Demo in DC maked Demands on US Congress
But how can change be made in the US?
Jay Hauben (jhauben)
On Saturday January 27, 2007 a few hundred thousand people gathered in the
US capital, Washington, DC for a rally and march under the main slogan
"Bring the Troops Home Now!" People came from as far away as California,
Washington State and Texas and waved a sea of home made and organizational
signs and banners. These signs and banners represented an anger and a
commitment from a cross section of the American people aimed at their
government.
Signs appeared randomly throughout the rally at the Mall facing the
Capital Building and on the march around the Capital Building,
symbolically targeting the users of that building, the US Congress.
Prominent among the mass produced signs was the call to the Congress,
"Stand Up to Bush" and "Iraq Escalation, Wrong Way." Other signs carried
demands like, "Cut the Funding for War and Torture," "Another Mother
Against Escalation," "Silence is Complicity." Many of the home made signs
went further and demanded that the Congress impeach Bush. For example one
sign said, "Take the Escalator out of service," Other signs said "The
World can't Wait, Drive out the Bush Regime," "Impeach Bush for War
Crimes, Crimes Against Peace and Crimes Against Humanity." But one sign
recognizing that impeachment of Bush would put Cheney into the presidency,
said "Impeach Cheney First, Then Bush." One protester said not the
Democrats or the Republicans will end this war. The US needs a third
party. The people have to break the habit of "the less of two evils."
There were signs identifying where people had come from: "Oklahoma",
"Texas", "West Virginia Patriots for Peace," "Delaware Valley Vets against
the War." Some signs were personal, "My son, Cpl Nicholas Ziolowski, born
Feb 21, 1982, Baltimore, KIA [Killed in Action] Nov 14, 2004 Fullujah."
One sign called attention to another failure of the US government.
Referring to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina it said, "Make Levees, Not
War." One sign had a political message, "McCain, From POW to War Monger,"
referring to potential Republican candidate for President in 2008, US
Senator John McCain.
Besides signs and banners, protesters during the three hour march around
the Capital Building chanted slogans which broadened the spectrum of
messages that people came to Washington to send to the US government and
to the world. Some included:
"Out of Afghanistan, out of Iraq.
Out of the White House and Don't come back"
"Gave Iraq their nation,
End the Occupation"
"Occupation is a crime
in Iraq and Palestine"
"Not my President, Not my War.
This whole System is rotten to the core"
The march was lead by veterans of America's many wars. One banner listed
Veterans For Peace: WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf I. Marching with the
anti-war veterans were families of service people killed in this war, some
Iraq War veterans and some active duty service people who were not in
uniform, to avoid court martial. The crowd behind them carried many signs
opposing war and advocating peace, e.g., "War is Mass Terrorism."
The demonstration had been called primarily by United for Peace and
Justice (UFPJ)(1) one of the two major national American anti war
coalitions. The other major coalition is the ANSWER Coalition(2) which
said it would be marching with UFJP on January 27. UFPJ, founded in
October 2002 has according to its website over 1400 member organizations
and allies. Among the speakers it announced for this demonstration were
four members of the US House of Representatives, a representative from the
Stop the War Coalition UK, a representative from the AFL/CIO, one of the
major central labor union groups, an active duty member of the US Navy, a
retired army colonel, speakers from some of UFPJ's coalition organizations
and some well know Americans like Jessie Jackson and Jane Fonda. Fonda had
played an important role in building the opposition to the Vietnam War
within the US Military. When she spoke at the rally she said, this was the
first time in 34 years she had spoken at such a rally but now was the
right time because the strength of the antiwar movement.
This demonstration was the latest in a series of demonstrations in the US
which started before the US invaded and occupied Iraq. UFPJ claimed there
were over 100 local demonstrations in American cities occuring
simultaneously with this one. Demonstrations were reported to have taken
place for example in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin Texas.
Protesters expressed various sentiments. One woman, an unemployed computer
systems administrator from Long Island in New York said she spent six
years in the US military including a tour of duty during the first Iraq
war defending the US. But it was all for nothing because now the US is the
bad guy. "It is the US that has broken the rules, the Geneva Convention
and has done the torturing. Who then does the world see as the
terrorists?" She added, "Bush should be impeached but [House Speaker
Nancy] Pelosi has taken impeachment off the table." She added, "We as
Americans want the world to know this government doesn't speak for us. We
agree with the world that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Ashcroft should
be charged with war crimes." A college student from NYC was asked why
American students are not more active. She felt they were planning more
long range strategies. She felt what she got from the demonstration was a
chance to meet and see many people who had the same ideas and hopes as she
has. That increased her optimism.
Some protesters expressed hope that the antiwar movement might now have an
effect which so far when it addressed Bush it did not have. But one woman
said she was "afraid to hope. I have been disappointed so many times."
To this reporter, the signs, the chants, the speeches and the
conversations were an effort to search for a solution to America's and the
world's major problem represented by the Bush foreign and domestic
policies.
Notes:
(1) http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
(2) http://www.internationalanswer.org/
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