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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 2, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
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100,000 IN DC, 35,000 IN SAN FRANCISCO: "FREE, FREE
PALESTINE"
By Monica Moorehead
Washington, D.C.
Some 100,000 people made history April 20 by chanting,
"Free, free Palestine," and, "Stop U.S. aid to Israel," as
the biggest pro-Palestine rally ever here defiantly
transformed Washington into liberated territory.
While there were many issues raised at the demonstration--
including opposition to U.S. intervention in Iraq, Colombia,
the Philippines and elsewhere--the struggle in Palestine
assumed central importance.
Heroic resistance in the Occupied Territories had spread
around the world and crossed the Atlantic to the United
States.
A large majority of the people who descended upon this
political and military nerve center of U.S. imperialism were
Palestinians and other Arab and Muslim peoples. Many were
children and youths, waving the red, black, green and white
colors of the Palestinian flag and wearing their traditional
dress including the beautiful kaffiya scarves.
They along with thousands of anti-war and revolutionary
activists from the Black, Latino, Native, Asian, Jewish,
lesbian/gay/bi/ trans communities, came to protest the
brutal Bush/Sharon war against Palestine.
The size and political significance of the protest com
pelled some of the big-money media, including the Washington
Post and Los Angeles Times, to report the day's events. In
addition, C-Span and Al-Jazeera--the world's largest Arab-
based TV network--both showed live coverage of the White
House rally.
Millions of people worldwide--and especially in the Arab
world--know what happened here April 20.
Many mosques and Islamic centers as well as other sectors of
the Arab-American community organized hundreds of buses to
show support for the current phase of the Palestinian
Intifada. People in 100 U.S. cities mobilized for the
actions. They used every form of transportation to get here--
including car caravans, trains, vans and planes.
As speakers and rally literature pointed out, the Bush
administration had tried to use the attacks last Sept. 11
not only to push the United States into new war adventures
from Afghanistan to Iraq, but also as an excuse to
intimidate and demonize the most vulnerable and marginalized
sectors of U.S. society--namely Arab, South Asian and Muslim
communities.
The turnout here April 20--and the crowd's mood--showed that
the heroic Palestinian resistance to U.S./Israeli aggression
in the occupied territories has helped reverse the
reactionary tide of intimidation and paralysis that had
plagued the movement for social justice here and worldwide
since Sept. 11.
Ever since the U.S.-backed Israeli terrorist killing machine
elevated its murderous assault on the Palestinians beginning
on March 29, the whole world has watched in horror as the
Israeli military destroyed whole neighborhoods in Jenin,
Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah.
Many at the march carried signs showing graphic images of
those who were either slaughtered or injured at the hand of
the apartheid-like Israeli regime. An estimated 1,500
Palestinians have been massacred--500 in Jenin alone--and
thousands injured.
Besides the Washington, D.C., protest, another 35,000 people
marched in San Francisco in support of the just cause of the
Palestinian people. International solidarity protests were
also called for April 20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina;
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; San Salvador, El
Salvador; Managua, Nicaragua; Basque Country; Madrid, Spain;
the cities of Tabasco, Oaxaca and Mexico City, Mexico;
Montreal, Canada; Belgium; Japan; and South Africa.
The International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
(ANSWER) coalition issued a call for activists to converge
on the White House to demand an end to the U.S.-backed
onslaught by the Israeli military against Palestinian
civilians, and an immediate end to the 54-year-old illegal
Israeli occupation of Palestine.
ANSWER leaders said they made the conscious decision to
build a pro-Palestinian demonstration to illustrate that
supporting the Palestinian people's right to self-
determination is part and parcel of the overall struggle
against imperialist war and racist repression.
Before the march began, 50,000-60,000 people gathered at the
Ellipse, behind the White House. They heard a diverse group
of speakers express solidarity with the Palestinian people,
who have put themselves on the front lines in the struggle
against President George W. Bush's declaration of war
against the peoples of the world.
Thousands of printed ANSWER signs--"Free Palestine, no war
on Iraq"--were held throughout the crowd, as well as "Stop
Plan Colombia," "Stop bombing Afghan istan" and "Money for
jobs, schools and housing, not racist war." There were also
dozens of banners and hundreds more placards hand-made by
participants.
"WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS" THEME OF WHITE HOUSE
RALLY
The three-hour rally included speakers of all nationalities,
all ages, and those of religious and non-religious
backgrounds, who came to declare that on April 20, "We are
all Palestinians."
Co-moderators of the rally included Jennifer Wager, mid-
Atlantic coordinator of IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Teresa
Gutierrez, a co-director of the International Action Center;
and Mehdi Bray, national political director of Muslim Public
Affairs Council.
Among the Palestinian speakers were Randa Jamal, of the Free
Palestine Alliance and the Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return
Coalition. Also speaking from Al-Awda were Samia Halaby and
Amer Jubran. Representatives from Cuba, Korea, Mexico,
Nicaragua, the Phillippines, and of issues like the struggle
to rid Vieques, Puerto Rico, of the U.S. Navy, all declared
their unwavering support
for Palestinian rights. Sara Flounders, spokesperson for the
Iraq Sanctions Challenge, told the crowd to be prepared to
fight Bush's new war plans against the Iraqi people.
Tariq Ali, a Pakistani author and political activist
representing the London Stop the War Coalition, also spoke
at the rally.
Larry Adams, president of Mailhandlers Local 300, spoke on
behalf of the New York City Labor Against the War coalition.
Hillel Cohen, a Jewish labor activist, presented a
resolution passed by his union, the 1199 Service Employees
International Union in New York. The resolution included the
demands that the occupation and U.S. aid to Israel end now,
and it supported the Palestinian people's right of return to
their homeland.
There were other signs that a growing number of workers are
making the connections between the deepening economic crisis
at home and the struggle against war abroad. The April 21
Baltimore Sun reported that march participant "Rodney Ward,
36, a former U.S. Airways flight attendant who lost his job
amid the post-Sept. 11 airline industry layoffs, held U.S.
aid to Israel partly responsible for his small unemployment
checks. 'The U.S. government immediately gave billions of
dollars to corporate bailouts, war and oppressive
governments like Israel,' said Ward, of Boston. 'But it took
the government six months to find a measly 13 extra weeks of
unemployment for people like me.'"
Peta Lindsay, a 17-year-old African American organizer with
ANSWER, told the crowd: "It seems that the rest of the world
is beginning to learn what the Palestinian people have
proven through their heroic resistance: that there will
never be peace in the Middle East until there is justice for
Palestine. ... I go to a school right here in D.C. public
schools ... which are notorious for their under-funded,
under-staffed classrooms, but somehow our military budget is
skyrocketing."
A delegation of Orthodox Jews Against Zionism came to the
rally, even though it was on their Sabbath, to express their
solidarity with the Palestinian people. The mostly
Palestinian and Muslim crowd gave them a warm welcome, just
as they applauded any speakers who announced that they were
Jewish.
Another group of 25,000 anti-war protesters led by the
United We March coalition held a simultaneous morning rally
at the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument. Once the
ANSWER participants poured onto Pennsylvania Avenue, the two
large groups merged to march side by side past the Justice
Department.
There, the marchers demanded the repeal of the repressive
USA Patriot Act. This law, promoted by ultra-right Attorney
General John Ashcroft, has led to raids and detentions of
members of the Arab and Muslim communities within the United
States.
UNIFIED RALLY AT THE CAPITOL
The march then wound its way to the Capitol for a unified
rally by the two major coalitions. Amy Goodman from WBAI-
Pacifica Radio and Randa Jamal, a Palestinian activist who
lost relatives in the Israeli assault on Ramallah, co-
chaired the rally.
Some of Jamal's relatives are still being held hostage in
Ramallah. She told the crowd, "What they are going through
are crimes against humanity."
Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Cynthia McKinney from
Georgia took up the plight of the U.S. poor: "We have not
dealt well with our diversity and too many of our citizens
suffer needlessly. Each day millions of Americans suffer
poverty, hunger, the sting of discrimination . . . arbitrary
arrest, racial profiling, and brutality from rogue police .
. . inadequate health care, drug abuse, and unemployment.
For the millions of poor Americans, ours is not a just
society."
The Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors
for Peace, condemned "U.S. complicity with the genocide of
the Palestinian people." He also warned of the dangers
facing Iraq and was strong in his support for the advances
of the Cuban Revolution in the face of a 40-year-long U.S.
blockade.
Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El-Saadawi said, "The
Egyptian women, men and children are with you here. All the
people of the world are exploited by the same government and
by capitalism. George Bush and Ariel Sharon should be
brought to justice as war criminals."
Fadia Rafeedi from the Free Palestine Coalition-USA, said
that "the fate of Palestine is linked to the fate of Iraq,
of Venezuela, of Colombia. We have to end the criminal
partnership between the U.S. and the state of Israel. ... We
must oppose the exclusionary character of the Israeli
state."
Larry Holmes, a co-director of the International Action
Center, spoke on behalf of the ANSWER coalition. "Something
magical has happened," he said. "Finally the anti-war
movement has merged with the Palestinian and Arab and Muslim
community and embraced the Palestinian cause. ...
"This movement is anti-colonialist and anti-racist, it is
not against Jewish people. ... Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney
can't wait to send the U.S. Army in to invade Iraq. But we
have to stop that war right here, and organize here to
struggle against it. ...
"We will fight for jobs, fight for funds for education,
fight to keep Social Security, fight for all our rights at
home, but we have to make sure that while we do this we show
solidarity with the struggling people of the planet."
Two teenage Palestinian women from Jenin also addressed the
crowd, confidently assuring the U.S. demonstrators that
whatever horrors the Israeli military carried out, "We will
continue to struggle until liberation."
Ray LaForest, representative of New York City Labor Against
War, said, "I am speaking on behalf of the working people
who built this society and now we are being asked to give
our blood for these greedy bosses. ... NYCLAW demands money
for displaced workers, not corporations since 9-11. We also
want an end to the U.S./Israeli occupation of the West
Bank."
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Partnership for
Civil Justice, said, "The USA Patriot Act is a vicious
assault on civil rights and civil liberties. It's an attempt
to shut down political dissent--and we're not going to let
them do it."
Julie Beatty, president of the United States Student
Association, Martin Luther King III and Phyllis Bennis of
the Institute for Policy Studies were also among those
speaking.
The ANSWER newsletter announced the group will hold a
national organizing conference in New York on June 1 to
continue the effort to build a strong, independent, anti-
war, anti-racist movement.
[Bryan Pfeiffer contributed to this article.]
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