On the 4th anniversary of the Iraq war, protests took place all
across the country and around the world.
Coming two months after Bush announced an escalation of the war, ongoing
build-up towards a war on Iran, and a Democratic majority in Congress that refuses
to do anything meaningful to stop the war, the hundreds of thousands that did
come out into the streets were important at demonstrating that there are
millions of people in the US who want this war to end now. In the coming months, this opposition must
become all the more magnified and determined.
A crucial centerpiece to the days of protest was March 17’s
March on the Pentagon. Over 20,000
people came from all across the country to Washington,
DC to march on the building where the wars are
planned from (including right now drawing up plans to attack Iran within 24 hours of Bush’s
orders). The crowd included many
students and youth, veterans of the current Iraq war and other wars, and many
others. It took place on the 40th anniversary of the historic
1967 March on the Pentagon, which marked a turning point in the movement
against the Vietnam war. The message that we must go “from protest
to resistance” resonated from the stage and among the crowd, with many
expressing disillusionment in the Democratic Party that has refused to stop the
war, and an urgency to stop the bloodshed in Iraq
and a new war on Iran. Click
here for speeches from the March on the Pentagon, including from Cindy Sheehan,
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Ramsey Clark, and Cynthia McKinney. Right-wing organizations also took the March
on the Pentagon seriously, with an organized “pro-war”
counter-protest drawing several thousand people, who threatened violence
against anti-war protesters. This is
indicative in how critical and what’s at stake in what the anti-war movement
does over the next months, and that the government and right-wing organizations
will continue to ratchet up repression and attacks as opposition to the war and
the Bush regime grows.
In addition to the March on the Pentagon, over 1,000
protests took place all across the country.
In San
Francisco and Los
Angeles, 10’s of thousands marched, perhaps the largest anti-war protests
since the start of the war. Protests
took place in many small towns, and involved many military families and
veterans.
On March 20, thousands of students walked out of classes to
protest the war in close to 100 colleges and high schools across the
country. Students for a Democratic
Society played a key role in organizing these protests. These walk-outs expressed a much needed
determination and willingness to take risks that is urgently needed right
now. This was also an indication of a
changing mood on college campuses and among youth generally, where more people
are starting to confront what their government is doing and feeling a need and
responsibility to act to stop it. Visit http://march20antiwar.blogspot.com/
for more reports on student walk-outs.
On thing that stood out at the protests was the widespread
demand to impeach Bush and his administration.
It was on signs everywhere, demanded by speakers at rallies, and yelled
in the streets (“Impeach Bush, drive him out; guilty of war crimes ain’t
no doubt”). With Bush repeating
over and over that the war will not end on his watch, many more are seeing how
ending the war and removing Bush from office are integrally linked.
This year’s protests garnered more media attention than
usual, with many favorable stories, prominent coverage on CNN and FOX news,
local headlines across the country, and major international media reporting
favorably on the protests. This is
indicative of the fact that many are looking to what the American people will
do to resist and stop this war, and that when people to mobilize visible
opposition this can galvanize the millions more people in the US who oppose
the war.
Protests also took place all around the world, with some
gathering crowds of tens to hundreds of thousands (like in Madrid,
Rome, and London),
and some protests occurring in the face of vicious government repression.
As the bodies continue to line the streets of Baghdad, and war is being planned on Iran, there is a challenge to people living in
the US:
what are you going to do to stop this?
Congress last Friday made clear that they will continue allowing Bush to
continue his conquest of the Middle East, passing a bill approving $100 billion
more for the Iraq war, and
taking out a provision of the bill insisting Bush gets the approval of Congress
before attacking Iran
(see “Democrat’s
Victory Means More Iraqi Deaths: End the War Now — Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!”
by Sunsara Taylor). Clearly, the only way
to stop this war and drive Bush from office is for protest and resistance to
take hold on a whole other level. This
country has to come alive with student strikes, soldiers refusing to fight,
public figures speaking out every chance they get (Mayor
Rocky Anderson’s recent media appearances are a good lesson to learn from),
and continued and more determined protests.
The fact that the Democratic Party refused to vote against war funding
after these protests does not mean the “protest doesn’t matter”; but
that it is only when protests get outside of the control and dictates of the
Democratic Party and become an undeniable force in society that those in
positions of power are forced to ceding to the people’s demands.
If you confront the bloodshed in Iraq, where already an
estimated 655,000 Iraqis have been killed, and look soberly at the real moves
toward attacking Iran and the horrific consequences that would have, including
in inflaming tensions in the Middle East and likely starting a regional war, then
it is unconscionable NOT to do everything to stop this war and drive out the
Bush regime. Are we going to be marking
the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war a year from now, or will
the world be celebrating an end to this unjust war and the impeachment of the
Bush administration? Is opposition to
the war going to get funneled into waiting and hoping for a Democratic savior
in ’08, or will we stop taking orders from the Democratic Party and act to stop
this war now? What we do or don’t do in
the coming months could have a profound effect on the outcome of history,
positively or negatively. The Bush
regime is counting on our silence and passivity. The world is counting on our resistance.
Speeches from the Rally:
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson:
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Cindy Sheehan:
Cynthia McKinney
Remarks in front of the Pentagon
“Voting for Complicity”
March 17, 2007
Well, it seems that George Bush and Democratic Leaders were
right.
They confidently told us that not only would Democrats fund
the surge, but that the Democrats would
not stop action in Iran,
too.
Now, we are not surprised when the unelected, illegitimate Administration
of George Bush ignores us, but we are shocked that the Democratic majority in
Congress chose war over us as we say Bring our troops home now!
The answer is clear:
Our country has been hijacked.
What about a livable wage for America’s workers?
What about the right of return for Katrina survivors?
What about repealing the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence
Act, and the Military Tribunals Act?
Why is impeachment “off the table”?
Our country is bankrupt yet this institution, the Pentagon,
has “lost” 2.3 trillion dollars!
I want that money back . . .
For jobs . . . for health care . . . for education . . . for
our veterans!
The Democrats have become so timid they won’t even repeal
the Bush tax cuts as a strategy to deal with a bankrupt nation.
Seems the story is the same:
more money for war, but we can’t feed the poor.
It’s hard to believe, but now the Democrats are full
partners in George Bush’s wars.
And by funding his wars, the Democratic Congress is
explicitly complicit.
Complicit in war crimes!
Complicit in torture!
Complicit in crimes against humanity!
Complicit in crimes against peace!
The FBI spied on us; Condoleezza, Dick, and George lied to
us.
In 1957, Dr. King observed that “Both political parties
have betrayed the cause of justice.”
And so it must be repeated today.
Our beloved America
is dividing again into two Americas.
Our struggle is for nothing less than the soul of our country.
We want an America
that is respected in the commonwealth of man; we want our values to shine like
a beacon throughout the world.
As an American of conscience, I hereby declare my
independence from every bomb dropped, every threat leveled, every civil
liberties rollback, every child killed, every veteran maimed, every man
tortured.
And I sadly declare my independence from the leaders who let
it happen.
We will not stop. We
will win. We will take our country back!
Text of Speech from World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime:
I
am going to say some things and I want you to respond with the word IMPEACH
Unjust
war
IMPEACH
Torture
IMPEACH
Lies
IMPEACH
Theocracy
IMPEACH
Katrina
IMPEACH
The
world can’t wait for us to drive out the Bush regime!!
After
four years and over half a million dead in Iraq”after people tried to stop him
by voting for Democrats in November”Bush is sending more troops to this
illegal, unjust and immoral war!
The
quagmire in Iraq has not
made Bush and Cheney less likely to start a new war — it makes them more
compelled to invade Iran. Their view is that they have to “escape
forward” and fight the war in a larger, regional theater. The threat of war against Iran is real
and we must stop it!
There
will be no savior from the Democratic Party.
Just this last week they changed their appropriation bill to say that
Bush doesn’t even need to check with them before he starts a war on Iran. And all the Democratic candidates — Barack
Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards — have all insisted that all options,
including nuclear options, should remain on the table with Iran!!
Plus,
Hillary just came out and said that if she is elected she will keep troops in Iraq!
This
makes clear: we must stop the torture, the unjust wars, and the growing
theocracy. This means, we must drive out
the Bush regime.
We
must stand against the juggernaut of war and repression of the Bush Regime and
show the world there is another option, another way to oppose this besides
Islamic fundamentalism.
We
must bring forward another option through our protest and resistance.
And
the problem is not that protest doesn’t make a difference, it is that we
haven’t had nearly enough protest and it hasn’t been nearly demanding enough!
We
haven’t yet seen the campuses shut down across this country in massive student
strikes. We haven’t yet seen the weapons
shipments blocked at ports across the country.
We haven’t yet heard the voices of celebrities calling out Bush as a war
criminal every time you turn on the TV.
There’s Ehren Watada who refused to fight, but we haven’t yet seen
thousands of troops rebelling and refusing to carry out war crimes. We”ve seen Cindy Sheehan wake up the country
and the world, but we haven’t yet seen an encampment of thousands — swelling
to hundreds of thousands — out in front of the White House that refuses to
leave until the man is brought out in handcuffs.
The
mission of all of us living in this country must be to stop the war on Iraq NOW, make sure there is NO WAR on Iran, and
Impeach Bush and Cheney for War Crimes.
The
World Can’t Wait!
Drive
Out the Bush Regime!
Pictures:
[click here for photo gallery]
[click here for photo gallery]