Feb 22, 2003

NEW YORK – Braving frigid cold, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied near the United Nations, Feb. 15, to protest George W. Bush’s threatened war on Iraq and to support UN efforts to stop the war. The rally here was part of a coordinated one-day protest in 600 cities across the nation and around the world.

An unprecedented wave of anti war demonstrations swept the globe on Feb. 15, as an estimated 11 million demonstrators poured into the streets, determined to block the Bush administration’s drive to war against Iraq. As in the U.S., initiators and participants came from a very broad array of unions, political parties, religious organizations, youth and women’s organizations, left and progressive organizations including communist and workers parties.

The focus of the nationwide grassroots movement to stop a war on Iraq is now shifting to Congress. Key actions under way include a Feb. 26 Virtual March on Washington and a massive nationwide leafleting and postering project, aimed at pressing Congress to halt the Bush administration’s unilateral drive to war.

February 14-17 was not a good weekend for United States as it received several swift kicks to the posterior portion of its political anatomy as leaders of the world community turned thumbs down on the U.S. drive to war with Iraq.

SAN FRANCISCO – “Give inspections a chance to work” was the refrain heard from speakers and marchers as they poured into Civic Center Plaza here, Feb. 16, in the biggest demonstration in memory – 300,000 strong.

AUSTIN – About 1,000 people rallied here to stop state budget cuts to public education and the state’s low-income health insurance program for children (CHIP) at the State Capitol the day before Republican Gov. Rick Perry gave his state of the state speech.

On Feb. 12 Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) chastised his colleagues for their failure to speak out against the threat of war that he called “the most horrible of human experiences.”

WASHINGTON, DC: Fight on affirmative action

Feb. 18 was the last day to file briefs before the Supreme Court regarding the University of Michigan affirmative action case. When the smoke cleared, the university counted 60 briefs supporting their affirmative action plan, which guarantees diversityat the school. President Bush weighed in opposing the University’s plan and only 12 individuals or organizations agreed.

Despite meager resources and an administration-inspired campaign to challenge their patriotism, despite snow in the east, rain in the south and west and cold that rattled the fillings in one’s teeth, Americans in at least 150 cities in all 50 states summoned their creativity and democratic common sense to demonstrate their demand for no war with Iraq.

SAN FRANCISCO – The featured speaker at a labor breakfast at San Francisco’s longshore union hall was British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, Feb. 17. A former public workers union leader, Corbyn is now a steering committee member of the Stop the War Coalition and a leader among Labor Party MPs opposing a war on Iraq. He spoke at the two million-strong demonstration in London as well as at Sunday’s San Francisco action.