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Peaceniks to march again
Up to 10 million Yesterday, up to 400 cities in 60 countries, from Antarctica to Pacific islands, confirmed that peace rallies, vigils and marches would take place. Of course people are marching in Antarctica. It's summer for them! Of all major countries, only China is absent from the growing list which includes more than 300 cities in Europe and north America, 50 in Asia and Latin America, 10 in Africa and 20 in Australia and Oceania. No peaceniks in China. Wonder why? And there's such a large public square in Beijing for them to rally! Many countries will witness the largest demonstrations against war they have ever seen. The majority will be small but 500,000 people are expected in London and Barcelona, and more than 100,000 in Rome, Paris, Berlin and other European capitals. In the US, organisers were yesterday anticipating 200,000 marching in New York if permission is given. A further 100,000 are expected to march in 140 other American cities. The other 289,700,001 Americans will be shopping, checking out SUV's at the dealers, watching some college hoops, or firing up TurboTax. What is extraordinary, say the organisers, is the depth and breadth of opposition that the US and Britain are meeting across the world before a war has even started. "This is unprecedented. Demonstrations only got this large against the Vietnam war at the height of the conflict, years after it started," said a spokesman for Answer, a coalition of US peace groups which helped organise a march of 200,000 people last month in Washington. Many in the global peace movement I think D-day and H-hour have been set. "The internationalism of the opposition is the most powerful weapon people have. It's all we have ain't that the truth. We think that Bush and Blair are well aware that global opposition is mounting fast and that they are now desperate to start the war before they are completely isolated by world opinion," said a spokesman for United for Peace and Justice, a US coalition. New polls in Europe and the US yesterday suggested that opposition is still mounting and is likely to continue even if the US gets a second resolution. Spanish and Dutch polls showed that more than 70% now oppose even UN-mandated action, with slightly fewer in Italy. Yesterday CND reported that it was struggling to cope with the deluge of people wanting to join. In Germany, more than 300 towns are sending coaches to Berlin, where more than 100,000 people are expected to march. "Opposition is broader than at any time in the past. This will be the largest peace march in 20 years," said Malte Keutzseldt of Attac, Germany. "The peace movement is getting older now, but a new generation of young people is deeply concerned. The churches and unions have linked to make the coalition far broader than even the anti-nuclear missile marches in the 1980s". And we all know how important those anti-nuclear missile marches were to bringing about an end to the Cold War! In Paris, a march organiser said that feeling was running high and that he expected the anti-war demonstration to be largest ever. The most unusual rally is expected to be in the international territory of Antarctica, where dozens of scientists and others at the US McMurdo base on the edge of the Ross sea will take to the ice. Hate to think that global warming will create an inopportune moment on an ice floe. The idea of an international day of What's a peace movement if you can't rack up some frequent flyer miles? Since then the idea of coordinating international peace protests has spread rapidly across the world and up to 30 new cities a day are believed to be planning demonstrations. Next month activists from all continents will meet in London to propose further global actions. Next month? Clearly they're not paying attention. Coordinated international demonstrations have flourished in the past five years with anti-capitalist marches and campaigns by "The whole world's marching," said Helmut, a German student in London. "This peace party should be better than the millennium celebrations." "For one thing, the girls will be easier!" · The Stop The War Coalition (STWC) is planning a display of mass direct A spokeswoman for the SWTC said: "We do think there will be a whole wave of civil disobedience if war breaks out. People want to be peaceful and are quite slow to anger, but they will be very angry if after Saturday's mass show of Guess they're going to be angry. Posted by: Steve White 2003-02-13 |
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