The demonstration here drew several tens of thousands of protesters who marched through mid-town Manhattan in a colorful sea of banners and signs. Many of the marchers were longtime political activists who had taken part in earlier peace demonstrations. A significant number, however, were students and other youth attending their first political action who were angry at Washington’s brutal actions around the world and were eager to discuss with fellow protesters what lies behind U.S. foreign policy and how best to oppose it.

Many came to express their views on a range of political questions—from a contingent of Haitian immigrants protesting the U.S.-backed ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from that country, to Palestinians condemning Israeli assaults in the West Bank and Gaza.

The main organizers of the demonstrations were two coalitions, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice, made up of various radical and liberal organizations. They focused the demonstration on President George Bush, blaming him and the Republican Party for the imperialist assault on Iraq and other actions at home and abroad, while supporting, explicitly or tacitly, presidential candidate John Kerry or other Democrats in the 2004 elections.

A large banner at the stage read, “Bush Lies! Who Dies?” Throughout the demonstration people carried banners, and placards and wore buttons with a similar emphasis. “Drop Bush, not bombs!” was a popular chant.

“Where are the weapons of mass destruction?” read some signs, referring to the fact that one of the pretexts used by the White House to justify the invasion of Iraq was the unsubstantiated charge that the Iraqi government had or was developing chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons.

Among the featured speakers were Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. “We are the campaign that we and all of you have been waiting for,” Kucinich said. “I urge you to join us in this campaign for peace.” He called for maintaining the military occupation of Iraq under United Nations sponsorship and for withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country.

Former British Labor Party parliamentarian Anthony Benn pointed to the electoral victory of the Socialist Party in Spain as a step forward and said he hoped U.S. voters would “follow the example of Spain’s electorate.”

Among the demonstrators was a large contingent of veterans and about a dozen families of U.S. soldiers. One of the speakers at the rally was Fernando Suárez del Solar, whose son Jesús was killed during the invasion of Iraq in March.

Over the course of the day participants exchanged views and opinions on the causes of the war and what could be done about it.

Richard Andersen, 57, from Vermont described himself as a veteran of protests against U.S. wars. He expressed exasperation about “how to stop these adventures” as he listed protests he has participated in against U.S. military intervention from “Vietnam to Grenada to Panama, and now Iraq.” Andersen said he was encouraged by the electoral defeat of Spanish prime minister José María Aznar, whose government had supported the U.S.-led assault on Baghdad. Many placards in the demonstration read “I Love Spain.”

Another theme expressed by demonstrators was opposition to the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation of Palestine and the frame-ups, arrests, and deportations of mostly Arab immigrants across the United States over the past two years. Speakers addressed the rally in support of Farouk Abdel-Muhti and Sami Al-Arian, Palestinian opponents of Israeli aggression living in the United States who were framed up and imprisoned in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Rahyna Ali-Mustafa, 19, came with a busload from her mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. Palestinian flags waved throughout the contingent in the march and rally along with placards that read “Free Palestine” and “End the Occupation.” Ali-Mustafa said she had participated in the rallies last year and that people need to keep protesting until the occupation is ended in Iraq and Palestine.

Helen Brandon, 20, a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee at Yale University, said the Bush administration was trying to overturn the constitution and “if we don’t wake up in November we could all lose our rights.” She added that it was also necessary to continue to protest.

Among the demonstrators were Young Socialists and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party who joined with those calling for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from Iraq and elsewhere. Many protesters stopped by literature tables they had set up along the march, seeking books and newspapers explaining the main political questions of the day. Hundreds took copies of a statement issued by Martín Koppel on behalf of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party, titled “In response to Madrid and Washington: Fight for a ‘new Europe’ and a ‘new America,’ which condemned Spanish imperialism’s stepped-up “antiterror” offensive against workers and the peoples of the Basque country and North Africa.

Organizers of the rally in New York said there were more than 100,000 participants; New York City officials offered a figure of 30,000. Protests also took place in Britain, Japan, south Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and Egypt.
 
 
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