I'm reading this, too:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/16/international/16RALL.html?pagewanted=1
Didn't make it today. Toddler logistics proved daunting. Glad you brought your five-year-old, Moondoggy.
Like PDiddie, though, I find it tremendously encouraging that it HAPPENED.
Well - ours WAS Huge! Some estimates of 100, 000 - in a small city.
media will put it at around 10, 000, I guess - somewhere in between lies the truth - took about 2 hours to go past a fixed point while it covered a six lane highway - but what do I know? ALL sorts of people - so big I couldn't find ANY friends - very unusual - I am a great friend-spotter in a crowd...
ta heck with a link
if the star estimates 80,000, it'll have been more
Quote:Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators braved bitterly cold temperatures and took over the heart of downtown Toronto yesterday to send a simple plea - and an unmistakable message - to U.S. President George W. Bush.
Please don't.
The simple message, taped to a big American flag carried by 76-year-old Gordon Winch, summed up the demands of an estimated 80,000 marchers who flooded the streets: Give the U.N. arms inspectors time to do their work.
Give peace a chance, and please don't unleash your bombs and missiles over Iraq.
"This time has really grabbed me," said Winch, a former minister, as he looked out from under the hood of a bulky blue parka. "I just feel it's not a war. It's an attack.
"What the U.S. is about to do," Winch said, "is a big mistake."
His view was shared by millions of marchers around the world - more than 4 million women, children and men marching in more than 600 cities and towns, ranging from 1.3 million in Barcelona to the 5,000 who gathered in front of the U.S. embassy in Tokyo.
The worldwide demonstration - the biggest since the Viet Nam anti-war protests that roiled the globe more than a quarter of a century ago - was marred by only a single reported incident of violence when demonstrators in Athens burned a car and smashed several shop and bank windows.
But in Toronto and elsewhere in southern Ontario - similar protests were held in Hamilton, London, Guelph, Barrie and a number of other communities including Ajax, where 300 turned out - the only sour note was sounded by the elements: bone-chilling temperatures of minus 15 C; and a 22 km/h north wind that made it feel like minus 25 C.
Even that couldn't keep spirits down.
"It's not as cold as the grave," quipped Ed Pickersgill, who organized a march of hundreds of anti-war protesters in Guelph, referring to the risks of war for both combatants and innocent civilians.
the link
maxsdadeo wrote:
"I apologize in advance for appearing dense, but, how is it significant what Holland, Europe, or anyone else in the world "feels" about the steps America or any other nation takes to stamp out real and certain threats against their country and people."
May I add to NIMH's eloquent rebuttal, Max, that YOUR government has seen fit to take real and threatening umbrage at ANY dissident voice - hurling childish and ridiculous insults via your highest officials at France and Germany when they express the right, allegedly held dear by Americans who often claim to have INVENTED it for Chrissake, of free speech - it seems that it IS significant to your government if any country dares to dissent from the USA is right line.
Your ambassador has, in my country, seen fit to attempt to muzzle the free processes of MY federal parliament as it debates the commitment of Australian troops to the middle east - causing even my toadying Prime Minister to protest such a blatant attempt to intrude on Australian freedom.
Seems like it is dangerous to offend the USA - I guess this means your government does not consider the comments of other nations
insignificant as it takes steps that will have a powerful impact around the world.
As eloquent as nimh's reply was this:
Quote:Hussein doesnt want war right now (though I'm sure he will want to later) - this war is not coming at his instigation
Is flat, dead, WRONG.
It is PRECISELY at his instigation, and no one else's, that this war is transpiring.
"Rush to war", PLEASE, your ridiculousness is showing people!!
Hussein has thumbed his nose at the UN for as long as he has been in power, the decision to address his refusal to play by the world's rules is as a result of HIS actions, and no one else's.
There are consequences for one's actions, though I certainly understand why liberals would have a hard time grasping this concept.
max - Of course you are right, and of course, the people who need to read and understand what you're writing will not let themselves, now or ever.
And these "peace rallys" are nothing more than block parties with hairshirts. You people sound like you just got back from a Springsteen concert. "Dude, it was awesome!"
Personally, I prefer to masturbate in private. But, "to each his own".
Tresspassers will
Attending these rallies has nothing to do with masturbatory activities ..
It has a LOT to do with the ordinary, run of the mill people getting a chance to say what they think about a likely war which they don't endorse. We may or may not have voted for government
"leaders" that are keen to rush into war, but Bush, Blair & Howard are not representing us! And they aren't listening to us. Many people feel passionate about this. You are patronizing these people because your views are different to theirs. They have every right to be heard.
Keep those reports coming, folks.
The television news tells us little apart from London & New York. (Wonderful rallies!)
It'd be great to know what happened in other places, as well.
These are the "official numbers" of participants as I read in our news. They give 2 numbers- the first given by the organizer and the second from the official side.
London: more than 1000.000 (1,500.000)
Rom: more than 1 000.000 (3 000.000)
Berlin: 500.000
Paris: 200.000 (no police numbers)
Athen: 200.000
Melbourne: 150.000
New York: 100.000 (no update yet)
Oslo: 60.000
Beirut: 60.000
Stuttgart: 50.000
Kopenhagen: 50.000
Sevilla: 50.000
Spain (40 cities) 4 000.000
Amsterdam: 40.000
Stockholm: 30.000
Wien: 15.000 (30.000)
Helsinki: 12.000
Brüssel: 11.000
Bagdad: more than 100.000 ( reported by TV Al Jazeera)
Kairo: more than 10 000 (reported by media)
Bern: 30.000
Damaskus: more than 10 000 (reported by media)
another news clip:
Amsterdam Netherlands 80,000 (Indymedia),
Athens Greece 200.000 (Indymedia)
Aukland New Zealand 10,000 (Indymedia),
Bagdad Irak 20,000 (CNN), hundreds of thousands (Al Jazeera)
Bakaa Refugee Camp Jordania 500 (Palestine Chronicle),
Bangkok Thailand 3,000 (ANSA) ,
Barcelona Spain 1 million (Indymedia Barcelona)
Beirut Lebanon: 60.000 (indymedia)
Bellingen Australia 2,500 (Indymedia),
Berlin Germany 500,000 (Indymedia),
Bern Switzerland 30,000 (Swissinfo),
Brussels Belgium: 11.000 (indymedia)
Cairo Egypt 2,000 (Palestine Chronicle), tens of thousands (local media)
Canberra Australia 16,000 (Reuters),
Cape Town South Africa 5,000 (Indymedia),
Copenhagen Denmark 20,000 (Politiken) 50.000 (organisers)
Damascus Syria: tens of thousands (various media)
Durban South Africa 3,000 (Indymedia),
Gaza Palestina 15,000 (AFP),
Helsinki Finnland: 12.000 (indymedia)
Hobart Australien 10,000 (ABC),
Jakarta Indonesien 200 (Jakarta Post),
Johannesburg South Africa 10,000 (Indymedia),
Kolkata Indien 10,000
The whole world says you and Bush are wrong, Tres and Max. If Bush had any better 'evidence' he would present it and have a clear path to the war he so avidly desires. Most of what his administration puts out are obvious falsehoods. The rest is insubstantial as a cause for killing.
Brussels: The organisers put the turnout at 80.000, while police said it was more than 40.000. A bit more than the 11.000 from Indymedia.
The turnout was not overwhelming but given the fact the Belgian govt is strongly opposing the war the turnout was still great.
Nothing worthwhile is easy, and seldom is it popular.
This is the same world that thought the earth was flat and a great percentage of which still denies the existence of God, right?
Thanks anyway, but I feel far more comfortable with the contrarian view from the majority of those who have posted on this thread and the protesters.
We will have to leave it to history to see who was correct.
There were 3,000 people in
Houston protesting the administration's war:
I request that the forum guide separate the off topic responses into a separate thread.
And here's what it looked like in L.A.:
Yeah.
What was this?
Quote:This is the same world that thought the earth was flat and a great percentage of which still denies the existence of God, right?
Huh? What the..
Wasn't it the believers in God who thought the world was flat? So who turned out to be correct?
The protestors in Boston and NYCity looked like a lot of lost souls with nothing better to do than wave a sign in the air, while they froze their butts off.
