Vol. 71/No. 13      April 2, 2007

The march, which drew participation mostly from East Coast and Midwest cities, was called by Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.), a coalition whose steering committee includes the Party for Socialism and Liberation—a group that split from the Workers World Party—as well as other organizations such as Pastors for Peace and the Nicaragua Network.

A larger than usual prowar counterprotest was organized by a group called Gathering of Eagles. Around 2,000 people, many veterans of the Vietnam War, lined the street near the beginning of the antiwar march.

Among the featured speakers at the peace rally were former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in action in Iraq; Michael Berg, whose son Nicholas, a contractor, was beheaded in Iraq by al-Qaeda supporters; Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson; and former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

“We want the people in the White House out of our house and arrested for crimes against humanity,” said Sheehan. "Impeach.org" read a large banner on the stage. "We're here in the shadow of the war machine. We need to shut it down," she said. Sheehan has organized encampments near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, to protest the war in Iraq.

"Impeachment is the first step in restoring law and order and government by the people," said Clark.

"Why is impeachment off the table?" asked McKinney.

Bradford Hollis, 59, a social worker from Durham, North Carolina, said he had hoped this march would be as big as one he attended as a student in 1967. "It seems like we keep marching and marching and nothing changes," he said.

A large student and youth contingent marched behind several school banners. Chris Munsur, 26, and Solomon Wilhelm, 25, came on a bus from the University of Toledo in Ohio. "UT Against the War has been organizing lots of activities on the campus," said Munsur. "Getting Bush out of office is the key," added Wilhelm.

Katherine Lima, 24, came on a bus with fellow students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York. "This was my first time going to a rally. I am very glad that I came,” said Lima. “It did seem like the march was more about Bush than about the war," she noted.

As with the January 27 peace action organized by United For Peace and Justice, opposition to the ongoing U.S.-led war and occupation of Afghanistan, another central theater in Washington’s “global war on terror,” was absent from the demands of the organizers, who called for an "end to colonial occupation" in Iraq, Palestine, and Haiti.

Some among the protesters expressed the view—advanced by most liberals—that the imperialist assault on Afghanistan was justified.

"This started as a war on terror but we didn't take out the terrorists," said Shahrukh Arif, 19 a student at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. “Afghanistan might have been justified, but we went about it the wrong way."

Others didn’t share that view.

"I think Afghanistan was just the foot in the door for the U.S. in the Middle East," said Arif’s friend and schoolmate Matthew Kinsey.

Eddie Beck and Paul Pederson contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. officials: ‘long war’ lies ahead in Iraq
6,000 march in New York to protest Iraq war
Young Socialists join rallies, demand: ‘Not one penny, or person, for Washington’s wars!’  
 
 
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