Vol. 73/No. 13      April 6, 2009

A large number of university students joined the action, titled "From Iraq to Afghanistan to Palestine: Occupation is a Crime." The march was endorsed by the Muslim American Society, Veterans for Peace, Al-Awda (the International Palestine Coalition for the Right of Return), National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, and others.

Along the three-mile march, which started near the Lincoln Memorial, demonstrators stopped at corporate offices of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and KBR, which demonstration organizers called "merchants of death."

Speakers at the opening rally noted that U.S. president Barack Obama has said that he plans to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq and has escalated the war in Afghanistan. "Bush is gone, but the occupation of Iraq continues, the war in Afghanistan is escalating, and the people of Palestine are living under a stage of siege," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of ANSWER, which sponsored the march.

Participants in the demonstration held a wide variety of views on the wars.

"I am concerned that these are wars for oil. But it also seems like it is a war against poor people," said Camilo Elias, a student at George Mason University in Virginia. "I thought there would be changes, but the Democrats and Republicans seem like they're the same."

Dan Warren, 25, rode a bus to the action from New York. "My brother is in the U.S. military and my family has a long history of military service," Warren said. "I wanted to be able to maintain public opposition to the war. The U.S. doesn't seem to be able to either fully commit to a military operation or to fully withdraw."

Many demonstrators came to protest Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip and the continued economic blockade there.

"This is my very first protest," said Cristina Nuñoz, 19, a student at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. "I've been watching a lot of documentaries on my own, including one on the Israeli occupation of Palestine."

Yusuf El-Shar, 21, is from Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Referring to Israel's refusal to reopen border crossings into Gaza, he said, "I want them to open the gates, let the people get what they need."

"A lot of Israelis and Palestinians get along," El-Shar said. "I don't have a problem with the Jewish people. The problem is the government in Israel."

Many of the demonstrators supported attempts to boycott companies that do business in Israel and to pressure U.S. universities to break ties with universities in Israel.

"My main focus is Palestine and ending U.S. support for the Israeli government," said Isabel Nogueira, 18, a student from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. "I think there needs to be a sensible investment policy on the college campuses and we should be aware of where university money is being invested." Nogueira said that no money should go to companies that have invested in the construction of the wall on the West Bank.

Glenn Eisenberg, 19, a student at the College of New Jersey near Trenton, said, "I agree that Palestinians need to have their own state. But it's hard for me to feel that divestment from Israel is a good idea."

Concern over the effects of the economic crisis spurred some to join the protest.

"In D.C., a lot of schools are under-funded," said Markus Batchelor, 16, a student at Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public charter school. "We don't get the education we deserve. They've killed too many people in six years. That money could be used for our education."

Cameron Kelly, who came to the march from Westchester County in New York, said, "The publicity makes it seem like the problem with the economy is due to a few bad apples. That’s similar to what happened around the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"But the economic and military policies come from the very top," she said. "It has to do with the way the system works."

In San Francisco, some 2,000 demonstrators marched through downtown and gathered at the Civic Center Plaza. There was also a demonstration in Los Angeles and one of about 200 people in St. Paul, Minnesota.

More than 200 marched in Sydney, Australia, as part of the March 21 actions. Jeff Halper, a visiting Israeli academic, told the rally there, "The solution for Israelis and Palestinians is a bi-national, secular democratic state."

Sara Lobman in Newark, New Jersey, Doug Nelson in New York, Betsey Stone in San Francisco, Rollande Girard in Minneapolis, and Ron Poulsen in Australia contributed to this article.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home