people in U.S. history," one speaker shouted to a cheering crowd gathered under clear skies. San Francisco police said they had made no arrests despite minor vandalism.
Police had blocked off streets and set up a large security perimeter around the groups' downtown headquarters to ensure they could maintain control should violence erupt.
Such international financial gatherings have become frequent protest targets. One protester was killed and more than 200 were hurt in clashes with police at a Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy, last July.the street from the IMF and World Bank buildings to denounce lending policies they believe harm the environment and hurt the world's poor, their ranks swelling as the morning wore on.
"The World Bank, the IMF and their policies are a vehicle of oppression and it's time that people stood up against it," said Sarah Sholis, an Ohio Wesleyan University student who helped to hold a banner that read, "Drop Debt, Not Bombs."
About a half-dozen blocks away, on the grassy Ellipse in front of the White House, thousands of protesters waved Palestinian flags and posters reading "Free Palestine, no war on Iraq" as they shouted, "Stop the killing, stop the crime, Israel out of Palestine."
"The Israelis are animals. They are scary. All these lives lost for nothing," said Jenin Ali, a Palestinian-American. She held a sign saying "A suicide bomber is a poor man's F-16."
Across the street a much smaller counter-rally by a group calling itself the Free Patriots waved American flags.
"I am an American. I'm here to support the war on terrorism as opposed to those people over there who hate America," said Dave Quaadman of New York, gesturing across the street.
Outside a hotel that will house a meeting of a pro- Israel U.S.-based lobby group beginning Sunday, a few thousand pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered.
"I am very pleased to see so many Americans coming out to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and to protest U.S. foreign policy supporting the illegal occupation (by Israel of the West Bank)," said Hassan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organization's Washington representative.
The group later joined globalization critics near the IMF building, some of whom held a 35-foot (10-meter) tall balloon depicting Earth and bearing the slogans "For sale?" and "Citi lives richly and the Earth pays." It was a reference to Citigroup, a top lender to developing countries.
Police expected marchers to be mostly peaceful, but said they came prepared for anything.
"We have to be concerned not only about large crowds but about someone using an event like this as an opportunity to commit some kind of terrorism or other criminal activity," Ramsey said. "If we need to make an arrest as a last resort, we'll make an arrest."
Copyright 2002 Reuters Ltd.
The protest was as peaceful as it was pained, with many families arriving with their young children to spend the day urging American policy not to support Israel's actions in the West Bank. On Monday, a large rally in support of Israel had taken up the same space on Washington's spacious Mall.
"My sister has been trapped in the Church of the Nativity for more than two weeks now," said Issa Danho, a 44-year-old construction worker from Alexandria, Va. "It is a holy place. They thought they would be safe there."
Mr. Danho said he had not talked to his sister, Diana, since she entered the church because there is no electricity to charge her cell phone. He said he had wanted to speak rationally about American foreign policy but that it was hard not to lapse into emotionalism.
"If this president, with his limited vocabulary, says Sharon is a man of peace, then Napoleon was a man of peace," he said. "There is black and white in the country right now because of September 11, but the Palestinian issue is not black and white. It is a hopeless time and, I'll be honest, I have no answer."
Thousands of police were in the streets, many of which were closed.
Those who marched against globalization seemed largely sympathetic to those marching for peace or in support of the Palestinians. Organizers said it was the biggest rally ever here in support of the Palestinian cause. Though the causes represented here today were disparate and disjointed, many protesters appeared to lump them together.
"The airlines have taken advantage of the September 11 attacks to attack the labor movement," said Rodney Ward, an unemployed flight attendant, listing a variety of reasons he had come to town. . "It certainly doesn't help to be humiliating the Palestinians, and the war in Afghanistan only breeds more terrorism. It's important for citizens to speak up. That's part of being a patriot."
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
The Independent (UK) April 21, 2002
As finance ministers from the main industrial countries - among them the Chancellor, Gordon Brown – arrived for the spring IMF and World Bank meetings, police kept at bay demonstrators protesting against the war in Afghanistan, US aid to Israel and Colombia, and Third World debt and poverty. There was also a counter-demonstration in support of US policies.
Police had erected barricades and closed off streets in expectation of large crowds of demonstrators. Officers wore patrol uniforms, but many carried riot gear in bags. "What we have to do is make sure the groups don't go at each other and wind up with someone getting harmed," said the city's police chief, Charles Ramsey.
Around 40 protesting bicyclists were arrested on Friday night after police said they ignored red lights and rode the wrong way down a one-way street. They were protesting against the US military's School of the Americas, which they claim produced Latin American military leaders who went on to commit human rights abuses and join oppressive juntas.
One protester, Kyla Hershey-Wilson, said that she was focusing her efforts against Citigroup. "They're using people's money to fund projects all over the world that are just really horribly destructive," she said. "They're the number one funder of fossil fuels and mining and one of the top funders of logging."