Updates of F15 Marches from Around the World

1) Australia

Oceania Anti-War Wrap Up

An absolutely massive and unprecendented level of protest action against war occurred across Oceania from Hawaii to Perth this weekend. It kicked off Friday evening with a rally of 200 000 in Melbourne and ended on Sunday with 250 000 in Sydney.

In New Zealand/Aotearoa there were demonstrations across the country in Dunedin, Tauranga, Whanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, and 10 000 in Auckland.

Australia saw massive rallies not just in Sydney and Melbourne. 100 000 protested in Adelaide and Brisbane, 20 000 in Perth and Newcastle, 10 000 in Hobart and Canberra, and local rallies in Darwin, Lismore, Bellingen and many, many more.

In south-east Asia there were actions in Jakarta, the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur and East Timor. There were also actions in Hawaii at Pearl Harbour.

200 000 March Against War at Melbourne

200 000 people gathered in the streets of Melbourne on Friday afternoon in a massive display of dissent to any war on Iraq. A huge array of people gathered in opposition to Australia's involvement in any war in what organisers say is the biggest protest in the city's history. Australia is the only country other than the US and UK to have already committed troops to the gulf region.

Bigger than the anti-Vietnam war moratorium protests, the march stretched for blocks and barely moved as thousands crammed the streets. The crowd listened to Kurdish and Iraqi refugees, union organisers, and politicians, some calling for civil disobedience and industrial action. Victoria Trades Hall Council called for a stop work if war broke out.

pictures
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

The march kicked off what is expected to be a huge weekend of global protests against war and for peace. Stay tuned to indymedia.org for on the ground reports from around the world.

Global Solidarity Messages
Anti War Protesters Descend On Lismore Streets
Canberra anti-war rally
Bellingen anti-war rally
No war rally in Newcastle

[ Vic Peace + Capitalist War Machine + infoshop global reports ]

Sydney Marches

Sydney Pictures: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Audio: John Pilger's Speech 1 | 2

A huge crowd, variously estimated between 200,000 and 500,000 people filled Sydney to breaking point, forcing today's March to be rerouted from Hyde Park to the Domain. The single biggest protest ever in Australian history saw people from all walks of life speak as one, saying "NO TO WAR, BRING HOME THE TROOPS".

Reports are emerging of strangely quiet suburban streets. Tell tale signs of something big happening included lack of regular traffic and unsold Sunday newspapers. One Ashbury resident commented, "It was so quiet today during the march....Everyone is talking about it."

From the Newswire...
Comprehensive weekend review from Green Left Weekly.
Compilation of open publishing articles on Sydney Indymedia

---

It began in Melbourne and culminates this afternoon in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. Around the country and all over the world millions of people have made their voices heard opposing a US led war against Iraq. In the biggest protests ever, against a war that's not yet started, democracy is giving politicians a chance to listen to the people.

It's not too late to get involved. Check out the Active Calendar for starting points around the city. All peace walks converge on Hyde Park at midday this afternoon.

A diverse range of groups are promoting and lending support to the anti-war action. Here's just a few -
LaborNET
NSW Greens
Socialist Alliance

Marches Around Australia

News
Protests Won't Sway Australian PM
By JAMIE TARABAY
.c The Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Prime Minister John Howard said he respects the views of hundreds of thousands of Australians who took part in peace protests over the weekend but would not be swayed by their opposition to war with Iraq.

The comments by Howard - once of Washington's staunchest supporters in its tough line against Baghdad - followed a series of anti-war rallies that choked streets in cities and towns across Australia from Friday to Sunday.

Police said at least 200,000 protesters took to Sydney's streets Sunday. But they said the size of the crowd was virtually impossible to estimate because of the sheer mass of people. Organizers of the rally said up to half a million took part.

``This is a very difficult issue, and I respect the fact that a lot of Australians don't agree with me on this,'' Howard told television's Nine Network in an interview Sunday night.

``In the end, my charge as prime minister is to take whatever decision I think is in the best interests of the country, and I believe the way we are handling this is in the best interests of Australia,'' he said.

Howard has not ruled out sending Australian troops to war without a U.N. mandate. He already has dispatched 2,000 troops to the Persian Gulf to prepare for a conflict.

On Monday, Sen. Bob Brown of the leftist Greens party called for a referendum to allow people to vote on whether or not Australia should go to war.

The government rejected the call.

``If it comes to military conflict, then questions of Australian participation in that will be considered by the Cabinet,'' said Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Sydney was not the only scene of large protest marches.

In the southern city of Adelaide, between 70,000 to 100,000 people marched carrying banners pleading with Howard not to send Australia to war.

About 50,000 people demonstrated in the eastern city of Brisbane, while about 2,000 people marched the northern city of Darwin.

A rally in Melbourne on Friday night drew about 150,000 people, and protests in Perth, Canberra and Hobart on Saturday attracted tens of thousands more.

02/17/03 00:59 EST

2) Canada

Montreal

150 000 défilent dans les rues de Montréal contre la guerre
Une foule diverse et haute en couleur de plus de 150 000 personnes a envahi le centre-ville de Montréal le 15 février pour exprimer leur opposition aux politiques aggressives de l'administration américaine. Les manifestant-es ont bravé des températures de l'ordre de -25 ºC (plus facteur éolien!) pour réclamer la paix en Irak et au Moyen-Orient. L'évènement sans précedent fut exécuté en coordination avec plus de 600 manifestations distinctes, partout dans le monde.

L'atmosphère était enthousiaste et amicale, beaucoup de groupes d'âge, d'organisations militantes, et d'affiliations politiques différentes étaient représentés dans la foule. La marche prinicipale partit du Carré Dominion et remplit graduellement la rue Ste-Catherine, jusqu'à St-Denis. Elle se dirigea ensuite sur René-Lévesque pour se rendre devant le Complexe Guy-Favreau, où se tint une assemblée finale. Lorsque les premier-es arrivaient au Complexe Guy-Favreau, les dernier-es n'avaient pas encore quitté le point de départ.

Une perspective americaine sur la manif anti-guerre a Montréal
Compte-rendu Photos: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Vidéo

150 000 flood the streets of Montreal against war

A colourful and diverse crowd of over 150,000 people flooded the streets of downtown Montreal on February 15th to express their disagreement with the belligerent policies of the Bush administration. The protesters braved -25 ºC (-13 ºF) temperatures (plus windchill!) to demand peace in Iraq and the Middle East. The massive rally and march were coordinated with anti-war demonstrations in over 600 other cities around the world.

The atmosphere was very friendly, and many different organizations, age groups, and political affiliations were represented within the crowd. Slowly snaking its way eastward on Ste-Catherine, the march made a right turn at St-Denis, and then another right onto René-Lévesque, where a final rally was held in front of the Guy-Favreau complex. As the first demonstrators arrived at this final destination, the march's tail end had yet to depart the initial gathering point.

A New Yorker's take on the anti-war rally in Montreal 2/15
Photos: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Vidéo

Ontario
reports from the following locations in Ontario:

Guelph (report and pix)
Kitchener-Waterloo
London
Ottawa: photos (1 | 2 | 3 ), and visit IMC
Sudbury: report, photos
Thunder Bay: Visit their IMC
Toronto: preliminary report, video [TVAC]

Toronto
From: command@. interlog.com

NoWar - Photos & Report (Toronto)
Peace Moves to Number One - Feb.15.2003
Report from anon at http://citizensontheweb.com

Photos anyone can use
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar1.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar2.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar3.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar4.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar5.jpg
http://home.eol.ca/~command/pic/nowar6.jpg

News from anon:

Millions of people protested worldwide Saturday, proving that peace
and opposition to war are still the number one reasons to demonstrate.
The biggest protest in British history took place, yet an unmoved Tony
Blair continued to describe war as a Labour Project. Admitting that
innocents would be killed Blair said roughly that eliminating Saddam and
the sanctions would save lives.

In Toronto the weather was bitterly cold but a huge crowd came out.
Estimates ranged from 10,000 by some corporate media to 100,000 by other
groups.

Eye witness report

Traveling to the demo I saw mostly youth moving through the cold
downtown neighbourhoods. At Dundas Square a crowd had gathered. More
young people, now mixed in with older peace protesters.

I went behind and up on a stone platform to take a photo. Looking
bleakly through lobotomized eyes I mistakenly took a shot of the back of
a woman's head. Then I began to wonder why the others were so energetic
and enthusiastic. TV and corporate media have rendered me brain dead,
yet it seems to have left other old peace types untouched. They still
chant and leap about with signs and banners.

Later at a report-back from the world social forum, I saw more of
them cheering and applauding an excited story of the march by Judy
Rebick. The speakers list for the Toronto demo included Abdul
Rehman-Malik, Ken Georgetti, Cathy Crowe, Jack Layton, Kemi Jacobs and
Judy Rebick. I didn't hear any of them. Instead I hurried off and hid in
the shadowy corner of a huge parking garage. Jack Layton was there on
the platform before I left so I imagine that he does still care the
utmost for people and not a whole lot for seals.

As I shivered in shadows, I remembered the Osama cartoons Colin Powel
presented on TV during the week and felt much safer knowing that I
wouldn't be blown up if he chose the march as an attack point.

A distant drone from the rally speakers reached me and I considered
my personal preference to be one of removing all activists over 40 from
positions of power. When you're around taking photos you get tired of
hearing them and feel younger people would do a better job of running
things.

Let's face it; being brain dead isn't something you can fake your way
out of. And I know because I'm one of them.

When the march began I felt a whole lot better. Looking down from the
parking garage I watched a sea of people passing in the street. It must
have taken something like 40 minutes for the crowd to pass. They
stretched from Dundas Square to Metro Hall.

It was almost like being young again. Chants rose and echoed.
Sunshine painted frosty streets of inspired people. Then it all got
blurry and I walked off into the dark underground of Osama, Bush, Blair,
war and lobotomy.

War Report:

US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice responded to the
protests by stating that the US isn't backing down. She thinks we are in
a diplomatic window right now ... one that will be followed by war.
Blair says that February 28th and another weapons report will be the
final deadline.

The worldwide peace effort has put a finger in the dike of war,
meaning the US is slightly stunned and watering down a new Security
Council resolution in an attempt to get it passed.

Military buildup and preparations for war are complete, so the US
will probably attack soon. My guess is March 4th.

This will not be a war but more of a slaughter. 2,000 cruise and
other missiles will suddenly hit targets in Iraq. American forces will
move in using incredible firepower against a rag tag army that can't
fight back. Since the sanctions have cut off medical supplies and
necessities, maimed and mutilated Iraqi civilians will suffer
unbelievable torment. People that wanted to play unarmed soldier by
being human shields will be roasted alive. At the height of it the
Americans will enter Baghdad and unleash the army of Iraqi liberation
they have trained. Saddam will likely escape unharmed as dictators
usually do and of course the liberated Iraq will be littered with
radioactive metals and dust from the missile and bomb tips. This
radioactivity can't be cleaned up and means cancer for the people of
Iraq.

A better option would probably be containment of Saddam as France and
Germany want, and the removal of the sanctions. The Americans should be
taken out of any Iraq solution as George Bush and his oil and military
backers only want war as a foreign policy tool. They profit from
supplying the military with bombs. Bush will gain the popularity victory
brings, and Big Oil will profit when the contracts to develop those
enormous Iraqi fields are turned over to them.

Peace contacts
anti_wartoronto@yahoo.com

http://feb15.webhop.org
http://www.torontoiraqmarch.com
http://www.tcaswi.org
For cross Canada events:
http://www.acp-cpa.ca

3) United Kingdom

London

In London organisers estimated between 1.5 million and 2 million people took part in the largest uk protest ever. Here is a timeline of the historic London demonstration, followed by additional links.

Timeline London:
[20.30] Areas of Picadilly and Shaftsbury Ave. were almost fully cleared by 8:30pm.
[20.00] A spontaneous sitdown in Shaftesbury Avenue was closed, and two demonstrators were arrested. Area is covered with police. In Picadilly, police is letting people out of the containtment, but groups of people are starting to sit down again.
[19.45] A section 60 style containtment was placed on the demo at Picadilly. About 300 people, including the Samba band, are surrounded by the police. A second wave of police are dragging people on the sides into the area. Report of police brutality. Report of a day out with Rhytms of Resistance.
[19.45] 15 people left in the sit-in and the crowd support is tremendous. As those from the sit-in are being dragged off there is cheering for each one. Atmosphere is fairly chilled out despite stong police presence. One person was arrested and an indy-camerawoman attacked by police [audioreport]
[19.15] The sit down protest by ARROW is slowly being dispersed by police. The police are carrying them away one by one and there are currently about 25 people left. 15 vans of riot police now arriving. Hundreds of people are there outside the police lines, dancing and supporting the sit-in. The mass global protests now continue with thousands in New York City.
[19.00] Around 100 people now at the sit-in, and the Samba band has arrived changing the atmosphere. 1000 people now in supporting them.
[18.45] Grovsnor Square cleared, and 50 people on sit down in Piccadilly, with 200 people supporting, surrounded by police, blocking the whole area.
[18.30] Reports of around 2,000 people in Grovsenor Sqaure, and a sit-in taking place in Piccadilly Circus. Pic and report
[17.30] Samba band takes a wander with hundreds of dancers towards the US embassy, but gets blocked by police vans, now wandering the backstreets. Global reports coming in of massive marches around europe - see below for details.
[17.00] March still passing Piccadilly Circus (pics), as the daylight fades. Speeches have finished and people are leaving the park, some to their busses and others to the Arrow meetup in Green Park.
[16.30] Police helicopters are hovering 100 metres above the crowd, drowning out anti-war speeches [shame!] and causing many to go home early. US embassy is totally surounded by police anticipating protesters gathering, but a small breakaway group gets within inches of Grosvenor Square. An Indymedia 'Public access point' has set up on Hyde Park corner.
[16.00] A speaker from the main stage in Hyde Park has just announced that an estimated 2 million people have attended (unconfirmed). The march is still leaving Embankment! More soundsystems are on the way and a samba band is dancing towards the Park.
[15.30] An autonomous space complete with soundsystem and info emerged in Hyde Park. Photo
[15.00] Crowds continue to converge at Piccadilly Circus joining the hundreds of thousands that have been marching down Picadilly from the Embankment and from Gower St. A great atmosphere is building. The protesters are in good spirit considering the sub-zero temperature [video]. A group of 100 attempt to go to the US embassy, but are dispersed by aggressive policing.
[13.00] There are already more people at the London anti-war demo than the 400,000 who officially came to the last one. It's huge!The route of the march ahead was virtually empty as all streeets were closed to traffic. The protesters started gathering early this morning at both Embankment and Gower Street armed with banners and placards. Due to the unprecedented number of protesters, the demonstration had to start off early at 11am instead of the 12 noon. Before long the streets of central London were packed with people from all over the UK. A truly diverse range of people came together to protest. This is just one of hundreds of protests round the globe.

Pictures: London: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |

Glasgow
A major demo in Glasgow (up to 100,000) showed Blair who was in town earlier what is thought of his war-plans.
Check [Imc Ireland] and [Imc Scotland]

Pictures: Glasgow: 1 | 2 | video

For anyone interested, you'll find photos of today's Anti-War demonstration in Glasgow, Scotland at
the following URL: http://www.ednet.co.uk/~walkerslater/antiwar/

News:
One million. And still they came
The Observer (UK)
February 16, 2003

Euan Ferguson reports on a historic peace march whose
massive turnout surpassed the organisers' wildest
expectations and Tony Blair's worst fears

By Euan Ferguson Sunday

'Are there any more coming, then?'

There have been dafter questions, but not many. At 1.10
yesterday afternoon, Mike Wiseman from Newcastle upon
Tyne placed his accordion carefully on the ground below
Hyde Park's gates and rubbed cold hands together. Two
elderly women, hand in hand in furs, passed through,
still humming the dying notes from his 'Give Peace A
Chance'. They were, had he known it, early, part of a
tiny crowd straggling into Hyde Park before the march
proper.

Half a mile away, round the corner in Piccadilly, the
ground shook. An ocean, a perfect storm of people.
Banners, a bobbing cherry-blossom of banners, covered
every inch back to the Circus - and for miles beyond,
south to the river, north to Euston.

Ahead of the marchers lay one remaining silent half-
mile. The unprecedented turnout had shocked the
organisers, shocked the marchers. And there at the end
before them, high on top of the Wellington Arch, the
four obsidian stallions and their vicious conquering
chariot, the very Spirit of War, were stilled, rearing
back - caught, and held, in the bare branches and
bright chill of Piccadilly, London, on Saturday 15
February 2003.

Are there any more coming? Yes, Mike. Yes, I think
there are some more coming.

It was the biggest public demonstration ever held in
Britain, surpassing every one of the organisers'
wildest expectations and Tony Blair's worst fears, and
it will be remembered for the bleak bitterness of the
day and the colourful warmth of feeling in the
extraordinary crowds. Organisers claimed that more than
1.5 million had turned out; even the police agreed to
750,000 and rising.

By three o'clock in the afternoon they were still
streaming out of Tube stations to join the end of the
two routes, from Gower Street in the north and
Embankment by the river. 'Must be another march,'
grumbled the taxi driver, then, trying in vain to
negotiate Tottenham Court Road. No, I said; it's the
same one, still going, and he turned his head in shock.
'Bloody Jesus! Well, good luck to them I say.' There
were, of course, the usual suspects - CND, Socialist
Workers' Party, the anarchists. But even they looked
shocked at the number of their fellow marchers: it is
safe to say they had never experienced such a mass of
humanity.

There were nuns. Toddlers. Women barristers. The Eton
George Orwell Society. Archaeologists Against War.
Walthamstow Catholic Church, the Swaffham Women's Choir
and Notts County Supporters Say Make Love Not War (And
a Home Win against Bristol would be Nice). They won
2-0, by the way. One group of SWP stalwarts were
joined, for the first march in any of their histories,
by their mothers. There were country folk and
lecturers, dentists and poulterers, a hairdresser from
Cardiff and a poet from Cheltenham.

Cheer upon cheer went up. There were cheers as marchers
were given updates about turnout elsewhere in the world
- 90,000 in Glasgow, two million on the streets of
Rome. There was a glorious cheer, at Piccadilly Circus,
when the twin ribbons met, just before one o'clock.

The mood was astonishingly friendly. 'Would you like a
placard, sir?' Sir? The police laughed. One, stopping a
marcher from going through a barricade in Trafalgar
Square, told him it was a sterile area, only to be met
with a hearty backslap. 'Sterile area? Where did that
one come from.' 'I know,' shrugged the bobby. 'Bollocks
language, isn't it?'

'I'm not political, not at all. I don't even watch the
news,' said Alvina Desir, queuing on the Embankment for
the start of the march at noon. 'I've never been on a
march in my life and never had any intention. But
something's happened recently, to me and so many
friends - we just know there's something going wrong in
this country. No one's being consulted, and it's
starting to feel worrying - more worrying than the
scaremongering we've been getting about the terrorist
threat. I simply don't see how war can be the answer
and I don't know anyone who does. And, apart from
anything else, as a black woman in London, it feels
dangerous to spread racial tension after all that's
been done.'

A Cheshire fireman nearby said: 'They will take notice
of a protest like this. Our MPs, and Blair himself ,
were voted in by ordinary people like those here today.
Blair is clever enough not to ignore this.'

Linda Homan, sitting on bench at 9.30 in the morning,
watching a bright and dancing Thames, had come down
early from Cambridge and was wondering at that stage
whether many would turn up. Palettes of placards lay
strewn along the Embankment, waiting. A trolley was
pushed past filled with flags and whistles; there were
more police - then, way back then - than marchers.
'I've never felt strongly enough about anything before.
But this is so different; I would have let myself down
by not coming and I think this will be something to
remember.'

For Linda, like so many along these streets, it was her
first march. Twelve-year-old Charlotte Wright, who came
up by train from Guildford, Surrey, on her own. 'My
parents aren't very happy about this but I think it's
important. Bombing people isn't the right way to sort a
problem out.' Jenny Mould, 36, a teacher from Devon. 'I
drove up last night. It took seven hours but it was
definitely worth it; the Government should, it must,
listen to the people, otherwise what's the point in
democracy?'

Retired solicitor Thomas Elliot from Basildon, Essex, a
virgin marcher at 73, said: 'I remember the war and the
effect the bombing had on London. War should only be
used when absolutely necessary.' Andrew Miller, 33,
from New Zealand, whose feeling, echoed by all around,
was that 'all the different groups that are marching
today show the world that the West is not the enemy,
that British people do not hate Islam and Arabs and the
coming together of people is the greatest way forward.'
Lesley Taylor, a constitutional law lecturer who's
lived across here for 29 years, holding a forlorn
placard reading 'American against the war.' Why only
one? 'I don't know any other Americans here. In the
Eighties here I saw a lot of anti-American resentment,
and now it's back. I accept that the perception of
George W. Bush has something to do with this, but
still... these are the same people the thinking middle-
classes, who were so shocked and honestly sympathetic
after September 11: how can they turn so nasty so
quickly?

'Because America is making your Prime Minister go
against the huge majority of the British people. And
that won't be forgiven. Look about you. That's what
this is about; not fierce party politics but a simple
feeling that democracy, British democracy, has been
forgotten.'

Chris Wall, a Nottingham mother who had brought down
eight children with her: 'They talk about it at school
and that's a good thing. Children need to be aware of
what's happening in the world. And this is, of course,
a peaceful protest.' It remained so all day, despite
the numbers; by five o'clock police were reporting only
three arrests.

In Hyde Park itself, a long line of purple silk lay on
the grass, facing Mecca, and Muslims took off their
shoes to pray. Beside it, artist Nicola Green had set
up her Laughing Booth, and was encouraging people in
to, obviously, start laughing, on their own, and be
recorded; it was, she says, the most disarming of all
weapons. The sky above the nearby stage grew dark, and
the park grew even more astonishingly full.

Charles Kennedy won loud applause for stating that 'The
report from Hans Blix gives no moral case for war on
Iraq'; George Galloway won both applause and laughter
for suggesting a new slogan: 'Don't attack Chirac'. Mo
Mowlam warned: 'We will lose this war. It will be the
best recruiting campaign for terrorists that there
could be. They will hate us even more.'

4) France

Paris

Des Manifs anti-guerre monstres, "du jamais vu"est le commentaire le plus fréquent.
- La manifestation à Paris a probablement dépassé les 800.000 personnes
autres photos : 1 2 3 4

- on attend les chiffres de plus de 50 villes françaises, on ne connait pour l'instant que Lyon, 20.000 et Bordeaux (11.000 selon Le Monde... ou selon Juppé ?), Nice, 15.000, Montpellier, 15 à 20.000,

Eyewitness report from Paris
Date: 2/16/2003 9:30:53 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: info@war-times.org

The French Peace Movement says, "Non a la Guerre!"

War Times art director Gerald Lenoir sends this report of yesterday's huge demonstration in Paris, France. Gerald is in France through an invitation extended to War Times by Mouvement de la Paix, the organization that coordinated yesterday's march in Paris.

Over the last week, he's participated in press conferences, meetings with local peace groups in several cities and towns, and conversations with government officials -- all to let the people of France know that we in the U.S. are also doing our part to stop the war.

Now a word from your sponsor: As you probably know, War Times is supported almost entirely by contributions from individual folks who want to see us keep publishing. Yesterday, the people of the world stood up for peace. Now more than ever, we in this country must do our part to stop the Bush administration's agenda of all-war, all the time, all over the world.

Please help War Times do our part. Visit http://www.war-times.org and make an on-line donation. Thank you.

Here is Gerald's report:

PARIS, FRANCE

Despite intense pressure from the Bush administration, French President Jacques Chirac continues to maintain that France will veto a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing a war in Iraq. Today, I witnessed firsthand why Chirac maintains his firm antiwar stance.

I joined with hundreds of thousands of people who poured into the streets of Paris to protest against a war in Iraq. A veritable rainbow coalition of peace partisans -- Africans, Arabs, whites and Asians -- marched from a square on the Right Bank of the Seine River and converged on the Place de la Bastille (Plaza of the Bastille) on the Left Bank, chanting, "Non a la guerre! Oui, a la paix!" (No to war! Yes to peace!). Thousands more lined the march route clapping and chanting as the peace procession passed by.

The demonstration was the third protest against a war in Iraq to be organized in Paris in the last four months, and by far the largest. Peace rallies were also organized in 72 other cities and towns in France.

At the front of the march, national and local politicians of all political stripes registered the consensus of the French government -- that stepped-up inspections, not war, is the best way to disarm Iraq. Behind them, a group of United States citizens living in Paris walked under the banner of "Americans Against the War." And in the crowd were people from 200 cities and towns in France and from many dozens of organizations.

"I am here because I'm against this stupid war. There is no reason at all for Bush to go war," said Alain Valma, a demonstrator from Paris. "In Europe, most of the people don't want this war. All these peace demonstrations are going to help the antiwar coalition in Europe to resist Bush."

Recent polls reveal that over 75% of the French people oppose a war with Iraq, even a war supported by the United Nations. Similar percentages appear in polls throughout Europe.

The massive demonstration was coordinated by Mouvement de la Paix (Peace Movement), a 54-year-old national peace organization. Seventy-five other organizations were part of the coordinating committee, including national trade unions, political parties, student organizations, Arab organizations and peace groups.

"The peace movement is very alive. The size of this demonstration is more than double the size of last month's march," said Brigitte Loigerot, an organizer for Mouvement de la Paix. "We believe that it will have a great impact on [President] Chirac. We expect that he will use his veto right at the United Nations."

Arielle Denis, co-president of Mouvement de la Paix, says the organization plans to keep up the pressure on Chirac. For International Women's Day on March 8, the antiwar coalition Denis heads will sponsor events featuring prominent women who are against the war to highlight the impact a war would have on the women of Iraq.

"Despite the Bush administration's efforts to isolate France for daring to threaten to veto a war resolution, the antiwar demonstrations that occurred today in Europe, the United States and throughout the world have underscored the growing isolation of the United States government," Denis said. "There now exists the possibility to stop a war in Iraq before it starts."

5) Iraq

Ferner from Baghdad #7
Date: 2/16/2003
From: mferner@utoledo.edu

Baghdad Journal # 7
2/16/03

AT NOON EACH DAY, STOP ONE MINUTE TO STOP THE WAR!!

Friends:

Yesterday Feb.15 was simply wonderful. No doubt you participated a
demonstration somewhere or at least saw news reports of the
global peace rallies. Here's the word we've gotten at the Iraq Peace
Team (IPT) office here in Baghdad: A half-million in Australia, a
million in Rome, a million and a half in London, half-million or more in
Damascus, hundreds of thousands in Bangkok, and on and
one all over the planet.

It's certainly the first time in my lifetime that this many people have
mobilized around the earth to stop a war before it starts. (not
including the sanctions, several bombings under Clinton etc.). I saw
some footage of the demonstrations in several cities yesterday
on local TV, and it was so inspiring and heartwarming to see people in
every corner of the globe rallying, chanting, marching,
demanding peace. What a tribute to the human spirit and to our hopes
for democracy at the same time. Governments around the
planet ignore this sentiment at their own risk.

Here in Baghdad, we had our own march for peace. The IPT folks (about
30 at this time) were joined by an equal number of Italians,
and the Human Shield folks finally arrived (sans buses) and there were a
few people from Okinawa, a bunch from Turkey, a couple
from Sweden, a couple Slovenians, several French, a couple Spanish and
on and on and on. (and 20 Koreans are waiting in Jordan
for visas) There were about 150 of us from around the planet marching
through the streets of Baghdad, stopping at the Al-Rashid
Bridge at noon for a minute of silence and standing.
The international press corps covers our actions in depth and
consistently. Of course, the U.S. press is noticably absent from just
about everything we do. What little you've seen or heard about the
peace movement's message in Baghdad amounts to about 1% of
the total, and a drop in the bucket compared to what the rest of the
world is seeing and hearing. Surprise, surprise!

Yesterday was my first afternoon off since arriving. I'm not
complaining (well, OK, I am) but since getting here it's been pretty
much 14-16hour days straight until yesterday afternoon. It feels so good I
may just go and hang out with the Italians for a while this
afternoon and see if they brought any vino with them.
A couple highlights:

1) You'll not see this unless you can get Spanish or Portugese TV, but I
have to tell you how completely satisfying it is to have a
reporter ask these two questions and be able to answer them straight
from the heart:
a) Reporter: "Do you think your efforts here will do any good?" Me:
"(the usual bit, and then a line about helping energize the U.S.
peace movement that ends with...) and I hope my colleagues back home
will sit down the way workers did to win unions in the
1930's--peacefully and powerfully. We can stop this war but only if we
throw a giant wrench into the machinery of war."
b) Reporter: "(something about Bush's reasons for going to war--to free
the Iraq people etc and b.s.) Me: and this is the whole quote
right into the camera: "George Bush lies."
Damn, does that feel good!
Later today I'll see some press reports of the demonstrations in the
U.S. I'm dying to hear how it went in New York, and of course,
Findlay, Ohio.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful supportive notes and for your great
work on behalf of the people here.
In love and solidarity,

Mike

PS DON'T FORGET!!!
STOP ONE MINUTE TO STOP THE WAR!

News:
Thousands in Iraq March to Support Saddam
By HAMZA HENDAWI
.c The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Dancing to drums and tambourines, tens of thousands of Iraqis - many of them armed with Kalashnikovs - demonstrated across the country on Saturday to support President Saddam Hussein and denounce the United States.

``Our swords are out of their sheaths, ready for battle,'' read one of hundreds of banners carried by marchers along Palestine Street, a broad Baghdad avenue.

Many hoisted giant pictures of Saddam and some burned American and Israeli flags in a demonstration presided over by Sameer Abdel-Aziz al-Nijm, a senior member of Saddam's ruling Baath Party.

``We are here ... to show the United States and Britain we are not frightened,'' said housewife Sameera Wahab, 61. ``We want to show the world we are not afraid of their threats.''

The demonstrations came on a day of anti-war protests around the world - and a day after the United States and Britain failed to persuade their allies on the U.N. Security Council to support their threatened war against Iraq.

``The voice of peace is louder than the threats of war,'' said al-Nijm. ``But if they want war, we are ready for it.''

U.N. weapons inspectors indicated Friday that Saddam has shown increasing cooperation with their mission to make sure Iraq has eliminated weapons of mass destruction. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said after meeting Pope John Paul II in Rome that Iraq will do ``whatever is possible'' to show the world Iraq has no such weapons.

Saddam met Saturday with a papal envoy, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who traveled to Baghdad this week with a message from the pope, who has spoken strongly against an attack on Iraq.

The cardinal declined to discuss the contents of the pope's letter.

``I asked whether all that can be done to guarantee peace has been ... so that Iraq can resume its place in the international community,'' Etchegaray said after the 90-minute meeting. He didn't say how Saddam responded.

In a gesture to the United Nations, Saddam issued a decree just before the chief inspectors' presentation outlawing the production of importing of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the materials used to make them.

``All ministries should implement this decree and take whatever measures are necessary to punish people who do not adhere to it,'' the decree read.

Iraq's parliament had been expected to adopt similar legislation Friday, but Saddam - apparently wanting to stamp a key decision with his own name - issued the ban minutes before parliament met.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reacted with skepticism. ``If one would want to make believe and pretend that Iraq is a democracy that could pass meaningful laws, it would be 12 years late and 26,000 liters of anthrax short,'' he said.

Thousands of demonstrators marched along the Euphrates River near the ruins of Babylon, 60 miles south of Baghdad, some carrying traditional Iraqi swords.

The demonstration on Palestine Street appeared carefully scripted. Senior leaders of the Baath Party, led by Al-Nijm, greeted demonstrators from a stage built for the occasion while sharpshooters watched from surrounding rooftops.

Some demonstrators wore the olive green uniforms of the Baath Party. Women in black chadors held pictures of Saddam. Men in traditional Arab robes carried rifles.

``God has mercy on those who come to us,'' a man yelled into a megaphone.

Dozens of foreigners also staged a brief vigil for peace on a central Baghdad bridge over the Tigris River. Many waved rainbow flags, and some wore traditional Arab headdresses. Others wore black T-shirts reading ``War is not the answer,'' while one French activist wore a Superman T-shirt.

Kenneth Webb, a 32-year-old graphic designer from San Francisco, said he intends to remain in Iraq if war breaks out ``so it won't be just the body parts of the Iraqi people but of everyone - and that could make a difference.''

``I should hope it matters,'' said Lisa Ndejura, 32, a student at the University of Quebec in Montreal. ``If it doesn't, then the world is in much worse condition than I thought.''

The demonstrations made no reference to Friday's events at the United Nations, but Baghdad was certain to take heart from the responses of China, France and Russia - three Security Council members with veto power - that inspections are making progress and should be given more time.

While speeches from France and Russia drew applause, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was met with silence as he pressed reluctant allies to threaten Iraq with force, saying they should not be taken in by ``tricks that are being played on us.''

``More inspections - I am sorry - are not the answer,'' Powell told the Security Council.

Iraq's 250-seat parliament unanimously adopted a strongly worded resolution Friday accusing America and Britain of scheming to control Iraq and steal its oil. Before voting on the resolution, lawmakers took turns to condemn America and pledge their loyalty to Saddam.

Iraq is barred from having weapons of mass destruction under U.N. resolutions adopted after the 1991 Gulf War. U.N. inspectors oversaw the destruction of the bulk of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons after the war and dismantled the country's program to develop nuclear weapons. Inspections resumed in November after a four-year break to search for remaining weapons or revived programs.

On Saturday, inspectors visited a factory that builds fuses for missiles, an ammunition depot north of Baghdad, a heavy engines factory on the outskirts of the capital, an agricultural college west of Baghdad and the Saddam Center for Technology at Baghdad University, according to Iraq's Information Ministry.

02/15/03 08:57 EST

6) Italy

Rome

Rome: Over 2 million say no to war
Date: 2/16/2003
From: nestor_mcnab@yahoo.co.uk

Rome, Italy. After the cold, wind and rain of the previous week,
the skies were blue and the sun warm for what promised to be a
massive refusal by the people of war and the italian
government's toadying to the US. And our hopes were not
unfounded.

As usual, estimates of the number of participants varied widely,
from the laughable 650,000 put forward by the police, to a
somewhat overenthusiatic 3 million plus, but the most likely
figure was somewhere in the region of 2 to 2.5 million. What
matters most though is that the entire city of Rome was taken
over and brought to a halt by the people for the day.

The march was due to begin at 2pm, but the sheer volume of
participants was so great that the first sectors had to set off
at about 9.30am, and groups of demonstrators were still leaving
from the starting point at 4pm!

Following a call by a promoting group which included the
anarchist federations, a distinct block was formed on a platform
of total opposition to all wars and all racism and characterized
by anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism and anti-militarism.
This sector, led by the anarchist federations, numbered around
2000, possibly more, with around 200 anarchists and plenty of
red'n'black flags in evidence. Members of the Federation of
Anarchist Communists distributed copies of the international
declaration "Libertarians against all wars" [*] which was very
well received.

At one point, the anti-authoritarian sector deviated from the
main march and arrived at its separate destination with everyone
content for what was in effect a successful, visible
demonstration of self-managed, anti-capitalist forces.

nmcn

Note:
see http://alternativelibertaire.org/index.php?dir=international&page=wir80.html

Aggiornamenti dall'Italia
rassegna stampa: il corriere della sera | l'unita' | la repubblica
Foto Roma [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 ]
08:48 - curva sud anti-war Bergamo [ 1 | 2 ]
07:38 - Pietrasanta (LU)
02:34 - foto Torino
11.40 - milano: foto dal dirigibile
01.30 - no war fly zone
01.30 - viareggio contro la guerra
23.30 - Trapani contro la guerra
18:13 - Manifestanti a Milano
18:00 - Invasione degli ultracorpi
17:43 - Roma e' invasa
16:11 - Il corteo a Roma si divide in due
15:44 - Forse 3 milioni
15:35 - Berlusconi per la pace
15:10 - Media Center dal corteo... in cammino
15:00 - Più di duemila persone a Caltanisetta
14:07 - 5000 persone a Monza in corteo contro la guerra
13:58 - Forse gia un milione
13:00 - Partito in anticipo il corteo a Roma
12:30 - Gia decine di migliaia al concentramento
notte del 14 - Aggressione fascista al Forte Prenestino

Aggiornamenti dal resto del mondo [ aggiornamenti anche da infoshop ]
08:45 - Paesi Baschi, piu' di 200.000
08:32 - Euskal Herria contro la guerra
07:30 - per la pace a Ramallah
07:22 - foto Berlino
04:39 - un po' di numeri..
04.39 - global overview
03:33 - foto NYC
02:25 - Timor Est
01:29 - Barcellona
01:16 - Madrid
12:51 - Brazil
11:35 - notizie da Bagdad
09:15 - ancora Sidney
08:30 - nyc 500:000 persone 311 arresti molti feriti
07.45 - corteo a Varsavia
07.30 - 250mila a sidney [1 | 2]
04.30 - video da Barcellona
04.30 - foto londra: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
03.15 - foto Seattle
02:15 - Sudafrica : Johannesburg (10000 persone), Durban (3000 persone), Cape Town (5000 persone).
02.00 - 30000 persone a Sao Paolo [ 1 | 2 ] e 600 persone Fortaleza, migliaia al Carnevale contro la Guerra a Rio.
01.30 - ultime news1 | 2 || Arresti e feriti a New York | 500mila persone
01.15 - Manifestazione a Buenos Aires
24.35 - Foto da Tel Aviv
22.56 - live broadcast a san Francisco
22.35 - Foto da Barcellona
22.30 - Foto da Saragozza
21.45 - da Berna 1 - 2 - foto
20:46 - Foto da Amsterdam
20:43 - Da Barcellona
20:42 - Manifestazione in Chiapas
20:27 - Foto da Berlino
20:18 - Prime foto da Londra
20:07 - Okinawa in corteo
20:06 - Ultima da New York
19:29 - Corteo a Helsinki
19:28 - Cinquemila a Lussemburgo
19:27 - Da Copenaghen
19:26 - Corteo a Ramallah
19:15 - Manifestazioni a Istanbul
19:13 - Ultime da New York
19:07 - Corrispondenza da Parigi
19:00 - Corrispondenza da Londra
18:58 - Riassunto varie citta` del mondo
18:56 - Giappone: Osaka
18:52 - Corrispondenza da Belfast
18:40 - Foto da Atene
18:37 - Corrispondenza audio da Tokyo
18:23 - Riassunti del F15 in tutto il mondo
18:00 - Aggiornamenti Spagna
17:55 - 1000 manifestanti a Tel Aviv
17:38 - Scozia e Irlanda
17:23 - manifestazione a Baghdad [report | foto]
17:19 - 500.000 persone a Berlino. Foto [ 1 | 2 | 3 ]
16:53 - 150.000 persone ad Amsterdam. Alcune foto [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] e audio.
16:08 - 250.000 persone in Siviglia
16:00 - tra 1 e 2 milioni di persone a Londra
13:53 - Foto da Melborune
13:45 - Partito corteo a Londra
13:01 - 55 manifestazioni in Spagna
12:33 - 10.000 persone a Manila il 14 febbraio
04:35 - 200.000 persone a Melbourne 1 | 2 | 3 | foto

News:
Iraq's Aziz Joins Peace Prayers in Italy
By NICOLE WINFIELD
.c The Associated Press

ASSISI, Italy (AP) - Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz issued a plea for peace Saturday after warning Europe against supporting a U.S.-led attack on Iraq, urging the world to ``resist war and the intentions of aggression.''

Aziz made the plea in the Umbrian hilltown of Assisi, where he participated in a series of peace prayers with Franciscan friars on a day when demonstrations took place around the globe to protest a possible war.

``My message is peace,'' Aziz said outside the Basilica of St. Francis after the prayer. ``The people of Iraq want peace. And millions of people around the world are demonstrating for peace, so let us all work for peace and resist the war and the intentions of aggression.''

The Rev. Enzo Fortunato, a spokesman for the Franciscans, said Aziz's visit to the tomb of St. Francis - the medieval monk known for his message of peace - was important because ``the world needs images of peace to conquer the images of war.''

When asked whether Aziz might use the visit for political purposes, Fortunato replied: ``Whoever comes to Assisi can call himself a man of peace, but he is called to realize, with concrete gestures, that which he proclaims.''

Aziz, a Chaldean Christian, insisted after meeting with Pope John Paul II on Friday that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and, after the latest report from U.N. weapons inspectors, promised greater cooperation with arms searches.

At a press conference Friday, Aziz warned Europeans against supporting Washington in any war against Iraq, saying the impact would be felt across the Arab world.

``When anything happens in Europe, it affects us in the Middle East, in the Arab world,'' he said. ``Therefore, the Europeans should be very careful when they say 'we support George Bush' because they encourage him to do mischief, to make aggression. They should not.''

During a sometimes tense press conference at the Foreign Press Association, Aziz also refused to answer a question by an Israeli journalist about whether Iraq would target Israel during a war.

Aziz responded: ``When I came to this press conference it was not in my agenda to answer questions by the Israeli media. Sorry.''

Some journalists in the packed room of the association's headquarters whistled and booed at that reply, and one later asked the same question.

To that question Aziz replied: ``We don't have the means to attack anyone outside our territory.''

On Saturday, Aziz took part in a simple ceremony at the tomb of St. Francis, an intimate, stone chapel decorated with fragrant lilies underneath the lower basilica of the main church.

Assisi has long been associated with St. Francis' message of peace, and the pope last year held a daylong, inter-religious peace prayer service in Assisi in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the ceremony, Aziz joined the clergy in two symbolic gestures: holding an oil peace lamp and being shown an ivory horn that was presented to St. Francis in 1219 by the then-sultan of Egypt, Melek el-Kamel.

The lantern was the same one used by participants in the pope's peace day and recalled his message urging all believers to be ``lights of peace,'' while the horn is a symbol of friendship between peoples, the Franciscans said.

Aziz also signed a book on the altar that the Franciscans said was a commitment to peace, writing: ``May God the Almighty grant peace to the people of Iraq and the whole world. Amen.''

Those gathered then read a prayer issued by John Paul last year in Assisi: ``Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In God's name, may all religions bring upon earth justice and peace, forgiveness, life and love.''

On Friday, Aziz met for about 30 minutes with the pope, one of the most outspoken opponents to any new war against Iraq.

On Saturday, the pope's envoy to Iraq, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, met with President Saddam Hussein, the Vatican said. The Vatican has urged Iraq to show ``concrete commitments'' to disarm.

The pope and Vatican officials have said a war would have no legal or moral justification and could unleash Muslim anger against Christians.

Aziz is to leave Italy on Sunday.

02/15/03 10:16 EST

Rome mayor snubs Aziz after anti-Israel comment

ROME, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The mayor of Rome snubbed Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz on Sunday, cancelling their scheduled meeting after Aziz refused to answer a question from an Israeli journalist at a news conference.

Mayor Walter Veltroni, who was due to meet Aziz on Sunday morning before the Iraqi left Italy to return to Baghdad, delivered the news in a stern letter.

"I'm writing to inform you that I find myself obliged to cancel our meeting," Veltroni wrote, according to a copy of the letter sent to Reuters.

"The reason is because of your refusal to answer a question posed to you by an Israeli journalist at a news conference held at the Foreign Press Association (on Friday)," it continued.

"Rome, Mr deputy prime minister, has always had absolute respect for dialogue and the civil exchange of ideas, not to mention, obviously, freedom of opinion and free access to information," the centre-left mayor wrote.

"I cannot accept that a public figure like yourself, the representative of another country, can set a veto and discriminate against someone, denying them the right to express themselves, no matter what position they may represent."

Aziz came to Italy last Thursday and during a busy four-day stay held a high-profile meeting with Pope John Paul at the Vatican and prayed at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi on the same day that millions around the world marched for peace.

It was on Friday, after his meeting with the pope, that Aziz gave a news conference at the Foreign Press Association. For more than half an hour, he took questions from more than a dozen journalists and gave fairly full answers.

But when a correspondent for Israeli newspaper Maariv stood up and asked whether, in the case of war, Iraq intended to attack Israel, Aziz responded:

"When I came to this press conference, it was not in my agenda to answer questions by the Israeli media. Sorry."

The response drew boos and hisses from some journalists and several walked out. Later, another journalist asked the same question and Aziz answered: "We don't have the means to attack anyone outside our territory."

Veltroni closed his letter saying that if Iraq and its representatives could not adhere to the principles of liberty and democracy, "there can be no hope for your country, nor for a solution to the crisis in the Middle East, nor for the prospect of a more just and peaceful world."

02/16/03 12:20 ET

7) Japan

Tokyo

1,800 in Hiroshima protest possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq
.c Kyodo News Service

HIROSHIMA, Feb. 16 (Kyodo) - Some 1,800 people took part in an antiwar gathering and demonstration in Hiroshima on Sunday to protest a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq, organizers said.

The event, organized by 30 organizations including groups of survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings and labor unions in Hiroshima, began with a gathering in the square outside the prefectural government building at 2 p.m.

Participants then held a demonstration march carrying signs bearing such slogans as ''stop an attack on Iraq.''

Nobuo Kazashi, a professor at Kobe University who visited Iraq last December, reported on the current situation in the country, saying, ''Children are still suffering from aftereffects because of the depleted uranium shells used by the United States during the Persian Gulf War.''

''If war occurs again, the first to be killed are children,'' Kazashi said. ''The U.S. theory that only questions the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is not acceptable.''

On Saturday, some 5,000 people participated in an antiwar demonstration in Tokyo that coincided with global rallies and protests.

02/16/03 05:00 EST

8) Oman

Women hold rare anti-war march in Oman

MUSCAT, Feb 16 (Reuters) - In the first all-female demonstration in the sultanate, around two hundred women marched in Oman on Sunday to urge Washington and London not to wage war on Iraq.

Omani women in headscarves and flowing black robes took to the streets of the capital Muscat, joined by their Western counterparts, in a rare protest in the conservative Gulf region.

Carrying banners written in English reading: "Excess of peace not excess of evil," some doubted U.S. and British motives for trying to disarm fellow Arab Iraq, which has the world's second largest oil reserves.

"The real motive of their aggression is oil beneath our feet, not terrorism," said Salha Suleiman, an Omani woman.

The Iraq crisis has further fuelled anti-American feeling in the Gulf over perceived U.S. support for Israel against the Palestinians.

While Washington is pouring troops and arms into the region around Iraq for a possible attack to rid Baghdad of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, millions of protesters have staged anti-war demonstrations around the globe.

With the exception of a few peaceful marches in Bahrain and Yemen, there have been virtually no demonstrations in the Gulf where protesters need permission to take to the streets.

"My message to Bush is that he needs to educate himself about the Middle East, Islam and work together with all Muslims to find another solution and not war," American Jill Rheingans told Reuters during the march in Oman.

Briton Julie Boynton urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to heed public opinion. "We would like him to listen because war will increase terrorism."

Blair, Bush's closest ally, is facing huge public opposition to his campaign for military action against Baghdad, which denies it has weapons of mass destruction.

02/16/03 09:45 ET

9) Spain

Madrid

From: sergio.o@gmx.net

SPAIN
Barcelona: 1,000,000 (Miami herald) largest EVER in this city

the local police said it was 1,300,000 (the population of barcelona is
1,505,325 according to the last official census), organisers said 2,000,000 - in
any event, virtually the whole population was on the streets (there were
decentralised demos all over spain, it was not centralised). the local
representation of the (pro-war) national government provided a good laugh when they
said that it was 'just' 350,000, since the whole centre of the city was
literally PACKED for hours and hours, there was no space AT ALL in any street (not
just where the demo was supposed to take place, but in the whole centre). and
yes, it was the largest ever in the city, but not just in barcelona:

Madrid: 600,000
the (pro-war) national government said 660,000, El Pais says around
1.000.000, organisers and opposition parties say 2.000.000. The pro-war major did all
he could to stop people attending the demo, and rejected the request of
local transportation workers to organise special services to enable people to
reach the centre so there were only the restricted saturday metros and buses.
However, the centre was fully packed till deep in the night!!

Seville:
the (pro-war) national government said 100,000, the local police 150.000,
organisers 250.000

There were over 350 other demos all over the country (!!!! - we never saw
something like that before!!), and quite a few of them had WAY over 100.000
people - at least those in Bilbao (over 200.000), Granada (150.000), Las Palmas
(100.000), Oviedo (200.000), Valencia (280.000), Valladolid (over 100.000 in
yesterday's demo - they had two, one on sat and one on sunday) and Zaragoza
(400.000). In several of these cities, virtually the whole population
participated in the demos!! There were even people from aznar's party in Oviedo's
demo (where i was) and El País reports a shockingly agreeable declaration by an
anonimous army officer!!!

Total for entire country: 2,000,000

well, it's difficult to tell, but the conservative estimation of El Pais is
more than 3 million, and if you take organiser's estimations, it goes up to 6 million.

10) Turkey

Turkey's Kurds protest war, Ocalan imprisonment

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Kurds took to the streets in Turkey on Saturday to protest against a looming war on neighbour Iraq and to demand the release of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, captured by Ankara exactly four years ago.

While Kurdish leaders of northern Iraq back any U.S.-led war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Kurds in Turkey fear war could ravage the country's poverty-stricken southeast, scene of a decades-long battle between Turkey's powerful military and armed Kurdish separatist rebels led by Ocalan.

Police used tear gas to disperse around 200 Kurdish protestors in the Mediterranean resort town of Adana, while most businessmen staged a shutdown in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, home of many of Turkey's 10 million ethnic Kurds.

Hundreds of Kurds backing rebel group KADEK also raised tensions at an anti-war demonstration in Istanbul, where the local Anatolian news agency said 61 people were detained after demonstrators threw stones at shop windows and high street banks.

Ankara seized Ocalan in 1999 and is holding him captive on an island prison.

His lawyers have not been able to visit him for almost three months.

NATO member Turkey is allowing the U.S. military to modernise some bases for possible use in a war, but has not yet given Washington permission to use them for an offensive.

Iraqi Kurdish leaders, who control an enclave in northern Iraq, have said they support a U.S.-led war to topple Saddam.

Jalal Talabani, leader of half the breakaway Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, on Saturday criticised France and Germany for opposing a war on Iraq.

Though set to support an Iraq war, Turkey fears conflict across its borders could spark unrest among its Kurdish minority amid the return of hundreds of armed KADEK guerrillas presently holed up in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Rebels, fearing that Turkey might use a war on Iraq to crush their movement, earlier this week threatened to take up arms again against Turkey, which they said had rejected peace overtures.

02/15/03 15:30 ET

11) United States

New York

BTL Anti-War Interviews from NYC Rally 2/15/03 - Angela Davis, Leslie Cagan and more...
From: sharris@snet.net

Between The Lines Anti-War Special Report: Interviews Recorded at "The
World Says 'No' to War" rally in NYC, Feb. 15, 2003 in MP3 on our
website at http://www.btlonline.org or at
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=6404

Bishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Davis, protest organizer Leslie Cagan, Medea
Benjamin of Global Exchange, Beverly Eckart of 9-11 Families for
Peaceful Tomorrows, Rep Dennis Kucinich, Njoki Njehu of 50 Years is
Enough Network, Danny Schechter of MediaChannel.org and actors Danny
Glover and Ossie Davis.

Interviews conducted back stage at F-15 Rally by BTL producer Scott
Harris

Protesters at UN Rally Against Iraq War

By VERENA DOBNIK
.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Thousands of anti-war demonstrators packed more than 20 blocks near the United Nations headquarters Saturday, the largest of an estimated 150 peace rallies across the nation that filled city streets with banners, chanting and people from all walks of life.

``Just because you have the biggest gun does not mean you must use it,'' Martin Luther King III told demonstrators in New York as he stood before an enormous banner reading: ``The World Says No To War.''

Protests were held across the nation, from Maine to Hawaii, and from Texas to Minnesota.

And around the world - including many in the capitols of America's traditional allies - similar rallies drew well over a million people in protest of possible U.S. military action against Iraq.

``Peace! Peace! Peace!'' Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said as he walked from a church service to a meeting with Kofi Annan at the United Nations. ``Let America listen to the rest of the world - and the rest of the world is saying, `Give the inspectors time.'''

Organizers of the New York rally, who had hoped for 100,000 people, estimated the crowd at anywhere from 375,000 to 500,000. NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said about 100,000 people were in the crowd, which stretched 20 blocks deep and spanned three avenues.

Fifty arrests were made and two protesters were hospitalized - one with an epileptic seizure and another who had diabetes, Kelly said. Eight officers also were injured, including a mounted police officer who was pulled off his horse and beaten, Kelly said.

``I think it went well. It was orderly,'' he said. ``We facilitated people's ability to make their opinions known.''

Police in Colorado Springs, Colo., fired tear gas at protesters, sending at least two to a hospital, and made arrests after the demonstrators blocked a major thoroughfare near an Air Force base.

Police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said police fired tear gas after the protesters failed to heed repeated warnings to disperse. He denied press reports that officers also fired rubber bullets at protesters, then later said a single rubber bullet was fired at a demonstrator who picked up a tear gas cannister and threw it back toward officers. He said the man was then subdued by a stun gun but was not injured.

Anti-war rallies had been planned in about 150 U.S. cities, from Yakima, Wash., to Augusta, Maine, as well as in major cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami and Seattle.

``We need to leave Iraq alone,'' said Detroit rally organizer Kris Hamel of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against the War on Iraq.

Rallies including the one in Knoxville, Tenn., drew young and old, in tie-dyes and dreadlocks, in collared shirts and khaki slacks. Protester Rick Held said he was ``surprised it's not just the usual suspects'' participating. ``Bush must really be screwing up to bring out the mainstream.''

In Los Angeles, activist actors Martin Sheen and Mike Farrell and director Rob Reiner were among the thousands of chanting marchers who filled Hollywood Boulevard from curb to curb for four blocks. Organizers estimated the crowd at 100,000; police put it at 30,000.

``None of us can stop this war ... there is only one guy that can do that and he lives in the White House,'' said Sheen, who plays a fictitious U.S. president on NBC's ``The West Wing.''

Thousands of protesters marching to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia included Quakers walking in silence, a Korean group banging drums and students chanting peace slogans.

In Austin, Texas, thousands gathered on the lawn of the Capitol where George W. Bush served as governor. ``Here in Texas we're saying 'no' to the boy from our hometown,'' University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen told the crowd.

Many demonstrators braved frigid temperatures. Outside Milwaukee City Hall, Marilyn and Jim Martell wrapped themselves in plastic sheeting and duct tape - items the government has advised people to keep on hand in case of a terrorist attack. The couple said the items offered more protection against the cold.

At a statehouse rally in Boise, Idaho, Iraqi immigrant Azam Houle said she fled the ``suffocating police state'' 27 years ago, but that invading her homeland was not the solution.

``We seem to think we can destroy a country and then build a democracy,'' she said. ``Democracy at gunpoint isn't democracy.''

The New York rally was opened by singer Richie Havens performing ``Freedom,'' just as he did 34 years earlier at the original Woodstock Festival. Speakers included Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and Pete Seeger.

Security in New York was extraordinarily tight, with the city on high alert for terrorist threats.

The streets around the U.N. headquarters on Manhattan's East Side were mostly empty but for police. Demonstrators were kept several blocks to the north because city officials denied their permit request to march along First Avenue past the complex.

All along the area, authorities deployed a new security ``package'' including sharpshooters and officers with radiation detectors, hazardous materials decontamination equipment, bomb-sniffing dogs and air-sampling equipment able to detect chemical or biological weapons.

Other demonstrators, including about 1,000 in Manhattan, supported the possibility of U.S. military action.

In Wausau, Wis., some 200 war supporters routinely interrupted speakers with shouts of ``George Bush, free Iraq'' or ``U.S.A., U.S.A.''

``I want him to defeat the evil in Iraq, no matter what it takes,'' said Gerry Timler, 72, who carried a sign reading, ``God Bless America and President Bush.''

On President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock, Ark., Vietnam veteran Gary Gish of San Antonio yelled at about 500 anti-war marchers.

``Clinton and his administration let Iraq go for eight years,'' he said. ``We should back our leaders.''

Some of those he was criticizing were veterans themselves.

``I think he's (President Bush) rushing into this,'' said Don Murphy, who served in the Army in the 1950s. ``We need to give the inspectors more time. If there's hard evidence, go after him, but there's no real hard evidence.''

02/15/03 21:35 EST

Update on Feb15 arrests
Date: 2/16/2003
From: laklak@erols.com

We made history together yesterday -- congratulations to everyone. This
phenomenal mobilization drew at least 500,000 people to New York City
despite frigid temperatures and repeated efforts by the NYPD to limit our
freedom of expression. We stood with millions around the world in saying no
to war on Iraq, in the largest coordinated day of protest ever known.

The National Lawyers Guild estimates that 350 people were arrested
yesterday.
Had the police cooperated with us and issued us a march permit, we believe
not one of these arrests would have happened. The police refused to
accomodate the huge crowd that packed into New York City for February 15 and
instead shoved, herded, attacked, surrounded, and arrested people who were
simply trying to get to the rally.

Indeed, according to the National Lawyers Guild, the overwhelming majority
of those arrested were people who were just trying to get to First Avenue.

Most of the arrestees have by now been released with summonses to appear
before a judge; their charges are minor. Another 70 people are still being
held for arraignment on a range of charges.

If you need information about a friend or family member who was arrested, or
if you were arrested yourself and have legal questions, call the National
Lawyers Guild at 212-679-6018.

Please note that the UFPJ office phones remain down, having stopped working
at about 11:30AM yesterday, or a half hour before the rally was to begin.

The February 15 organizing staff of
United for Peace and Justice

Los Angeles

Massive!

The LAPD says 100,000 people marched in Hollywood to protest against war in Iraq. Activist numbers have varied considerably, but the aerial shot is pretty convincing - it was HUGE. Across the southland, thousands more turned out to express their discontent in their localities. For many, this was the first time they'd gone to a demonstration. Keep uploading your stories, pictures, sounds, and video, and IMC will link them. (If we're missing your local event - just add your story to the newswire. Also, we want an estimate of how many people showed up - small events matter as much or more.) (PS. please resize photos to 600 or 800 pixels wide.)

Hollywood
estimated 100,000 to 125,000 people
photos 1 (plus report), 2, 3, 4 (funny), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, posted Sunday 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 the aerial shot, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
stories
The Heart and Soul of Los Angeles
50-80 Breakaway Marchers Arrested
A breakaway march of youth, Black Block, and others took down Sunset after the main march. It turned into a police confrontation and people were beaten and arrested. Discuss and debate.
Breakaway Demo Attacked
LAPD Brutality at Protest

audio KPFK
Newswire Highlights - a message from Saddam.

Long Beach estimated 1250-2000 people
Nearly 2000 march in Long Beach
Report from CSULB Campus Progressives
Press Telegram excerpt

Orange County
estimated 2,000 people (The Register count)
photos 1 stories Report on Orange County Protest

Palm Desert, Hemet estimated ??? people

Santa Monica
estimated 5,000 people
photos 1, 2

Northeast LA
estimated ??? people

Ventura
estimated 400 people
Report from Ventura

Also, in Downey there was a protest about the murder of Gonzalo Martinez by the DPD.

F15 anti war rally
Date: 2/15/2003
From: change@pacbell.net

The first sign that today's anti war in Iraq demonstration in Hollywood was
going to be big was the North Hollywood subway station. I've used that to
go to other actions and you do see others going to, but hundreds of people
with large anti war signs were all waiting for tickets. LAPD were
confiscating sticks that signs came on and searching some back packs.

I was there with my friend Marr (her first big anti war action) and after
an hour wait we finally were able to buy tickets.

We walked to the train and just then the hundreds that were waiting started
running down the stairs, turns out the police decided to let everyone ride
for free. Both waiting trains were jammed to capacity.

We got off on the Highland exit so as to met the march as it came by. And
the timing was just right. The march as it came up Hollywood Blvd.,
looked big and impressive but no way to tell how big, I couldn't find a
high perch to check it out.

The march arrived at the finally rally point at about La Brea and Sunset
around 2 PM.. In about a half an hour the rally started but the sound
system was already too mall, those near the read couldn't hear.

I walked around trying to give out some Change Links but not many
takers. These marchers were in the main more middle class white youths and
others. The rally downtown a few weeks ago was more mixed. From what I
could tell this was the first name for many of these people and they shied
away from the "heavy" political stuff.

So I stayed near the rear and noticed people kept on coming in, a wide
streets worth, turning on to Sunset. This went on for at least another
hour or more. People were still arriving at 3 45.

Many people were leaving while the lines kept coming. Thats when I was
duly impressive by the turn out and grateful that so many were newbies.

I was first guessing over 50,000 and it could be higher, maybe
70,000.. Some said the police estimated it at 100,000 but I doubt it was
that big.

Most seem to just want to come out and do something, anything, against
Bush's insane charge for war in that helpless, poor country. This was an
anti Bush march, some still steaming on how he came to office, many upset
at the poor economy and the reducing any health care programs to pay off
his war munitions buddies as they gleam at cranking out more bullets to
more jet planes.

I don't think this march will have any lasting influences, still the same
problems with no follow-ups, letting most come and go without any real
contact with more deep political messages but it once again shows folks
that they have many people with them and the real minorities now are the
Washington and media gangs banging the drums for war.

John Johnson
Change-Links Progressive Newspaper

Anti-War March in Long Beach, CA
February 15, 2003

Nearly 2,000 turned out today for a spirited anti-war march through downtown
Long Beach, California, which ended with a rally at City Hall. A large,
diverse port city, Long Beach is not known for its progressive politics, and
marches in the past have drawn no more than 300. But two of the nine City
Council members and State Assemblyman and former councilman Allen Lowenthal
voiced their opposition to the Bush Administration's war drive from the
flatbed truck that served as a stage for the rally. They were joined by labor
leaders, a civil rights activist, an eloquent eleven-year-old poet, and other
community members. A veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Josephine Hill,
participated in the one-mile march and received special recognition. The
rally was powered by a solar sound system as a demonstration of an
alternative to oil dependence, considered by many to be the motivation behind
the war on Iraq. The Long Beach Area Peace Network (lbapn.net) organized the
event together from several other organizations (below) in support of the
worldwide marches, and also in support of a local Cities for Peace campaign
to convince the Long Beach City Council to adopt an anti-war resolution.

Quote from Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal:

"Somebody said that the children of the world, and I think that's really why
I'm here, because there are no lives that are more important than any other
lives, and we are here to let the world community know that we support them,
that we don't want war..."

(Speakers included City Councilwomen Tonia Reyes-Uranga and Bonnie Lowenthal;
Professor Eduarda Schwartzbach; Labor Leaders Ray Cordova (LA AFL-CIO County
Federation and longtime Democratic Party organizer) and David Arian
(President of the Harry Bridges Institute and Past President of the ILWU
International); Latrice Dixon, community activist with Black Women Against
Violence; Tom Hennessey, columnist with the Long Beach Press Telegram;
California Native American activists, Rhonda Robles and Louis Robles, Sr.;
and eleven-year-old Natasha H. reading her poem about Iraqi children.)

(Endorsers included: Gray Panthers, Campus Progressives CSULB, LBCC PPWG,
CSULB Progressives, Citizens For A Better Long Beach, Social Concerns/Peace
Comm of Unitarian Universalist Church, Peter Carr Peace Center, Food Not
Bombs)

San Franciso

Bay Area Rise Up Against War in Iraq

2/16: A huge protest filled the streets of San Francisco today. Following possibly the largest worldwide protest ever on 2/15... over 200,000 Bay Area people showed up in force to say NO to the U.S. War on Iraq. Check out the coverage from the permitted march...
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
Reports: 1 | 2
SF-IMC Enemy Combatant Radio Archive

Police Riot During Breakaway March

2/16:: Approximately two thousand people joined an unpermitted breakaway march later in the afternoon. The march started at Civic Center and headed downtown. The police violently beat many people, the march lasted late into the night. Over 40 people were arrested. Two men are being held on over $50,000 bail. One woman is going to be arraigned on Tuesday, and the others will have their trial on Tuesday. Everyone is out of jail, except for 4 people.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Reports: 1 | 2 | 3
Archive of Breaking News

5,000 in San Jose, 10,000 in Sacramento March Against War

2/15: In San Jose's largest rally since the first Gulf War, more than 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets, joining the rest of the world in a vast and unprecedented wave of protest aimed at preventing war on Iraq. Whole families filled 20 blocks of Santa Clara Street with chants, music, and handmade signs, and converged on Cesar Chavez Plaza. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers, encouraged protesters to continue their actions beyond that day, with a call to participate in the annual Cesar Chavez march and an upcoming Sacramento rally to fight education budget cuts. Claudia E. Armenta of Students for Justice took up the issue of military spending versus school budgets as well, leading protesters in a chant for "education not annihilation!" Fresno | Vallejo | San Jose: 1 2 3 | Sacramento: 1 2 | Arcata

Chicago

Thousands Protest Against War and Repression

Saturday, February 15: Thousands of people from the metro Chicago region and five surrounding states gathered in the biting wind in the heart of Chicago's Pakistani community to oppose the Bush regime's push for war on the Iraqi people, attacks on immigrant rights, and ongoing assault on civil liberties.

The demonstration, which independent counts suggest topped 6,000 people, was part of this weekend’s global protests against the Bush war on Iraq, which drew over ten million demonstrators in at least 600 cities in 60 countries. Read more.

Local readers comment on the march... add your thoughts here!

Chicago IMC Photo Galleries: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ]

A Panoramic View of the Gathering Crowd
F-15: Chicagoans Report Back from NYC
F15 Report from Chicagoan in NYC
Personal Report from NYC | Photos: [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ]

Houston

f15 Houston

2,000 - 5,000 march in Houston

Eye-Witness news from f15
Don's Pics
My Houston F15 by Amit Kshatriya
Dogs for Diplomacy (audio)
Today was the biggest anti-war protest that I've ever been to in my life Chris MacGregor
Turning the Whale Kathy Irwin
protesters - and the protesters who protest them (audio)
a protester explains his sign (audio)
a protester describes her sign (audio)
more photos
5,000 March in Houston Thomas Zermeno
Protest and March by Linda R.
Meanwhile, Houstonian's continue their struggle for a City Council Resolution Opposing an Attack on Iraq, by Ken Freeland

Visit our new anti-war resource page

Other US Cities..

Detroit

Philadelphia

Secramento

Seattle

12) Germany

15.Februar: Globale Demonstration gegen den Krieg

indymedia-weltweit, 13.02.2003 17:39

500 000! Menschen in Berlin, 50 000 in Stuttgart, und Millionen in mehr als 600 Städten überall auf der Welt auf der Straße gegen den Irak-Krieg und für Frieden.

13) Honduras

Honduras - The Anti-War Protest You Didn't Hear About
Date: 2/21/2003 2:32:35 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: joseph@mutualaid.org

"The Anti-War Protest You Didn't Hear About", by Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle

La Esperanza, Honduras, 2/15/2003 -- Three o'clock in the morning is a
cold hour in La Esperanza, Honduras. Below the streaming light of a full
moon and the starkly illuminated clouds, a bus packed full of members of
the indigenous Lenca population of Western Honduras begins to carve a path
through the crisp evening air. Over a hundred Lencas organized in the
Civil Counsel of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)
begin the four-hour journey down from the mountains and towards the U.S.
embassy in Tegucigalpa. There they would join hundreds of unionists,
students, and other indigenous populations to do their part in the
worldwide day of action against the war in Iraq.

To an observer, it may seem strange to see busloads of people whose daily
lives involve working in the fields, making tortillas by hand, and
struggling to survive concerned enough about a war thousands of miles away
to make a trek of up to eight hours for a protest that seemingly does not
directly affect their daily lives.

To the hundreds of people from around Honduras who made the journey,
however, the word "war" is one that they are all too familiar with - in
all of its connotations. Honduras has always had a strong U.S. military
presence, being used in the 1980's as the base for the U.S.
counter-insurgency wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Hundreds of
Hondurans were "disappeared" by U.S.-trained counter-insurgency squads in
the 1980's, and thousands killed, while U.S. troops did untold damage in
the mountain communities where they patrolled for guerilla traffic. But
this is not the only sense in which "war" has become meaningful for
Hondurans.

During the protest, while group after group expressed solidarity with the
Iraqi and Palestinian people, drawing connections between U.S. imperialist
aggression in Latin America and the Middle East, there was also another
type of warfare adamantly denounced. "While Bush drops bombs on Iraq, we
must remember that he drops 'economic bombs' on the countries of the Third
World every day," pointed out Salvador Zúniga, a COPINH leader. "The Free
Trade agreements which the U.S., along with and through the W.T.O., World
Bank and I.M.F., impose on us, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas
and Plan Puebla Panamá, can be seen as nothing less than economic
warfare."

Economic warfare was a recurring theme of the day. Several speakers
pointed out that just as close to a million Iraqis have already died from
United Nations economic sanctions on Iraq, people around Latin America
have suffered and died as a result of economic measures, not just
sanctions, as in Cuba, but also because of the strict economic austerity
measures imposed through IMF and World Bank Structural Adjustment Programs
and other Free Trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).

One speaker asked whether we might rightly consider a child denied access
to a privatized hospital because of the inability to pay World
Bank-imposed user fees a victim of warfare as well. After all, as Mother
Theresa said, "poverty is the worst form of violence." The Honduran
currency has been devalued year after year under the pretext of attracting
investment, yet with the effect of decreasing the purchasing power of the
already pitiful wages of Honduran workers, limiting or cutting off access
to even the most basic necessities.

As the international economic actors have demanded that labor and
environmental restriction be cut back, again to "attract investment,"
wages have fallen dramatically and unions have been busted, leading to a
situation where many workers are asked to survive on less than $3 per day,
nowhere close to enough money for a person to provide for a family's daily
food, much less other necessities.

Meanwhile, again in the name of investment and "development," proposed
megaprojects such as the El Tigre dam in Western Honduras (promoted and
supported by the Inter-American Development Bank) threaten to wipe out
tens of thousands of indigenous and campesino households, while the energy
from such projects, under the guidelines of Plan Puebla Panamá, will be
bought and sold on the newly created regional energy market, rarely if
ever benefiting the rural populations that are to be displaced. The El
Tigre dam, for example, would be strategically located next to industrial
maquila (sweatshop) zones across the border in El Salvador. This too,
argued the protesters, is warfare.

Another connection made by the protesters was between the mentality of
imperialist aggression in Iraq and neo-colonial economic structures
throughout the Third World. In both cases, the United States claims to
have moral authority to make economic and political decisions for other
peoples. Whether the imposition is that of a neoliberal/capitalist
economic program or the proposed post-war provisional U.S. military
government in Iraq, the attitude is colonialist and imperialist, argued
the Honduran protestors.

Just as people around the world understand the incentive of large oil
companies to assure greater control of petroleum-rich Iraq, so to do they
see the incentive of U.S. corporations to seek greater control of labor
and natural resource-rich Latin America through the imposition of
neoliberal economic structures and "investors' rights." For this reason,
alongside of chants such as "No queremos, no nos da la gana, ser una
colonia, Norteamericana" (We do not want to be a North American colony),
protesters burned U.S. flags and continued with chants of "Quémala,
quémala, por invasor" (Burn it, burn it, [as punishment] for invasion).

The message was clear. An anti-war movement must address all forms of
warfare. Stopping the war in Iraq is obviously the immediate goal. A
strong applause echoed through the streets in support of the "human
shields" who are traveling to Iraq from North America, Europe and the
Middle East. Fists shot high in the air as a union leader read the list of
sites around the world demonstrating against the impending war in Iraq.

At the same time, the point was made time and again that the mission of an
effective resistance movement must be to build a new society. In such a
society there is no room for paternalistic, colonialist, economic or
military manipulation, be it through petroleum wars in Iraq or economic
agreements in Latin America and the rest of the Third World. Instead,
asserted these protesters, using a phrase adopted by anti-corporate
globalization protests around the world, the peoples of the world must
"globalize solidarity" because "another world is possible."

This is the dream that drew campesinos, indigenous, trade unionists, and
students from around Honduras to this protest in front of the U.S.
embassy. As they denounced the war, they announced the possibility of a
world without the economic exploitation and military aggression. Tired
from the travel, hungry from not eating all day, nervous because of
massive police presence and a tinted-windowed car that followed them all
the way from the embassy to their bus, the spirits of the hundreds of
members of COPINH were high nonetheless. By the time they arrived back in
La Esperanza, the full moon had returned, as if to welcome them home, and
the clouds surrounding it were lit with the sunset's colors. Joking and
laughing amongst themselves, keeping an eye on the beauty of their
mountainous region, these protesters had no need to repeat the slogan of
the day; they embodied it - OTRO MUNDO ES POSIBLE!

===

Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle works with Rising Roots International
(risingrootsinternational@yahoo.com), an international organization
creating connections between and supporting grassroots organizations in
economically underprivileged communities around the world and in the
United States. Rising Roots International is working on a computer
training program with the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e
Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH) in Honduras.

14) Asia

Taipei

Kuala Lumpur

Manila

Seoul

Bangkok

Damascus

Tel Aviv

15) Americas/Africa

Mexico

Date: 2/18/2003 7:58:36 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: meyerscj@earthlink.net

In reviewing Sunday's edition of the Mexican newspaper "La Jornada" the following
cities were listed as having marches in addition to Mexico City:

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
Cuernavaca, Morelos
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí
Xalapa, Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
Chihuahua, Chihuahua
Tijuana, Baja California
Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes

And that's only one Latin American country!

also....

Rio de Janeiro

Cape Town

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