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Sat 15 Feb, 2003 08:18 am
Millions of people worldwide are joining in demonstrations against a possible US-led war against Iraq.
Hundreds of rallies and marches are taking place in up to 60 countries this weekend. Crowds have been gathering in London, where a rally culminating in Hyde Park is expected to draw more than half a million protesters. Massive demonstrations - a day after UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix issued a largely positive assessment of the UN's disarmament process in Iraq - are also being organised in Rome, Berlin and New York. Tens of thousands of people braved bitter weather to converge on the German capital from the east and west of the city.
Along with France, Germany has been one of the most vociferous opponents of war with Iraq. A real cross-section of people are taking part in the demonstration - young students, families with children, as well as pensioners - reflecting the strong anti-war feeling that runs right through German society. And demonstrators in Paris are preparing to march on the city's traditional rallying point - the Place de la Bastille.
Some of the first protests on Saturday were seen in New Zealand, as environmental pressure group Greenpeace flew a plane over Auckland harbour trailing a banner reading "No War, Peace Now". What the US is doing now is wrong. About 5,000 marched through Auckland and a similar number in the capital Wellington. Rallies are being held in several cities in Australia, where a protest in Melbourne on Friday drew a crowd estimated by organisers at 150,000 - the largest there since anti-Vietnam War marches 30 years ago. In Seoul - capital of South Korea, one of the staunchest US allies in Asia - hundreds of demonstrators rallied, shouting chants such as "Bush, Terrorist!" and carrying banners urging "Drop Bush, not bombs".
In New York a protest is scheduled to start at 1200 local time near UN headquarters - the currently scene of intense diplomatic discussions following Friday's report by Hans Blix.
Anti-war activists in Turkey are calling on fellow citizens to simultaneously turn off all lights at 2000 local time as a novel sign of support for anti-war sentiment.
In Malaysia - a predominantly Muslim state - hundreds demonstrated outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur bearing banners and placards with slogans such as: "No war. Stop US aggression" and "No more blood for oil".
And in Thailand about 2,000 people - mostly Muslims - rallied in front of the US and UK embassies in the capital on Saturday.
Protests of varying sizes were also reported in: Japan, Nepal, India, South Africa, Cyprus, Spain, Syria, Egypt and Iraq.
The tiny South Pacific island nation of Fiji also saw its share of anti-war sentiment, with an anti-war group sending floral messages to foreign embassies urging them to put pressure on the US and its allies to avoid war.
Everybody except Blair, the Bush administration and some duped American citizens want this thing to end without killing people.
To me, the war is ill-advised for many reasons.
Practically , will it make America and the world MORE safe, or less safe ? IMO, this war will be played as "western", anti-Muslim imperialism, and that message will sell around the world. Moderates will be more likely recruited by fanatics, and the terrorism movement will be strengthened. Even if we agree that Saddam should go, it should happen internally and/or covertly.
Morally, the US is fooling no one. We are not in this to "free the opressed iraqis". Please. The iraquis have been "opressed" for decades, and that never bothered us enough before, especially when we were in bed with Saddam against the Iranians, or against the russiand in Afghanistan. No one is buying this "we care" BS.
Diplomatically, we are destroying whatever vehicles the world has worked painstakingly to build post WWII . Yes, they don't always work perfectly, but they are necessary to prevent complete chaos. As the only superpower still standing, we are in-your-face-ing it to the rest of the world with the "whether you're on board or not, we're going in" attitude. This dismissive, insulting stance will bring nothing but years of resentment. During the cold war, there were two superpowers, and they kept each other in check. The US would never have thought of behaving as it is now. This arrogance will unquestionable come back to haunt us.
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People all around the world are asking valid questions. Who is America to decide which countries can have particular weapons and which can't? Who is America to dictate which leaders of sovereign countries should be allowed to remain in power, and which should not ?
This war is a bad idea all around. Bush is too limited and narrow-sighted to understand this.
Let's hope the sheer numbers of protesters worldwide jog those around him into a better sense of reality.
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